[QUOTE="Toxic-Seahorse"]
What exactly is the distinction between open world and sandbox?
LordRork
A sandbox allows to play around and do whatever you please. Take JC2 - you can largely create your own fun by planting a bomb on a car, hooking the car to a helicopter and then using the car as an absurd demolition ball/bomb...and so on. You can also manipulate the environment (e.g. JC2's trees and some buildings).
An open world game (which does include sandbox games) will let you go anywhere, but your options are more limited. Take SR3 - once you've done the missions about all you can do is drive around and shoot things, there just isn't the scope to muck around to the same degree and the world itself isn't particularly destructible.
There is overlap, but that would be the difference as I see it.
For example, let's look at two separate games, LA Noire and Just Cause 2.
In LA Noire, the world is indeed open, but there is nothing to do apart from story missions. No side activities to distract you, no side cases, even the police dispatch stuff is all scripted so they are all unique cases (unlike True Crime, which actually opened itself up a bit for more random crimes). The story is all there is to it, and the same goes for the Mafia games.
On the other hand, you have Just Cause 2, a game where you can do story missions in different orders, do side missions, looks for money or gear, and have an incentive to explore aside from some shoddily hidden items or just for the hell of looking around. It's something Red Faction: Guerrilla, Grand Theft Auto, inFamous, Prototype and I'd say Skyrim all do very well.
Saints Row 3 is more in the middle, it lacks all the side content of SR2, but it's still definitely a sandbox with the variety of side missions, side activities and goofing off you can do, plus the open ended nature of the missions.
Log in to comment