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Tom's Hardware Giveaway - Just Cause 3!

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Titillating

Titillating

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We have returned from our Thanksgiving hiatus! Hope everybody had a nice holiday, or just a great weekend for those of you who don’t celebrate! And for those of you who took advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales to build a new rig or upgrade an old one, congrats! Now all you need is a brand new game to put your rig through its paces and we’ve got just the thing: three (3) copies of Just Cause 3!

“But how do I win a copy of this game,” you ask? Simple! As with most of our other Steam giveaways, all you have to do is participate in the discussion this week. You will find a discussion prompt below and winners will be chosen randomly from among the eligible entries. Nice and simple!

For this week, we want to know: What are your favorite games that feature open-world exploration and why? Just Cause 3 boasts an amazingly large world to explore and many ways to do your exploring, but it’s not the first to do so. Share your favorites with us—you might find a hidden gem you didn’t know about in the discussion somewhere!




Contest will run until 12 PM EST on Friday, December 4. That’s 12:00 noon. Winners will receive their prize as a Steam gift; a Steam account is required to receive and to play the game. One entry per user. Winners will be selected randomly from among eligible entries. Attempts to cheat the system will result in automatic disqualification.



Be sure to join our Steam group!


We’re always looking for volunteers to write community reviews for games, so if you’re interested, please reach out to me for more details.
 
I'm not sure if it counts but I loved exploring planets in the original Mass Effect. I've talked with plenty of people who thought it was bland and boring but I loved ramping off mountains and finding different life forms and fighting thresher maws (and then reading about how thresher maws populate planets throughout the galaxy in the codex!). The cut I felt when they replaced that feature with "scanning" in the sequels was the deepest any sequels have ever caused me. They had an opportunity to flesh out that feature with each game but nah. Dissapointing :C.

But if that doesn't count exploring in Minecraft was always super enjoyable.
 
Terraria - Though I am limited to explore only to the right or left in the 2-dimensional world, I am free to explore both up and down! The amount of possibilities in the game are limited by your imagination. You can build whatever you want, and you got almost all the necessary tools to do so!

The lord of the rings Online - I believe that this game is ranked as having the largest explorable area in any MMORPG there is, (EvE Doesn't count :)). What I enjoy most of this game is that it is based on the books, and not the movies, so it feels amazing to discover various locations you have found in the book. The latest expansion is Minas Tirith! Oh boy it'll be fun to explore that part.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - The mobility in this game is amazing. Though not that huge, I can certainly enjoy every scene I can find there. Not the mention the gameplay is incredibly fun, though not much replayability I am afraid.

The witcher 3: Wild hunt - What's there to say? This game is the most beautiful I have seen. The dynamics, textures, lore, map, and gameplay is incredible. This part of the Witcher series is my favorite by far.

And I'm not sure if it counts: Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Orb (Ps2). My very first game, and I think about it all the time. The map is not huge, but at that time, it was gigantic for me. The gameplay is as any usual Ps2 adventure game, but the art style is what keeps it in my favorite open-world exploration game(of course as it felt at that time).
 
The first games to come to mind for open world are Bethesda games such as the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. I will never forget the first ever "Skyrim-a-thon" that me and a few buddies had after it was released. We sat there and played for 5 days straight and by the time it was over (had to work and do less fun things), we just counted down the minutes when we could play again. I remember being so immersed in the game that exploring the land for hours was a treat. I'm also a huge fan of the Just Cause series. Just Cause literally invented a more optimized method for travel (parachute, grapple, parachute, grapple).
 
Saint's Row IV. Even though I already explored the world before in Saints Row III it was a blast getting to leap from building to building as if I was the incredible hulk and while there was no flying like superman, as Woody from Toy Story would've put it the, "falling with style" was fun too. It gave me the opportunity to explore the city of Steelport from a new perspective.
 
The Grand Theft Auto series is a pretty awesome example for open world exploration because it feels so real, especially with the random encounters.
 
gta trilogy (III VC SA)

minecraft lol, nothing like going out on an adventure leaving your op castle behind and find that box of dirt you once called home xd

loved Reckonning kingdoms of amalur also a great game

shadow of mordor, i like how it jumps right into the action from minute 1

mass effect 1, just an awesome experience go to a random planet, drop the mako and explore xd

liked the prototype games, real fun just runing around the city slashing ppl with ur claws or blade, smashing tanks with ur uhmm fat hands lol,


 
The open world games I enjoy are and why:

Grand theft auto V - Highly explorable world and just great to go everywhere especially online, you can also fly around in jet, planes and helicopters. The game has a great feel to it as they have created quite a realistic world. This world is quite good viewed in first person.

Justcause 2 - You can go everywhere that you see and has a giant area to explore, combined with the grapple and parachute.
I just love it.

Farcry 3 - Great story and great world combined and just makes it excellent.

Basically I enjoy most open world games as you go anywhere and do whatever you like, I mostly enjoy the Grand theft auto series as you can cause a lot of carnage and mess around with friends.
 
Fallout 3/NV/4 and GTA series - do what you want and when you want, and there is a lot to do in these games.
 
The Witcher 3 provided a great story, pretty in-depth character progression, and rewarding combat. I felt rewarded by investing time in learning the combat and improving my own skills in combination with increasing the in-game skills of the character. The open world provided many interesting and varied environments with a lot of surprises and subtle details.

Dark Souls I - the open world design was very intelligently put together. Having so many areas of varying types near seamlessly stitched together was a mark of brilliance. After many hours honing your player skills and learning the ins and outs of the combat system, there was really no area that a base level, or at least a character having just the base stats needed for a particular favorite weapon could not go, and literally dominate with skill and patience. Another mark of brilliance in my opinion is how there's a turn-based combat system hidden with what's a real time combat system on the surface. You may be wielding a giant sword, but there is certainly a specific time and place to swing it, and it might be 2 minutes into a fight, when it is the ideal time to start striking.

I did end up picking up Fallout IV after the review embargo lifted and some solid opinions on the game started trickling in. It's my second pick for 2015's GOTY, behind the Witcher 3. It could have taken over that position, if Bethesda would have just hired better writers, and fully committed to telling a particular story since we got a voiced protagonist, and really went for Gold on the story. Anyway, after 50+ hours, I've learned that I will still be finding subtle details and easter eggs at probably 1000 hours, if I were to play it that long. The game hasn't sucked me in wholly like TW3 did, but its certainly worth the full price of admission.
 
Depends on the type of game.

For a just all out sandbox game I have always loved the GTA Series. Of them my all time favorite for time period and characters in Vice City. It was fun because it was the 80s. Fast time, electro pop music and hard rock just coming out with a fun cast of characters. V however is the most advanced and just looks gorgeous maxed out so it is fun to explore it. I would love for them to make a Vice City on the new engine.

For a RPG I would say The Elder Scroll series. I could never not buy and play a TES game. I have beaten every one of them and can't wait for TES VI. I just enjoy the medieval atmosphere and some of the armor/weapons look cool as hell.Hopefully it is set in a new area that has yet to be explored or maybe they can include all the areas previously explored in one massive game. Then again I am not sure I want to spend a day walking from one side to the other.....

Then there is the Fallout series. What is more fun than playing a game of what could have been if it went this way and this happened. A fantasy sci-fi world filled with what ifs and throw backs to how our 50s were and tons of fun Easter eggs and such. I really enjoy thinking of what life would have been like if we went the same route as they did in Fallout. Of course then there is the post apocalyptic wasteland filled with nothing but danger looking to kill you at most every turn but then again what would a post apocalyptic wasteland be without Death Claws looking to eat your skin?
 
Far Cry 3/4: As much as I love Fallout/GTA/Witcher/Arkham, exploring was funnest for me in Far Cry. Strictly speaking to the open world aspect - I loved Far Cry's weather and the large, diverse animal population that would random attack you at the most inconvenient time. The dynamic environment (i.e. fires) impressed me quite a bit. All the environmental stuff mixes well with the random enemy firefights. The immersion was further improved by what I consider to be a pretty good engine with nice physics/lighting/visuals. I also think Ubi Montreal had a pretty good system for progressing through the map and unlocking/liberating it area by area. Plus there are quite a lot of random extras to find on the map, especially FC4.

Sometimes open world games bore me a bit, but IMO Far Cry has a good formula for keeping it interesting.

Cheers

Random Aside: My luck; I bought FC4 a month ago at 25% off (couldn't wait any longer) and now it's 50% off. No regrets.
 
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux

The game is hands down the most beautiful game I've seen (The Witcher 3 is on my list of games still to try) in 4k. I just wish it was slightly longer and had different areas to explore than just the standard forest/lake setting.
 
My first "Open world" game besides minecraft (More of a sandbox) was Just Cause 2. I like the idea of being able to walk around without hidden walls or visible walls and explore a world with lore and secrets that one can explore. I mean for a game that lacks story its pretty fun to play around with its physics
 
My favorite open world exploration game is Skyrim because there's a seemingly endless amount of content and every dungeon has something unique in it's lore, it's level design, or the quests related to it. You can do anything you want and be anything you want, especially with the mods that have come out of over the years.
 
The best open world game I've played is TESIII: Morrowind. It seems like every time I go back and play I find something new! Plus, with mods to modernize the game a bit its better than many newer games!
 
New Vegas was my favorite game to explore because with mods you can also add more stuff to investigate and fight. I really enjoy when you get close to the cities and you can feel more the vibe of the Mojave. It's a really nice world to be honest.
 
I'd have to go with Explosion Simulator 2010. . . I mean, Just Cause 2. Why? Just cause!

Nah, not really, it's because of the sheer amount of time I spent in-game. It may not have the depth or storyline that Bethesda games do, but that's not what we're looking for. We're looking to blow up some satellite dishes, fuel tanks, oil rigs, etc. etc. Nothing quite like dismounting a minigun and carrying it around shooting down smokestacks and helicopters haha!

For a game that has an actual storyline, Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian did a great job with the world immersion. Everybody has something to say and feels like a real person. The replay value is immense, playing with different builds or gameplay styles. My favorite Fallout game, for sure!
 
Definitely the Bethesda games, Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

I still have yet to beat any of them since I'm always off looking for something other than the main quest items.
 
Far Cry 4- Because I love exploring vast mountainous regions in the cold and wilderness. It is just so exciting going about the territory. I always wanted to visit such a place. FarCry 4 gets me closest to it. There is also the thrill of running away from mountain lions, tigers, elephants, hippos, gators etc....haha
 
Fallout 3, NV, and even 4 are great. Exploring post-apocalyptic wastelands just never gets old, and there is so much detail.
Any of the GTA's (especially San Andreas) and Saint's Row (especially 2). Fun story and characters, ott action and dialogue with crazy memorable situations.
I also have very fond memories of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. "We need a nuclear bunker buster".
 
Baldur's Gate - I'm picking this one because it was my first "open world" game. I think it counts, since you can go anywhere at just about any time. I was a young teenager, and spent way too many late nights just wandering about seeing what that fog of war was hiding, and what new areas would open up when I reached the edge of each map. It got me hooked.

Might and Magic 7 - Another early open world (sort of) game for me. It perfectly captured the exhilarating feeling of taking those first few steps beyond the starter areas and into the unknown. Of course, it gets a little silly at the end when you explore by flying around shooting enemies with laser blasters...

Recently, Witcher 3 has been perfect, by providing what really feels like a living, breathing open world with so many stories to tell and just gorgeous graphics. I'm meaning to go back and replay it with the minimap turned off soon!
 
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