Summary
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to change the gaming landscape.Grand Theft Auto 3simply took the formula from its top-down 2D predecessors and did it with 3D models. Though putting it that way is understating the game’s achievements. Love it or loathe it, the game and its sequels did a lot and changed how games were seen and played.
Related:How Grand Theft Auto 3 Set the Franchise Up for Success
GTA3essentially created the modern, open world sandbox game. Without it, fans wouldn’t haveSaints Row,Crackdown,Red Dead Redemptionand many more examples since. However, it didn’t create the genre. There are somegreat open world games that predateGTA3.
7Body Harvest
For one shocker, DMA Design (later Rockstar North) actually madeaGTA3-like game three years priorfor the Nintendo 64! The funniest thing is that it was supposed to be an RPG published by Nintendo themselves to fill the Squaresoft-shaped hole that company left when they tookFinal Fantasy 7to the PS1. But complications between the big N and the Scottish company led to the two parting ways.
The project ultimately became an action game calledBody Harvestpublished by Gremlin and Midway. It had set levels as the human hero traveled through time to stop aliens. Yet each one was a sandbox the player could explore, ride around in different vehicles, and take on aliens with a wide array of firepower. The big difference between it andGTA3was that the player had to protect the civilians to succeed instead of turning the guns on them.
6Driver
GTA1 & 2caused a stir on their release, though some of the “outrage” over them was deliberately engineered to get the games press coverage. After the buzz wore off, and despiteGTA2’sgameplay improvements,the series' future was still in doubt. Especially when one of DMA Design’s rivals, Reflections, came up with an alternative in theDrivergames.
Players completed missions or raced around at their own pace through the streets of NYC, L.A, San Fran and Miami (provided they got past the difficult tutorial). It wasn’t quite the same asGTA, as its lead Tanner couldn’t leave his car untilDriver 2(and he couldn’t do much then either). But the open-world racing was thrilling enough to outdo DMA Designs' efforts at the time. But onceGTA3and the disappointingDriv3rcame out, the momentum shifted for good.
5Super Mario 64
When it comes to talking about 3D roaming games, the discussion will eventually lead toSuper Mario 64. For most gamers, it was their first exposure to a game where the objective was to explore every level in all dimensions to complete objectives instead of just heading straight to the goal.
Related:Games That Laid the Foundation for Open-World Design
With just a few buttons and an analogue stick, Mario could pull off all sorts of acrobatic moves to grab enough Stars to access to the next world and, eventually, beat Bowser once more. DMA Design certainly had it in mind when they made their own, robot-based 3D platformer inSpace Station Silicon Valley.The same team behind that game would then go on to makeGTA3.
4Hunter
Both DMA Design and Reflections got their start making games for microcomputers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. In fact, beforeGTAandDriver, they were already famous for makingLemmingsandShadow of the Beastfor the Commodore Amiga. In those days they may have spottedHunterby Activision. It was an early 3D game for the Amiga and Atari ST where a soldier had to search through the land for enemy troops.
They could use vehicles (including tanks), enter buildings, and fire multiple weapons. This sounds pretty basic today, but for 1991 it was way ahead of its time. The game shows its age with its graphics, time limit missions and small world, but it was essentially a military-skinnedGTA3a decade beforeGTA3was a thing.
3The Legend of Zelda
LikeSuper Mario 64, the topic wouldn’t be complete without mentioningThe Legend of Zelda.Ocarina of Timewas particularly noteworthy as it did away withMario 64’sseparate little sandboxes and gave players one vast 3D version of Hyrule to explore (preferably while riding Epona to speed things up). All complete with the requisite dungeons,side quests and activitieslike fishing and target practice.
That said, it was essentially just translating what the 2D games did. Though unlikeGTA1&2, time has been much kinder to them. Seeing what lies in the Hyrules inA Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening,andOracle of Ages/Seasonsis just as fun now as it was back then. The 1986 original feels particularly rough to play today, but it set the formula all sandboxes would follow by actually making a world the player could explore at their leisure.
2Mercenary
Or at leastThe Legend of Zeldainnovated by being a third person, on-foot adventure. There are some predecessors that used a first-person view and kept their leads in their vehicles. For example, Novagen managed to do that in 3D (well, vector graphics) on the Atari 8-bit machines in 1985 withMercenary. After crashing on the planet Targ, the player has to get back into space without getting caught in the crossfire between the indigenous Palyars and the invading Mechanoids.
Related:The Rarest Atari 2600 Games (& How Much They’re Worth)
Aside from giving players all of Targ to explore, it also gave them different ways to beat the game. They could be a paragon to the Palyars by helping them, go renegade with the Mechanoids and hand Targ over to them, or go the neutral route and do whatever jobs that’ll pay them enough to leave Targ on their own. Either way, the AI companion Benson will provide snark as well as advice on the matter.
1Elite
This one is either really obscure or a well-known classic depending on how old the reader is.Eliteactually managed to beatSuper Mario WorldinRetro Gamer’s first big poll on the Best Video Games Ever Made in 2004. Made by David Braben and Ian McBell for the BBC Micro and Acorn computers, it was arguably the first open-world game ever made. There are text adventures and early RPGs likeUltimathat predate it, butElitewas the first with real-time action.
Made in 1984, players could explore galaxies in order to trade, mine, and hunt bounties for credits. The more credits they have, the more they can afford better quality upgrades for their spaceship. It appealed to both action fans and tactics enthusiasts, and left a lasting legacy that led toEVE Online,Battlecruiser 3000AD, andspace trading/flight simsas a whole on top of open world games.
