The First Sandbox game?

[Jamash]

Actaully your all wrong and he was asking what was THE first not YOUR first.
It was Hunter for the Commodore Amiga

Funnily enough, Hunter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_(computer_game)] was my first sandbox game, as well as being the first sandbox game.

I loved that game, I probably put more hours into that than any other game at the time, despite not being very good at it. I never completed all of the missions, but I loved just wondering around, discovering new locations and vehicles.

I still yearn for a modern sandbox game which will allow me to row a boat or windsurf while being harassed by a shark.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

1st sandbox game would probably have to be either elite (BBC micro) or Dun Darach (ZX spectrum) depending on your definition. Both gave you a free to roam environment but one was more of a puzzle game and the other more of a space sim.

I thought of Dun Darach as it had a bloke freely walking around a town with other people seeming to walk around on their own free will. I think that it might only seem to be a sandbox game now as GTA games are the one that gave the sub genre it's name and they feature a bloke walking around a town with other people seeming to do their own thing...

Ant Attack might be an earlier example of something that is as much of a sandbox. You can either do the missions and rescue the people or just go wandering around Antescher messing around with the ants. Maybe it's the first Isometric game and the first Sandbox in one game.