What was the most disapointing sand box game you played?

[Spanglish Guy]

Saints Row the Third. Now I did enjoy this game when I played co op so there is that, however after playing SR2 I just felt that this game was just a bit of a mess for me. It was a lot more linear than its predecessor when it came to the story missions and the antagonists themselves were just not as interesting to fight compared to the threee gangs in the last game (especially the Ronin and the Brotherhood). I also did not like Steelport at all. It just felt like a very dull and boring city and actually felt a lot smaller than Stillwater (not sure if this is actually true but it was definitely more tedious to traverse in my opinion).

GTA IV. Was fun at first but it very quickly started to drag on and I personally did not like Niko as a character. Not much else to say really except that it just got boring.

 

[Guy_of_wonder]

Watch_Dogs. the only reason i have this game is because it came with my Nvidia GTX 780. Besides the horrible optimization on PC(using SLI made it run worse than without), the main character is so bland and boring that i didn't care about the main story whatsoever. The hacking mechanic was the best thing about this game. What sealed Watch_Dogs' fate for me was one side mission where you had to escape the police in a stolen car and after dying 5 times in a row, i quit and uninstalled the game.

 

[nyarlathotepsama]

I dunno pretty much anything to do with Crackdown? I guess, I was pretty disappointed with a lot about that game and the sandbox was no exception. I'm also not a fan of Watch(underscore because internet!!!)Dogs. I'm just disappointed with all of that game it had terrible optimization and a really tedious plot. Prototype suffered from a similar problem. Oh and we can't forget Alone in the Dark 2008 it kind of had a sandbox and it was more than kind of boring.

 

[Battenberg]

Just Cause 2. I watched a friend play for a bit and use the grappling hook tool which looked like fun. Turns out that was the ONLY fun mechanic in the game (at least for me) and pretty much every other aspect infuriated me, largely because quite a lot about it reminded me of Far Cry 2 which I also thoroughly disliked but had much lower expectations of. To this day it still irks me to hear people describing it as one of the best sandbox/ open world games ever.

 

[Flammablezeus]

LA Noire. That game had a lot of potential and realised exactly 0% of it.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Damn near all of them. Almost every last single one.

The main problem is, the plot ends, there's no more people to fight, so all you have left are pedestrians, cops, and maybe military which makes me miss having gang members/enemies to kill.
Saints Row 2, 3, and 4, and GTAs were pretty guilty of it.
Most every sandbox game had crap all to do besides shoot/kill people which worsens the problem.

 

[Racecarlock]

Mafia II's DLC. I would go with the entire game, but the main game is linear.

The DLC, however, is not. While it does not contain the boring chores of the main game, if you really really reach, you can drive, get in police chases, walk, drink for shitty screen effects, get dressed, customize a car, do missions, shoot people, save the game, and load the game.

That's all you can do in the DLC. It makes GTA IV look expansive and full of variety, that's how dull Mafia II's DLC is.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Saints Row the Third. Now I did enjoy this game when I played co op so there is that, however after playing SR2 I just felt that this game was just a bit of a mess for me. It was a lot more linear than its predecessor when it came to the story missions and the antagonists themselves were just not as interesting to fight compared to the threee gangs in the last game (especially the Ronin and the Brotherhood). I also did not like Steelport at all. It just felt like a very dull and boring city and actually felt a lot smaller than Stillwater (not sure if this is actually true but it was definitely more tedious to traverse in my opinion).

Yeah I don't want to type out why I hate SR3 and SR4's sandbox, so I'm quoting this.

God was the sandbox a huge disappointment compared to SR2. And god was it disappointing again in SR4 when they did pretty much nothing to improve it besides emphasize more on the vertical aspect and add those (admittedly freaking cool) cyberpunk structures everywhere. Just blank storefronts and pretty pointless city-life going on, sometimes broken up by a gangfight that would annoy you more than draw you in. It didn't have fleshed out buildings besides the one you had brief missions in, and even though SR2 didn't like fleshing out buildings, at least they put effort into it, like the Stillwater mall or the underground caverns.

I still recommend those games, but I'm never recommending them because the sandboxes are fun, except maybe SR3's zombie island.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

GTA V. Why? That was explained earlier, though it understated my absolute hate for Trevor that killed the building storyline and fucked everything up.

And ohmygod, what a year later and the online heists aren't even a thing yet. The game is still incomplete.

 

[communist gamer]

Mafia 2 (too much driving around below 60mph too little game) or Fallout 3 (the wastland was....well a wasteland, nothing interesting going on, not many interesting things to do, uninteresting cherecters)

 

[Maximum Bert]

Dont like most sandbox games to be honest most feel uninspired and empty like they made the world (usually poorly) and then tried to shoehorn a game in there.

My most disappointing one is easily GTA3 which is one of the most disappointing games I have played ever I did not see anything on the game at the time as I wasnt really following games at that particular period (I tend to go in and out of that) and then I saw a 3D GTA and was pretty damn excited so I purchased it immediately got it home played it for about 12 hours and could not take it any more the game was pretty terrible.

I had some fun with the cheats for a bit after but largely I did not like the game at all. I havent tried San Andreas but have tried every other one since and none have impressed me but at least 5 did not have the permanent pissed vision graphical over lay of 4.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

too many to name.. Fallout 3, Mafia 2(which was actually a good game, but the it tricked you into thinking it was a open world game when it wasn't and that sucked), Elder Scrolls, Just Cause 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Assassins Creed Brotherhood, Assassins Creed Revelations and red dead redemption...

Mafia 2 only used an open world since you would be driving around the same areas a lot of times through the story of the game, even the game itself is seperated by levels where you can only roam around if there isnt an objective that requires your immediate presence.

I still manage to enjoy the game for what it was but it was clear that a lot of people didnt manage to let the "sandbox" concept out of the game.

I know there was supposedly a reason behind making the world seem open ,but it still seemed like such a waste to have a large, detailed city with the potential to be(more or less) GTA Chicago be used so sparingly... i would have loved to drive around doing extra missions, and exploring 1940's Chicago.( not exactly Chicago I know, but close)

 

[Grumman]

The main problem is, the plot ends, there's no more people to fight, so all you have left are pedestrians, cops, and maybe military which makes me miss having gang members/enemies to kill.
Saints Row 2, 3, and 4, and GTAs were pretty guilty of it.

There's a mod for Saints Row 2 that fixes this problem, thankfully.

The most disappointing sandbox game for me was State of Decay. The developers made some absolutely shitty decisions that ruin what should be a fun game, like having events happen between game sessions (like your neighbours that you've worked so hard to save, whose houses are surrounded by anti-zombie traps, getting murdered by zombies), not having the option to revert to a previous save if some BS zombie rips your favourite character in half, and seemingly having only a finite amount of resources on the map (meaning you /can't/ just keep playing if you're having fun).

 

[SonOfAnarchy91]

Dead Island is the most obvious one such a terrible game overall so much hype for such a bitter disapointement.
Assassins Creed 3 & AC: Liberation both were just so damn boring.
One that I get heat for is Just Cause. I never understood the fandom that game got. The controls were awful the graphics were meh and the enviroment was just so empty. Its fine to brag about a map size but when theirs nothing to do in the map its nothing to be proud of.

 

[leberkaese]

Batman: Arkham City. Asylum was great and awesome. City... not so much. This would probably be a great title if it wouldn't had to compete with its predecessor. Asylum was simply great and City can't catch the game's feels and atmosphere anymore. It's harder to make this tight atmosphere on a large scale instead on a small map.

Rust: Every game like this suffers from a not-so-good community (except DayZ mod in its early days), but in this one I failed to find a server with decent people on it.
Also, did they abandon the game? I played it when it was relatively fresh. But when I can believe the changelog the last patch is from March?

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'd have to nominate the 3D GTAs. I just can't get a hang of the driving mechanics. Watch_Dogs comes in as a close second.

On the other hand, the best sandbox ever would have to be a tie between Sid Meier's Pirates! and AC IV: Black Flag. I just love having to wrestle against rogue winds or hoping I can line up my guns well enough. I still love Pirates' economy and I'd have to say the fourth AC is the first one where I've been able to really invest myself.

I guess I have a thing for pirates. Arr mateys and stuff.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

I'd have to nominate the 3D GTAs. I just can't get a hang of the driving mechanics. Watch_Dogs comes in as a close second.

On the other hand, the best sandbox ever would have to be a tie between Sid Meier's Pirates! and AC IV: Black Flag. I just love having to wrestle against rogue winds or hoping I can line up my guns well enough. I still love Pirates' economy and I'd have to say the fourth AC is the first one where I've been able to really invest myself.

I guess I have a thing for pirates. Arr mateys and stuff.

I would love to see like a mixture of Black Flag and Pirates. You know the second to second gameplay of black flag how you can drive your ship from deck view. Mix that in with the simulation and RPG elements of pirates. Add in a fully customizable character. Oh that would be such a cool game.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

I'm thinking Mafia 2, but it wasn't exactly supposed to be a sandbox game. I think the problem was that the main game wasn't all that interesting to begin with, which made the complete lack of a sandbox game in that big city all the more noticeable.

GTA4 for me, I guess. I actually quite enjoy the game, but it's less sandbox and more "let's emulate boring life" kind of thing. Never once did I push the city limits and start blowing stuff up for the hell of it. The extend of my sandbox gaming in GTAIV was drive around the city, then park in an alley and listen to music while I was having myself a smoke. Even the TV and strip clubs/shows got boring after a while. Considering the reputation of the GTA series for sandbox playing, IV was likely the most disappointing one from that aspect for me.

 

[snappydog]

I'm.... not sure I can think of a sandbox I didn't like right now. Maybe Fallout, since as others have already said it can be kind of hard to actually find stuff to do when the setting is an actual wastelend. Turns out apocalypses tend to lead to under-population and a corresponding lack of interesting-stuff-saturation.

I feel like I have to stand up for Just Cause 2, though, since so many have mentioned it. It's not perfect by any means, but I really just have a lot of fun with it, and that's something that isn't always easy to find, even in a game that I might well enjoy for any variety qualities. It's probably mostly the flying, which I haven't found done better anywhere else, but feel free to recommend if there's another game that lets you freely control land, air and sea vehicles and then skydive/ parachute from them and use an infinite amount of parachutes to defy all logic just long enough to survive.

...

Eh, maybe it's not for everyone. But I always have fun with it. Still play it probably at least every week.