Gaming franchises that could benefit from being open world

Lately I've been enjoying open world games a lot more than other types of games. Like Sleeping Dogs and Far Cry 3.

I think there are many franchises that could benefit from going open world. I'm talking open world style like GTA, Far Cry 3, Red Dead Redemption and so one.

The one obvious franchise that I've seen mentioned before for this idea is Pokemon. A fully realized 3d open world Pokemon game with roaming monsters. It could be structured like Oblivion/Skyrim where theres the open world and then there are the cities with the gyms in them. You get the point, there are many possibilities for this franchise.

The other franchise I was thinking would be awesome is Call of Duty. These games get so much flack for being linear its ridiculous. If they changed the formula to these games completely I think it would be just the proper refresh the franchise needs. Theres nothing wrong with the actual gameplay and mechanics of the COD games. The core mechanical side of the games is very solid. Just imagine that silky smooth gameplay, mixed with all the styles of a open world game. Things such as grabbing missions and buying all the guns in a COD game, the upgrades could be worked in uniquely. The missions could be tackled from any angle and in different ways. Again I believe there are many possibilities for this franchise.

What are some other ideas for ways these franchises can benefit from taking in aspects from open world games?.

What are other gaming series/franchises you believe would benefit from open world aspects?

Alan Wake. It would benefit if it had an open world enviroment in day time, There Alan could explore town, investigate, maybe do sidequests, while at night he would be constricted in order to make the scares and scripted scenes more effective.

Tetris

Open world games will have their place in the market, but the idea of taking already established superb linear games and making them open world games just seems very...yuck to me. There's room for both. There are bad open world games as well as good ones. Like, I think LA Noire's open world aspect was completely useless cause it added nothing to the strengths of that game. There was nothing to do except drive around if you weren't doing the main story missions. Same with inFamous (haven't tried 2). In my opinion.

But if I had to say one, I'd say...Mirror's Edge.

Mario.

I'm serious.

The eroge genre. It would be like Yakuza but with less punching and more donkey-punching.

I'm imagining that right now and freaking out a little.

@soapy86: yeah i agree mario wouldnt be bad with a hub world that actually had a bunch of stuff to do in it but where mario shines is in level design on a smaller scale where they can do real specific stuff so i'd hate to lose that kind of thing.

Open World Jurassic Park game please.

I'd still like a nice, open hub-based Mega Man game.

I think any game that focuses on exploration could benefit from going open world.

I'd like to see Half-Life 3 go a lot more open, even if it still stays essentially linear.

this, a BILLION TIMES!!!!!!!

I agree, but I don't think you have to choose necessarily. Think about something like Skyrim, how there are these points of interest all over that world. Replace Skyrim with a bright, colorful, Mario-style world and replace all of those caves and forts and towns with "levels" that just sort of exist in the world.

You could benefit from being open world!

Boom.

I actually thought about what an open-world Mega Man would be like an hour ago, before I saw this topic. I would buy the shit out of that game, Capcom.

Tom Goes To The Mayor; Kanye, The Olympics 2016.. Cooking Mama..

sexually arousing idea is sexually arousing

The thought of this can cure even the most severe cases of erectile dysfunction.

@soapy86: ok im in.

The limb system

"Open World" is design choice where these things need to be decided at pre-production, or earlier, because this shapes how the game behaves and performs. Its kind of crazy to ask this question because that would be like asking "What if Halo was set Sword and Sorcery Fantasy setting instead?" as if it was just a casual switch to be flipped.

OP took the best one, pokemon would be the best thing for a open world.

Cant really think of any that would benefit from an open world, Any type of RPG should be open world imo.

Would like a Warhammer or Warhammer 40k open world game. Would be neat to just get plopped down on a planet with your squad of Space marines and told to survive. Could be some sort of training exercise or something where they purposfully place aliens on the planet to test you. Kind of like the predators coming to earth to kill aliens in the AVP fiction. Hell, a truly open world AVP would be neat. You get dropped onto a small island and have to survive. You pick what side you want to be on and go.

You realize that's Deadly Premonition right? Open world town by day, load into scripted corridor crawls for the "scary" parts as needed.

Indeed, and I'm living proof.

Seriously, the only thing I hated about Alan Wake was that it didn't let me shower in the milk of its world. They give you a whiff of the SEXY trailer park during day time where the waitress lived and then mercilessly snatch you away.

The problem with open world games, and I do enjoy the game type, is that many are very lax on the story progression. If there is a sense of urgency as there might be for a more linear game, then deviating from that to do something mundane breaks the immersion. This was one of the issues people had with Mass Effect 3. Yes, the world is being destroyed but I can take a few days off to go fetch some trinket for some nobody. Side quests feel very "gamey", however open world titles often require you to do some of the side stuff in order to progress at a natural pace. Side quests have taken the place of grinding but their purpose is still the same. Get more XP and get more loot for the coming main quests. Most game studios don't take the time or have the resources to create rich and satisfying side quests that add to the main quest or further explore aspects of it.

Too many games don't have enough story as is. Taking a franchise which is already lean on plot development and spreading it out over an open world canvas loses what ever tension it originally had.

But it doesn't have the eye candy Alan Wake has. It would also be amazing to know more of the lore by traversing town, hearing characters and finding clues.

The Mega Man Legends games were open world. Though they were a little primitive, there were villages, side quests, an xp based leveling system, dungeons and loot to gather.

I kind of can't believe there has yet to be an open world Matrix game. There was the MMO, but... For obvious reasons that didn't scratch the itch. The tech wasn't there in the movie release windows, but now... Oh man. Just keep the Brothers far, far away from it.

And yeah, Pokemon is another head scratcher. Nintendo has never really made THE Pokemon game for a home console. Seems like a home run/reason to print money. Maybe they're just holding back for a Skylanders type platform to tie into it.

I would also like to see the "character action" genre go more open and cohesive.

Sonic the Hedgehog. Imagine a Green Hill WORLD!

@monetarydread: Yeah, what I'm imagining could maybe be the next installment of the Legends series, but I'm seeing the gameplay crossing over more with the first games. You'd have a main hub area, the "Dr Light zone" or whatever, and you'd travel out in different directions to take on each boss (sort of like Shadow of the Colossus). You'd have to pass through a really difficult zone of combat and platforming to get to each, but end up with their special power after beating them. I see it as basically Dark Souls with robots.

OP is right, pokemon would be amazing. And I'm sure that over this next generation open worlds will only get incredibly better, I mean look at the difference from something like GTA3 to the open worlds that are coming now. Yeah, still the same basic framework, but a whole lot more interesting and filled with stuff to do.

I would play that.

I still have no idea how that Pokemon game hasn't been made. It would sell so many consoles.

I'm excited about The Witcher, Dragon Age (possible) and Assassin's Creed (open oceans). I don't think it's necessarily the right thing to do for any of those franchises, but it'll be interesting to see them switch things up like that.

I don't know man The Witcher 3 has me pretty damn excited for going completely open world.