Open VS Closed world

 All Images on this page was taken on my Iponone

 

Open world

An open world game is a select type of gaming design where the player can free roam through a map in a virtual world. The gamer is given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives. The term “free roam” can also be called a Sandbox type of gaming. These types of games suggest the absence of artificial barriers. In contrast to the invisible walls and loading screens that are common in liner level designs. The term sandbox game is used incorrectly, as a sandbox is where the player has the capabilities to modify the world themselves and create how they play. Open world games still enforce some restrictions in the game as environment, either due to the absolute technical limitations or in-game limitations such as locked buildings or areas that completely restricts the player from going into those areas. A good example is Fallout New Vegas.  

Closed world

Closed world gaming is the opposite in many ways to an open world game, as you can’t explore massive worlds. The only thing you can do is follow the main story quest line, with little side extra’s such as bonus’s and awards. These games can take very little time to complete with restrictions forcing you to stay inside the story quest line. A good example is Naruto Ninja storm generations game.

Open World Games and completion time	VS	Closed world games and completion time
Skyrim- an estimated 400 hours will take roughly sixteen days playing nonstop		DragonballZ Ultimate Tenkiachi-  An estimated 29 Hours just over a day playing nonstop
Fallout New Vegas- an estimated 100 hours roughly four days playing nonstop		Naruto Ninja Storm Generations- 15 Hours nearly a whole day playing nonstop
Suikoden V- an estimated 40 Hours nearly two days of playing nonstop		Halo Reach- An estimated 8 hours, not even half a day
Fallout 3- an estimate 60 Hours nearly three days of Playing Nonstop		Pokemon Emerald- An estimated 22 hours nearly a full day of playing nonstop
Oblivion- an estimated 300 Hours nearly 12 days of playing Nonstop		Naruto Ninja Storm- 2 An estimate 26 hours just over a day of nonstop gameplay.

From the chart above we can clearly see a massive difference in time it takes to completely ‘clock’ (complete) the games shown. There are untold more but I selected these games as they are ‘tried and tested’ by myself. Suikoden V was released in 2006 and has the smallest amount of time it takes to ‘clock’ with Fallout 3 ahead of it by twenty hours. Oblivion and Skyrim both go well over two hundred hours of gameplay which can considered games worth buying as they will be well worth your money in the context of how long it can take to complete.  

Also from the chart we can see the closed world take much less time to complete than any of the open world games. Closed world games are short yet still fulfilled with some special features that open world game do not incorporate.

As the shortest game in the closed world chart, Halo Reach is one of the best as it allows play against four of your friends in a gun battle, making this game very popular even though it has a very short story. Personally, if I just wanted to play the story and complete everything I would save money if I just rented the game out from a video store. Pokemon Emerald is the exception as you can’t rent it out as the game itself plays a small part in a massive chain of other Pokemon games.      

With the large gap in amounts of time it takes to clock games of both open and closed world, I can honestly say that open world games will give you value for money. The closed world games are good if you are following a series line like the Naruto and Pokemon games then buy them as they will keep you more entertained than it takes time to clock the game.     

Another thing to note is in open world they have the basic fighting mechanics in the game but don’t seem to excel as deeply as Naruto, DragonballZ and other games of one-on-one fighting. The depth of fighting is a lot better where Halo joins the open world in the fighting mechanics of the game. The fighting in Naruto and Dragonballz is a lot more complex and fun where a simple attack can be pushing three or more buttons thus causing these types of games to be called ‘button mashers’ – the name explains itself. To make up for the lack of things to do in the main part of the game they have a side part called free battle or training dojo, or other types of names where you have a set back round and you fight the opponent or computer. Perfect way to kill time without getting involved in the story.