14 DAY TRIAL // In the last few weeks, the games industry has seen fit to launch all sorts of blockbuster games across many different platforms. Among them, quite a few offered huge open worlds that could be explored as fast or as slow as possible.
From the Thedas of Dragon Age: Inquisition, to the Kyrat of Far Cry 4, the Paris of Assassin's Creed Unity, the North America of Assassin's Creed Rogue, or the Los Santos of Grand Theft Auto 5 on new consoles, players eager to explore virtual environments have a lot to choose from.
I personally experienced almost all of them for the reviews of the aforementioned games, but due to the urgency of materials, I had to speed right through them.
Moving fast through the huge worlds
The scope of Paris was staggering at first, but after unlocking the fast travel system, I was soon zipping from one story mission to another, while enduring the lengthy loading screens. Rogue's North America was a bit tiresome, due to the whole naval navigation aspect, but at least the sea shanties sung by my crew made time pass more quickly.
My return to Los Santos and Blaine County in GTA 5 for the Xbox One wasn't as long as my initial foray last year was, but at least I managed to see what the world can look like when running on more powerful hardware than the PS3 or Xbox 360.
Last but not least, Kyrat was a joy to explore, but more or less, I was often hunting for the next gyrocopter that's scattered across the map, as it made traversing larger zones much easier, even though I wasn't able to admire some of the random things that happen in Far Cry 4's huge world.
Taking your time is great but can get tiresome
Right now, I'm taking my time in Dragon Age: Inquisition and I have to admit that the huge world of BioWare's RPG is getting a bit tiresome.
I have already spent an ungodly amount of time right in the first zone, the Hinterlands, and now I'm exploring a few other hot spots from the Ferelden side of the area, more or less because the last monsters and rifts in the Hinterlands are way too powerful.
Afterwards, I'm going to the Orlais side of the map and I know that I haven't even seen some of the much larger zones from the sprawling role-playing experience.
Enjoy other games to break the routine
While I'll certainly explore it in its entirety, things can get a bit tedious after a while. As such, I really like to sprinkle a few other games to act as palate cleansers, so to say. From Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, to even Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Say what you want about linear stories and levels but they can often feel refreshing after wandering around a zone searching for certain quest objectives.
How are you coping with the huge open world games that launch nowadays? Share your impressions and opinions below by leaving a comment.
