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[Fafalada]

EA already tried the freeroaming thing in SSX 3. It was boring to slooooowly make your way to the next track, and it seemed to be there just for the whole mountain races, which were good, but not good enough to justify the tedium of physically going everywhere instead of just using the menu to zap your way there.

That'complete nonsense. In SSX3 you can jump to any race, at any time, without ever roaming anywhere at all.

Thing is - if player was really forced to roam everywhere, then I'd agree it would be a bad idea in a game like SSX, but you just arent't. On the other hand, the fact that you're always moving around this one big world (whether through menus or roaming) DOES work in terms of making the game world 10x more immersive then any of the previous games in the series. SSX3 nailed this part down pretty much as good as it gets (Now if only we could say something like that about their track designs... ).

 

[AlphaSnake]

Darien: I own TXR for DC and PS2. Finding races in a TXR game was cake. All you had to do was drive straight for a little bit and that's it.

 

[KarishBHR]

I don't know how people can complain about SSX3. If you wanted you could play the game without free-roaming at all.

It was also the best console game of last year... so no need to complain

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

That'complete nonsense. In SSX3 you can jump to any race, at any time, without ever roaming anywhere at all.

Thing is - if player was really forced to roam everywhere, then I'd agree it would be a bad idea in a game like SSX, but you just arent't. On the other hand, the fact that you're always moving around this one big world (whether through menus or roaming) DOES work in terms of making the game world 10x more immersive then any of the previous games in the series. SSX3 nailed this part down pretty much as good as it gets (Now if only we could say something like that about their track designs... ).

It's not complete nonsense, because the game did expect you to roam everywhere to do those poorly designed, inane challenges. Collect x number of this thingie! Wooo! You didn't have to do them (and I didn't do many because they were terrible), but the free roaming thing changed the kind of content in the game. There were less actual tracks due to the linking together of everything. In an arcadey racing/trick snowboarder, immersion is not my concern, fun is. I played Tricky for months, but I only played SSX 3 for a week.

 

[Ranger X]

GTA = big sales
All other devellopers are like "why?" - "freeraom!"
And then all other games then to follow the trend.

Oh man, another problem caused by money. Money is pure evil.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I'm with you until GTA officially goes multiplayer. Then free-roaming will rock once more.

*boots up GTA1*

 

[Vitten]

Are you the same guys that yell " TOO LINEAR !!!" when a game doesn't have free-roaming ?? No pleasing some people...

 

[belgurdo]

Are you the same guys that yell " TOO LINEAR !!!" when a game doesn't have free-roaming ?? No pleasing some people...

I second this sentiment

 

[Gek54]

There were less actual tracks due to the linking together of everything.

Less tracks? Umm....no.

 

[DarienA]

Darien: I own TXR for DC and PS2. Finding races in a TXR game was cake. All you had to do was drive straight for a little bit and that's it.

Until it's later in the game it is. Then again from what I've seen in the NFSU2 demo it isn't that hard to find races. Sorry Alpha I simply found your post to be whining for the sake of whining. Nothing personal.

 

[Dyne]

Oh man, that was soooo fucking awesome. Shame the actual racing in Rush 2 sucked. What i'd like to see - remake of Rush 1 + Rush 2's stunt mode.

All of the courses in Rush 2 were stunt mode! But yeah, the specific stunt track was awesome. I memorized it and everything.

 

[djtiesto]

Hmm... good to see some people finally agree with me I prefer to have an objective with my games, I hate just simply "wasting time" in them... Wandering around a huge, sparse environment with poor control isn't too exciting for me.

 

[dark10x]

It's not complete nonsense, because the game did expect you to roam everywhere to do those poorly designed, inane challenges. Collect x number of this thingie! Wooo! You didn't have to do them (and I didn't do many because they were terrible), but the free roaming thing changed the kind of content in the game. There were less actual tracks due to the linking together of everything. In an arcadey racing/trick snowboarder, immersion is not my concern, fun is. I played Tricky for months, but I only played SSX 3 for a week.

Well fine, then it's just you. Most people didn't have a problem with the game...

I thought Tricky was an insult to SSX and was glad that they left that goofy crap behind...

SSX3 was a much better game IMO.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

That'complete nonsense. In SSX3 you can jump to any race, at any time, without ever roaming anywhere at all.

Thing is - if player was really forced to roam everywhere, then I'd agree it would be a bad idea in a game like SSX, but you just arent't. On the other hand, the fact that you're always moving around this one big world (whether through menus or roaming) DOES work in terms of making the game world 10x more immersive then any of the previous games in the series. SSX3 nailed this part down pretty much as good as it gets (Now if only we could say something like that about their track designs... ).

Agree 100%. The track designs left a LOT to be desired. SSX Tricky is still king in the series, the showoff levels were insanely good.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Well fine, then it's just you. Most people didn't have a problem with the game...

I thought Tricky was an insult to SSX and was glad that they left that goofy crap behind...

SSX3 was a much better game IMO.

Agree 100%. The track designs left a LOT to be desired. SSX Tricky is still king in the series, the showoff levels were insanely good.

Haha, totally opposite opinions on the matter. Tricky's levels still rock the house...gotta pick it up on the cheap sometime. I've already played through the game twice, but I want to do it again...I love the game that much. Best sports game of this gen, hands down.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

I think the devs shifting the focus to a 'one mountain you can explore' sort of GTA thing took focus away from track design, mostly in the showoff/trick tracks which were overall much shorter and weaker than in Tricky. I'd rather have a bunch of good individual tracks than a couple short ones that link to one another.

Bingo. I loved SSX Tricky cause of the showoff mode and how well made/fun the course designs were in this mode. SSX3's showoff stuff (which there wasn't enough off, and Big air stuff sucked) was horrible, horrible designs, and way too short.

 

[isamu]

Free-roaming is single handedly ruining gaming if you ask me. Developers have taken a royal shit on creativity and are now releasing copious amounts of free-roaming games. GTAIII blew the trend up. Tony Hawk, Jak II, Need for Speed have now followed, as have abother another dozen popular franchises. I don't have interest in driving around in an open world. I don't want to search for a race. I don't want to search for the damn garage shop.

In some games it fits. In others, it just doesn't. The feature seems to be tacked on for the sake of being tacked because it's the new "it" thing in the industry. Surely I can't be the only one who's downright sick of free roaming. I prefer the linearity. I prefer having the game's options laid out right in front of me; I don't want to drive miles and miles to find a fucking garage so I can buy parts.

Argh.

Great post Alpha. Couldn't have said it better my friend.

To be fair however, developers were already exploiting the idea of free roaming/non linear gameplay off the heels of Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider. Those two titles in my opinion, are responsible for the plight we face today

 

[Bizarro Sun Yat-sen]

Seems to me that "free-roaming" games were more common back when, before the trend towards linear, story-based games in the nineties. Now apparently the trend is back towards the old free-roaming style again, but probably in the future there will be a resurgence of the linear style and the cycle will continue.

 

[Fafalada]

It's not complete nonsense, because the game did expect you to roam everywhere to do those poorly designed, inane challenges.

I didn't care much for the challenges either - but even for them you barely have to free roam - when not in race you can also transfer to individual parts of each track from menu, rather then ski around them.

Haha, totally opposite opinions on the matter

And just to proove that opinions are a dime a dozen I actually kinda like showoff stuff in SSX3(not my main interest though). For me, it was the race track designs that took a dive for the worse

 

[Red Dolphin]

Oh man, that was soooo fucking awesome. Shame the actual racing in Rush 2 sucked. What i'd like to see - remake of Rush 1 + Rush 2's stunt mode.

I would LOVE this game. Also throw in Rush 2049's stunt levels and make the cars control like the cars in the Burnout series. Hell I'd love to see Criterion make a new Rush game. Or a callobration with whoever made Rush.

 

[Sai]

It's very funny to me that I've learned to be so cautious with free-roaming games this generation, because during the early days of the Saturn/PSone I wished there were more of them so badly. Games that give you a great deal of freedom. I think I can say that Zelda OOT was the first game that gave me this kind of feeling. It wasn't perfect, of course, but it was the first game I played that gave me a taste of it.

When it's done wrong... The world is open, very expansive-- but there is no clear objective. You are put into a large world that is supposed make to make you feel like you are not being restricted, but at the same time you feel horribly limited because there's shit to do. Limited interaction, nothing to do throughout the journey, it just becomes less and less fun after getting over the size of the world you're in.

Maybe I wouldn't mind it so much if things were different, maybe I wouldn't be so cautious of games like this if not for my change in attitude, schedule-- overall lifestyle. I wasn't even in Middle School when I was hoping for games like GTA3, now I'm horribly busy with work and family, putting games on the side when I get a bit of free time. It could be that I simply don't have that kind of patience anymore.

... Sorry if I just re-worded what others have already stated in this thread. I hate doing that, but it's a topic I've been thinkin' about for a while. Had to say my piece.

 

[norinrad21]

Personally I love the GBA as there are no free roaming games on it if any at all, makes these people more creative. Free Roaming games are boring and hardly worth playing, they usually seem shallow.

 

[etiolate]

I think the best games find a middle gorund between staunch linearity and the free-roaming method. They normally have a strong yet flexible main quest with many side quests and activities to break up the action with. You don't want a game that feels like a body without a skeleton to hold it up.

 

[dark10x]

Tried the NFSU2 demo last...

Now THAT is a game that didn't need free-roaming.

The game controls very poorly, the sense of speed is gone, and the game just feels pointless. It isn't the same thing!

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Personally I love the GBA as there are no free roaming games on it if any at all, makes these people more creative. Free Roaming games are boring and hardly worth playing, they usually seem shallow.

GTA GBA