Open World or Linear? The two main styles of level and game design. Both offer great and exciting experiences in games, but which one is better? Is it the one with a better story or the one with more options?
Xbox 360 launched 18 years ago and was a generation-defining console that invited many people to jump into gaming for the first time and connect with friends around the world. We’re thrilled people continue playing their favorite Xbox 360 games on Xbox 360, or on newer consoles via Backward Compatibility for supported titles.
"we believe in game preservation"
Remember the media reaction when PlayStation wanted to shut down the PS3 store (but then kept it open)... where is that reaction here?
RIP Xbox 360 digital store and all its games.
It really grinds my gears that they are waiting till 10 days before closing to give the best discounts and the list as of now is 100 or less titles from the massive 360 library
I should have enough points by the weekend to get £25 credit off MS, (hardly ever spend money on xb1), might look at a few of these.
The Xbox 360 store was one of the only advantages the Xbox Series consoles had over the PS5. When I got my series X, I spent more playing Xbox 360 games vs current-gen Xbox games since that was the golden era for Xbox and several titles had enhancements such as 4k resolution and fps boost.
Closing this store will now only benefit the competition.
From hunting ghosts to fighting it out in gladiatorial arenas, there are many underrated PS2 games you should check out in the goldmine.
Kudos for putting Kill.Switch and Chao Legion on the list. I love those games and agree they're underrated. Kill.Switch is one of my fav shooters on the PS2.
Backward compatibility works for many games on newer consoles, but titles such as The Simpsons: Hit and Run have been left out.
Wait...when you talk about open world you might have to more specific, cause it could mean a lot of things. Unless of course you mean sandbox games.
I say this because I've come to understand linear games as level by level, you get no choice in the matter. Like, a game like Mushroom Men, complete level one, move on, level two, move on, etc. and then there is a game like Super Mario Galaxy (or heck Super Mario 64) where you get to choose everything you want to do, get everything, get the bare minimum etc.
On the other side, you can even argue that an "open world" game is a linear game because while you have the freedom to do as you please, you really don't, everything is still scripted, the story and events halt until you do the very next planned event.
I'm just saying that in a sense, we aren't really looking at too different types of games, just ones with a different interfaces but overall, similar experiences. Like...what if Mirror's Edge had been open world, and you can jump all over the city and whatnot. Would that have made the game better or worse? Probably neither, it just would have been different, maybe only appealing to a slightly different audience. Heck, if you were to ask one of the game professors at my University, he would probably say we haven't reached open world gaming until we can make the AI making the story and being affected by the players actions because even in "open world" games, the players are going to receive similar experiences based on what the developers want.
Oh, and as for "open world" games putting the player in charge...that's what game designers want you to think, if they are good, they're more likely using subtle techniques that perk senses of curiosity to make you do what they want. If the game is good, then that means the developer never let you leave what they intended and you are completely at their mercy like some kind of mind controlled sock puppet (muwhahahahaha)
next gen games expecially open worldgames are lacking major content.
pfft,MORE expeience goes to Open worldsandbox games but overall EXPERIENCE in depth then LINEAR FTW!
but will shall see wen inFAMOUS hits if you can combine great story depth with sanbox roaming.
You get more variety. Each scene is a picture to remember. Each chapter could be a different world.