Sleeping Dogs is the best open world game you've not played.
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00:00Los Santos, Liberty City, and Vice City promise some of the best open-world gaming experiences
00:05that money can buy, but they're hardly unparalleled in scope or even ambition.
00:10And, dare it be said, are even surpassed in some realms by other, better alternatives.
00:15Because I'm Sy for WhatCulture.com and here are the 10 best GTA games that aren't GTA games.
00:22Number 10, the Watch Dogs series.
00:24Ubisoft's Watch Dogs sits in a weird middle ground when it comes to assessing what the
00:28world of GTA-alikes has to offer.
00:31The series, three games strong at this point, has never enjoyed outward critical acclaim
00:35on the scale of some of the games present on this list, but conversely the trilogy isn't
00:39perched below the baseline of what's considered average either.
00:42That being the case, Watch Dogs doesn't have as much universal appeal Ubisoft games rarely
00:47do as its contemporaries.
00:49If you adore open-world action-adventure, that's not a guarantee you'll instantly love Ubisoft's
00:54attempts to combine the genre with stealth-oriented trappings.
00:57Metal Gear Solid this ain't, but Watch Dogs offers novelty in spades as far as sandboxes
01:02go thanks to its sleuthing antics complemented by various gameplay systems based around hacking
01:07afforded to it by its quasi-futuristic setting.
01:10Yes, it can be finicky and not a single entry in the trilogy has a particularly memorable plot,
01:15but if you're in the market for an open-ended experience that dares to do something different
01:19other than directly Ape GTA, then there's a lot to love here, especially for the tech savvy.
01:24Number 9, Red Faction Guerrilla.
01:27Combine Graham Greene's short story The Destructors with an extraterrestrial setting and you've
01:31pretty much got the basic framework of what Red Faction Guerrilla is all about.
01:35While the series' third entry does away with the terrain destruction and alteration present
01:39in its predecessors, Volition made said sacrifice to refocus their efforts on delivering structural
01:44annihilation on a scale previously unseen.
01:47As Alex Mason, players can methodically or explosively dismantle essentially any man-made
01:53structure they're presented with.
01:54Give in to your inner anarchist and just devolve into wanton destruction without actually assisting
01:59the titular Red Faction in overthrowing an oppressive regime if you so desire.
02:03But you'd be doing yourself a disservice in ignoring Guerrilla's main course as its
02:07Geo Mod 2.0 engine opens up a wealth of possibilities on how to approach mandatory and optional missions.
02:13In lesser games, you'd have to don a disguise to get through an enemy checkpoint unnoticed
02:17and infiltrate their stronghold.
02:19In Guerrilla, you can destroy said checkpoint and headquarters with little more than hardy
02:23construction tools and explosives worth more than the GDP of an entire country.
02:27The reward?
02:28Witnessing silly human buildings becoming a hail of debris before your very eyes.
02:34Number 8, Sleeping Dogs.
02:36At least during a time when gamers were growing bored of visiting the same handful of North American
02:40cities time and time again, sleeping dogs like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed champion an
02:45altogether different culture and setting to let players loose in.
02:49Indeed, protagonist Wei Shen's trials and tribulations as an undercover cop in the former
02:53largely take a backseat to the world around him, itself presented in painstakingly realistic
02:58detail.
02:59Modern day Hong Kong represented something of an alien playground for long-time action-adventure
03:04fans just as Assassin's Creed 1's Holy Land had before it.
03:07This is a not insignificant achievement for United Front Games who had only had the obscure
03:12Mod Nation races under their belt before joining up with Square Enix to deliver Sleeping Dogs.
03:17That's not to say that Shen's story is throwaway by any means.
03:20Sleeping Dogs was quite rightly lauded for its authentic voice acting and characterisation,
03:24but it's the setting, together with thoroughly enjoyable combat and progression systems,
03:28that make it one of the 2010's biggest surprise hits which is worth revisiting time and time
03:33again.
03:34Number 7, The Just Cause series.
03:36Just Cause is stupid, in the best way possible.
03:40Excluding the series' first entry, that is, which delivered a more muted experience, Avalanche
03:44Studios made the genius decision to distance subsequent sequels from Rockstar's flagship
03:49franchise by doing away with any concept of realism and going all in on absurdity.
03:54Released just two years after Grand Theft Auto 4, Just Cause 2 capitalised on criticisms
03:59of too much realism levied at the former, becoming a bombastic alternative.
04:03A reputation that Avalanche has successfully nurtured ever since.
04:07Protagonist Rico Rodriguez isn't so much a secret agent as he is a bona fide superhero,
04:12able to pull off feet far beyond anything James Bond could boast, and it's all largely
04:16thanks to a simple grappling hook.
04:18Traversal, or more accurately, discovery of the myriad ways Rico can get around whatever
04:22island he happens to be liberating is the core of Just Cause's entertainment factor.
04:27This is, after all, a series that lets players surf passenger planes and pay homage to Doctor
04:31Strangelove by riding literal missiles as if they were Kong himself.
04:36Number 6, L.A. Noire.
04:38Barring it at the time groundbreaking facial recognition tech, everything else in L.A.
04:42Noire feels a little stiff and clinical.
04:44It's a quirk of the game that's hard to qualify beyond that, but suffice it to say that it often
04:49feels like Team Bondi had to make concessions elsewhere in the game to ensure its key gameplay
04:53hook stuck the landing.
04:55Whatever sacrifices, if any, had to be made, Cole Phelps' believable rise from patrol officer
05:00to detective in 1940s Los Angeles is deftly handled, delivering a story that's arguably
05:05far better than anything Grand Theft Auto has ever produced.
05:09The accompanying open world components, on the other hand, are bare bones by comparison,
05:13but Phelps can explore downtown L.A. during his downtime between cases, and is rewarded for
05:18doing so with chance encounters with NPCs and shiny new cars to show off to his colleagues.
05:23In a perfect world where Bondi had infinite time and resources, stumbling upon optional
05:27criminal cases not tied to the campaign while out and about would have substantially extended
05:32L.A. Noire's longevity.
05:34But what's here is still worth the visit.
05:36Number 5, Mad Max.
05:39Taking a time out from Just Cause in 2015, Avalanche managed to secure the lucrative gig of creating
05:44a Mad Max tie-in to capitalise on Fury Road's release in the same year.
05:48Despite their proximity, however, the two share little in terms of narrative.
05:52Avalanche's adaptation largely uses the IP to tell a standalone story about everyone's
05:57favourite post-apocalyptic anti-hero.
05:59One would think that using said setting as the foundation for an open-ended title would
06:03prove dreary and empty.
06:04But Avalanche sidesteps that trap, centering its world progression around Max's dearly
06:08beloved magnum opus.
06:10The car can undergo a dizzying number of upgrades via materials scavenged in numerous ways,
06:15namely by hijacking the right of scavengers and using their parts to improve the magnum's
06:19performance.
06:20Outside that, Mad Max borrows heavily from Ubisoft's Far Cry series by utilising a territorial
06:25threat system.
06:26Complete enough objectives in one zone and you'll ultimately set up an encounter with its leader,
06:31vanquish them to gain control of their stronghold, and a raft of gameplay benefits.
06:35That, combined with survival light systems such as limited ammo and fuel for the magnum,
06:39make Mad Max a markedly different experience compared to its contemporaries.
06:44Number 4, Red Dead Redemption 2.
06:47Red Dead Redemption 2 pushed the boundaries of everything thought possible, not just in
06:51its native genre, but the medium as a whole.
06:54The temptation to wax lyrical over everything great about Arthur Morgan's heart-wrenching
06:58story is oh so difficult to resist.
07:01Chances are, you already know, directly or otherwise, the level of utmost care and attention
07:05afforded to every facet of Rockstar's tribute to the Old West, but it came at a cost.
07:10Reports of crunch culture needed to make Rockstar's dream a reality flew thick and fast following
07:15the sequel's release, calling into question if a game of such quality was justified if
07:20it meant putting the physical and mental health of employees at risk to do so.
07:24It's a debate that still, and in fact should, rage today.
07:27Despite the backdrop of Red Dead Redemption 2 earning its label as one of the greatest games
07:32of all time, even if it does indulge a little too much in realism for the sake of immersion.
07:37Had its online component followed closer in GTA Online's footsteps and placed greater
07:41emphasis on heists and the building of a criminal empire, it would have GTA V beaten in every
07:46respect.
07:47Number 3, The Saboteur.
07:50Another win for non-American settings.
07:51The Saboteur is likely the most unfamiliar entry here, but certainly through no fault of
07:56its own.
07:56Yes, the game's modest budget is often too blatant to ignore, but dig deeper than the
08:00wobbly visual fidelity and questionable voice acting and you'll find a novel, rare exploration
08:05of civilian life at the height of World War II in a format not glamorised a la Call of Duty.
08:11Unwittingly drawn into the French Resistance following the murder of his best friend at the
08:15hands of an SS officer, Irish immigrant and former race car driver Sean Devlin becomes
08:19an instrumental figure in helping to liberate Paris from German occupation.
08:23By disrupting the regime's operations through various means, Sean can sequentially liberate
08:28portions of France's capital, driving out its unwelcome visitors.
08:32Think Far Cry's outpost liberation system, but better and with more variation.
08:36A fantastic visual representation of this oppression-turned-liberation is Pandemic's decision to have
08:41Paris initially presented in only black and white.
08:44As Sean liberates sections of the city, colour seats back in, restoring the city of love to
08:49its former glory, piece by piece.
08:51Sadly, Pandemic closed its doors for good following the release of the Saboteur, so
08:55it unlikely will ever see a sequel.
08:58Number 2, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt.
09:01It took CD Projekt Red 3 games to get there, but everything it learned about open-world action
09:05RPGs finally culminated with The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt in 2015.
09:10Bursting with superbly written dialogue, unparallied characterisation of the narrative's major players,
09:15and commendable if slightly lacking combat, every major component of the third outing mixed perfectly
09:21to deliver a concoction smoother than butter itself.
09:24Strictly speaking, Wild Hunt is an outlier here, as its setting doesn't exactly exhibit
09:28overt similarities to GTA, though both titles prioritise player freedom outside of their
09:33respective campaigns.
09:35You're free to go and do whatever you please when not actively searching for series whereabouts,
09:39and, thanks to the added gameplay depth that RPG systems allow, can curate Geralt's attire,
09:45powers, and moral compass to your liking.
09:47If your adoration of GTA is born specifically from its setting and satirist nature, Wild Hunt
09:52might not be your cup of tea.
09:53On the other hand, if a well-realised fictional world reinforced with exploration and industry-best
09:58writing is your bread and butter, then The Witcher 3 is here to suit your every need.
10:03Number 1, The Saints Row Series.
10:05Grand Theft Auto isn't exactly renowned for taking itself too seriously.
10:10The series has always had a love affair with parodying American culture, after all.
10:14But compared to Saints Row, Rockstar's, billion-dollar franchise's, high-brow academia,
10:19just like Avalanche with Just Cause, Volition took a look at GTA's DNA under the microscope
10:23and decided it could do with some alterations, namely dialing the absurdity way beyond healthy
10:29levels.
10:30For over a decade, Volition has been throwing caution to the wind with increasingly outlandish
10:34premises with every new instalment.
10:36Thanks to dated gameplay and performance woes, the 2022 reboot sadly failed to reach the high
10:41of its predecessors, with the mid-2010s offering Saints Row 4 and its standalone expansion Gat
10:46Out of Hell, still considered to be the pinnacle of zany the IP has become primarily known for.
10:52Time travel, computer simulations, and even off-world shenanigans, there's no trope the series
10:56developer will hesitate to commandeer in the name of entertainment because, not to digress,
11:01it just doesn't care about being serious.
11:04Saints Row delights in billing itself as the ultimate digital playground, and Rockstar could
11:08stand to learn a thing or two from GTA's closest relative.