DICE: Most sandbox games are “boring” and “hard to get into”

By John Callaham

Don’t expect DICE’s Battlefield 3 to be in a sandbox-style at all. Speaking to Edge, DICE executive producer producer Patrick Bach has said campaign-building is all about the straight and narrow.

“I don’t see that as the only way of building games, because then we wouldn’t build campaigns at all,” said Bach, speaking of sandbox dev.

Battlefield 3’s single-player campaign will more closely resemble the more linear type of gameplay made popular by Call of Duty.

Bach added that, while there are good games that have a sandbox theme, “In most cases sandbox games are hardcore, boring, hard to get into and they are not very popular.”

It will be interesting to see how Battlefield 3’s more linear campaign will stack up to whatever Activision has in store for the next, and as-yet unannounced, Call of Duty game.

Both shooters are due out sometime this fall. Meanwhile, a 12 minute trailer for Battlefield 3 will be released on April 17.

Comments