Games where you can go Exploring

[11killer11]

I know i'm not the only one.

Are there any games out there besides missions and storyline driven that you could actually just explore the land (being cities or anything else for that matter)? Besides the obvious ones such as GTA: San Andreas, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I don't care if their first or third person view.

I bring this up because I'm researching Deus Ex for the PS2 and it just brings to mind that some games are not (you have to take this path) games.

EDIT:
I'm probably not that clear at the moment so let me explain it a little more. I mean a game where you can just walk around and see how things react to certain situations, see if things are breakable or not, see if you can do something that wasn't intended to do, find something odd.

[jcalder8]

If you jump the pole in Super Mario Bros you can go Exploring

[Zthun]

I know i'm not the only one.

Are there any games out there besides missions and storyline driven that you could actually just explore the land (being cities or anything else for that matter)? Besides the obvious ones such as GTA: San Andreas, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I don't care if their first or third person view.

I bring this up because I'm researching Deus Ex for the PS2 and it just brings to mind that some games are not (you have to take this path) games.

EDIT:
I'm probably not that clear at the moment so let me explain it a little more. I mean a game where you can just walk around and see how things react to certain situations, see if things are breakable or not, see if you can do something that wasn't intended to do, find something odd.

Spiderman games I think. Jak 2 was another.

Do you mean games that give you everything from the start?

[11killer11]

Spiderman games I think. Jak 2 was another.

Do you mean games that give you everything from the start?

It could go either way on that question, I don't really mind.

[Rob2600]

Body Harvest and Space Station: Silicon Valley on the N64, and any Legend of Zelda game.

[StetsonGraves]

Jak 2 and 3 were like that.

Far Cry 2 has a ridiculously huge world but I wouldn't recommend that game to anyone.

Then there are the obvious Fallout 3, Morrowind, Oblivion etc. If you don't mind it being a little more closed off I highly recommend Psychonauts.

[PapaStu]

In going places you shouldn't be going, Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3 all have nice little easter eggs in spots for your exploration above and beyond the call of duty.

If you're talking about the 'open world' game, you can also just go and sink a million hours into Just Cause is the first that springs to mind. God the world in that game is huge. Far Cry/FC redux / Far Cry 2 also fit the bill of ZOMG huge world to dabble in.

The Smugglers Run games on the PS2 have a big open drive area to them (not huge by todays means, but at the time, those were some big fields). The Burnout Series has that as well.

Red Faction Guerilla, Mercenaries 2, are both good 'at your leisure' open world games that arn't GTA.

[Zthun]

Jak 2 and 3 were like that.

Far Cry 2 has a ridiculously huge world but I wouldn't recommend that game to anyone.

Then there are the obvious Fallout 3, Morrowind, Oblivion etc. If you don't mind it being a little more closed off I highly recommend Psychonauts.

Fallout 1 and 2 had a lot of this as well.

[Sonicwolf]

EDIT:
I'm probably not that clear at the moment so let me explain it a little more. I mean a game where you can just walk around and see how things react to certain situations, see if things are breakable or not, see if you can do something that wasn't intended to do, find something odd.

I seem to remember something about a microwave casserole in Half Life. Something about blowing it up inside the microwave in one of the rooms.

There is the room in the castle in Zelda OoT in which you encounter young Princess Zelda. If you look around, there are photos of Mario characters in the courthouse windows and if you shoot your slingshot into the window, a guard will get mad at you and throw a bomb.

[BetaWolf47]

Pilotwings 64, one of my favorite exploration games.