When I hear "ahead of its time" I like to think that it only qualifies titles that failed to be appreciated in their time because they contained groundbreaking features that were unfortunately limited in execution either thanks to its contemporary technical limitations, plain development hell holding back the polish needed, or a mixture of both.
I kind of like to think of Sim Copter as the first modern 3D open world sandbox game (that isn't an RPG). That game came out in 1996, before even the first top-down GTA was out, and it featured fully fleshed out cities populated with traffic and NPCs which you could explore and interact with, and you could exit your helicopter to traverse on foot. There had been other kinds of more primitive open 3D games before that may have featured a few stray buildings and enemy vehicles and the likes, but nothing that really delivered a "full package" like this.
Hell, it even featured selectable faux radio stations much like you'd expect from any GTA-style game. The game received a rather lukewarm reception on release, mainly due to its high jankiness from being rushed out by Maxis. But at the time, the sheer novelty of the game concept alone was enough for me and others to be really fascinated by it and just enjoy its freeform open ended gameplay. Had to wait for GTA3 in 2001 to experience something of the same type of scope again.
The full review is even better in its absurdity. I think they gave it a 4/10, and then told people to wait for Aliens Colonial Marines instead. No, I'm not making that up.
I kind of like to think of Sim Copter as the first modern 3D open world sandbox game (that isn't an RPG). That game came out in 1996, before even the first top-down GTA was out, and it featured fully fleshed out cities populated with traffic and NPCs which you could explore and interact with, and you could exit your helicopter to traverse on foot. There had been other kinds of more primitive open 3D games before that may have featured a few stray buildings and enemy vehicles and the likes, but nothing that really delivered a "full package" like this.
Hell, it even featured selectable faux radio stations much like you'd expect from any GTA-style game. The game received a rather lukewarm reception on release, mainly due to its high jankiness from being rushed out by Maxis. But at the time, the sheer novelty of the game concept alone was enough for me and others to be really fascinated by it and just enjoy its freeform open ended gameplay. Had to wait for GTA3 in 2001 to experience something of the same type of scope again.
So...what'd they give it?
The full review is even better in its absurdity. I think they gave it a 4/10, and then told people to wait for Aliens Colonial Marines instead. No, I'm not making that up.