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Evolution of Mini-Games and Activities in Open World Games

With Red Dead Redemption 2 fast approaching I thought it would be fun to look back at the many activities and games that games have used to distract us from the critical path over the years. From the 2D-era Grand Theft Auto’s Kill Frenzies and Saints Row 4’s Fight Club shenanigans to putting a bet on the horses in San Andreas’ Inside Track, with decor that would put your local William Hill to shame, let’s take a look.

Grand Theft Auto 1 & 2 (1997 & 1999) - Kill Frenzy

In the original top-down Grand Theft Auto games there weren’t as many distractions as in later games in both its own series and others. That’s not to say there wasn’t much to do though — the games had more of a focus on scoring points however, with certain thresholds required to open other cities. Nothing exemplified this more arcade-like approach than the Kill Frenzy which would evolve into Rampages in modern day GTA games.

Certain vehicles located around the map would trigger the words Kill Frenzy to appear on-screen with a directive to kill specific numbers of either pedestrians or vehicles within a strict time limit. Straightforward point-scoring goodness; although you’d also be awarded an extra life in the second game as recompense for your efforts.

Red Dead Redemption (2010) - Horseshoes

Rockstar mixed things up with their cowboy epic, it’s wide open landscape filled with cattle and outlaws a dramatic change of style from the world of Grand Theft Auto. This thematic shift carried over to the activities they filled out the Mexico border with, from Arm Wrestling and Blackjack to Liar’s Dice and my favourite, Horseshoes.

Horseshoes saw you using a swinging motion on the right-stick to sling a horseshoe over a pole for bragging rights. Well, not just for bragging rights, more importantly to the game you gained three points for hooking the stake. Each game went to 11 points and contributed to unlocking an outfit, as well as wiping the smug look off those NPCs.

Saints Row IV (2013) - Fight Club

Fight Club showed up as an activity in both Saints Row 2 and the superhero-themed Saints Row IV but both played quite differently. In Saints Row 2 it focused on fisticuffs with you taking on multiple waves of opponents with melee attacks and weapons like chairs.

Saints Row IV’s take on it however, referred to as “Super Power Fight Club” by the announcer, sees you try to survive through three different rounds. The first involves taking our all the enemies in the arena before you move on to a “King of the Hill” style round before finally taking on a boss. Unlike Saints Row 2 however, everything is permitted whether guns or melee. Your reward for clearing these activities — the ability to summon the Genki Girls for support and the Passive Aggressive perk.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) - Inside Track

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has a wide variety of distractions, from lowrider “bouncing” and playing pool to a variety of casino games once you get to Las Venturas. Arguably the most laid back activity is putting on a flutter on the horses in one of the few Inside Track locations.

Here you can use one of the terminals to place a bet on horses with rather humorous and crudely suggestive names and hope they at least win you your stake back. Interestingly this activity has never returned in later games although Inside Track itself has shown up on clothing and vehicle liveries in Grand Theft Auto Online.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) - Hunting

Whilst we don’t know much about activities in this sequel, we do know that hunting is making a significant return from the original Red Dead Redemption. In the original game you could kill animals and skin them which you could then sell for cash but there wasn’t much actual hunting involved, it essentially just being like killing any other enemy..

From what we know so far, it’s going to be a much more involved process in the sequel with you able to hang carcasses on your horse to take back to town rather than a magic inventory item show up. Presumably this means it’s going to be a more deliberate and thoughtful process, having to figure out animal locales and dealing with more advanced animal AI this time around. It’s definitely a more interesting prospect if that’s the case.

So there you have it, a quick look at the variety of activities open world games have had you perform over the years. Any favourites I didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments!