Have console, will travel. If you love exploring big cities, foreign lands and exotic locales, but don’t have the time or budget for a real trip, you can go the virtual route. Through various video games, today’s armchair traveler can escape to an on-screen destination and get some sense of what it’s like to actually go there. Sure, there are plenty of elaborate fantasy worlds out there in Gameland, but several are based on true world settings. There’s nothing like the real thing, of course. However, today’s graphic details are pretty slick and it may be the next best thing to being there. Here are 8 virtual vacations to take through video games.
1. Travel through Tomb Raider
Lara Croft definitely has an extreme case of wanderlust. The buxom archeologist/adventurer is always off exploring temples, ruins, jungles and more on her globetrotting quests – and so you can too. She goes to Antarctica, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Ghana plus many other European and North American locations (not to mention fictional settings) throughout the series. Not all details are true to life, but you could easily immerse yourself and feel like you’ve had some exotic getaways playing Tomb Raider.
2. Make Like a Yakuza in Tokyo
PlayStation fans can feel like they’ve taken a trip to Tokyo after a few hours on Yakuza. This RPG action-adventure game was created by Sega, based in Japan, so it’s attention to authentic detail is most impressive. In the game, gangster protagonist Kazuma Kiryu explores the fictionalized district of Kamurocho, which is more-than-loosely based on the real life Kabukicho neighborhood, the red light region of Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward. In fact, some in-game locations are modeled after real buildings. The pachinko parlors, hostess lounges and neon-filled street scenes will transport you to Japan – virtually, at least.
3. Escape to Italy with a Few Assassins
Assassin’s Creed is a series of action-adventure open world stealth games in the historical fiction genre, with incarnations across multiple gaming platforms. It’s one of Ubisoft’s best sellers. Various versions travel across time and place to let you virtually visit Victorian England, the French Revolution, Imperial China and more. Assassin’s Creed II takes players back to the Italian Renaissance, while exploring pretty realistic settings of 15th century Florence, Venice and Forlì. Nothing compares to a real trip to Tuscany, but on a Saturday afternoon of gaming, you can sort of go there in your mind.
