Most sandbox games I don't even bother with the side missions. I'm pretty much done with the game after finishing the story missions.
Despite the worlds getting bigger and more open it seems that the missions get more lineair and restricted. Do it the way the game wants you to or start over. In GTA3 I got around the horrible shooting mechanics by forcing a car in tight places and backing over the perps. Nowadays every mission has to involve a long shooting gallery or tons of spawning thugs.
And if I do the story missions after eachother why do they always react as if they haven't seen me in ages. Hey lady I just finished picking up your missing cow, killing 50 thugs in the process, 5 seconds ago.
The best sandbox game I played is still frontier elite 3. I didn't even notice there was a story line until a few weeks into the game. Too busy exploring and trading to afford the biggest space ship then try to land it manually on a planet.
