Thirith on 7/12/2009 at 10:43
Lately I've mostly been playing GTA IV. When I first got it, I played it a lot for a month or two, then I dropped it completely; not that I hated it, but I just felt that I'd played pretty much the exact game three times already. Also, like most people who got the game I got majorly annoyed at Roman et al., calling me every five minutes because they wanted to play darts, go bowling or go to a strip club.
When I got back to the game a few weeks ago, I decided to ignore the constant phone calls and just enjoy the story and the city (which I still think is one of the most amazing living locations in any computer game). Yes, the gameplay is pretty much what we've been doing since GTA III, but there are a couple of very cool missions and the feel of the place is quite unique.
I really enjoyed the more serious storyline the game had, and IMO Nico Bellic is one of the best written (and acted) game characters ever; at the same time, the game has a pretty schizophrenic tone, going from broad satire to character-based drama and back all the time. It'd be interesting to see a GTA game that goes further in creating a gritty, (semi-)realistic world and story without losing the fun of the gameplay - I wonder whether they could pull off something akin to The Sopranos or even The Wire while keeping the game fun. It might not be possible, but I'd like to see the attempt. IMO it should be possible to alternate over-the-top silliness and more gritty drama, especially if they do expansions such as The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
For those of you who played GTA IV: looking back at it, did you enjoy it? Did the more serious storyline work for you, or do you wish they had put more of an emphasis on silly fun? Are you at all interested in the expansions, provided they are ever released on PC? And what would you want for a wholly new GTA game (other than London, that is :D)?
gunsmoke on 7/12/2009 at 10:51
I wasn't thrilled with it. The Ballad of Gay Tony was the cure for that, though. It was everything that made the last few games such classics, and brought back the silliness.
David on 7/12/2009 at 11:06
Loved it, loved the expansions. A+++++++++ would play again.
mothra on 7/12/2009 at 11:29
hate the characters and story, boring serious crap in a game made for lunatics. If I would live in liberty city and meet Nico, I would run him over with my car immediately. He's just the lowest trash no matter how many sad "war-atrocity-stories" they come up. I wanna see him suffer and die. Ignored the drag and had fun while driving around. Glad I waited for a serious pricedrop and at least 4 patches because even now this game is a middlefinger to any decent engine programmer. Not to speak of the SpamClub or SocialClub, The GFWL, the cheaters, the DRM, the ....well, although there is a decent (!) game somewhere it is buried so deep in distracting bullshit for me, I doubt I will ever even finish that game and consider getting expansions.....
Thirith on 7/12/2009 at 12:03
Quote Posted by mothra
hate the characters and story, boring serious crap in a game made for lunatics.
Good to know that we can always rely on you for a measured, level-headed opinion. ;)
JC_Denton on 7/12/2009 at 12:19
i only had patience for half an hour of this game. firstly, this game looks and plays like a port, it simply isn't meant to be a decent pc game. i'm sure it plays great on consoles, but on pc it looks and plays awful. secondly, it's incredibly boring. the story, the characters, the gameplay, everything. again, maybe it looks and plays different on consoles.
the thing that i never understood about gta games was the clothe shops, diners etc. whats with them? why the hell would i want boring things like that in a game when i do them in the real life?
Mafia is the eternal gta killer.
SubJeff on 7/12/2009 at 14:08
The shops help to add to the feeling of a living city. If they weren't there you'd get the opposite "Why are there no shops. In RL I CAN WEAR WHAT I WANT HUUURRRRR"
Besides, you need different clothes for different occasions. I got me some nice suits but also boots/jeans/leathers for looking like a total bad ass.
I've not finished it but I'm liking the story so far.
mothra on 7/12/2009 at 14:19
bring on mafia2 !!!!!
but I must defend the pc port. Technical/performance/stability-wise it is a catastrophy. I hope they kicked out all of their programmers but it's not a bad port concerning features/handling, I've seen much worse.
I can drive cars pretty good with KB (when you look online most of the GTA playlists with insane tricks have ppl using kb instead of the controller), you can remap the keys (which is not a given nowadays) and after 4 patches it is stable enough to not crash constantly (but still)
I would say all the above qualifies for "above average port"
shame the engine is so crappy and demanding for delivering ... not much really...
Risen's unnamed island made a much bigger and "livelier" impression on me than Liberty City and they use copy/paste as well for their characters/modells/fauna. In other games NPCs wandering the streets make a bigger impression, impact on me, in GTA4 they are just filler, small obstacles that need to be squashed on your way to the next vehicular homicide. They are just constantly in the way, in other games they have jobs you can recognize, you have some hanging around, some running to work....diversity. Even in TheWitcher the population made more sense than in GTA4 where they ARE JUST IN THE WAY and need to be RUN OVER.
Also serious business GTA4 ??? I drive to the bowling lane with my "cop"-girlfriend, run over about 30 ppl and crash a few cop-cars on my way there, don't even get arrested and cops stop following me once I'm in the club and nobody says a goddamn thing. No, I start complaining about my thug-life in the next scene and how sad and lonely my way to the top is, all while I clean my car from the little brain parts I collected on my way there....
ridiculous.
Yeah, and of course, replacing stupid gymnastics clubs with bowling lanes and cabaret clubs was sure a stroke of genius.........wtf....
SubJeff on 7/12/2009 at 14:42
Yeah, it would be much more fun if you had to follow traffic rules exactly, stop at red lights, not go the wrong way, never bump another car without having to stop and exchange insurance details and so on.
Much more fun. You should be a game designer. Dolt.
mothra on 7/12/2009 at 14:47
I'm not talking about bumping into cars. I'm talking about using the sidewalk instead of the road while conversing about "how I feel in the USA" with my girl-friend. I'm talking about running over 50 cops on my way to the mission and firing rockets at kindergartens and crashing helicopters in a school for disabled children. If you can't design your gameworld to support a "serious" story, don't do it.
