The Albatross
Member
I am so sick of the false dichotomy that people either "like the serious tone" or "want jet packs and explosive dildos," and that if you don't like GTAIV, it's because you fall into that second group... and so you should just play Saints Row 3.
I am largely on the anti-GTAIV crowd because I loved San Andreas so much, and I also loved Red Dead Redemption. While I missed a lot of the things taken out of GTA:SA in IV, like largely any interaction with the world (GTAIV is one giant set piece with barely any interaction with the player; also despite painstaking creation of the world, entire areas are just empty and useless), the obsessive over-structuring of missions in GTAIV (eliminating the ability to complete a mission in a variety of ways), and compelling narrative.
I think GTAIV has an incredibly weak narrative, one that falls apart by the midpoint of the game. The big reveal of why you're brought to the United States, or who you're looking to get revenge on, is a let down -- I think you solve that like, what, 60% of the way through the story? And then, you're supposed to go hunt down someone else. The big reveal with your... brother... or whoever... who cares? He's a meaningless character that you chauffer around for four missions, and he's out. And then, you make a choice of which "emotional" character you want to die at the end in an incredibly predictable, completely structured choice.
All of this, of course, is underscored in that Rockstar just took features out of GTA:SA that people had come to love by explaining it away saying "would an immigrant really [do this]?" Some immigrant bent on revenge is as likely to ride a bike in Liberty City as he is like to steal a helicoptor or go on a helicoptor tour or go bowling; In fact, he is MORE likely to ride a bike, but Rockstar took it out and then put a phony justification behind it.
The big absence, though, is that there is absolutely no reward for exploration. Not only is the world devoid of any ability to interact with it in any meaningful way, but even superficial exploratory things like packages are replaced with pigeons, which would be fine, except if you fire a gun anywhere in liberty city, or even punch a pigeon, then the police come after you and you have to spend ~45 seconds evading police and avoiding your exploration. It wasn't hard to evade police, but if you want to explore the world for the sake of exploring -- a major component of both Vice City and San Andreas, that was encouraged in both -- you couldn't do that.
The game was a let down for me. I do think, though, that the Lost & The Damned was a major improvement, mostly because of the much tighter narrative. I'm still amped for GTAV.
I also do wish I had a PC that could adequately run a beautiful GTA4. I went back to play it on 360 a few months ago and was so put off by the ugly visuals, after playing RDR, that I just turned it off.
I am largely on the anti-GTAIV crowd because I loved San Andreas so much, and I also loved Red Dead Redemption. While I missed a lot of the things taken out of GTA:SA in IV, like largely any interaction with the world (GTAIV is one giant set piece with barely any interaction with the player; also despite painstaking creation of the world, entire areas are just empty and useless), the obsessive over-structuring of missions in GTAIV (eliminating the ability to complete a mission in a variety of ways), and compelling narrative.
I think GTAIV has an incredibly weak narrative, one that falls apart by the midpoint of the game. The big reveal of why you're brought to the United States, or who you're looking to get revenge on, is a let down -- I think you solve that like, what, 60% of the way through the story? And then, you're supposed to go hunt down someone else. The big reveal with your... brother... or whoever... who cares? He's a meaningless character that you chauffer around for four missions, and he's out. And then, you make a choice of which "emotional" character you want to die at the end in an incredibly predictable, completely structured choice.
All of this, of course, is underscored in that Rockstar just took features out of GTA:SA that people had come to love by explaining it away saying "would an immigrant really [do this]?" Some immigrant bent on revenge is as likely to ride a bike in Liberty City as he is like to steal a helicoptor or go on a helicoptor tour or go bowling; In fact, he is MORE likely to ride a bike, but Rockstar took it out and then put a phony justification behind it.
The big absence, though, is that there is absolutely no reward for exploration. Not only is the world devoid of any ability to interact with it in any meaningful way, but even superficial exploratory things like packages are replaced with pigeons, which would be fine, except if you fire a gun anywhere in liberty city, or even punch a pigeon, then the police come after you and you have to spend ~45 seconds evading police and avoiding your exploration. It wasn't hard to evade police, but if you want to explore the world for the sake of exploring -- a major component of both Vice City and San Andreas, that was encouraged in both -- you couldn't do that.
The game was a let down for me. I do think, though, that the Lost & The Damned was a major improvement, mostly because of the much tighter narrative. I'm still amped for GTAV.
I also do wish I had a PC that could adequately run a beautiful GTA4. I went back to play it on 360 a few months ago and was so put off by the ugly visuals, after playing RDR, that I just turned it off.
