I'm still having fun with the game overall, but this is a complain thread, so here we go - I'm seriously starting to question the sanity of people who say this is the most polished game they've ever played.
1. The controls are...not good. No need to elaborate, it's been done before.
2. I tried to hail a cab yesterday when leaving a bar, and I actually COMPLETELY SOBERED UP before just stealing a car and driving myself. no cabs were stopping for me, and when one finally did, I hit Y and carjacked him instead of getting in the back. I've heard now that I need to HOLD Y instead of just press it, but it was still annoying.
3. I hate motorcycles. Just finished a mission where you're chasing a guy, and there are certain set actions such as other cars getting in wrecks that are made specifically to get you to run into something, and since hitting a twig will throw you 60 feet off the bike, I found myself restarting constantly, ALL THE WAY FROM THE BEGINNING. There is no good reason to have to spend a minute or two each time you restart driving from the guy that gives you the job over TO the job. Especially annoying in cycle missions because the slightest mistake often means you can't catch the guy anymore; I got thrown only about 10 feet once, for instance, but it was over a highway railing down to the ground where I couldn't reach the bike. God forbid I pick back up the chase in one of the dozens of cars around me, no, I have to find a freaking motorcycle to do it on.
4. It still annoys me that "accelerate" in a car and "run" on foot are different buttons. Same with the shooting buttons. For that matter, I've died at least once because I was chasing some guys on a motorcycle while shooting at them, and in the shootout at the very end I got crushed because I got off the cycle and it switched back to my "on foot" configuration, which at the time was unarmed. While I'm trying to run away and go through the slow-ass weapon switching system, I get shot in the back and die, and WHAT DO YOU KNOW I have to go back to the beginning of the mission again.
5. Forced walking with cell phone, get interrupted in any way, lose the conversation forever. Also - the guy who decided that the button you use to answer the phone is the same one you have to tap furiously to run should be shot.
6. Went into a strip club, decided to see what would happen if I went on stage. Got halfway up the stairs when a guy yells at me to get out, so I start going. Then I realize bouncers have come out of the woodwork and everybody is beating the shit out of me. The crowd follows me all the way out to the parking lot where I end up having to fucking shoot them all, at which point a cop sees me and NOW I'm running from them AND the bouncers. Why no option to actually just leave the club? They tell me to leave, so I start to leave. Follow me out, sure, but don't put me in the freaking hospital for walking halfway up some stairs and then complying with your request to leave.
The more I play, the more I find myself being frustrated at the game instead of having fun, and that's not something I can ever remember with GTA games before. When I lose a mission, it never feels like I just failed at something, it feels like the controls have let me down or I otherwise just got cheap shotted. Granted, I skipped Vice City and San Andreas, but I played 1, 2, London, and 3 extensively. GTA4 just doesn't seem as accessible; I remember with 1 and 2, I could play around a bunch of cousins and such when they came into town and everybody could take turns playing and having a great time. When I got GTA3, we basically opened up my dorm room to the rest of the floor 24/7 as people kept coming in to play or just watch what was going on.
With 4, if I can't even control it all that well, my non gamer friends and cousins have no hope. It just doesn't seem as accessible as my previous experiences with the series. For all the nice little touches like all the billboards and websites and radio commercials and random goings-on amongst the populace, there are some straight up asinine design decisions floating around in this game.
