Poll: What was wrong with GTA IV?

[The_Healer]

I'm not sure if anyone else found this, but there was something fundamentally wrong with GTA IV. On a technical level, the game was great; great physics, good graphics (considering the size of the game) and a solid layout. However, there was something lacking; the sparkle that encouraged the player to replay the game or just spend hours reeking havoc throughout the city that the other games were so enriched by. There was a sense that I was playing the game just to get through the story, not particularly because I was enjoying it.
I know that there was nothing technically wrong with any of the characters or their portrayal but they somehow completely failed to engage me: They were somehow empty. I found similar problems with the driving, the police, everything seemed too highly synthetic and overworked.

I know that I spent countless hours on the previous games just causing chaos in a tank, killing as many people as I possibly could. Although that sounds unhealthy to me now, it was great fun and was one of the high points of the previous games. However much I try to do this in GTA IV, the fun is not there; I get bored and end up playing a different game.

So I put it to you, wise people of the escapist, what was wrong (if anything in your opinion) with GTA IV?

 

[Saris Kai]

I vote characterization. Not that they did it poorly (they were going for stereotypes in the first place) but none of the characters really did anything for me personally except when the Irish characters bickered (I'm mostly Irish). Also it needed younger characters for verisimilitude but I know that would be a PR nightmare so I can't blame them. You know why 19+ raves suck, as a group its all the 15yos who spend the most money on drugs.

 

[Flour]

For me the problem was that after a while it was really noticeable that there was no real difficulty in the game.
During missions cars would flip at the mere sight of a raised area, they would handle different and the road would be magically cleared of obstacles if someone was scripted to escape.

The real problem, however, is that the game went for a realistic approach which would be fine if the things I listed above didn't happen.
I could list everything I noticed in my 12 hours of playing, but that would take too long.

 

[Joa_Belgium]

I thought the game was fine the way it is. Gameplay mechanics a bit more realistic than before and I finally could sympathize with the protagonist. Niko Bellic isn't just another criminal who's after drugs and all the cash in the world, he's out for vengeance on the traitor in his squad during the war.

 

[Kollega]

It was too dark,gritty,serious,and brick-faced all the time. What is the point of having an open world if i can't grab a tank,a minigun,and rampage through the streets killing everyone and blowing shit up? If so-called "sandbox" exists only as a backdrop for story and stupid unfunny minigames to play with a virtual friends,what's the point in having it? What was the point of ripping all the fun and craziness out of a franchise famous for them? Why is there only one truly funny thing in that game - getting protagonist drunk?

And on PC,optimization was done by a chainsaw up the arse. Hell,Saints Row 2 was optimized better!

Postscriptum. Can you believe they wasted $500 million on that game? Like,really?

 

[Dys]

Boring location, even though I hated San Andreas it was a somewhat unique location and vice city was stunning. Lack of obvious humor, what happened to all the cheesy posters, elvis impersonators and the like? The soundtrack was unengaging, though I didn't really give it much of a chance.

The gameplay was far more solid than any other GTA game since the old top down ones, but it wasn't really backed up by any particularly zany missions (the only one I can even remember is the bank robery mission). It really did focus far too much on the characterization which was never a strong part of the GTA series. It was also a lot less free because of it (you could no longer buy properties, you had to work through the properties to attain them).

Overall, it moved away from the light hearted tongue in cheek attitude of the old GTA games and went for something grittier and more realistic, that ruined it (at least for me).

 

[Kiutu]

It was too dark,gritty,serious,and brick-faced all the time. What is the point of having an open world if i can't grab a tank,a minigun,and rampage through the streets?

Exactly. Big reason why Vice City is my favorite, it seemed less serious. A dildo weapon in the police showers anyone?

Though another problem with GTA"IV" is the vote to boot thing online. Good in theory, but people just use it to force their own set ups. "10 minutes!? Boot the host" "Standard Weapons!? Boot the host"
Even if they dont, they are very demanding.

 

[brown_coat]

I would definitely say the stupid socializing, if I wanted to due an of the mini games (pool, bowling, darts) I would just play the real thing or buy a wii, that mixed in with how often they called drove me nuts

 

[InsertWittyName]

Game was too realistic, they made everything to realistic and frustrating to use, the driving, the helicopters and the rpg, seriously, whats the point of the reticule if its just going to spiral 5 lightyears away from the target.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

I thought after a while it all looked the same. The missions were too similar, too realistic, not enough customization, it lacked immersion, I'll sum up by saying everything Saint's Row 2 is that GTA 4 isn't.

 

[Simalacrum]

*ring ring*

I rest my case.

 

[rabidmidget]

I found it to be a very fun game, mainly because the mixture of the ai and the physics causing strange occurences

 

[Numb1lp]

It was too different from the other GTA games. They were funny, but also knew how to be serious.

 

[bjj hero]

It just bored me. I opened up the second island then never finished it.

 

[Doug]

I thought the game was fine the way it is. Gameplay mechanics a bit more realistic than before and I finally could sympathise with the protagonist. Niko Bellic isn't just another criminal who's after drugs and all the cash in the world, he's out for vengeance on the traitor in his squad during the war.

This. Although the phone thing was abit annoying; though you could turn it off, it did allow for some extra story telling on the side if you listened to the conversations they had about things.

Aside from that, people just jumped on the 'OMG its not as comical as the first games, HATEEEE' or the 'its cool to hate GTA IV' trains.

 

[Doug]

I thought after a while it all looked the same. The missions were too similar, too realistic, not enough customization, it lacked immersion, I'll sum up by saying everything Saint's Row 2 is that GTA 4 isn't.

Yeah, but I hate the characters in Saints Row 2; there all self-absorbed arseholes who I wouldn't care if they were all gunned down. Especially Johnny!

 

[Socius]

The phone system was fucked up, no dear cusin i do not wish to go bowling
I did miss the tank to though, the realism was good but I wish there was a nuke there as well

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

Having to constantly maintain friendships sucked a lot of the fun out of the game for me, it felt like having to babysit these guys constantly. This was by far my biggest problem with it, everything else was minor in comparison.

And on PC,optimization was done by a chainsaw up the arse. Hell,Saints Row 2 was optimized better!

For me, this was the second biggest problem, my computer isn't exactly top of the line, but it managed better looking games than GTAIV without a hitch. Also, specifically, the way that the pixelated lighting effects messed with your eyes was also annoying, especially under highways and train tracks.

Third, and this is a general problem with the GTA series, they really need to get with the times and make a better save game system. Preferably, F5 or F9 or something should be a quicksave key, or add more checkpoints in missions. It's fun doing the missions, but not when you have to drive for 5 minutes to get to place A, watch a 2 minute cutscene, drive 5 minutes to place B, do a lot of shooting, then evade the cops for 10 minutes, during which time one little screw up makes you have to start all over again. I ended up uninstalling the game because I couldn't be arsed to keep on doing the same thing time and again just to try to beat one short but difficult shooting segment.

Fourth, the aiming controls are weird. This has always been the case because its a centered behind-the-person 3rd person perspective, but since San Andreas, there's been the added difficulty of having to hold the RMB while aiming which is frankly kind of ridiculous. Why make something that barely works even more difficult to use? The cover system was good though, I have to give them credit for that.

 

[mikecoulter]

I had a pretty happy time on GTA IV personally. It had a good story, good graphics, interesting characters and the online was good laugh.

 

[scotth266]

Gameplay mechanics would also cover the phone system, so I voted gameplay mechanics.