What is so good about GTA4?

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Flames66

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Aug 22, 2009
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I have not finished the game and likely never will but I have played it for, according to Steam, an entire 24 hours. The plot I have managed to get through was interesting in places with some compelling characters. It also had several I couldn't stand being around and the gameplay was in many places simply awful.

I got very annoyed with it as for the fiftieth time I ran straight past the pillar I was trying to hide behind and lost my last few degrees of health circle to an npc who ran through a haze of bullets without a hit. The controls felt like I had just woken up in the morning after several bottles of scotch that hadn't worn off yet. Even the menu felt like this. It took over a second of pressing a button or moving the mouse before there was any response from the game and that was before I had started playing.

The story and characters were enough to keep me playing through until some shady government department gets involved, but no further. It didn't come close to my level of involvement in Saints Row 2, where I kept playing till the end in spite of worse control issues because I had some investment in myself. In GTA 4 I could hardly even change what I looked like and had no control over my personality so my attachment to my character was tenuous to start with.
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
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Woodsey said:
Niko's got the turning circle of a fucking hippo;
Probably the single most annoying thing in that whole game.

I also hate how if you turn the camera while he's walking, it flips back to the original position when you let go. It makes the simple act of walking around a complete pain in the ass.

They fixed it (kind of) in RDR so hopefully GTA5 will be nicer to control.
 

Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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MiracleOfSound said:
Woodsey said:
Niko's got the turning circle of a fucking hippo;
Probably the single most annoying thing in that whole game.

I also hate how if you turn the camera while he's walking, it flips back to the original position when you let go. It makes the simple act of walking around a complete pain in the ass.

They fixed it (kind of) in RDR so hopefully GTA5 will be nicer to control.
Red Dead did fix a lot of IV's problems, but the fact that it was one of the biggest game launches of this decade and had such basic problems in virtually every aspect is infuriating.
 

Mr. Google

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Jan 31, 2010
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JourneyThroughHell said:
You're complaining about the gameplay. Not the story.
The story is the cutscenes, the dialogue, the voice acting.
I loved the story, enjoyed the gameplay, didn't mind the repetitiveness. So, yeah, there is something that you're missing, but, if you haven't found it yet, you probably won't. Unless you're skipping the cutscenes. Because that's just wrong.
What i meant by story was the story mode. But the story itself didnt appeal to me either
 

BaldursBananaSoap

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May 20, 2009
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I liked the characters and atmosphere but everything was grey with little variety in the environment, every fun weapon and vehicle was removed, the army was removed, the missions were very repetitive due to all this and it just wasn't fun. Also:

"Hey cousin, let's get DRUNK together"
"No"
"-2 friend like"

"G'wan Niko, how 'bout we play some darts aight?
"No"
"-2 friend like"
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Furburt said:
Ah, I guess I start to understand where the basic differences are occuring, the massacres and the weapons aren't the selling point for me.
At all. I always was somewhat a GTA fan but I pretty much never went all-out berserk in those games. I bought them for the atmosphere and the story and this is where the all-around good and varied San Andreas was a crushing, painful dissapointment and lost my GOTY to two little games called Fahrenheit and Call Of Duty 2 (or at least I think they were all the same year).
Now, GTA IV, as far as the story went, was not a dissapointment. It dropped the silly antics of SA which I never really enjoyed. Oh, and the core shooting mechanics were a lot better, that helped too.
Not only did I find Niko Bellic's story somewhat relatable and the characters around him either really likeable (yes, even Roman) or really memorable, at the least. GTA IV was also the second game I've played that had moral choices that fucking worked (KoToR being the first, that masterpeice), which is a huge bonus for me. It was also the first game I've played to use the Russian theme very well.
I admit, the true spiritual successor to SA is, undoubtedly, Saints Row 2. But, the problem is, I never liked SA all that much (I do have to admit that while SR2 was fairly low on atmosphere, the story and cutscnes were fucking amazing and made the game a worthy contender in my eyes).
Furburt said:
that's just not how GTA works.
Well, I guess that means it never really worked for me.
That's interesting.
 

Altorin

Jack of No Trades
May 16, 2008
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It's a solid gameplay experience from start to finish, with a decent difficulty curve, interesting characters

I had a lot of fun with it, it was actually the first GTA game I finished.
 

Mr. Google

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Jan 31, 2010
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Straying Bullet said:
In all honesty, many people who played GTA4 I met were put off by the rather harsh realism. Usually GTA can be replaced by "Sheer stupid fun". Apparently, Rockstar got a total different idea about that and practically threw the fun out of the window. Now, Saints Row 2 is actually the opposite and even encourages sheer stupid fun.

Also, if you are unsure about GTA4, you can always check out the stellar game, Red Dead Redemption.
Ive played RDR at friends houses a couple of times and i like it and supposedly the story is actually fun i dont have the money but ill borrow it from a friend some day
 

Mr. Google

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Jan 31, 2010
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Straying Bullet said:
Either way, I would say rent/borrow it. The singleplayer is the best part. Online isn't really that amazing, though a free Co-op DLC came out, featuring some missions you can do with four man, but that's about it.
Yeah that happens to me a lot like it may not be a great game but i got it for free/cheap and i dont care if its great
 

Burningsok

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Jul 23, 2009
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The story was decent, and the gameplay was pretty good. It took a while before the repetitiveness of it all kicked in. I liked the game though overall.
 

DeafPedestrian

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Nov 8, 2009
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The game creates an alternate society, one that's living and breathing and built with an unprecedented amount of care and detail, that exists entirely to mock our own.

Everywhere from pop culture to the fundamental flaws of American capitalism, GTA IV mocks us.

That's why I think the game is great, and a lot of people disregard it because it took the series in a new direction, by making the whole concept of a free-roamer shifted in its focus from the "do whatever you want" attitude of III and San Andreas to "immerse yourself in a fully realized alternate reality."
 

Keltrick

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Jun 7, 2010
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JourneyThroughHell said:
You're complaining about the gameplay. Not the story.
The story is the cutscenes, the dialogue, the voice acting.
I had to stop at this comment. I have no ill feelings to anyone here but this comment took me by surprise. The game-play is a part of the story as well. If I'm playing a game, and I kill a boss, the boss's death is part of the story is it not? Same for a horror game having me explore spooky hallways. The character is continuing the story. Without the game sequences, then the story wouldn't make sense. Sure I was in control, and the game-play was front and center but the actions I took are still part of the story.

If game-play is repetitive then the story is repetitive. "What is my characters motivations for doing the SAME thing over and over?" one might ask. Anything you do in-game is part of the world and the story you're telling. Game mechanics are a part of that. If the game mechanics are all about finding ways to kill your enemies in new gruesome ways, then it tells a very gruesome story. If its doing the same things over and over, that's a very boring story to experience, in some people's eyes.

I know NOTHING about GTA games and the series, but I do know we shouldn't be so quick to limit the story to ' the cut-scenes, the dialogue, the voice acting.' because even when those haven't take over, the story progresses.

(didn't we just have the first 'extra credits' talk about this?)
 

IamSofaKingRaw

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Jun 28, 2010
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ShotgunSmoke said:
IV tried to be serious but lose the realism like other GTA games. In Can Andreas you did fucked up shit like huijack airplanes or storm an army base. In GTA IV you basically have to keep rescuing useless people and then they give you missions to go there and kill that. San Andres felt bigger to me and every area was completely different. The missions were all unique and awesome and the game focused on the fun while keeping an okay story. I couldn't relate to Niko b/c I had no idea why he was in LC until late into the game.

P.S. why the fuck is vehicle customization gone?
 

IamSofaKingRaw

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Jun 28, 2010
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DeafPedestrian said:
The game creates an alternate society, one that's living and breathing and built with an unprecedented amount of care and detail, that exists entirely to mock our own.

Everywhere from pop culture to the fundamental flaws of American capitalism, GTA IV mocks us.

That's why I think the game is great, and a lot of people disregard it because it took the series in a new direction, by making the whole concept of a free-roamer shifted in its focus from the "do whatever you want" attitude of III and San Andreas to "immerse yourself in a fully realized alternate reality."
don't get me wrong I don't hate GTA IV as much as the OP i liked the humor of the radio stations and the online sites. Its just the gameplay sucked. None of the missions were fun (I should reword that, none of the missions are as fun as San Andreas's)