GTA is boring.

It is touted as a huge open-ended sandbox experience allowing you to go anywhere and do anything. Bollocks does it. The missions are as linear as Green Hill Zone. ‘Go to marker A, do X, find Health and Ammo, Retry? Go to marker B…’ The combat is chunky and inelegant. The graphics see-saw between breath-taking and PS2-fuzzy with skin textures looking particularly dodgy. A strange lattice effect fades up periodically, sometimes in the distance, other times in shadows. The beautiful animation conjures realism that is shattered by simple errors. In Roman’s flat right at the beginning I walked around admiring Nico’s movement. When I walked into the table it tipped, ‘floating’ on to the ground with the slightest touch. Oh. I thought this was next-gen?

The vehicles all have ludicrously swampy suspension which can be hugely satisfying, but even the high-end sports cars wallow like the crappiest sedans. Where’s the variation? And what’s going on with the Rozzers? Although the novice in me is somewhat thankful that they’re not the sharpest knifes in the block I had thought that they’d get a little pissed off if I scraped their mirrors off or handbraked through a junction with three of the fuckers watching me. I thought this was next-gen?

‘Go anywhere and do anything’ you say? Correction: ‘Go anywhere and do not very much’. The sheer scope of the city is so impressive that is masks the utter banality of the game. For a start you can’t ‘go anywhere’. You see that grocery store in the corner? Can’t go in there. What about that pawn shop? Nope. If I’m told I can do anything why can’t I go and buy an apple? Why can’t I even enter the store? At every point in GTA I feel utterly restricted. I want to chat with NPCs, want to know why those guys with the saucepans on their heads are there. The ‘do anything’ part is completely true, as long as your definition of ‘do anything’ is ‘drive about, nick a car, shoot some people, get a prossie, err… repeat’. After 15 minutes I was bored out of my skull. Darts? Pool? I’ve got actual games that do those if I want them, and better. Why can’t I buy that apple goddamn it?! I thought this was next-gen.

I could go on. I could get as nit-picky as the burger-eating animation or the cube-iness of my lapdancer’s arse. Perhaps Call of Duty 4 has lifted my expectation of what’s achievable in terms of… everything. The scale of the city is utterly gobsmacking and it is drawing me back to GTA in spite of everything else. But I’d have sacrificed four of the five districts to make the game interesting.

Discuss.


Edited by dartmonkey, 07.05.2008

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Only relatively speaking, to expect to be able to do literally anything would be very naive indeed.


I agree, the gameplay is very dated. Which is pretty much what you expect from a massively successful game on its umpteenth sequel to be honest.


Newsflash: art assets don't make themselves. The bigger a game gets, concessions have to be made. This is already the most expensive game ever made. I think it's admirable that so much effort has been put into stuff above and beyond what can be marketed in screenshots and videos. The websites, the posters, the radio, the TV, etc.


Thank god there are developers like Rockstar who don't just chase boring old next-genism.


Clearly a design decision. The cops get in my way enough without them picking on my minor traffic offences as I rob a bank.


Because it would be pointless and you'd then be moaning about the shops being clones.


Because putting that together would be a pointless waste of time and doing it would be shit.


They've all got the same voices. I thought this was next gen!
The wonderful thing about the phone conversations and TV and radio is that loads of it refers directly to stuff in the world, answering loads of those sorts of questions and fleshing it out just enough for it to feel like a bit more than a load of MOBs roaming aimlessly around a map.

Now drive some cars really fast through traffic with the radio on.

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I'd have been happy to have a game 4/5s the size but teeming with people that you can actually interact with, etc.


I honestly believe it would be no more shit than picking up cuboid women and then running them over. Sure, the latter has novelty value but it wears off very very quickly.


A bit more. I expected a bit more than Rockstar throwing hours of dialogue at the disc. I agree that the radio and TV and dialogue is one of the best aspects of the game. And there are other things I like about it. But generally the whole thing is, so far, leaving me feeling distinctly meh. I am waiting to be grabbed by the bollocks.


Edited by dartmonkey, 07.05.2008

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I do completely understand where you're coming from by the way, but what it does well is enough for me to not be bothered by the other stuff. You have to take the 'do anything anywhere' thing with a lot of salt, you can't go around 'seeing if you can do this', it's more about mucking about with a set of toys which are mostly right in front of you, hence the 'Sandbox' (or Sand Pit if you're from raarrned 'ere), rather than Theme Park.

Edited by Raff, 07.05.2008

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GTA is not an RPG. If you want something like that, play Shenmue. GTA is an Action/Adventure that focusses more on the action than the adventure because that's what it's about.

You're completely ignoring what the series is, and trying to make it out as some ultimate game that incorporates every genre known to the gaming industry.

Stop being so bloody stupid, get Xbox Live, and blow some random yanks up.

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Quote: Martin

Lol, religion is gay.

Why the hell would you want to interact with people, people are idiots... It wouldn't fit the characters of the series anyway, they're supposed to be complete cunts, which they tend to keep to perfectly. There are some random people that you can do random missions for roaming around the streets too though

The main things I'm annoyed about are them taking out the Ambulance missions and the ability to buy properties. Neither are that major though. Also,

What the fuck... Are you blind or something?

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I've always got bored with GTA and I thought this would be the one to buck the trend and really drag me in, but it's just the same with a new lick of paint and a couple of bells and whistles. You're right, I am ignoring what the series is, but with all the hype and build-up it wasn't unreasonable to expect one hell of an upgrade, and this doesn't have much that San Andreas didn't.

That said, the internet, TV and radio are fucking genius.

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It has stuff that San Andreas didn't, and San Andreas had stuff that GTA IV hasn't. It really boggles my mind that you would think that GTA IV would be completely different. If you didn't like Pro Evo 2, do you think you'd like Pro Evo 2008? No? Didn't think so.

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Quote: Martin

Lol, religion is gay.

Well people were praising the game to no end, it's the most expensive game ever made and it's the highest scoring game ever made.

I don't think dartmonkeys expectations were a bit a high at all, to think with all those factors that the game might be something more isn't unreasonable.

So is GTA IV just that? The next GTA? Cause if it is my interest just totally flew out the window.

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And fate is setting up the chessboard while death rolls out the dice. Anyone for tennis, wouldn't that be nice?

That's exactly what it is, and it has online shenanigans in which hilarity nearly always ensues.

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I really don't think you're giving you're giving the changes in GTA IV enough credit. I mean if you told me you hated Vice City, I wouldn't bother suggesting San Andreas (I'd also think you were insane, but whatever). I would probably suggest at least trying GTA IV though.

It feels to me like they really focused on the important bits and cut out all the shit that no-one ever did anyway. Like having to level up your strength and shit in San Andreas. That was just annoying...

Of course it's still the same basic game, otherwise it wouldn't be GTA, but I definitely think there's enough new/changed stuff in there to warrant trying it out. And calling it IV instead of GTA: Name of City

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I have absolutely no idea what to think about this game anymore.

In one corner there are the people and the reviews who are saying it's the best game ever and then there's those saying it's just the same as the rest of the GTA games. That might be alright for some people but I've never liked GTA games.

Probably best to just play it myself and see. Fortunately by the time I get enough money I'll probably be able to pick it up for about $40.

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And fate is setting up the chessboard while death rolls out the dice. Anyone for tennis, wouldn't that be nice?

I'm not the biggest fan of the GTA series, I tended to play them for a good 3 hours, kill everything, get busted, repeat.

As far as im involved I will have a play around with a few of the wacky cheats, have my fling, and never play it again.

Though, I must admit, the amazing amount of good reviews, has got me very tempted to give it another whirl.

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"It takes 46 muscles to frown but only 4 to flip 'em the bird"