GTAIV: Most Over-Hyped Game Ever? Maybe.

[Felon]

Been playing GTAIV for the last few days that I had off from work. It's not awful by any means. Decent game. But I don't see the evidence of Rockstar's extremely lengthy development period.

The bIggest problem is that I've played Saints Row, and there's quite a few elements that I just naturally assumed Rockstar would incorporate for their new GTA game that it throws me off that they didn't. You still can't store your weapons at your crib, for instance, so getting busted by the cops still amounts to reloading the game (it really just ought to bring you back to a load screen). After four games, I thought they'd figure out how lame that is. Worse still, while you can store a couple of vehicles outside your crib on a parking space, they will inevitably be wrecked or discarded at some point, so you either collect them or use them, but not both. And perhaps most damning of all, they continue to keep the most fun mini-games out of the players' grasp until late in the game--namely, the assassination and carjacking scavenger hunts. Oh, and you don't get a collectable pack of homies who will follow you around and help out. Saints Row got all of that right on its first try.

The second biggest problem is that I've played Oblivion, so I now expect a sandbox game to offer longevity, and I don't think GTAIV has enough to keep a person playing for more than a month.

What GTAIV seems to take its cues from more than anything else is The Sims. That is to say, you make friends and go out on dates, and wind up having to do repetitive stuff just to maintain the relationships long past the point where it's much fun. I think making the player watch the in-game time constantly is counter-productive to the sandbox philosophy of do-what-you-want-wherever-you-want.

I think today's emphasis on multiplayer functionality really hurts many games. It becomes such a resource-sink that the single-player experience seems noticably short-changed. GTAIV is one of the recent casualties IMO.

 

[babomb]

I haven't yet played GTA4. But I have played all three versions of GTA3, and those have some of the features you're asking for, so I'd be surprised if 4 didn't as well.

You can't store weapons, but in previous GTA games, you were rewarded for certain actions with weapon pickups at your safehouse. I assume the same is true of 4.

In GTA: San Andreas, you can pickup fellow gang members to tag along with you.

My biggest gripe is that you can't get an MP3 player or something so you can keep listening to the music on foot. I'm always annoyed when I have to get out of my car.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, I suspect much of what they spent the time on was graphics. I actually like Saint's Row myself, but the graphics in that are pretty lousy.

And also it's funny you mention Oblivion - that's essentially the same, gameplay wise, as Arena was which came out in what, '94? If anything, the gameplay has gotten a bit dummer (since characters are simpler). I personally was underwhelmed by Oblivion, because it really hasn't done anything to advance the series, other than graphics.

 

[hong]

Such unremitting negativity.

 

[Blackrat]

I hear you Felon. It is definetly over-hyped. Been playing myself these past few days and I can concur to your every point. It's good game but not worth all the OMG's it's getting.

 

[BadMojo]

I personally was underwhelmed by Oblivion, because it really hasn't done anything to advance the series, other than graphics.

Does having more useless, empty landscape count? Oblivion has that in abundance.

 

[Felon]

Well, I suspect much of what they spent the time on was graphics. I actually like Saint's Row myself, but the graphics in that are pretty lousy.

And also it's funny you mention Oblivion - that's essentially the same, gameplay wise, as Arena was which came out in what, '94? If anything, the gameplay has gotten a bit dummer (since characters are simpler). I personally was underwhelmed by Oblivion, because it really hasn't done anything to advance the series, other than graphics.

Well, graphically GTAIV is a mixed bag. One building looks photorealistic, the next one has glass panes covered with bad bitmaps of an interior. Colors are intentionally washed-out, but even with all of the desaturation and grayness, a porsche still looks so good it's hard to resist the urge to stop and swipe it every time.

I haven't played Arena, so I can't comment on it. I have played Oblivion, and I can't think of any other game where the NPC's can all be spoken with, and all follow a daily routine. I also can't think of anoter game where I was able to explore every building. Even after a couple of months it still sits on my shelf of games that I haven't scratched the surface of. Saints Row was on that shelf for a while too. GTAIV feels like a much quicker ride.

Does having more useless, empty landscape count? Oblivion has that in abundance.

Sure, to some degree. Can't have a sandbox where there's some unique hidden in every ten square feet. I suspect some folks enjoyed riding their horse through the wilderness, just as some folks enjoyed driving their jeep through the desert in GTA:SA.

 

[John Crichton]

Me not being a huge fan of the GTA series overall, I'd say it's probably the most overhyped series ever. That said, I can see the appeal of the games and why people are so passionate about them.

Also, I have enjoyed GTAIV so far.

 

[Felon]

I haven't yet played GTA4. But I have played all three versions of GTA3, and those have some of the features you're asking for, so I'd be surprised if 4 didn't as well.

You can't store weapons, but in previous GTA games, you were rewarded for certain actions with weapon pickups at your safehouse. I assume the same is true of 4.

In GTA: San Andreas, you can pickup fellow gang members to tag along with you.

GTAIV is more in line with GTAIII or Vice City in terms of features. My bet is that in the long run, San Andreas is probably going to continue to tower over the rest of their games.

Regarding weapon supplies: as far as I can tell, in IV the environment has a weapon (or weapons) somewhere you can pick up before the shootout starts. Then you pick up more off corpses. Of course, you do have gun stores too.

My biggest gripe is that you can't get an MP3 player or something so you can keep listening to the music on foot. I'm always annoyed when I have to get out of my car.

My guess is that Rockstar considered putting an radio or mp3 player in the phone, but realized that without periodic breaks, players would find the experience would get stale quickly.

 

[Felon]

I hear you Felon. It is definetly over-hyped. Been playing myself these past few days and I can concur to your every point. It's good game but not worth all the OMG's it's getting.

Right now, everyone's in their honeymoon phase with the game, but in a month or so there will be a strong sentiment of "so that was it, huh?"

In general, fans expected some massive innovation in sandbox gameply that is arguably absent. I say "arguably" because the multiplayer element is one of thos love-it-or-leave-it features. Since I have an Xbox, I never look forward to playing online with strangers. Now, a GTA with a co-op campaign would be great. And that's where Saints Row 2 will deliver.