(no subject)
So I got Grand Theft Auto IV, kind of on a whim (gift cards will do that to ya). It's decent as such things go so far (I'm partway through the second of five chapters) but I would really like to play the version of the game that all the reviewers got, because I'm somewhat convinced I'm not playing the same thing.
Basically, if you've played GTA3 and its spinoffs, you've played this. Yes, it feels bigger, and there's some add-ons like having a cell phone (and having people call you on it while you're in the middle of something is just as irritating as it is in real life, so I congratulate Rockstar on their verisimilitude) and being able to surf the Web (THRILL as our protagonist CHECKS HIS EMAIL) but otherwise it's the same slow-loading, long-and-hideously-animated-cutscene-filled, awkwardly-controlled crimefest we know and love/hate/kinda like.
I have seen people praise the game's realism and/or immersiveness, to which I say, why yes, in real life I am ALWAYS accidentally running through a tollbooth (gaining immediate attention from the otherwise lenient cops) because I stopped six inches past where I was supposed to stop, or because another car inexplicably pulled up next to me and somehow confused both me and the the toll-taker as to whether or not we were supposed to engage in our transaction. And I can't tell you the number of times in my everyday life that I've accidentally knocked over a hot dog stand by running up to it and trying to buy a health-restoring hot dog!
The missions are...okay. I haven't run into any nearly as annoying or gimmicky as, say, that one with the toy helicopters from Vice City (or was it III?) but most of them fall into two basic categories:
I read a rumor somewhere that you can get through the game without doing anything bad at all, something which as far as I can tell is completely wrong and is probably based on either that a) you can goof around a lot without actually going on a plot-advancing mission, or b) all of the plot-advancing missions involve doing bad things to people who probably have it coming (drug dealers, mobsters, etc.). It would be nice to have even the rudimentary moral choice of a BioShock, but nope, in this game you'll happily agree to off whoever's around so long as there's money in it, like a good little stereotype.
Liberty City (which resembles but is legally distinct from New York) is pretty nicely rendered, and there's a lot of work toward making the different parts of town look like, well, different parts of town. Driving around is kind of fun when the controls aren't making things too awkward, which is good, because you'll be doing a lot of it. I vaguely recall that, in GTA3, when a new part of the city opened up, the action would mostly keep you around there (I could be wrong); here, once you move to Bohan (i.e. the Bronx) your cousin will happily still call you to cross the bridge with its buggy tollbooth and pick him up from Broker (Brooklyn) -- even though he lives with you, supposedly, and didn't you leave Broker for a reason because people were trying to kill you? -- to show off one of those repetitive minigames that are all the rage these days hang out and play pool.
There's a lot of minigame type stuff in there, along with other distractons like the Web/email stuff mentioned earlier. I guess the feeling is that they add value, but to me it kind of betrays a basic misunderstanding of what people are looking for in a video game. I mean, I can find stupid things on web sites in real life. The email thing, in the context of a game, is just redundant when you've already got a cell phone with text messaging; it basically adds one more chore to an experience that's supposed to be fun.
The cutscenes and character interactions -- man, I know people think this is the kind of brilliant drama that will lead to games being recognized as a real art form, but it's just not. I saw a couple of reviews call the performances Oscar-caliber, which I can agree with so long as the Oscar being referred to is either Mayer or The Grouch. There's a wide variety of characters, such as: our hero, the Eastern European ex-soldier who kills people for money; his cousin, the immigrant cab driver with big dreams of making it in America; some crazy and/or backstabbing Russians, a couple of pompous wannabe-rapper black guys, a feisty Latina -- you get the idea. (I did meet a guy of Irish-American heritage, and to my amazement, he was sober and not guarding a pot of gold.) The character design and animation is pretty ugly -- I'm not sure it's the uncanny valley effect so much as just being, y'know, bad.
I might be picking on the game a bit much. There's definitely some rough edges to it, and the acclaim it's getting is way overstated. Still, it's more fun than not, and if you liked previous games in the series you'll probably enjoy this one too.
Basically, if you've played GTA3 and its spinoffs, you've played this. Yes, it feels bigger, and there's some add-ons like having a cell phone (and having people call you on it while you're in the middle of something is just as irritating as it is in real life, so I congratulate Rockstar on their verisimilitude) and being able to surf the Web (THRILL as our protagonist CHECKS HIS EMAIL) but otherwise it's the same slow-loading, long-and-hideously-animated-cutscene-filled, awkwardly-controlled crimefest we know and love/hate/kinda like.
I have seen people praise the game's realism and/or immersiveness, to which I say, why yes, in real life I am ALWAYS accidentally running through a tollbooth (gaining immediate attention from the otherwise lenient cops) because I stopped six inches past where I was supposed to stop, or because another car inexplicably pulled up next to me and somehow confused both me and the the toll-taker as to whether or not we were supposed to engage in our transaction. And I can't tell you the number of times in my everyday life that I've accidentally knocked over a hot dog stand by running up to it and trying to buy a health-restoring hot dog!
The missions are...okay. I haven't run into any nearly as annoying or gimmicky as, say, that one with the toy helicopters from Vice City (or was it III?) but most of them fall into two basic categories:
- Chase some dude who drives better and faster than you
- Shoot a whole ton of people, on your own or maybe with one other guy, usually at the request of somebody who provides you with only the faintest of reasons for doing so and little to no help whatsoever.
I read a rumor somewhere that you can get through the game without doing anything bad at all, something which as far as I can tell is completely wrong and is probably based on either that a) you can goof around a lot without actually going on a plot-advancing mission, or b) all of the plot-advancing missions involve doing bad things to people who probably have it coming (drug dealers, mobsters, etc.). It would be nice to have even the rudimentary moral choice of a BioShock, but nope, in this game you'll happily agree to off whoever's around so long as there's money in it, like a good little stereotype.
Liberty City (which resembles but is legally distinct from New York) is pretty nicely rendered, and there's a lot of work toward making the different parts of town look like, well, different parts of town. Driving around is kind of fun when the controls aren't making things too awkward, which is good, because you'll be doing a lot of it. I vaguely recall that, in GTA3, when a new part of the city opened up, the action would mostly keep you around there (I could be wrong); here, once you move to Bohan (i.e. the Bronx) your cousin will happily still call you to cross the bridge with its buggy tollbooth and pick him up from Broker (Brooklyn) -- even though he lives with you, supposedly, and didn't you leave Broker for a reason because people were trying to kill you? -- to show off one of those repetitive minigames that are all the rage these days hang out and play pool.
There's a lot of minigame type stuff in there, along with other distractons like the Web/email stuff mentioned earlier. I guess the feeling is that they add value, but to me it kind of betrays a basic misunderstanding of what people are looking for in a video game. I mean, I can find stupid things on web sites in real life. The email thing, in the context of a game, is just redundant when you've already got a cell phone with text messaging; it basically adds one more chore to an experience that's supposed to be fun.
The cutscenes and character interactions -- man, I know people think this is the kind of brilliant drama that will lead to games being recognized as a real art form, but it's just not. I saw a couple of reviews call the performances Oscar-caliber, which I can agree with so long as the Oscar being referred to is either Mayer or The Grouch. There's a wide variety of characters, such as: our hero, the Eastern European ex-soldier who kills people for money; his cousin, the immigrant cab driver with big dreams of making it in America; some crazy and/or backstabbing Russians, a couple of pompous wannabe-rapper black guys, a feisty Latina -- you get the idea. (I did meet a guy of Irish-American heritage, and to my amazement, he was sober and not guarding a pot of gold.) The character design and animation is pretty ugly -- I'm not sure it's the uncanny valley effect so much as just being, y'know, bad.
I might be picking on the game a bit much. There's definitely some rough edges to it, and the acclaim it's getting is way overstated. Still, it's more fun than not, and if you liked previous games in the series you'll probably enjoy this one too.