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- inactive, on 05/15/2008, -0/+9911. The camera, when driving, sits too low to the vehicle. I hate holding the right joystick up the entire time I'm driving because the camera is only five feet above the pavement.
12. WHY does auto-aim position itself on pedestrians when I have three bad guys in clear view?
13. Why make me drive across the entire map to re-do a mission I failed? Can't I simply begin the car chase/gun fight where it is supposed to begin rather than driving 30 miles to get there every time? - killbert24, on 05/15/2008, -3/+105This article makes some good points, especially the one about how money has no real use in the game except for stupid stuff like subway tolls or fast food.
Give the option to purchase houses, furniture, electronics, and more-- then the game would be perfect. - geodescent, on 05/15/2008, -3/+84"In the universe of GTA, the American Dream apparently entails moving from one pigsty apartment to another pigsty apartment, albeit in a slightly better part of town. There is zero sense of social advancement or self-sufficiency, and all the way till the end of the game you find yourself working as nothing more than slave-labor for those who are enjoying the American Dream."
I thought that was pretty damn accurate actually. - RedRoostered, on 05/15/2008, -3/+54As the site seems to be down now, here is the article:
With game reviewers still mopping up their collective ejaculate, you'd think GTA IV was the greatest game of all time. The amount of hyperbole showered on Rockstar's game was unparalleled, with nearly every critic unleashing a string of adjectives that cast GTA IV as the second coming of video gaming Christ. Once the initial euphoria of the graphics wears off, you soon realize that GTA IV doesn't evolve its inherent gameplay beyond that which has come before, and in a lot of respects, significantly less.
With a Metacritic score of 99%, one might think it impossible to find any faults with a game that has been equated with everything from Citizen Kane to The Godfather. Wrong.
1. Money Has No Value
This is my biggest beef with GTA IV: money has little value. You go on a hundred missions to earn cash...for what? More ammo? A new pair of shoes? I have $750,000 in my bank account and I live in a *****-hole. All the clothes I can buy were purchased in the early stages of the game. So what am I supposed to do with all this money? This is the American Dream? Where did the option to purchase real-estate go? The whole game is based on making money but the designers forgot one key element: you need something to spend money on, else your money is worthless. $5 hamburgers and an optional freeway toll just don't amount to very much.
2. Multiplayer
Multiplayer in a GTA game is nothing new if you've played previous PC versions and downloaded certain mods, but this is the first time it's been officially included by Rockstar, so you'd think they'd do it right. Instead, multiplayer feels like an afterthought, sporting a level-up system that takes forever to advance in ranks, all so you can unlock a few items of clothing.
The Lobby system can take ages for a game to start, usually because all the stoners in the room forget to click Ready, or worse, bitch and moan about a specific game setting that usually leads to mutiny.
There's no shortage of multiplayer game modes, which is great in theory, but I'd gladly take two well-balanced game modes over a multitude of half-assed, poorly designed ideas that find the majority of players running around maps searching for a freaking car. It's called Grand Theft Auto, not Grand Theft Pedestrian.
A lot of the problems could easily be addressed by a Host who doesn't have his head up his ass, but most toggle settings that are detrimental to fun, usually forcing the majority of players to abandon a round in mid-stride out of sheer boredom. What GTA IV really needs are maps created specifically for multiplayer, something we'll undoubtedly be paying for in future DLC.
3. Ponderous Story
A lot of reviewers keep harping on the stellar, amazing, and unparalleled story, which makes me wonder if any of these guys actually watch movies or read books. The tale of Niko is nothing original, evidenced by hundreds of movies from the era of film noir, but what sets this apart from its cinematic cousins is the sheer ponderousness of the story. This is a plot that barely moves and keeps repeating itself over and over. As a character, Niko doesn't evolve and his actions have little impact on the game world, save for the ending, which is as empty as everything that preceded it.
The writers of GTA IV make a rookie mistake: they tell me, they don't show me. Telling me Niko is searching for his moral compass is of no use, especially when none of the elements manifest in terms of gameplay, save for a few rudimentary decisions that are no more than, "Kill Mr. X or Kill Mr. Y."
4. No Upwards Mobility
The majority of critics claim that GTA IV is about the American Dream, an ethereal concept that means something different for everyone. In the universe of GTA, the American Dream apparently entails moving from one pigsty apartment to another pigsty apartment, albeit in a slightly better part of town. There is zero sense of social advancement or self-sufficiency, and all the way till the end of the game you find yourself working as nothing more than slave-labor for those who are enjoying the American Dream.
5. A Step Back From Previous Versions
While the graphics engine is an amazing achievement and deserving of the highest praise, every other aspect of GTA IV has devolved. It's as if the designers put 95% of their effort into creating a believable environment and used the last 5% for gameplay. Instead of mini-games involving taxi fares, ice-cream trucks, pizza delivery, ambulance driving, fire-fighting, territorial control, managing a gang...you get a boring round of pool, bowling and darts.
6. Wonky Cover System
It's great that GTA IV now has a cover system. It's not so great that it makes me want to punch my Xbox in the face. God forbid you attempt the cover system near several objects as you never know where you'll get attached. I've lost track of how many times I've been in cover mode, only to have the game refuse to fire my weapon for some inexplicable reason, forcing me to uncover and recover. It's annoying, frustrating and lacks polish.
7. Dopey Mini-Games
Billiards, bowling and darts, eh? Three boring mini-games that have little to no impact on anything. You can't even bet an opponent for some cash, which I guess doesn't matter because money has no value anyway. The designers could have exercised a little creativity by developing a little pick-up basketball game at the park, or skeet shooting, or dirt-bike racing. Hell, I'll take a little Frisbee tossing or miniature golf. Something original, for Pete's sake.
8. Relationships Are Idiotic
One new aspect to GTA is the concept of relationships. Unfortunately, it's rudimentary at best, bordering on sublimely retarded. All you have to do is call someone on your phone, pick them up, and head wherever you need to go. Once there, you do nothing that has any impact. As long as you don't total your car or inadvertently shoot your date in the face, they all seem to love you. In the end, relationships in GTA stand as a concept that was never developed. The designers should have taken some notes from The Sims and offered the player tangible options based on the environment the characters find themselves in.
9. Clothing Interface
I made a terrible mistake in the early part of the game: I purchased every bit of clothing I could find. I didn't realize that the clothing interface, which hasn't changed from previous versions, would continue to be a monumental example of crappy design. There is no organization to the clothes, no quick way to select a suit or casual attire, forcing the player to view every single item one-by-one, an act that redefines tedium and borders on torture.
10. Phantom Traffic
I don't know what else to call this, so I'm sticking with Phantom Traffic. Phantom Traffic has been around ever since GTA went 3D and it continues to bug the hell out of me. What is it? It's when you look down a stretch of road and don't see any cars. You turn around, look down another stretch, and still don't see any cars. So you turn back to your original viewpoint and suddenly there's a freaking traffic-jam, cars everywhere. I was hoping the next-gen version of GTA would expand the distance cars appear, but such is not the case. Ultimately, this means it's pointless to look around and see if any cops are around before stealing a car, as the second you turn your attention to the window, you have no idea what has suddenly materialized behind you. - surfacewound, on 05/15/2008, -0/+40One small thing I really hate is how Niko refuses to run while he's on his cell phone. I lost count of how many times I completed a mission and was still being shot at, but I couldn't run away because Niko automatically dials his cell phone to make a completely worthless call about how it's done while walking around at a snail's pace like a retard. Other times I don't want to hang up because I don't want to miss any of the story.
- hugznotthugzkid, on 05/15/2008, -5/+39He left out that one rare annoyance where every time you jack a vehicle all of a sudden that same care you're driving is everywhere.
- burketo, on 05/15/2008, -0/+35i think GTA IV is fantastic. one thing i would love though is if rockstar would think of changing the premise once in a while.... like now that they have this beautiful city, why don't they bang out a P.I. game or a cop game based there. it wouldn't take that long to make if they have the entire environment and engine already designed so they could focus all of their effort on making the story line and characters awesome.
either that or make the main character for the next game a crooked cop or some guy who's family was killed and he's out for revenge.... anything but another small time crook climbing the ladder. - lordtyros, on 05/15/2008, -1/+28People knocked San Andreas for being to RPG-like, but I personally thought it was a step forward for GTA. As long as the level ups were optional, they should have kept them in the game. No real estate and no army are very serious problems for me about GTA4. Hopefully they don't try to nickel and dime gamers to put them back in the game via DLC.
- navster15, on 05/15/2008, -4/+30It's weird, I completely agree with everyone of the author's points but I am totally in love with the game. It just goes to show you that whatever Rockstar did right with this game, they REALLY did it right.
- nynety, on 05/15/2008, -3/+29Perfect GTA game: A city as detailed and immersive as GTA IV's Liberty City and as atmospheric as Vice City. Characters as memorable as Lance Vance and a feeling of actually moving up in the world as the game progresses a la Vice City i.e. the ability to buy safe houses, manage assets etc. In addition, a main story as engrossing as GTA IV's. GTA IV had the best missions, imo so more of those, please. Also, a soundtrack as phenomenal as Vice City's. And all the side-missions and tidbits and exploration aspects from San Andreas.
As awesome as GTA IV is, I'm already looking forward to the next one as I feel there's lots of scope for improvement. And I'm not even talking about technical stuff like the cover system or the vehicle physics, but the exploration part. I can understand why they took out stuff like jet packs, planes, working out, eating etc but why chop off the ambulance missions or the crazy random mini-games like jumping your bicycle through hoops and all the other stuff that the article mentioned? After finishing the main story, there is almost zero incentive to actually explore the city. I think they might have sacrificed some of the fun parts of previous games in the name of realism. I hope in the next game, they stop trying to become more like a movie and leave that to Mafia 2. - Coven, on 05/15/2008, -0/+26That always happened in every GTA3+. If you're in a ***** car, you'll see nothing but ***** cars. SUV? Its gas guzzlers everywhere. so on and so forth.
- Remmiz, on 05/15/2008, -0/+22Spot on. The camera thing is annoying as hell. All the views are horrible
- inactive, on 05/15/2008, -0/+23Why are there only 3 clothing stores in the whole game? There's the ***** one, the lame LL Bean one, and the men's warehouse. THAT'S IT. Oh, they have more clothing stores in the game, they're everywhere, you just can't go into them at all. In fact, you can only really go into like 5 buildings in the whole game when not on a mission.
Don't get me wrong, love the ***** out of that game, but some stuff makes me think Rockstar got lazy. - Zoxive, on 05/15/2008, -0/+26I want to drive a Semi truck WITH a trailer!
- rufus2, on 05/15/2008, -7/+2710 Things That Suck About Your Web Server
1) It sucks. - ats314, on 05/15/2008, -0/+19I hadn't realized yet that you couldn't buy real estate in this game. That makes me angry!
- KevinMcD, on 05/15/2008, -2/+20http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:MA0RvFIo2KkJ: ...
- Calcularius, on 05/15/2008, -0/+18I blew up a truck running into a tennis net.
- Psythik, on 05/15/2008, -0/+16The multiplayer is fun and defiantly has potential; but at least a few improvements need to be made to make it perfect:
Stop giving the players so much power. I hate having to shout "Press A, damnit" every time I get into a lobby. Remove the "ready" feature all together and replace it with a CoD 4-style countdown system. Also, let allow players to join after a ranked match has started, to keep the teams balanced or make them bigger.
Fix the interface. There's too much to say about this, so let me just say that it's frustrating having to load the single player every time I get disconnected from a game. Keep the multiplayer interface separate from the single player. I should be able to choose which mode I want to go to before the game loads.
Add more game modes, and mix things up every once and awhile. Bungie introduces something new practically every week, like Grifball weekend or Rocket Race. R* should be doing this as well. Just because your multiplayer is complete and public doesn't mean you should stop adding to it.
While we're on the topic of multiplayer modes, fix the ones you already have. Cops and Crooks is the biggest violator -- for one, it should be extended to four rounds. Also, One for All (the mode without a boss) is way too easy for the crooks. Make it so that at least 3-4 crooks need to escape in order to win.
I could go on all day, but if I made this comment too long, no one would read it. - ryansmith18, on 05/15/2008, -1/+16I have to disagree with just one thing on this list; everything else was spot-on, especially the part about money having no value.
The thing is, multiplayer isn't near as bad as the author makes it sound. And when he complains about it, he's complaining more about the people he's playing with and the options they chose rather than actual multiplayer mechanics.
In general, I think they did a great job with multiplayer, other than the fact that my only reward for ranking up is new clothing. - winmywii, on 05/15/2008, -0/+13I actually like the fact that it is easier to get away. I got so tired of not being able to lose the cops in previous games that I never finished 40% of the game. I am already passed 50% int his game and plan to keep playing it.
- Digglu, on 05/15/2008, -0/+13Yeah but at least if you trash your nice sports car, there are 5 more nearby to choose from.
- inactive, on 05/15/2008, -1/+15Right, because when I play games, I want it to reflect my real life where I live in a crap apartment no matter how hard I work and how much money I save up. GG Rockstar.
- katanaswordfish, on 05/15/2008, -0/+12I kind of got the sense from this ENTIRE game, that they were playing on the fact that the American Dream mentality is total ***** and from MANY MANY people, they come to America for a "better" life and end up a lower class slave for the duration of their life. Wasn't that one of the main statements that the game was making when showing how Roman ended up after coming to the USA. This game pits the IDEAL of the American Dream against the reality of the American Dream.
- karan1003, on 05/15/2008, -0/+12I don't understand why people think trees are weaker than lightpoles. They aren't. Trees are made of solid wood, and are rooted into the ground six feet deep. Lightpoles are screwed into a cement base and are hollow.
If the screws don't shear on your way through then the metal will buckle. Either way, you'll get through. - nipterink, on 05/15/2008, -4/+17not only that, but i think it's also a funny little reference to the fact that whenever you get a new car in real life you start noticing more of that same car when you drive around.
- Alexandru25, on 05/15/2008, -3/+15Yep, Niko is a illegal he can't really buy a house.
- Konrad9, on 05/15/2008, -0/+12Did anyone else feel that Lazlo's skits in GTA3 were longer than Integrity 2.0, NPR, and WKTT combined?
It sure felt like it to me. - unicronband, on 05/15/2008, -0/+11Maybe they're taking the Oblivion Horse Armor approach, letting you spend real money to buy ***** to spend your GTA money on?
- Alexandru25, on 05/15/2008, -3/+16I disagree with everybody on here about the depth of the storyline, its a ***** MASTERPIECE in my opinion
***spoilers**
I am a Easter European immigrant and I think that Rockstar did a amazing job capturing the attitude of Eastern European immigrant attitude. I got ***** sick nostalgia playing this game.
The complaint of not being able to buy stuff and living the "American Dream" is perfect because thats the point of the game. It's a tragedy, its a Shakespearean tragedy/revenge story not a "build yourself up from the bottom" epic like Vice City.
The characters came here to get away from the corruption and violence of the old world only to be stuck in the same ***** corruption only coated in an American paintjob. The attitude of Roman is great, the "America is the land of gold paved streets with fast sports cars and bitches galore" is the attitude a lot of immigrants have. When they get here they realize there is no difference, the same evil ***** that ruined ***** back home ruin this place also.
I think that the racist xenophobia of the established immigrants like the Italians towards the new immigrants is beautiful. They accuse the Russians of ruining Liberty City for doing the same exact ***** that they did when they got there 50years before. The only difference between the two is that the Italians are established and political. The commentary of the Politician Kennedy is ***** spot on, he blames the Russians for not playing by the rules, but they made the corrupt rules when they first got here.
The other point is that the story is basically a tragedy, and I am happy that Niko never got redemption. Violence only begets violence, he came here or revenge to change his life but only got himself in the same ***** situations he was in back at home. In his quest for revenge he realized what was important "Kate" way too late and his actions led to her death. It's ***** perfect. - CapitalIdea, on 05/15/2008, -0/+11I completely agree with you on the 11th point I hate having to hold the right stick in a certain position everytime i get in a car.
- aahpandasrun, on 05/15/2008, -0/+11GTA4 was a huge disappointment for me, and I was a gigantic fan of the previous games in the series especially San Andreas. They took away most of the cool features the previous GTA games developed over the years, and spent way too much effort on realism. However, it seems more like a life simulator than a fun game. Slow movement speed, floaty driving, inability to beat people up well, and contacts bothering you all the time with inane missions. Saint's Row was much more of the direction they should have gone.
- dinobot, on 05/15/2008, -2/+12I agree with several points - don't get me wrong, I like GTA IV a lot, but I just didn't get the emotional attachment and fulfillment I got as playing as CJ in San Andreas, to go from a thug to sorta legit business person and the whole vendetta against those that betrayed you and killed your mom was something that totally got me into San Andreas - In GTA IV, at the very end, you're still only a thug...
- mlrigsby, on 05/15/2008, -1/+11I love The Money Pit. That is my answer to that statement.
- surfacewound, on 05/15/2008, -0/+10You can in GTA San Andreas.
- Jwoey, on 05/15/2008, -0/+10which makes it a bitch and a half to find a damn motorcycle.
- DivisibleByZero, on 05/15/2008, -0/+11Yeah, but if you get hit by a car or walk over a slight bump in the road, he'll hang up the call, never allowing you to replay it. That guy needs some bluetooth.
- mentallyinhell, on 05/15/2008, -0/+11The phantom cars thing is the only thing that really bugs me.
- sUGArDawg, on 05/15/2008, -18/+29Not that great of a list...the only gripe I have is along the same lines as Zero Punctuation...those ***** super-trees!
- internetcoward, on 05/15/2008, -3/+14Yeah the online play is pretty weak. Unless you;re an achievement whore, I can't see playing for very long. I got bored of it already. The friends system is so annoying. Every time I hop into a car someone needs a ride somewhere.
- protocolor, on 05/15/2008, -2/+11rockstar has also stated numerous times that they deliberately strayed away from the stereotypical rags-to-riches storyline and went with something they felt was a lot more realistic.
- Ruger11mcrdpi, on 05/15/2008, -1/+8Saplings in GTA 4 stop you cold. In reality I run over saplings like toothpicks when I go offroading. Of corse a 20 year old Oak is gonna stop a car, it's just they made a 2 year old sapling just as strong.
- martelo, on 05/15/2008, -0/+7I wish I had found out about this earlier in the game cause I had the same problem, but if this happens again you can hit down on the d-pad to skip through the conversation. If you have subtitles on it'll still show each line.
- surfacewound, on 05/15/2008, -0/+8I've long wanted another Carmageddon, and as I played GTA IV I realized how easily you could integrate a Carmageddon game into Liberty City. Basically all it needs is a couple dozen sadistically-modified cars, a timer, and three times the pedestrians.
- Thorpe, on 05/15/2008, -1/+11WTF is up with the housing in this game? I finished the story and one island doesn't even have a safehouse. Just a pain in the ass that I have to get my ass to a taxi just to get to a place I can save.
- walnutthewise, on 05/15/2008, -0/+8Which by plaing SA you would know IS a fictional Las Vegas
- nynety, on 05/15/2008, -1/+8Definitely, not "defiantly".
- spawnfree, on 05/15/2008, -0/+6nice to see the next generation hardware pulling its weight.
/same ***** better graphics. - XHashmeerX, on 05/15/2008, -0/+7I have not made use of a subway system once. Except for that required mission. If i need to get around fast, a taxi-cab with a waypoint and the skip button is all I need.
Cool it's there I guess... - mlrigsby, on 05/15/2008, -1/+7Agreed. GTA IV is a great game, but it isn't even the best game on the Xbox360. And unlike Ocarina, which really revolutionized gaming (the lock-on camera is used so much that most people forget it was invented in OoT), GTA IV is merely a logical extension of GTA III and it's spin-offs.
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