Hi Guys. Some time reader, first time poster. I choose to stay away from the comp given this is my first review/post and its over twice the word limit. Please go easy, but I still would like constructive criticism.
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
? Dentist Bills
? Cable TV salesmen.
? People who say "nothing" or "nowhere" when correct grammatical composition demands the term "anything" or "anywhere" be used.
These are possibly the only things I hate more than being wrong. And on the subject of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4) I was undeniably wrong. And it stings like a car door to the face or the rejection of a reasonably attractive girl.
Not only does it not suck, it doesn't even resemble sucking. Its fun, it's polished, it's contained in such an excellent total package that it may well reaffirm your faith in Video games.
GTA4 however is not without its flaws. Mostly small inconsequential details; but like dog turd on a side-walk, they always show up in your way at just the wrong moments. It is certainly NOT the greatest game of all time.
GTA4 comes from an overly proud family of remakes. What is essentially the same game made 9 times has managed to rise above other yearly serial games and is responsible for the creation of its very own urban-mayhem sub-genre within third person shooter/driving games. But after 8 remakes, even then shift from top down to third person had made little difference to the formula. The series hit its high point with GTA3 then stagnated. Despite the numbering conventions, this was 5 GTA games ago. Numerous sequels have seen only minor improvements; I was beginning to believe Rockstar would never again surprise us.
The Mafia Paradox
Once upon a time when people would say the words "Grand Theft Auto" to me I would almost always draw their attention to Mafia, I little golden gem of a game by Illusion Softworks (now 2K Czech) set in the 1930's that did everything GTA games did, but better.
Whilst fundamentally a GTA clone; they refined the formula, upped the storyline and characterisation offering a deeper gaming experience within a shorter single-player length. The enhanced storyline combined with superior car handling and city gorgeous city blew GTA away and to this day remains one of my personal all time favourite games. But has GTA finally ascended its greater clone?
From the 70's to the Now
Earlier games in the series have repeatedly suffered from the same weaknesses: lumpy controls and animation, poor voice acting delivered from an unusually excellent cast of A and B grade actors, as well as some appalling storytelling.
Where previous iterations have fallen flat, GTA4 comes out strong. The controls are improved but far from perfect. For starters there are too many; and despite Roclstar clearly being familiar with context sensitive functions, some defy logic. More than once I found myself pausing during the action to locate the required button; and a PS3 controller is a long way removed from an electron microscope in terms of complexity.
Script and Voice Acting is vastly improved. The shift from the diminutive earlier storylines and fairly poor voice acting (read: expecting better from Samuel L Jackson) just about warrants its own review. Characters have finally advanced to the 3 dimensional; and the cast of relatively unknown voice actors with the improvements in cutscene animation do an impeccable job in bringing the much improved storyline to life.
So we can establish that GTA4 pummels its previous incarnations into the pavement with a baseball bat and a barrage of 9mm ammunition. But how does it stack up as a stand-alone product?
Cue the death of my enthusiasm
It is a good game, that's certain, but like an excellent piece of Swiss cheese there are too many holes which provide absolutely zero taste or hunger satisfaction.
The polish on this game is almost a mirror finish. Every area of the city is finished to an extremely high standard, the in car radio stations are up to and even exceed the high standards already set by the predecessors. The soundtrack deserves all the praise it has garnered. It sets a new benchmark for all future games using licensed soundtracks.
However both the Audio and Visuals of the game contain their fair share of flaws. Despite a long time tweaking I was unable to find a happy volume, and certain sounds (car horns) are far too loud. GTA4 only allows for adjustment of sound effects and music volume. This requires almost constant tweaking when moving from music to talkback radio. It also would be nice to be able to drop the traffic volume little.
The visuals to suffer from balancing issues. During the daylight hours Liberty city looks beautiful. However at night and particularly in the earlier areas I was unable to see anything at all without adjusting the contrast way up. The transition to bright areas also deserves criticism. Rather than a fade to white then back, Rockstar have elected to use a fade from black. The effect is jarring and in a word of HDR gaming I personally expected better given the otherwise excellent graphical achievements.
Don't Trust the media
There has been almost unprecedented hype leading up to the release of GTA4. Whilst hype will usually sell high volumes, it also has a tendency to lead to poor reviews due to inflated expectations. Rockstar have avoided this via the utilization of a simple tactic of not making any promises they would be unable or unlikely to deliver (take note Lionhead). As a result the game is exactly as was expected or possibly somewhat more.
This has lead to almost universal acclaim. Some of which is deserved, most of which sadly is not. Whilst nobody can deny GTA4 is a good game. To call it the greatest ever is, at best a bit of a stretch, at worst an outright fabrication. The game will not inspire your imagination the way Shadow of the Colossus will. It will not tell you a story of epic proportions the way Deus Ex or Planescape Torment will, and it will not begin to revolutionise the way we play games the way Mario 64 or Doom have.
What we have in truth is a good stable game. The next step in the evolution of the Urban Mayhem franchise. As close to value for money as we are likely to find in 2008. This is rather a sad recognition of the state of gaming at present.
Is a Grand Theft Auto finally better than Mafia? Well No. Does a Grand Theft Auto finally match it? Maybe. Is it the best game on the new releases rack? Yes.
Does it or any new release warrant purchase? Not in Australian Money. Check your local bargain bin for Mafia instead.
$120 for a game? What has this industry come to?
Rent It
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
? Dentist Bills
? Cable TV salesmen.
? People who say "nothing" or "nowhere" when correct grammatical composition demands the term "anything" or "anywhere" be used.
These are possibly the only things I hate more than being wrong. And on the subject of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4) I was undeniably wrong. And it stings like a car door to the face or the rejection of a reasonably attractive girl.
Not only does it not suck, it doesn't even resemble sucking. Its fun, it's polished, it's contained in such an excellent total package that it may well reaffirm your faith in Video games.
GTA4 however is not without its flaws. Mostly small inconsequential details; but like dog turd on a side-walk, they always show up in your way at just the wrong moments. It is certainly NOT the greatest game of all time.
GTA4 comes from an overly proud family of remakes. What is essentially the same game made 9 times has managed to rise above other yearly serial games and is responsible for the creation of its very own urban-mayhem sub-genre within third person shooter/driving games. But after 8 remakes, even then shift from top down to third person had made little difference to the formula. The series hit its high point with GTA3 then stagnated. Despite the numbering conventions, this was 5 GTA games ago. Numerous sequels have seen only minor improvements; I was beginning to believe Rockstar would never again surprise us.
The Mafia Paradox
Once upon a time when people would say the words "Grand Theft Auto" to me I would almost always draw their attention to Mafia, I little golden gem of a game by Illusion Softworks (now 2K Czech) set in the 1930's that did everything GTA games did, but better.
Whilst fundamentally a GTA clone; they refined the formula, upped the storyline and characterisation offering a deeper gaming experience within a shorter single-player length. The enhanced storyline combined with superior car handling and city gorgeous city blew GTA away and to this day remains one of my personal all time favourite games. But has GTA finally ascended its greater clone?
From the 70's to the Now
Earlier games in the series have repeatedly suffered from the same weaknesses: lumpy controls and animation, poor voice acting delivered from an unusually excellent cast of A and B grade actors, as well as some appalling storytelling.
Where previous iterations have fallen flat, GTA4 comes out strong. The controls are improved but far from perfect. For starters there are too many; and despite Roclstar clearly being familiar with context sensitive functions, some defy logic. More than once I found myself pausing during the action to locate the required button; and a PS3 controller is a long way removed from an electron microscope in terms of complexity.
Script and Voice Acting is vastly improved. The shift from the diminutive earlier storylines and fairly poor voice acting (read: expecting better from Samuel L Jackson) just about warrants its own review. Characters have finally advanced to the 3 dimensional; and the cast of relatively unknown voice actors with the improvements in cutscene animation do an impeccable job in bringing the much improved storyline to life.
So we can establish that GTA4 pummels its previous incarnations into the pavement with a baseball bat and a barrage of 9mm ammunition. But how does it stack up as a stand-alone product?
Cue the death of my enthusiasm
It is a good game, that's certain, but like an excellent piece of Swiss cheese there are too many holes which provide absolutely zero taste or hunger satisfaction.
The polish on this game is almost a mirror finish. Every area of the city is finished to an extremely high standard, the in car radio stations are up to and even exceed the high standards already set by the predecessors. The soundtrack deserves all the praise it has garnered. It sets a new benchmark for all future games using licensed soundtracks.
However both the Audio and Visuals of the game contain their fair share of flaws. Despite a long time tweaking I was unable to find a happy volume, and certain sounds (car horns) are far too loud. GTA4 only allows for adjustment of sound effects and music volume. This requires almost constant tweaking when moving from music to talkback radio. It also would be nice to be able to drop the traffic volume little.
The visuals to suffer from balancing issues. During the daylight hours Liberty city looks beautiful. However at night and particularly in the earlier areas I was unable to see anything at all without adjusting the contrast way up. The transition to bright areas also deserves criticism. Rather than a fade to white then back, Rockstar have elected to use a fade from black. The effect is jarring and in a word of HDR gaming I personally expected better given the otherwise excellent graphical achievements.
Don't Trust the media
There has been almost unprecedented hype leading up to the release of GTA4. Whilst hype will usually sell high volumes, it also has a tendency to lead to poor reviews due to inflated expectations. Rockstar have avoided this via the utilization of a simple tactic of not making any promises they would be unable or unlikely to deliver (take note Lionhead). As a result the game is exactly as was expected or possibly somewhat more.
This has lead to almost universal acclaim. Some of which is deserved, most of which sadly is not. Whilst nobody can deny GTA4 is a good game. To call it the greatest ever is, at best a bit of a stretch, at worst an outright fabrication. The game will not inspire your imagination the way Shadow of the Colossus will. It will not tell you a story of epic proportions the way Deus Ex or Planescape Torment will, and it will not begin to revolutionise the way we play games the way Mario 64 or Doom have.
What we have in truth is a good stable game. The next step in the evolution of the Urban Mayhem franchise. As close to value for money as we are likely to find in 2008. This is rather a sad recognition of the state of gaming at present.
Is a Grand Theft Auto finally better than Mafia? Well No. Does a Grand Theft Auto finally match it? Maybe. Is it the best game on the new releases rack? Yes.
Does it or any new release warrant purchase? Not in Australian Money. Check your local bargain bin for Mafia instead.
$120 for a game? What has this industry come to?
Rent It
