Poll: GTA4... have you really played it?

[MiracleOfSound]

I played GTA4 for around 50-60 hours.

Great sandbox, ruined a little by terrible mission design and shoddy combat mechanics (no mid-mission saves, having to travel half the city during missions listening to people talk, taking Roman for Bleeder Burgers)

 

[Outright Villainy]

I finished it, but I lost interest soon after. Gameplay is pretty sluggish, the overall tone is inconsistent, the ending is maddening, and the level design is frankly boring.

I understand they wanted to go in a different direction to san andreas, but they failed in that regard. Luckily, Red Dead Redemption made up for a lot of the flaws, as will as giving a much more active world that felt alive, a plot that was ten times better, and gunplay that could actually be done without auto aim.

Go ahead and try and and finish Gta 4 without the auto aim.

I dare you.

That said, some of the potential for madness is still there; rocket launchers and grenades launch cars in a spectacular fashion, bodies crumple sickeningly over the hood of your car and rattle the road. It's the great irony of the game to me, that the very elements they were trying to get away from are still the most fun.

 

[GBlair88]

Completed GTA IV on PS3 and PC as well as starting again on the PC thanks to not backing up the save files before re-installing Windows. I've got 19 hours of that on Steam and 45 hours of Episodes from Liberty City.

I do quite like the game but wouldn't say I love it and I do prefer the expansion.

 

[cefm]

Never played it. I absolutely adored GTA-Vice City. I thought it had the perfect level of huge open sandbox, comprehensible story line and entertaining missions, and sublime voice acting. I also just liked the look and feel of 1980's Miami.

GTA-San Andreas was better and worse in every way. It was bigger (too big), had more quests and missions (too many) more side quests and mini games (too many) and was more modern. I just didn't like the 1990's SoCal setting that well, and I thought the world was just too damn huge - I played it endlessly without making progress in any discernable way after I opened it all up. Great game, but more of a lifestyle than a start-to-finish game.

GTA4 was just more of the same. More and bigger of everything - including more of the stuff that wasn't necessary. From hooker pick-ups in Vice City to dating in San Andreas to driving your annoying buddies all over creation just to go bowling? Where did the FUN go? Plus, San Andreas was so huge that I never finished it, so why bother with GTA4?

 

[Auxiliary]

After Vice City I decided to change to Just Cause 2 and Saint Row 2.

 

[Dana22]

Nah, I finished after few hours and sold on ebay. Too buggy, too low performance.

 

[The Aimless One]

Loved it....Played through the whole thing.
Great story great fun.

 

[TheSchizoid]

Played it and beat it. Downloaded the expansions but haven't played through them yet.

 

[minimacker]

It was fun and I enjoyed it. Not amongst my titanic supergame list, but it was well worth it's value.

Also, I am apparently the only one on this continent that enjoyed the story.

 

[MetaMop]

I enjoyed it, but not as much as I think I should've. I usually play games for story, and GTA4 was very lackluster. So many pointless or unlikable characters, and when I say unlikable I mean they were dull, had little development and only existed to hand out missions.

That whole 'diamonds' arc should've been really interesting, but I found myself incredibly bored. I suppose it's because Niko (and John Marston for that matter) have very little stake in what's going on. Niko just wants "mah-nee" apart from the three or so points throughout the game where we get a mission tied to something that has an actual connection with our main character, the rest seems like filler.

 

[Berserker119]

I play online a lot with friends. It's quite fun.

 

[Dogstile]

It takes a while to get used to the steering for me but I got real good and driving and flying helicopters XD

In multiplayer I was always the chopper guy.

Hehe, try playing it again for the first time in a year. "Ah, this will be easy, you never forget stuff like this. ...OH GOD! *Crashing through everything that can move*" XD And I'm good at flying the helicopters. I'm flying under bridges like a pro. XD

Plus it's always fun to get into the attack chopper on top of Algonquin's police station then introducing the cops there to the rotor blades... XD

Theres one there? Ah balls, now I have to go dust off the copy.

Yes OP, I still play it

 

[USSR]

I got past the bank robbery, then started playing Saints Row 2 and..
Well..

You know how that goes.

 

[Scabadus]

I just checked my Steam records for GTA, I've got 120 hours exactly clocked on the main game and 22 hours clocked on Episodes from Liberty City. On top of that I've got many, many unrecorded hours back from when I had it on my 360.

Yeah, I'd say I've played it a fair bit.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

So we hear all the time about GTA4. In this weeks latest Extra Consideration, Yahtzee said "GTA4 was the biggest release of any form of media ever". Pretty big words for a game I've never played!

I'm pretty sure what he was saying wasn't meant to be an opinion. I think he's mentioned GTA 4 in many reviews as an example of what not to do when it comes to open world gameplay. What he meant (I think) was that it was literally the biggest release in sales numbers of any form of media. No book, movie, video game, or album, had sold as fast or in as vast amount of dollars as GTA 4 did. Here's what wikipedia has to say

"On 13 May 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV broke the Guinness World Records for 'Highest grossing video game in 24 hours' and 'Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours.' It sold 3.6 million copies on day one, which equalled roughly $310 million in revenue. For first day sales it also broke the record of 'Fastest-selling video game in 24 hours,' previously held by Halo 3 at $170 million,[166] however, its record was broken in November 2009 by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."

I played all the way through the story mode of GTA 4. I liked it, but the last third or so seemed to run out of ideas. Barely touched the online because live costs money and the free preview weekends were relatively unimpressive. I liked the Episodes From Liberty City package a lot more, especially The Ballad of Gay Tony because it was funnier, had a better story, and so much more variety. Red Dead Redemption was an even better game, but I enjoyed them both.

 

[DazBurger]

Played it and didn't like it.

So much boredom shouldn't be felt when trying to enjoy your self.

 

[DustyDrB]

It takes a while to get used to the steering for me but I got real good and driving and flying helicopters XD

In multiplayer I was always the chopper guy.

Hehe, try playing it again for the first time in a year. "Ah, this will be easy, you never forget stuff like this. ...OH GOD! *Crashing through everything that can move*" XD And I'm good at flying the helicopters. I'm flying under bridges like a pro. XD

Plus it's always fun to get into the attack chopper on top of Algonquin's police station then introducing the cops there to the rotor blades... XD

I always tried skydiving and seeing what I could hit on the way down >

I'd always take Carmen out in a helicopter. I'd fly up with a skyscraper on my side and jump out, landing safely but sending the chopper and Carmen crashing.

So many things I did, my favorite was take Roman drinking then knock him in front of a car and hurt him.

I'm an asshole though.

That should be an achievement...

I got really bored one day and started killing people just by walking or running into them repeatedly. It works, and you don't even get any flak from the police for it (unless you do it to one of them. Then they don't like it).

 

[Stickwell]

I love the original game, but once I got bored with it TBGT was right there.

 

[SonicKoala]

Yes, I played it, and I enjoyed it immensely. I will admit the constant phone calls to go bowling did get old, but the fact that you could go out bowling or whatever was pretty awesome. The multiplayer was also quite enjoyable - getting the trophies for multiplayer, on the other hand, not so much....

 

[Hafnium]

Really liked it, but I was über-frustrated with the PC-port I played. Nothing could make it look half-way decent or smooth. It looked like grainy snot and was as smooth as gravel.

I didn't mind the driving actually, a little sluggish but I enjoyed racing, even online where lag was always a *****.