So what exactly is the appeal of GTA series?

[Not Lord Atkin]

First, let me get my personal feelings out of the way: I'm not a fan of GTA. I do not hate it, nor do I love it. I did like GTA IV for the characters and story but I found gameplay to be both boring and frustrating at times. In other words, I wasn't enjoying it as much as everyone else was telling me I should.

So it goes without saying that I do not get the outrage surrounding Greg Tito's 3.5/5 review, and definitely not the one around Jim Sterling's 9/10. Especially Greg, who only expressed his honest opinion and supported it with well thought-out arguments and actual examples from the game. This would have been alright with any other review but when it's GTA, people are suddenly calling him unprofessional.

There's just something about the game that makes its fans go into a surprisingly fierce defensive mode, viciously attacking every single dissenting opinion with righteous indignation.

So, with my stance on the game being strictly neutral: I want to know why GTA is so popular. I want to know what is it about the game that I'm missing, that people love so much that they are being pushed to such extremes. What is behind all those perfect scores, midnight sales, etc. No other series could dream of such critical acclaim and ridiculous fan following. In my humble opinion, there have been plenty games I enjoyed a lot more than the GTA series yet I'm driven to believe that somehow, apparently, my opinion is wrong.

So here's a challenge for you, escapist. Explain the GTA series to me. Explain why everyone seems to love it so much. I'd like to know just what it is that I'm missing.

disclaimer: just to be clear, I am by no means attempting to attack the series or its fan base. the one and only purpose of my question is to see what all the fuss is about.

 

[FireAza]

I really don't know the appeal either. The old, silly GTA games were fun because they never took themselves seriously and were all about letting you have fun. GTA4 seems to have thrown all that away and became really boring as a result. Just Cause 2 and Saints Row show you how an open-world game should be done, the player is going to want to mess around so why try and prevent it?

 

[McMarbles]

I'm starting to think people like GTA because they're told they like GTA.

 

[Evonisia]

I'm starting to think people like GTA because they're told they like GTA.

Essentially this, ever since San Andreas GTA has been the mainstream series to love regardless of quality.

Personally I've only played Vice City, San Andreas and a bit of IV so I can't judge the whole series but it's fairly alright.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I like being a horrible person commiting horrible crimes in games, the humor makes me laugh (especially the talk radio), I enjoy having the freedom to pick and choose missions whenever I want or just doing random side quests and shenanigans, I find the characters increasingly well written as the series progresses and the games themselves are beautiful to look at. The controls I am just used to I guess, I never struggled the way some people do.

If everyone on Earth hated GTA games and they only sold one copy each I would be "the one."

 

[Eggsnham]

I'm starting to think people like GTA because they're told they like GTA.

True for some, no doubt, but you'd have to be blind to not see any entertainment value in the cities and worlds Rockstar creates.

It's not for everyone, obviously, but for those of us who enjoy massive, open world playgrounds and are easily entertained, it's nearly impossible to ignore the allure of Grand Theft Auto and similar franchises.

 

[Nonomori]

I'm not even a fan, but it's not hard to notice that the games are very ambitious and amazing from a technical point of view, offering good writing and diverse gameplay.

People "attacking every single dissenting opinion" is unfortunately a very common attitude. It happens all the time with famous series.

 

[Nimcha]

What's the appeal of opening a thread like this? People like what they like. I think a lot of it might have to do with it being the game that created the genre.

 

[Auron225]

I've played four of them; Vice City, GTA: 3, San Andreas and Liberty City Stories.

For me the initial appeal was driving around like a maniac and the gunfights but they both got old after a while. I never really cared much for the plot but I played through them all til the end since thats how you get to do half the crazy-fun stuff like robing banks/casinos and piloting jets. The radio stations were always fun to listen to as well.

I find it more fun to play with people, even though its only a one-player game. Taking turns seeing who can get 6 stars and surviving the longest is great fun. But the series is far from the best I've ever played. I completely missed GTA:IV and have no intention of getting V.

 

[Sinful]

I liked the GTA series up untill the point where they tried going all serious. Back when the game was whacky and silly, the entire game could carry itself off of humor and gameplay almost didn't matter at all. Though the gameplay wasn't bad either.. Back then it was one of the first open world do whatever you want games where you could freely steal a car and start high speed cop chases while keeping scores of how many old ladies you hit on the way.

Nowadays though, there's so many games that do open world, many of wich do it far better the GTA does. Games like Just Cause 2 or Red Faction Guerilia (spelling??) with its destruction engine are far more enjoyable open world games at this point. Even the later Saints Row games trump GTA now, because it basically is GTA but with far more humor and fun stuff.

I geuss the reason GTA is still appealing to so many is because in essence Rockstar was the first to pioneer this concept of open city free driving game. As such you would hope they do something really innovative once more, spawning many more GTA clones off of this revolutionary concept. In reality however, GTA's innovation died with GTA IV, when it did nothing really new for the genre apart from moving into a more boring setting. I don't really know what the major innovations are in GTA V though. The game just didn't spark my interrest enough for me to look that all up. Perhaps GTA V did something super amazing... If this is the case, be sure to warn me before the PC release.

Edit: Also, tastes differ. There's many online that say Tomb Raider sucked. I bought that on sale recently and I loved it so yea.