What if GTAV sucks?

[Andy Shandy]

I will not be surprised if IGN gives it about 12/10, even if it was terrible, considering how much they've been fellating GTAV in their preview.

Honestly though, if it is bad, it won't affect me hugely. Can't say I particularly care about GTA after IV. The only little thing is a little bit of national pride.

 

[piinyouri]

Define "sucks".
If it turns out to be more like 4 than they've said, yes I'll probably not enjoy it, as I didn't enjoy it's predecessor either. However, a lot of people did. In fact every time I speak with folks about it I seem to be in the minority.

So I may not like it, but it probably won;t "suck" in the way of say 'Aliens Colonial Marines' or 'Ride To Hell'.

 

[Kaendris]

I truly do not see it happening, it just looks too polished. Even if it does, that label will only be considered in the eyes of a small minortity. Look at the highest rated game of all time on Metacritc for evidence. GTA IV. I hated IV. Niko Belic was one of the most unlikable characters to placed in the gaming world in the last decade in my opinion. The world was big, but empty, and after beating the game, I never picked it back up.

I will say this, I am excited for 5, just because it LOOKS more intense than 4. The world SEEMS, larger, with more content to allow my mind to become lost in. I am wholeheartedly looking forward to the GTA: Online aspect of it. I figure that is where most of my time will be spent.

That google maps thing they are doing, where you zoom out and click across the city to switch characters, I am calling it now, that is going to get annoying fast.

 

[Imat]

Well, if they can fix the driving that'd be nigh infinitely better than 4. Every time I feel like playing 4, I see San Andreas/3/VC (In that order) next to it and choose one of those instead. And that makes the driving in 4 seem even worse. It's a vicious cycle that hasn't seen much love for 4.

 

[babinro]

Then it will find a nice place alongside GTA4. A mixed bag.

I bought that game after all the constant perfect 10 reviews and only found disappointment.
I sold it to a work buddy within a week of getting the game.

You mix a terrible hand-to-hand combat game with a below average shooting game and a mediocre racing game. Combine that with a large world that's tedious to travel from one point to the next and half your gameplay time is spent going to the next quest giver. It's all the grind of a subscription MMO in a supposed 'action' open world title. The controls felt sub-par and I just don't understand the appeal.

You might think that I just hate open world but that's not true either.
I LOVE the inFamous series.
Mafia 2 was solid as well but suffers from the tedious driving to long to activate quests symptom.
Arkham City was okay. The game started out amazing but the open world quickly grew repetitious and tiresome.

 

[Goofguy]

I'm not a fanboy, I just don't think there's any way this game could get a 2/10. A 6/10 is possible but a 2/10? No way. The amount of work Rockstar puts in to its game completely negates the most objective person giving it such an abysmally low score.

Then again, I've been known to be wrong from time to time. That's why I make no promises about inflicting injury to myself in the supposed off chance it gets a really low score.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Here are how the numbers for the game break down:

On average, the publisher receives $27 USD for every $60 game sold. Perhaps a bit more for pre-orders, etc. At a reported cost of $267m USD, the game would have to sell 9,888,889 units to be profitable. This is actually very likely to happen, as reportedly, GTA IV sold somewhere around 22m units.

Even if the game is bad, and even if the game's sales suffer, considering the series' past sales and the amount of media exposure this seems likely.

However, keep in mind this is one of the most competitive falls in video game history. MGS5, Titanfall, Destiny, Watch_Dogs, Assassin's Creed 4, CoD Ghosts, Battlefield 4, and two next-gen systems are competing for the consumer's money. This is not even to mention games like Legend of Zelda: Link between Wolrds, Knack, GT 6, etc, which all look good, though they may not directly compete with the more adult enthusiast-oriented titles above.

If GTAV is simply buggy and boring, plus if these other titles conspire to reduce its sales, it could spell trouble for Rockstar and Take-Two, as they would not be able to fund many new titles in the coming years.

Edit: Also, price drops on the Vita and the new 2DS could entice parents to buy those for their kids instead of spending money on GTAV.

Here are how the adult-oriented series break down in sales:
MGS: About 6-7 million units
CoD; about 10-15 million units
Assassin's Creed: varies between 2m for Brotherhood and 6m for AC3
Titanfall, Destiny, and Watch_Dogs are all new, but Ubi is already planning for much future W_D content.

 

[Compatriot Block]

snip

To be fair, Destiny is definitely not releasing until 2014, and I'm pretty sure MGS5 is in the same boat. The rest of that stuff is accurate as far as I know.

 

[BigScaryBunny]

In my general opinion, I don't believe that is going to suck or be bad. It wouldn't be surprising that it would not live into people's expectation. Since, it is being marketing heavily both in the gaming and general market.

 

[Hazy]

It won't. I'm absolutely positive. I trust Rockstar completely.

 

[wetfart]

Then I will be quietly smug and go replay Vice City.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm willing to bet money that it won't be bad though.

If you pre-ordered, you already did.

 

[Abomination]

GTAIV was still a good game, not as good as San Andres (best in the series IMO). It suffered from poor optimization and intrusive faffing about - SHUT UP ROMAN, I DO NOT WANT TO GO BOWLING!

If it can deliver the graphics and characters of IV with the story and mechanics of San Andreas we'll have ourselves a contender for GOTY.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Will the jetpack come back? Cause if it doesn't then GTAV will suck worse then NeverDead, and I will not be getting it.
Jokes aside, on a scale of meh to good it'll probably be good. If it is good I won't be getting it immediately, I've got standards. (Dark Souls 2)

As for IGN, my factual prediction of how the review will end up will be something along the lines of:
16/10
- some graphical issues
- by no means perfect
+GOTY indefinitely
+better then Mahatma Gandhi

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I don't waste my life on what-if's, and with R*'s track record I doubt it would be glitchy or horribad. Mediocre perhaps, but they didn't farm this one out like L.A. Noire so I don't think it will be anything short of good. Maybe not great because I will say that GTA IV was the worst of the series but buoyed up by its interesting multiplayer and the subsequent expansions/DLC (Ballad of Gay Tony was damn good IMO).
The only thing I really disliked about GTA IV was how the core game, even in the moments I found pretty awesome, felt like a step backwards in the series. San Andreas did a lot of really cool things and IV seemed like it cut out a lot of the awesomeness of SA. Also Niko Bellic just seemed to be a character I couldn't find a reason to relate to... And I did shoot Roman in the head many many many many times because I was sooooo tired of those incessant calls.
I do have faith in R* though because RDR is one of the games I list in my Top 5 of all time for quite a few reasons, mostly because it had a great tone, a good story and characters I quite enjoyed.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Then I'll have more free time this autumn then expected.

As for a financial success, shit, that's probably already covered. How many pre-orders are in for this game, and how many of them are for the super duper $120 edition?

And as much as GTA4 was a weak GTA game, it was still a decent game. They've already shown that V will have a lot more to do and play with. It already looks to me like I'll have all the toys I'll want to play with (miniguns, tanks, custom cars, military jets) without having to buy a $20 dlc pack.

GTA has a pretty good formula and they've been working on this for a while, it should be pretty cool; at least worth $60.

 

[The Hero Killer]

It it'll suck. It wont be the first disappointment I bought ::cough::...Resident Evil 6...::cough::..Metal Gear Rising...::cough::...Tomb Raider...::cough::

But even if ONLY contained that which has been displayed in trailers and previews, it already has gotten a "GOOD" rating from me.

 

[major_chaos]

Honestly even if it was awful it would still sell a million copies. While I don't think it will "suck" I'm sure as hell not going to buy it until someone can tell me its not as bleh as GATIV which I couldn't even force myself to finish.

 

[00slash00]

I have very little interest in GTA 5. San Andreas was the last GTA game I played. I found it boring as hell and probably only got a few hours in to it. GTA 5 looks fine. Nothing about it makes me think it would be awful, but nothing about it seems special to me either. You said they already made the money back so there's not much risk of Rockstar shutting down or anything. If it sucks then it sucks, if it's great then it's great. the gaming industry will be unchanged regardless of what happens. Your concern of publishers not wanting to take risks confuses me. Publishers already don't take risks, except in a few rare cases, and GTA 5 doesn't exactly look like an example of a publisher taking any big risk. I haven't followed the game much but it seems like pretty much the same game they have always done, but with a character selection option