Blogs - Dissing A Point

The media has been covering the release of GTAIV worldwide, and it's been quite the hype.

I of course pre ordered and picked my copy up the first day it was available.
By then, it had already gotten scores of 10/10 in pretty much all the biggest magazines and websites. That can't be bad.

When I began playing, I discovered the awesome physics and pretty neat graphics. Though, after playing a couple missions and exploring the game engine and its possibilities, I realized that there weren't any buildings to go inside. (Only the usual stuff like clothing shops, gun shops and strip clubs).

I had also heard of a living, breathing city. I figured I'd see folks on their way to work, having conversations with each other, random shoot outs between gangs, thugs robbing someone at night. Where was this living breathing city all of a sudden? The pedestrians were pretty much the same as in the series of GTA3. They had multiple lines that they'd randomly say and have some pointless conversations with each other, but that was all.

In GTA4, it's not a lot different from that. They're a bit more intelligent, but that's all. No one ever walks in a building, there are no thugs robbing anyone. There aren't shops other than the ones mentionned above, there isn't nightlife. There's nothing particularly different from the previous GTAs except for the engine, the physics and the graphics, and of course the story.

There was word of being able to go with your friends to a bar and get drunk. Theoritically, they haven't told a lie to us with that. Because you can! You can call up a friend and invite him over to a bar. When you arrive there though, the screen fades to black and a couple of seconds later you're already "back" from the bar (while you haven't even seen the interior of the bar). That's not what it SHOULD have been. You should have been able to get in there at any given time of the day, ask a barkeeper for a drink, hear other bar go-ers tell crazy stories and have funny conversations, or start a bar fight or WHATEVER! But it just doesn't exist, and that's a major let down. The city is not interactive, nor is it living nor breathing.

At some forums for GTAIV, a lot of other folks are disappointed with the game, because it lacks a lot of things that should have been in. Of course, they're making rant topics about how they're disappointed and upset with developpers Rockstar Games.

These topics immediately get shot down by reckless fanboys who want to BELIEVE that this game is perfect. Deep in their insides, they know the game isn't perfect but will never admit it because they'll feel like they betrayed themselves, for having said "the game will be perfect" prior to its release. These fanboys never even contribute with any point saying how this game indeed does live up to the hype that was created for it. They just say the same damn things over again. A pretty common comment:

"Who cares that there's no parachutes in the game? GTAIV BLOODY ROCKS!!"

The discussion was never even about parachutes in the first place, but it's just one of the many things that are not in the game that could have easily been in.

I get annoyed by these fanboys because the ones that are disappointed and are pointing out what the game lacks, really do have a point. The game isn't what it's supposed to be. But just because we have our point, we're getting dissed. That's the biggest disappointment of this all.

I'm really enjoying GTAIV and it's a great game. But nothing more than just another great game, one that could have been superior to any other.

Hopelijk vind je het niet erg dat m'n reactie in het nederlands is?

Na het lezen van de titel en de eerste paar regels voelde ik al een beetje waar dit naartoe ging. Alhoewel ik geen consoles heb, was ik ook wel een beetje benieuwd naar GTA IV. Kheb ook alle vorige delen gespeeld, maar dit spel moest toch echt wat nieuws brengen om voor mij interessant te zijn, mocht het ooit (later dit jaar?) nog naar de PC worden geport.

Ik had inderdaad ook die opschepperij over interactie met de wereld gelezen, maar zoals jij het beschrijft is het typisch GTA: naar binnen, zwart scherm, en dan eruit komen met random uitkomst. En uit wat je hebt verteld begrijp ik dus ook dat de mensen op straat zichzelf nog steeds herhalen? Natuurlijk kun je niet verwachten dat er oneindig veel mogelijkheden in zitten en je een serieus gesprek kunt voeren met een NPC, maar iets meer dan de standaard lines had makkelijk gekunt.

Overigens denk ik niet dat mijn gare pc dit spel uberhaupt aan zou kunnen En bij iemand op de console spelen zit er geloof ik ook niet zo in.

Nederlandse comments zijn prima

Wel, de mensen op straat *herhalen* zichzelf niet zozeer maar je kan er niet echt gesprekken mee aangaan. Ze praten tegen elkaar of tegen zichzelf maar zelf kan je er niks tegen zeggen, en dat vind ik best wel bummer. Het had inderdaad echt niet moeilijk kunnen zijn om ze iets creatiever en meerzijdiger te maken, want dit is echt maar een klein beetje improved version van de GTA3 peds. Ze zijn iets slimmer en creatiever, maar nog lang niet wat je zou verwachten van een spel dat zo lang in development is geweest en dat zo gehyped is geweest over zijn living breathing city.

GTA4 heeft iig 1 major point over GTA3: Multiplayer
Potentiele LAN-game

True, maar alleen als hij dus voor PC uit komt, iedereen hem kan runnen, en er een lan-functie is

Overigens heb ik wat reviews gelezen Kris, en ik vind het allemaal lichtelijk overdreven. 10/10? Ook al is het een erg goed spel, het lijkt me beetje onzin om het zo geweldig te noemen. Zeker nu ik lees dat 1 op de 3 mensen crashende consoles hebben, en dat in sommige gevallen zelfs dingen kapot gaan...

Mja inderdaad, zoals ik al zei, een 10 is het niet waard maar het is wel dikke fun en de multiplayer is ook best leuk.