Grand Theft Auto IV - Anand's Thoughts
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 30, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
Controversy: I Has It
The GTA series has always done a good job of poking fun at, well, everything. One thing that I did appreciate in GTA4 is that the game does do a good job of providing loud, but non-confrontational commentary on a lot of social and political issues. Everything from gun control to race relations, and my personal favorite: criticism of our mainstream media.
The use of satire in GTA4 is quite possibly the single most impressive thing about the game; it is done so pervasively that if half the people that GTA4 makes fun of realized what was going on, we might find ourselves in the midst of a civil war. It feels strange to say this, but despite how in-your-face the satirical commentary is, it’s all so subtle since there is so much more going on in the game. I was driving down a road headed to a mission when I heard the first commercial for Weazel News, it left me with a smile on my face.
The commentary isn't the focus of the game, but keep a few of the talk radio stations on or pay attention to more than just the story and you'll easily pick up on it. While I wouldn't compare the "acting" in GTA4 to a movie, the writers have clearly put in enough social dialogue to rival, if not best, Hollywood.
That's just plain funny
I was blown away by how much negative coverage Mass Effect got in the non-gaming press and I'm curious to see how, and when, GTA4 will ruffle feathers. I hope for Rockstar's sake, GTA4 doesn't become the punching bag that San Andreas or Mass Effect were, but I somehow don't believe we've gotten beyond all of that yet.
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Nihility - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
The massive amount of perfect scores GTA4 generated is amusing. There will never be a perfect game and this is just an example of that. I'm sure it's a great game and provides hours and hours of awesome funsies but it ain't perfect.I had the same problem with the bioshock reviews. Everyone was going crazy giving it perfect scores but when it came down to it the game was very repetitive and annoying.
Anand points out the flaws in the game even though it obviously makes the fanboys cry at night.
psxguru - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
"It's like the cameraman just discovered depth of field and went nuts with it."this comment made me laugh - it's what I think of most of the pictures in the hardware reviews! Concentrate on your focus please! lol
spudboy23 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
...anand, or the anti-liberal legions that comment on this site will come after you for labeling the viewpoints expressed in "Weazel News" as "satire" instead of TRUTH.also, you mentioned an iPhone...probably won't be long before the anti-Apple forces will attack with all the fury of their sharp opinions. i'd be cowering in fear if i weren't so busy admiring how pretty my Jesus phone is.
interesting perspective, btw. likely there's no PC version (yet) because they want to milk all the $$ they can out of the console versions before people starting pirating away on the PC version.
spudboy23 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
sorry, i couldn't resist...actually it's Dailytech that gets all those comments, not Anandtech itself. i was kind of surprised to realize this wasn't a Dailytech page.apologies for sarcasm.
SerratedDrums - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
GTA VI PC!!! I can't wait to buy this game. The multiplayer will be huge on PC. And stop pirating people.Locutus465 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
For the record I'm against piracy... But you have to admit there's a degree of irony calling out for people to stop pirating a game that's all about stealing cars and beating people to death with intamate aids... ;)SerratedDrums - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
Haha. True that.frinky525 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
going to any of the east coast shows?Casper42 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
I was reading somewhere that newer FPS style games on the consoles were including support for USB Keyboards and Mice for us "PC Gamers" who simply cant let go.Was curious if anyone knows if GTA IV provides such an interface?
andrew007 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
I am sorry but this comment just doesn't carry much weight. For example you will be hard pressed to find SciFi movies or TV series that have stories that can compete to Wing Commander series. Or RPGs requiring 40-80 hour investments. I could easily say the same thing in reverse as I don't really watch movies and TV - they are just dumbed-down mass entertainment as far as I care. Unless you are heavily involved in both, you can't really make that kind of comment.I mean Anand is a busy guy who doesn't have much time to play games that require serious investment of time. If you follow the website regularly you know he mostly plays FPSes or other games that can be played in short spurts or - more importantly - benchmarked. How many games has Anand had a chance to actually play over the years? For example he still thinks that Gears of War is a great game today which no serious gamer that plays 30+ games a year would say. On the other side he can find time to watch movies since they can be watched in 2-3 hours. And he loves movies, as witnessed by creating a full blown mini home cinema from scratch.