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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bigben - Friday, May 2, 2008 - link
Not that Anand needs defending, but you should know that the guy plays a lot of games. Far too many, really. Having just spent a weekend with 20+ hours of Rock Band and Kane's Wrath and having sat with him through Oblivion, Mass Effect, Gears, Halo 3, Zelda, Mario, Resident Evil 4 and a few others within the past few month, I can tell you that they guy plays more than his fair share of games and will play the good ones (the ones that really catch his attention) through to the end. 30+ games a year? Easily.theslug - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
Although I agree that there are games with great stories, the same can be said about movies and shows. The reimagined Battlestar Galactica series comes to mind..it's sci-fi and it has an excellent storyline. How can you make a comment like this when you just admitted you don't even watch much tv or movies?aos007 - Thursday, May 1, 2008 - link
I can't really make a comment that movies nowdays "suck" - that's just my opinion based on a few occasional shows that I did get to see. One of them was BS Galactica, which is just that - BS. I watched 8 episodes before I had to stop. It has all depth of those naive, campy 60's sci-fi movies. It is very hard to suspend belief while watching it as there is so many things that are illogical if not impossible (the survival of humans under given circumstances and hence the continuation of the show itself being the big one, obviously). And even if it was possible to forgive illogical plot, based on political opinions the characters were overwhelmingly displaying I would've wanted Cylons to win anyway. Those "people" were a disgrace to humans.Yet I'm aware the show has a cult following. I'm guessing there is a generation gap at play here (I'm in the 30's and stuff I liked when I was in 20's is now "out"). The new generation has emphasis on different things than mine did. Which is probably the case with Anand and games he likes. Today it seems to be more about whether the way things are done is "cool" rather than "right". The story and the reasoning behind character's actions is less important than whether gameplay mechanics are good and presentation "cool".
At any rate the GTA IV (being the first one I played strangely enough) does seem to have a lot of depth and breadth (I spent a lot of time watching in-game TV). This is reminiscent of best games of yore and is refreshing to see. As such I think the game has a wider appeal than if it just had good gameplay mechanics and presentation. I am quite happy with it.
morose - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
Everyone has likely heard all the gushing about the game done by the review sites, so it's nice to see someone focus on the negatives. A couple of things I wanted to comment about though.First, you mention the GPS and having to manually activate it from the map. That's not strictly true since (as an Option) it starts up automatically for missions. Just not for general driving about. I've never had to go to the map to get a route myself.
Secondly, the story. I certainly understand your point about animation. That's one of the problems I had with Vice City. Even though there was some good dialogue going on, the lack of expression by the characters kept it from being truly great. However, thus far in GTA4, I've been pleasantly surprised. There have even been a couple of times where the characters pulled off some "physical comedy" and I laughed out loud at the expressions they made through their animations. Brucie especially, but Little Jacob a time or two as well. :) The actual plot is better in GTA4 as well. I actually found myself playing "just one more mission" to keep unearthing more and more of Niko's backstory. That's a compelling sign in my book.
I agree with your take on a lot of things though. Especially the controls, which I still struggle with after 10 hours of gameplay. Someone please... what's the secret to keeping your car under control through corners at any kind of speed?! Completely different feel than Vice City (my only previous GTA experience) and a serious negative in my book.
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
Turn BEFORE brakingFITCamaro - Thursday, May 1, 2008 - link
Typically you do the reverse, brake then turn. Unless you just want to powerslide. I think they kind of made the friction between the tires and the road a little too loose because you can't brake for shit. Past GTAs you've been able to slow down adequately to take a turn or had enough grip to power slide around a turn without slamming into everything. This time around its almost like they figured everyone would want to hit everything. I've gotten decent at taking turns in the game but it should be as easy as it is to pull the ebrake and flip a complete 360 without hardly slowing down.RMSe17 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
I hope the PC version comes out soon :) But until then, still plenty of games to play (Crysis, COD4, SupCom, X3-reunion) Though I do find it a minor annoyance that some games are delayed in their coming to PC (mass effect, gta..) since I don't own any console systems and dont plan on ever owning one... PC hard core gaming is where it's at :)michal1980 - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
pc gaming is dieing, in no small part due to tefth.even though the 360 gtaiv is already on torrents. you still need to hack your 360 to do it.
a pc version would see about a 50% pirate rate, and we would all hear about how so and so stole it because they couldnt afford it, and what harm is it, since they were never going to buy it anyways etc etc.
mmntech - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
The other 50% of the games not pirated end up being so riddled with DRM that it makes them unplayable for many people. Bioshock comes to mind. So much for "Games for Windows" revitalizing PC gaming. The market self-destructed. I was PC gaming only for many years but I must admit I like the fuss free experience of just popping the disc in and playing without having to worry about bugs, patches, hardware requirements, and DRM.The article was good. As the others said, it's nice to see a focus on the technical side. I think we see a lot of franchise fanboys out there who are quick to give any GTA instalment a good score. I've never been a fan of the GTA series myself but I might have to rent this one. Gotta love that "warm coffee".
SerratedDrums - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - link
You will still have bugs and games that need to be patched on 360/PS3. Take GTA IV for example.