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Ten Things About GTA IV
Ten Things About GTA IV - ZTGameDomain.com Article
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Grand Theft Auto IV is easily the most popular game to be released in a long time. It has spawned countless internet debates, video comparisons and fanboy riots across the internet. With our review forthcoming we decided to give a small preview by naming off some of the stuff we absolutely love about the game and some things we would like to see changed. Welcome to our special feature "Ten Things to Love or Hate about GTA IV".
Five Things We Love:
- Niko’s Cell Phone
This little gadget is one of the most revolutionary game tools to come along in quite a while. Not only is it the key to your social endeavors throughout the game, it also plays host to all of the multi-player functionality. A quick tap up on the d-pad gives you access to plenty of options including the ability to customize by changing wallpaper and even your ring tone. With games striving to immerse the player into the experience items like this truly stand out. Also a quick hint if you are supposed to meet someone at a particular time and don’t want to pause the action, simply bring up your phone, it has the time right on the front.
- Online Multi-Player
The open-world aspect of GTA has always been its biggest selling point, and now with the latest chapter you can enjoy that with up to 15 of your closest friends. With a bevy of modes at your disposal including an addictive and chaotic Free mode GTA IV excels at delivering months (if not years) of replayability thanks to this minor addition alone. Couple this with the fact that hopping online for both Xbox 360 and PS3 is a simple tap of the d-pad away thanks to the new cell phone and you have endless amounts of fun at your fingertips.
- Fantastic Presentation
Whether you sit and watch those ridiculous TV shows in your safe house or enjoy the soothing sounds of talk radio GTA IV is filled to the brim with content. The subtle humor that the series has become famous for is in full effect and now with higher production values. Voice acting for the main characters is exceptional, the music selection is nearly perfect yet again and the sheer amount of painstaking detail the developers have poured into the game really shine through and convince the player that they truly are residents of Liberty City.
- Ridiculous Amounts of Content
Let’s be honest with each other; Grand Theft Auto IV is one of the largest and most content rich titles ever conceived. The core storyline will run you a bulky 30-40 hours depending on how much you decide to dive into the relationship portion of the game. There are seemingly infinite amounts of side missions, hidden items and other odd-jobs to occupy your time around the city. Then Rockstar goes and not only adds the ability to play online, but an insanely addictive set of modes that are all distinct and enjoyable in their own rights. If ever there was a game that gave you more bang for your sixty bucks, I haven’t seen it.
- Achievements, DLC and Social Clubs...Oh My!
Community seems to be an addictive feature for the future of gaming. Tracking online accomplishments can be equivalent to caffeine dependency. The addition of Achievements in GTA IV for example would have been enough to entice most gamers to keep striving for set goals such as completing the game under 30 hours or managing to escape a six star wanted level. But Rockstar has gone one step further with the addition of what they dub the Social Club. This online site keeps a record book of the fastest completion times in the world, the areas of Liberty City where the most crime takes place and a host of other interesting facts about the style of gamers playing. Also if you own an Xbox 360 the promise of a nice chunk of DLC is enough to keep players addicted to this one; at least until the next chapter of the series drops.
Five Things We Hate:
- Driving Physics
While this argument is a back and forth it’s hard not to call out the fact that the first time you get behind the wheel of a vehicle in GTA IV control escapes you. There were countless times in the game where one small shift in traffic had me sliding all over the road like my tires were made of ice. Now some will argue that this makes the game more realistic, and I can respect that, but personally the last thing I want to do is learn the intricacies of each and every car in the game when I am barreling down a crowded street trying to evade the cops. After extended periods of time you will come to grips with this touchy mechanic, but for some players this is one hurdle that will likely frustrate, especially when you fail a mission due to your car not wanting to cooperate.
- Hand-to-Hand Fighting
While there has certainly not been an open-world game where melee combat was superlative GTA IV does little to improve the problem. The addition of a combo and counter system is welcome, but when all of the moves feel sluggish and unresponsive. Taking on multiple opponents is a chore and after a while you begin to lose interest in using said system because it is much easier to simply pull out a firearm, not to mention you have less of a chance of ending up at the hospital afterwards.
- Freezes & Online Hiccups
No one expected the GTA IV launch to go off without a hitch, which is where the problem lies. For a series as popular as Rockstar’s opus it is amazing that some people were not surprised when certain copies of the game simply did not work on day one. PS3 systems and 360 console not being able to load past the first mission is unacceptable in my opinion. Seriously the game went through extensive testing before launch, how do you miss a bug like that? Second the online servers for PS3 gamers giving connection errors. Again did you not expect millions of people to log on simultaneously on day one to enjoy your game? Microsoft did a mandatory update a week before (likely in response to the debacle that was Xbox Live Holiday ’07 down time) and it appeared to run just fine. Other things are typical as with any open world game, but I guess my biggest disappointment is just how widely accepted they are.
- Simply Too Much To Do?
While the idea of having hundreds of hours of game play sounds slick on the back of the box does it really translate well into interactive entertainment. This may be a point of personal preference, but games this large sometimes become tedious by the time the final credits roll. GTA IV is one of those games as a lot of the missions begin to blend together and outside of the characters you interact with not much feels inventive. There are exceptions such as the bank heist mission or the kidnapping mission (I cannot believe I just used either of those words in a positive fashion) but for the most part things do begin to bleed together. Add that to the idea of re-doing some of them multiple times due to other hindrances and the monotony begins to take its toll on you.
- Will This Ruin All Other Games?
Sometimes the problem of making a game so large is that it ruins the idea of game value. Final Fantasy VII comes to mind for this scenario. I can remember when that game launched on the original PSOne everything after it was required to have at least 30 hours of game play to be deemed worth owning. While I can certainly understand gamers wanting to get their money’s worth, the idea that a game is not worth owning simply because it isn’t long is ridiculous to me. This is an eternal debate that will likely not change, but what GTA IV does is create an experience that is so rich with content it will likely be hard to match its value for years to come. This is the fine line the games industry must tread to become as respected as the movie and music industry; a place where a 30 minute opus is just as good as a four hour opera.
This article is written entirely for entertainment purposes so try not to flame my inbox too much. The truth is everyone here at ZTGD and the N4G Network simply love GTA IV and believe it to be one of the best games of the year so far. We will be reviewing it within the next week and deliver our final verdict, but trust us when we say everyone should definitely own this title, of course I can imagine anyone reading this already took the plunge.
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