Kotaku
If you hate 10-point rating systems, then pay no mind to the Nadia Comaneci 10 that IGN has handed Grand Theft Auto IV. The last game to get a perfect score from IGN was Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, in 1999.
Yet curiously, by describing it also as "Without question, the best game since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," IGN sets up a strange paradox. Because it reviewed Ocarina of Time on Nov. 25, 1998. And then it reviewed Soul Calibur on Sept. 20, 1999. So ... the benchmark game for GTA's greatness goes back to 1998. But since then another game has earned a 10/10 score from IGN. So what gives?
On second thought, the hell with the 10/10 scale. Read our stuff instead. Our embargo on GTA IV will break Sunday at 10 am, and then all the nitty gritty your hot little hands can hold will be yours. We'll deliver you a flood of content, and then some.
Still, until then, you'll need some surrogate commentary, and IGN's as good a place as any to start.
"A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect — it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws."
Sounds like a winner — by any score — to me.
Grand Theft Auto Review [IGN]
Comments
Hopefully it'll be paired by another 10 coming june 12 :D
Good period for games, indeed.
Am I the only one who is very angry that they have to work on Tuesday? I can't wait for this game!
That review doesn't help me decide which version to buy. PS3 or 360?
2 words...
HALO 3
4 more words...
HALO 2 review detraction
10am in what timezone? :)
Duh, Ocarina of Time is more perfect than Soul Caliber.
.... yeah, I prefer 5-point systems, too.
Regardless though, I think we can all agree on one thing, whether it's a 10/10 or a 5/5, the real winners here are all of us!
I guess IGN has the same problem that PCWorld had when it said the Macbook was the fasted laptop they tested that ran Vista, when a few months before that they reviewed a faster laptop.
They're simply saying that GTA4 is a superior 10/10 than Soul Calibur was.
I think they used Zelda as its a story driven game and compareing it to some pos fighting game regardless of how good it is just don't make sense,like wookies on endor:)
This just goes back to why the 10 point scale is broken.
5s, meant to be average, look like fails. 10's, meant to represent as good as a game can be, aren't used because it gives off "perfection." Wasn't Jade Empire a victim of 9.9 because it's not perfect by the same website?
I'd rather just read the articles, and have a "bottom line." No score. Scores mean nothing.
Oh, and by the way, GTA IV will be the best game since Legend Of Dragoon. Yeah, didn't see that one coming, did you?
If it's as good as it should be, it should be able to knock off my favorite game of all time. (And one of the most underrated, deserving of a sequel as well).
[looks forward to reading Kotaku GTA articles]
@beoba: Woops, just noticed timestamps, I suppose that's mountain time, then.
This game is gonna own so much!!!!
Hilary Goldstein clearly wrote in the review:
"A "10" is not a score we give out very often. In fact, the last time we gave a 10 to a console game was Soul Calibur in 1999. A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect -- it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws. Certainly, GTA IV has some issues, the most noticeable being the occasional flaw in the cover system, but there are many more pieces of GTA IV that are better than anything I've seen from a game in the past decade. We don't give 10s often -- just to games that merit the score."
What Kotaku should mention is the Glorious Video Review IGN have put up with the first ever in game footage.
And it looks insane!
Seems like they're saying that Ocarina of Time was a comparable experience but Soul Caliber was *technically* perfect, with GTA IV doing both, or at least that's how I read it.
@Abriael:
I doubt that.
Also to add in. Listen to the IGN podcast. They covered some good stuff and made me even more excited. The hype train is at maximum. Hilary basically says what he said in the written Review but he clearly states that this game is win.
Around me, nobody cares very much about GTA IV and I've got a lot of gamer friends. But reading Kotaku makes me feel like I'm the only one who don't wanna play another GTA ! Greatest game since Ocarina of Time ? ok cool, still not playing, who's with me ?!
@nukednova:
I'm angry for you, damn it! And I'm angry at the fact that I have Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off from work. Jesus this pisses me off.
@Heyyou27:
I hope you realize all you've down here is created an opening for fanboys to shout why there's is better.
I will try to be unbiased. Apparently, PS3 has better load times and sharper graphics(anti-aliasing). On 360, they say the load times aren't even bad at all(30 seconds), so it's not as much of an advantage. 360 has more "pop ups" in the distance than PS3, but it also has the DLC and, if it matters to you, Live.
Honestly, just pick whatever controller you like better. The retail games are both high quality versions with not enough of a difference for it to matter, in my opinion.
If you want the DLC, though, then you automatically know the answer.
@spargo_1: Yeah, IGN's video review of GTA4 is pretty sweet. I especially like the intro and the ending, and the choice of music.
Sounds like he felt he had to point out exclusivity and score weren't related.
If you read the article, it does break down the two systems, 360 vs PS3, and the differences are marginal.
If you also read the article, their ONLY beef with the game in 7 pages is a small hitch in the cover system if you're near a corner, or something minute.
According to their 10 ranking guidline, it lists as "Virtually Flawless". I would say that one small issues amongst 7 pages of praise is just that.
I don't get it. IGN has give a lot of games a score of 10, many of which have been released after the 1999 date they give.
Meaningless review numbers FTL.
I'm seriously doing my best not to just start pulling my hair out, that's how excited I am.
@karasu is my homeboy: I would kill to increase the amount of usually non-existing FSAA on my 360 games.
As a PC gamer, I'm used to cranking the slider to at least 4x, and higher for milder games.
I don't own a ps3, so I'm stuck with just the 360 version, but that's a pretty big difference if it's true.
I have two finals the day GTAIV comes out. Bad timing Rockstar! Sign I guess I'll be taking Database structures again next semester...>_<
@Heyyou27: Apparently the PS3 version is slightly better with slightly better graphics and loading times.
@regnez: While I agree with you about the number system, those are all handheld games. They said console, so... technicality, I know.
@regnez: They're referring to console and PC games, which are reviewed at considerably higher standards than portable games and the like.
I took wednesday off from work, woot!
IGN is a huge douche canoe.
@regnez: Well they were all handheld games, which I guess they don't count as real games.
getting a "perfect" score is a great accomplishment for any game, and while the GTA series isnt my cup of tea, i applaud Rockstar for making a game as good as they did
Eww soul caliber got a 10 WTF were they thinking?
@NotoriousJnX: "A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect - it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre..."
Halo didn't push any boundaries that I'm aware of.
@Shteve:
No one. Why wouldn't you want to play it?
For attention is a funny reason.
10 point rating systems are absurd.
Now 3.141592653.... point rating systems are pure genius.
@Chanaluss: Considering they could pull a 9.9 with SA on the ps2, I don't think we could of imagined anything less with this effort.
If you read the week coverage IGN posted about GTA4, Rockstar has put in 3 years of ridiculous amounts of development into this title.
Kudos to them.
@Shteve: Normally I'd agree with you, as I'm not big on sandbox games, but from what I gathered from the review this iteration has a stronger main game to offset the daunting chaos of its free world. As such, I'll definitely be open to playing this, at the very least.
@Fallible: Halo didn't get a 10 from IGN. None of them did.
@jynxycat: For the record, in the IGN podcast for this review, one of the guys mentioned "really thinking" that the 360 version had a "sharper resolution" when he compared the two.
I think it would be an interesting revelation if we ultimately found out that the PS3 version was actually outputting at a slightly lower resolution, which would give likely give it blurrier edges and make it seem like it has less aliasing.
@Lstormy10:
I don't, unless journalists decide that (as usual in the last few years) the game needs to be rated lower because it comes from a japanese software house.
MGS4 and GTA4 both look awesome, they both seem to be more or less the definitive word on their genre, they both have (or seem to have in the case of GTA4) a pretty awesome online mode. But I have to say that in term of story and characters' charisma MGS4 beats any GTA to hell and back without the slightest drop of sweat. So, unless some unseen mishap happens, if GTA4 gets a 10, MGS4 should as well.
IGN used to hand out 10's to every Pokemon game, so that's your new bar of greatness...
@karasu is my homeboy:
On 360, they say the load times aren't even bad at all(30 seconds), so it's not as much of an advantage.
Eliminating 30 second loading times IS a good advantage. People complained about 5-10 second loading times on the PS2 in comparison to the Xbox back in the day.
All other points stand, and when it comes down to the bottom line, they're irrelevant. Both versions look great, and the masses won't care about which has better AA etc.
@Zeliard: That doesn't make sense.
The higher the resolution, the smaller the edges look on any given polygon.
Hence why people who play PC games at 1900x1200 aren't as worried about adding levels of AA, versus upping texture quality or AF levels.
At the end of their written review, they mention higher AA for the PS3 version specifially, so not sure who to believe at IGN :P
Can we just agree that the 10/10 means that this game is a must buy? Comparing an open world action game to an arcade fighter is asinine.
@SG79: The loading times aren't that bad, either way. When you die there's a loading time, but the length depends on how far away you are from a hospital (as it was in past GTAs, I believe). They're usually fairly insignificant, particularly when pretty much everything else seamlessly loads.
Are we looking too deep into this? I hope not.I'm off to carry on playing my 10/10 game... It "pushes boundaries"
@ karasu is myhomeboy: That's honestly all I wanted to know. I'm not interested in DLC, and have been wondering which version looks and plays better. I've heard this before but wanted to confirm, but it looks like it'll be a few days before we see a side by side comparison.