@JustOneFix: And considering their readership, you'd suspect that they'd get more "hits" if they instead printed a headline such as "GTAIV Turns People Into Child Murdering Devil-worshippers". Odd how that's not the case.

cheeses

HepCat

JustOneFix

fuchikoma

liquidnumb

I agree. A lot of fun interactivity was missing from the game (compared to San Andreas), as well as the humor. A lot of the silliness was traded away for realism. The first thing I tried to do was rob a Burger Shot and they didn't even try to call the cops (or pay out). No B&Es. No parachutes. No planes. No bicycles (that's understandable, given it's New York, but come on). No dune buggies. No army. Just super amounts of detail, which LOOKS great, but you can't really play with it. At least you can still climb fences.

GTA4 is a much more serious endeavor this time out, and I hope they get it out of their system so that when the next one comes, all that tongue-in-cheek that permeated the PS2 releases comes back. I can understand why they did it, of course - there's a whole new audience to capture. Still, as a fan of the series, each outing saw a step forward in gameplay; now we have a step forward in graphics, and a tiny step backwards in gameplay. It'll all come back when we re-visit Vice City. :)

I do, however, like the moral ambiguity of Niko. Compared to Vercetti or Carl, he's not anywhere close to being as cold. He sits on that moral fence where he doesn't really like what he does, but he does it 'cause he's got no other options. This is really fleshed out when you stop to do the Random Stranger bits - his good nature shines in these missions, even though he ends up killing people most of the time. For example (spoiler here, look away), there's a girl you can meet in a park who's jonesing for a fix. Niko tries to talk her out of it, but rather than have her sell her body for the money, he just gives her what she needs. It's weird because it's not extreme good or extreme evil, but it shows he has some sort of a heart and that some things are sacred to him. Very cool.

dunetiger : one of the naerds

[kotaku.com]

Zombie_Crunch

That being said, the gameplay I was disappointed with the most. Sure it has more details but I found it less fun. Wow, I can bump somebody and they drop their coffee...so what. I found very little to do besides just roaming to see what was there but really nothing to find or do when you get there. They made big claims about the verticle nature of the city, but there are very few reasons or missions that require you to really go up on the outside of buildings. And the driving, really hate the slidy wobbly nature of the vehicles. Just taking a slow turn and your vehicle rocks to one side like it doesn't even have shocks. With the game all about driving fast and taking corners at super speeds with cops on your tail they certainly did everything they could to slow you down.

Just didn't like the gameplay as much as past games, but liked the characters and story better. That kills the longevity for me as I used to love exploring every nook and cranny and driving and just don't in this game.

GPman

Ocassionally an NPC will committ a crime, but the cops will shoot at and even arrest them.

JustinS

Does this mean the game no longer baits you into fights? I'm used to walking down the street minding my own business, and before I even alienate any gangs, someone shoots at me, I return fire, and the cops chase me down, so I take them out, and before I know it I have the army after me for trying to walk from point a to point b...

If it doesn't do that anymore then it's made a giant leap in realism right there.

fuchikoma

Pezdispenser

Spiraltribesman

excel_excel

I've wondered that myself. I called into Public Radio to bring the social commentary up and was met with dead silence and then surprise. The social satire and the fact that the games are -- first and foremost -- a satirical take on the American gun culture, is what interests me in the games. It seems to go over the heads of most gamers (play online and see how many noticed), ALL critics of the game (politicians, etc.), and game publishers trying unsuccessfully to capture the humor and magic of the game by throwing in names like, "Freckle Bitches" for fast food joints. You know who you are, THQ.

Sloopydrew

Nearly everyone is addicted to some illegal substance and all of them admit they're killing themselves with it -- let alone showing the most horrible side effects of their use. I've made several IMs to a fried that this game seems to be the biggest digital anti-drug campaign I've seen.

The decent amount of choices you have of killing people and their pleading words for their life have also really struck home with me. There have been three instances where I genuinely hated killing the game character.

Arttemis

Sloopydrew

Yes, you are.
Go out, blow up a petrol station or stab some hookers like the rest of us. =)

CanaryWundaboy

HAGE

I'll admit it's a good game but I dont think it deserves the amount of praise it's getting.

Leopard89

Caduceus

UFO

yojimbo32

[news.bbc.co.uk]

[www.gamespot.com]

[and others]

emag

R* definitely has a sense of humor, and it shows... on the radio, TV, billboards, everywhere.

MantisDragon

I just assumed that that's how everyone did it.

RamV10

VIdeogame violence and *say it quietly* S&M sex

I don't know if I can believe it, maybe they got a Daily Mail censored version!

Eroway

Bitkari

Plenty of "proof" for either argument, this is one question that even the English language experts are split over. Being called Ross, I know the correct answer - "Ross's" is just GRAMMATICAL PAIN. No S ftw and all that.

Oh yeah and the Daily Mail. That really is surprising. I agree they must have shockingly employed a games journalist who actually played the game!

Zsinj

Or so I've been told.

*whistles innocently*

erlik

ArmiMaan

I have a name that ends with an "s" and I prefer an extra s be added when necessary. Otherwise the pronunciation becomes, IMHO, stilted/awkward, and I don't think an exception should have been made in the first place. I see no reason to break the rules just because "s's" somehow *offends* people.

On topic: nice to see reactionary news outlets being slightly less reactionary.

erlik

Yeah, the Mail is a racist paper that either goes on about the death of diana, or how much money immigrants get. I seem to remember them calling Halo 3 "ultra violent"

But it's good to see the game is getting some good press that'll go out to a lot of people. Then again, the only way this would affect game sales is that mothers get persuaded to buy their underage kids this game.

Coin Operated Boy

Sorwah

Al Bino

Jayenkai

No, it would be Nikos's. It would only be Nikos' if the inner turmoil belonged to several people called Niko.

phicaluk

dsmx

Even plain ordinary English rules says that's wrong..

Even if it were Nikos, it'd be Nikos', not Nikos's!
Geeze, Mail, get a proof reader!

Jayenkai

peAr_nectAr

Also, the Daily Mail is bogus. They just don't want a billion gamers sending them hatemail, but they don't want a billion conservative mothers sending them hatemail also.

Superstar90

Plus, Nikos? Really?

nenet

[news.bbc.co.uk]

boosebaster

Dannon