Why does GTA 4 look like shit?

After seeing the new GTA 5 trailers (which looks amazing), I'm reminded of how horrible GTA 4 looks. GTA 4 is blurry, with jaggies everywhere and an inconsistent frame-rate. Granted, I have the PS3 version, so I have no idea what the PC version is like.

Well if you compare GTA4 to San Andreas, it looks amazing with the detail. The graphics were good for its time.

I was surprised how muted and brownish the colors where in GTA4.  I can only think they were "going for something" as other games of the time look more vivid.  Either that or it helped the frame rate to reduce the color pallet.

V might look better than IV because they've have more time to utilize the hardware properly. The 'grittiness' of IV was not for everyone, especially after the colorful SA. They're improving at their jobs, as they should.

Yet when it first came out I thought it looked amazing.

After seeing the new GTA 5 trailers (which looks amazing), I'm reminded of how horrible GTA 4 looks. GTA 4 is blurry, with jaggies everywhere and an inconsistent frame-rate. Granted, I have the PS3 version, so I have no idea what the PC version is like.

tendoboy1984

Yet when it first came out I thought it looked amazing.

marcheegsr

GTA V looks sweet compared to GTA 4.

gta 4's graphics along with rdr prohibited me from playing sr 3... the graphics were ok for the time it was released bearing in mind the open world size and the city's dynamics, they were pretty good, however the experience gained and shared with various collaborators over the years, of course, seems to be paying of in gta 5.... :)MondasM

Why should graphics stop you from playing a game? Did you complete RDR?

after playing and completing gta 4, rdr, just cause and those kind of 3rd person action / adventure games, i could not get into saints row, it reminded me too much of the previous generation of consoles and although some aspects of the game were unique, the over-the-top action's glamour seemed to fade away... on another note i do not love the conventional third person view games, may they be shooters or action / adventure games, the only ones that i could complete were exceptionally good like gta 4, rdr, max payne series, uncharted series, last of us, vanquish, etc... when i look at this list i seem to only like third person view games from rockstar and naughty dog, along with a game from platinum... :) rpgs and strategy games are another story.... :DMondasM

Saints Row is just an over-the-top game which could be fun if the developers didn't try to put in so much ridiculous stuff and would concentrate on more minute details. And I feel most RPGs these days are really good except JRPGs, rinse-and-repeat gameplay, but that is an argument for another day.