Technologically Impressive, but wheres the "game"?
If you've read any of my reviews you know I'm a stickler for story and I have to say that GTA 4 is pretty weak in this department. While there are some very interesting missions the over all plot is so loose and bordering on incoherent that it really hurts the game, especially since the same company was telling better stories on older tech, that is really something to ponder. The story itself is fairly original, for a game,in that you are an immigrant fresh off the boat looking for the american dream. Initally I thought that the plot was going to be dramatic and a deep look into the heart of what its like to be in America. Sadly this concept is tossed aside for over the top neurotic characters that rely on comedy and stereotypical archetypes than a deep narrative that makes you question american values. While there are bits of the latter lightly tossed in its too bad the game didn't do more in this area. Another area in which the story was under developed, or maybe over developed, was the number of characters. While main character Niko is very well done, the other characters are too under developed. Roman, your in game cousin is well developed but I found him annoying and moronic, constantly digging himself deeper into trouble. Too many characters are introduced , all of whom we know next to nothing about. Little Jacob, a character I enjoyed in the game was vastly under developed. For all the nay sayers out there, taking a person to play a game of billiards IS NOT character development. Why is he a gun/drug dealer? What led him down the same path as Niko? I think the problem here is that your casual gamers dont give a crap about characters and the hardcore are too busy blowing crap up to appreciate the subtlety this game was aiming for with its plot. While certain aspects of the story were good, I really felt that the game was trying to do too much with too many characters all while creating a plot that was too fragmented to be enjoyed. Also the conclusion was lacking, I wont spoil it but it was very anti climatic.
Technologically the game is outstanding and I think for this reason alone is where a lot of the reviews gave it such high marks. The impression of the real world being translated into video game form is at its apogee here. The best example of this is the feel of the weapons. Blind firing a shot gun into a person has never felt so good, especially seeing them realistically collapse. Everything "feels" real in the game, like everything has weight to it. The physics are very appropriate too, while they are modified to be more gamey they still feel rooted in reality. The art direction is really well done too, while everything has a realistic sheen too it, the character models still have that distinct GTA feel. The game does a great job of being rooted in reality especially with its gun physics, car physics and general weight the characters portray. I would say that this is probably one of the most technically impressive games on the market, even coming up to its 2nd year of release.
While the story is serviceable but lacking and the technology is spot on , the game aspect is where GTA4 hits its largest hurdle. Everyone knows the GTA formula; Steal car, drive to mission giver, complete mission, repeat. GTA 4 is no different but why fix something that isnt broken? The catch here is that you now have a cell phone that also functions as a quest giver, a quick restart button, as well as a complete pain in the ass. While I enjoyed the concept of the phone, especially the ability to instantly restart a mission without having to drive back to the mission giver, it is far to annoying most of the time. After a few hours in the game , and making several friends, you will start to receive phone calls from people that want to hang out. It was a novel idea, a dating sim mixed into an action game, but its welcome is worn out about 3 hours into the game. After Roman calls you to play darts 5 times I start to care less and less about him. I just didn't feel rewarded by this aspect of the game at all, why not make this optional? OR why not let the friend be an actual online friend then you go play darts or bowling? At least beating a real life friend at bowling would make me feel some what rewarding. But the friend aspect falters because it is not rewarding, repetitive, and in the end it just didn't do anything for me other than hang up on the person and not care about the thumbs down they gave me. The other aspect of the game I didnt care much for was the action itself, because its changed so dramatically from the past games. While I loved dumping tons of money into weapons then going crazy on the streets of liberty city in past titles, this game just didn't do it for me. At no point in GTA4 did I think I could actually escape the cops after blowing up a half dozen cars with rockets and grenades. In fact after trying just a handful of times to evade the cops ,I quit having fun outside of the plot entirely, I guess thats what the multiplayer is for. I felt the shooting mechanic was top notch and the cover system was well done, especially the incredibly life like animations that go along with it. The missions themselves are ruined by the TERRIBLE characters they have that give them to you. While most people enjoyed the Brucie character I couldn't stand him. He wasn't funny, his missions were boring, and he was boring. About half way through the story you realize that most of the missions are the same as the old games. Go here kill X amount of people or specific target or do specific one off task that is boring but makes it look like the game is filled to the brim with variety. For being a game with such amazing tech behind it and an apparently 80 million dollar budget , GTA 4 is a huge disappointment in the game aspect. The combat, like Gears of War, is essentially Wack a Mole. The enemy pops his head out and you see if you are quick enough to wack him with a hammer, or in this case a bullet. The story is sub par and doesn't make you care enough about the characters, or even to warrant a second play through. The tech is impressive, but why spend so much money on mediocrity? At the end of the day GTA4 will go down as being a technical marvel that lacked a cohesive story and fun,enjoyably game play.