As you all know this was one of the most anticipated weeks in the gaming world. Of course I am talking about the release of GTA IV. Since everyone has been making some sort of blog about this, I guess I will too. If you have played any of the previous Grand Theft Auto games, than you know that this franchise set a standard for future games of this genre (True Crime, Saints Row, Etc.). I can remember when the franchise started off with a third person maze world. Although it was more of an arcade game than a shooter, it was just plain fun. In 2002, Rockstar Games really started making a name for themselves with the release of Grand Theft Auto III. Saying that this changed everything is an understatement. Following its release, Rockstar tried to preserve its franchise releasing Grand Theft Auto games. Although Vice City and San Andreas were successful, Liberty City Stories was an average game. What happened is that GTA had gained a massive amount of respect and people expected the most out of the new releases. Now that you are familiar with the history, lets start to talking about the real deal.
Now if you own a next gen console than you know all about this game and how much anxiety it caused this year. Simply put it is the most awaited game this year, well I guess you can say it was the most awaited game. No, I have not bought it yet, but from what I have been hearing it has delivered every inch of what was expected from it. Usually when a game has this much hype, people forget how good it is and focus on the bad points. Surprisingly, all of this game's flaws were overlooked. Why? Was it the gameplay? Online mode? Or is it just that damn good? It looks like its a little bit of all three mixed in it.
Here is where the controversy kicks in. Gamespot hasn't had a perfect game rating in seven years. Does it really take that long to make a perfect game, or have expectations sky rocketed in the new era. From what I see the citizens of Gamespot have drawn a line. Two sides are formed and they either hate it or love it, most being on the "love it" side. Some people blog about this game being overrated, and others say that Justin hit the nail on the head. Well lets see what makes a perfect score, shall we?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 : I guess if you keep remaking a game and adding more details and features, eventually you are going to get the perfect game. Luckily for Activision, they got the job done after only a few attempts. I must be pretty bold when I say this, but I never noticed a difference between any of the Tony Hawk games. Although the Underground series lunges the series into a whole different era of skating games, that's just it... its a skating game. If I want to have street races I can buy Need for Speed. Trying to hard, maybe?
Soul Calibur : Unlike Pro Skater 3, I have few bad things to say about this game. I knew people who purchased a Dreamcast just to own this game. You can almost say that this as a legend, or a messiah of the fighting genre. For the time the graphics were very good, and its one of those games that you just play with a friend for hours and hours without getting bored. I must be crazy saying I like the Gamecube version better, but then again if it wasn't for Soul Calibur, there wouldn't be Soul Calibur II.
The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina of Time : Recently I visited my younger cousins, 13 and 12 years of age. They have a Playstation 2, N64, Gamecube, and a Wii. They aren't serious gamers to say the least. They are Nintendo Fanyboys though. If the game doesn't have Mario, Link, or Sonic than they don't play it. You can easily tell that they aren't desperate enough to resort playing the older consoles, yet they still played Ocarina of Time constantly. Why exactly? I don't know the reason. The only thing I know is that the game must be extremely good to keep two Nintendo Fanboys addicted to it... right?
The last game in the "perfect" category is Chrono Cross, which sadly I have never played so I cannot shed light on the subject.
Cheers to Grand Theft Auto IV for joining this elite group. Whether it deserved this or not will be never known because the word has been said... but I am defiantly looking forward to checking out the game. So kids, the morale of the story is don't always trust reviews. Renting is the way to go.
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