...But I'm not impressed.

Is it just me, or is it that all GTA games are hollow after spending 10+ hours in it?

Not that I hate the serie, I wasted so much time in GTA:VC and GTA:SA that it send me straight to summer school (remember kids, math is not a fun subject). But what does GTA offer besides guns, cars and large map? Sure, it has a huge map to explore, huge selection of vehicles, tons of mini-games, endless customerization options, and all those tasks can keep you occupied for hours. But there's just that a tiny voice alway on the back of my head saying: "For what?"

Let's start with the map. It is getting bigger every game. If GTA:SA can capture a state, I'll be damned if GTA IV don't cover a country. And those maps are filled with secrets, packages, hidden weapons, and cars, etc. It is obvious that the developer want us to find those stuff and help player on their quest along the way. A bigger gun is always welcome to blow away the baddies; a faster car always useful to out run the police; A boost in HP or other attributes by picky up secrets is always a plus. But given the most of the challenges in GTA games are so mind numbing, does those things really matter? Take GTA:SA for example, I find that I can killing 99% of the enemy with without significant loss of health by just using the SMG, finding AK and M4 is just an excuse to waste few minutes of my time, same with stuff like amblance mission for health boost, etc. That basicly reduce the entire purpose of exploring into sight seeing, and sight seeing aren't that great either, since everything is either carbon-copied everywhere, or just sitting there without any use. The only real purpose I can find in exploring map in GTA is for the 100%...but that is just a three digit number you can only see on the thrid page of the player profile...what impact does that have on gameplay (tanks and planes doesn't count because there is no real point in mowing the cops)? Bottom line, whether you be a couch potato or a daring explorer, it just won't make a difference in GTA.

Same can be said with the cars. There are a lot of cars, tanks, planes, all are great, and you can get lost and spent hours sweating to earn a special vehicle, but no one in the game world, besides you, cares whether you get a smelly van or the bad-ass Rhino. Racing is the classic case of turtle vs rabbit, since all your opponet will floor it and plow into walls as soon as the horn sounds, all you have to do is just drive past them...with whatever stuff that can drive forward straight. Out running the cop is even easier, just make sharp turns on corners and break near intersection and you will be fine in whatever stuff you are riding. What's left is dodging/hitting slow bricks and mowing down people...how interesting after an hour. Getting a plane is even worse. You can't tell them apart because they are all so fast, and you just fly from point A to B without the scenery to entertain. If you got heat, your plane will self-destruct whether you wish to or not. Blowing up stuff with tanks and helicopter is so pointless because stuff will always spawn back in your face. So what is the point of cars? Just different set of attrbutes wrapped in individual skins. You can get from A to B with it, and you prefer some skin set over another. Extra features like canons and miniguns are amusing for the first few minutes, but repetitve after that. 

As for the minigames (or all the missions for that matter)...they are the very defination of brain dead. I can't blame Rockstar since most of the CPU power is used on rendering the impressive game world, but please at least give me something that can fight back. All enemy in the game are dumb. As long as some thing that is automatic and fires rifle bullet, I just point and click and I can score 20 headshot or blow up rows of cars without even paying attention. Racing is a joke as metioned before. Vehicles mission are simple routines that have to be followed for X amount of time (if I can pull it off three time in a row, the rest is just repeat the button sequence). Cops are the only thing that can touch me just because they can spawn 3 feet in front of me (cheaters). In fact, I find no challenge in GTA that take me more than 1 hour to figure out, and after that, the same routine over and over...with a texture difference.

Finally for customerization, different set of skin is just skin deep. as for making your car better...do I really need to waste my breath on that?

In conclusion - is there are a lot of stuff to do in GTA games? Of course, that is what GTA is about and that's what makes it fun. But is there any purpose or significance to all those things GTA has to offer? My answer is no, there is nothing worthwhile to accomplish, I did what I did in the game is because it's just there, nothing more. That is where the hollow feeling sink in, because I find that nothing I waste time on in GTA mean anything, inside and outside the game. At least when I waste noob in CS, I got score board to show off my supposly "l33t" skills over the internet. Or when I play CoH, I got a adrenalin shot in my vein. When I play GTA...the "same old, same old" feeling hit awfully fast.

GTA IV contains a lot of stuff, and with the new game engine, possiblly a lot of beautiful stuff. But can it contain many meaningful stuff and accomplishments for me to uncover? I'm holding my breath on that one, but so far I'm not impressed