If you've read some of my previous entries, I've expressed my frustration with the highly-rated Grand Theft Auto 4. I'm going to list the sources of my frustrations and, most likely, the reasons for my returning of the game tomorrow.
1. The world is too big and boring- I've been given a large playground to play in, too bad there isn't much to do. Besides shooting pigeons and buying ammo and clothes, I haven't found anything to really hold my interest. Why can't I collect cars and store them in a garage? To be honest, I don't find any of the cars really appealing. To me, a car's a car.
Another problem comes from the city itself, or it's lack of personality. I can walk for miles and not find one secret or something of interest for me to do. If you're going to make a big city, fill it with secrets, collectables, hidden goals. I want to find hidden stories and jobs, that's what makes an experience unique to each player. Some will find the secrets, some won't, that's the fun.
2. Theft is boring- If I were steal someone's car in real life, not that I would have the guts to do so, what do you think is in the car? For starters, they will have a spare tire, I can sell that. There's probably a GPS in the car and a radio. Both good items to hock on the street. Sunglasses, maps, pills, groceries, cell phones, and all sorts of personal effects. I want to go through people's stuff! The car could be full of junk or full of treasure, either way is fine. I want my theft to be more in-depth.
If I were to take someone's wallet, what do you think I would find? Besides cash, I would have different cards: credit cards, debit cards, club memberships, coupons, maybe a social security number, all kinds of stuff! The same can be said for a cellphone, there's numbers of all sorts of different people and places. That's what I want, the ability to play around with people's lives. Maybe mug someone and take their credit card. Then use it in a shopping spree until the card gets canceled. Or maybe if I keep the spending low enough, they won't notice twenty dollars going out of their pockets every few days. How about their cell phone? Maybe I look up the girlfriend while her boyfriend's in the hospital (see Stewie's lemonade stand from Family Guy). Maybe I call up the guy's number to the yacht club and get myself a membership to the club.
The point is: I do this BECAUSE I CAN. I do this because I have the ability to do so and giving players freedom to do even pointless things can be fun. Not everything has to be about money.
3. The characters are boring- In the twenty or so hours I've played GTA 4, I've only met criminals. Criminals that are self-destructive, stupid, selfish, or have delusions of grandeur. This is all good and fun but does everyone in this town have to be a jerk? I'm not saying that I want to work with a saint, I DO want to interact with someone who has more of a personality beyond coke addict. And for God's sake, does everyone in this city do blow? I've been taking jobs from five different people, at least three of them can be heard or seen sniffing something, obviously coke, during cutscenes. I understand that coke is edgy, but as with any edgy or cool concept: when everyone does it, it's no longer cool. And I swear, one of those people I work with is on steroids or something. Not everyone in the lower class is on some kind of drug Rockstar.
4. Not enough weapons- When I play in a sandbox game what do you think I want to do? I want to cause chaos, and I can't do that until I unlock all the weapons. Yes, I know there are cheats (Really? Who uses cheats in games anymore?) but that takes away one of the achievements (trophy in game for accomplishing certain tasks) in the game. I can't have a lot of fun with a pistol, a Molotov cocktail (which is really expensive, what the heck?), a sniper rifle, and a submachine gun. Also, there's only two variants for each type of weapon. Now GTA is not Call of Duty where each weapon is unique in someway or another, but I still want a whole bunch of weapons to have fun with. Even if there are similarities, I want to carry a whole bag of weapons around with me. I want a whole variety of armaments.
5. Controls are bad- I had a heck of a time trying to figure out the cover mechanic (this game was clearly made for the Xbox) the cars slide around like their on ice, and the climbing is just a travesty to watch.
6. Graphics are bad- Just like the title says, the graphics are just bad. I know this is an older game, and a lot of my complaints have already been addressed but these are things that should have been fixed long before the game was released. Rockstar had better bring their game with GTA 5 because I'm not sure if I will even consider getting the game. Maybe the Saint's Row series will have more of what I want.
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