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[borghe]

So here we are, 5 years later... Generally people find TBGT a great game, TLATD so-so.. RDR is generally thought of as one of the best games of the generation.. So where do people stand on GTAIV itself?

I know when it came out, the press gushed over it... With a lot of laughable hyperbole (mention of Oscars, stunning realism, game of the generation only two years in, etc).

Then of course the love meter swung back the other way and people basically hated it seemingly just to even out the press feedback of it.

So five years later. Amazing game? Turd? Fun but flawed?

I started it up brand new this weekend for the first time in years. And honestly so far it is better than I remember it. Certainly not as incredible as RDR.. but a lot of the groundwork was obviously laid out in GTAIV for that game.. and it didn't age nearly as poorly as the controls and gameplay from say, GTA:SA or GTA:VC (IMHO). Even today I would easily give the game an 8... if for being solid but nothing exceptional by today's standards.

Your thoughts?

 

[Byronic Hero]

Meh. Not as good as San Andreas.

 

[shira]

Great-more-of-the-same but driving is meh.

 

[antitrop]

One of the best games of the generation, a worthy entry in the franchise, and a fantastic experience.

Just wish the games press didn't flip out about it, making everyone think it's "overrated". I blame IGN.

 

[Tobor]

One of my favorite games of the last generation. There are a few issues, but it's still overall a classic.

Also, best driving ever. I still like to boot it up and drive around the city from time to time.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Very good game. Very, very disappointing GTA game.


Utterly dismal characters in the context of the franchise.

 

[Diablo Rosso]

Meh. Not as good as San Andreas.

One and done.

 

[strafer]

Great game.

Terrible driving.

 

[SiDCrAzY]

Only GTA I ever beat.

My favorite GTA.

 

[Sethos]

Oh god, another one of these where people shit on GTA IV and start upboating crap like Saints Row, Just Cause and Sleeping Dogs.

 

[Guevara]

Gameplay suffered. Overall not as fun as the PS2 games.

And all the additions (dating, friends) sucked.

 

[antitrop]

Oh god, another one of these where people shit on GTA IV and start upboating crap like Saints Row, Just Cause and Sleeping Dogs.

All three of those games/series are great in their own right, but none of them hold a candle to GTA or GTA IV. Everyone else is still living in Rockstar's shadow.

 

[SteeloDMZ]

Excellent game. Could have used more varied missions, but still one of the best games of the generation.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Boring.

 

[JehutyRunner]

One of the best games of the generation. Anyone who says otherwise are haters!

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

There is no consensus.

 

[reminder]

I liked it for what it was (the first GTA this gen, a more serious tone, etc.), but it wasn't as fun or rich in variety as San Andreas. I think GTA V will fulfill my dreams of getting a "San Andreas with current tech".

 

[Tummi Gummi]

Garbage. Never got more than half-way. Totally eclipsed by Saints Row 2 for me.

 

[eot]

Boring missions, dreadful dialogue and characters

 

[fallagin]

Hmm, it was ok.. I dunno I just can't get Into gta games, I try but I can't. The graphics were pretty nice I guess.

 

[mclem]

The epitome of 'okay'. Perfectly functional, perfectly enjoyable, but missing - for me - that l'il spark that makes people passionate about a game rather than simply liking it.

 

[famousmortimer]

Did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did the other 3D GTAs. Evidently i'm a 'hater.'

 

[SteeloDMZ]

Great game.

Terrible driving.

The driving in GTAIV >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the cars made out of paper in any other open world game.

 

[ZacharyDCCLXXVII]

If you think of it as the GTA3 of this gen, it's pretty awesome.

If you think of it as a sequel to San Andreas, not so much.

 

[xJavonta]

Favorite GTA. The driving was awesome (had weight to the cars!), world was great, but the missions could have been a little more entertaining. It's my most played game on Steam (both the episodes and core game)

 

[Doran902]

I havent enjoyed a gta game since vice city, only played about 5 hours of 4 and screwed around with some multiplayer

didnt like the main character, thought the game took itself to seriously

 

[Rickenslacker]

I enjoyed it. They pared it down from previous games, especially San Andreas, but it was still nice to play. The driving physics and Euphoria made for fun interaction as opposed to the janky animations of the PS2 iterations. There was a lot of backlash to it, but considering how favourably GAF generally perceives Sleeping Dogs, I think if you can enjoy that you can enjoy GTA4.

 

[Xav]

I think any journalist who gave it anything higher than an 8 lost credibility in my own personal opinion. It was a pretty decent (if somewhat boring) game but it certainly wasn't Vice City or San Andreas. Red Dead Redemption utterly eclipsed it by comparison.

 

[Struct09]

Loved it when it came out. Probably wouldn't be able to go back to it so easily though.

 

[Mogwai]

Good city design. Bad gameplay.

 

[Radec]

Overrated.

But a good game.

 

[secondspace]

There is no consensus.

This.

People in this thread are hating the driving, other people will swear it's the one of the best things in the game.

 

[MikeE21286]

Much less impactful for me than GTAIII, VC, or SA even

Just got kinda boring in all reality.

 

[borghe]

personally I never got the hate towards the driving.. To me that was always (and still is) one of the great things about IV (and all GTAs). Controls and response were very much in line with all the previous GTAs IMHO.. and I agree with the guy who said I'd take driving in GTA any day of the week over SR.. by a mile. Haven't played Sleeping Dogs so I can count that one.

 

[Tummi Gummi]

Controls and response were very much in line with all the previous GTAs IMHO

You're right, foot controls in GTAIV were very much in line with truck controls in SA.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Snooze fest and disappointing.

 

[dragonbane]

Tries too hard to be serious and is completely depressing all the time as the result. Where I had a blast with the colorful and light-hearted Vice City and San Andreas, I wanted to commit suicide while playing IV. Traversing the world is not fun either, because everything looks so drab.

I was expecting something more heart warming like the two previous games. V looks like a GTA I want to play.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

One of the most overrated games of all time.

 

[Nihilistic Monk]

Played the 360 version at release. I fell in love with the city and the atmosphere. Some of the missions were fun & I didn't even mind the driving physics. The plot was poorly written & the characterisation became off however. You can definitely see the plot writing bridging the gap between GTA4 and the (in my opinion) much better written Red Dead.

Dating & friendship was very poorly thought out. "Hey come and do some boring stuff we stuck in to artificially lengthen the game". No ta.

It was flawed and the semi-serious jokiness they're goin for doesn't come off, but it's competent & you can have fun with it. Was it the "citizen Kane" of gaming. Nah. Was it abysmal? Not really. It was competently delivered big budget gaming with some mistakes made.

I have this on my Steam account, but never played the PC version. Is it worth an install? Tempted now.

 

[cacildo]

Horrible and ign gave it a 10

 

[The Grim Heaper]

It was lots of fun. Disappointing in some aspects, but still impressive and pretty to boot.

 

[Sethos]

I have this on my Steam account, but never played the PC version. Is it worth an install? Tempted now.

The increased framerate along makes the PC version so much better. The 25FPS of the console versions was murder.

 

[fresquito]

I felt like I was wasting my time with this game. Mostly everything related to the story and missions was retarded. Outside missions was fun for a while, until you discovered there was nothing to do you hadn¡t done before in prior GTA games.

 

[KalBalboa]

A great game overall with some really fun additions to the series.

Running on rooftops during foot chases, the co-op online missions, flying through windshields, and the improved shooting were big for me at the time. I liked the story & world, too, particularly the decision-making.

Can't wait for 5.

 

[SneakyStephan]

GTA no fun allowed edition, please buy our a little bit of fun allowed DLC.

Just cause 2 makes gta seem incredibly archaic and poorly made.

 

[Taco_Human]

GTA 4 sucked. I skipped Lost and Damned.

Ballad of Gay Tony was a lot of fun, but being so short and still in the GTA4 world, it was too little to late.

 

[Shion]

Overrated by the press, but still a very good game.

Gameplay suffered compared to the PS2 entries but everything else (script, characters, story, mood) was so much better.

 

[ZacharyDCCLXXVII]

This.

People in this thread are hating the driving, other people will swear it's the one of the best things in the game.

I actually don't know why I liked the driving so much. In the beginning, it was messed up, kept bumping into other cars and couldn't handle any turns. After some time passed, it was really fun to just drive around the city.

The flying rats sucked. Double the hidden packages with no reward until you killed the last one. Even then, it was a poor reward.

 

[Dark Octave]

Only GTA I ever beat.

Same, though I like San Andreas' world and characters better.

 

[flyinpiranha]

Great game, really disliked the main character though. Hated the (lack of) a checkpoint system but that was remedied with the expansions.

The minigames weren't compelling and/or fun. I don't want to play Pool in a game where there is an entire city to interact with. The minigames seemed like something more akin to a mission in a linear action game to be honest, not something you could do as an option in GTA.

I think GTAV will remedy all my woes. I have no issues with the controls and/or driving, enjoyed them a lot.

Also felt there was a lack of vehicle variety.