[QUOTE="Metamania"]
[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]
I'll never understand the derision leveled at GTAIV.
Rather than rest on their laurels, Rockstar went back to the core of the franchise and rebuilt everything from the foundation upwards. The core elements of GTAIV are infinitely more polished and sound than anything seen in the previous entries and the dearth of ancillary activities and content is easily explained by this vast overhaul.
I also cannot overstate how brilliantly Rockstar implemented and imbued their open world with genuine and autonomous life. The level of detail and minutia in GTAIV is staggering and more impressively, the NPCs often act entirely independently of the player, going about their daily lives. To this day it remains the most genuine and viable game world ever constructed; organic and independent of player intervention, it is something almost sentient.
Then you have the astute use of Euphoria that in turn creates some of the most realistic and dynamic reactions to combat and chaos ever seen in a game. Enemies stagger, tumble down stairs, crawl off to die and even roll over the hoods of cars as they are run down. The physics in the game, while not perfect, are better than anything else I've experienced and the sense of weight and heft gives the game play a meaty, visceral feel.
I personally love the way the cars control despite being a tad top-heavy and I prefer the more methodical pace of the driving in contrast to earlier GTA games. The fact that you can actually be killed when being thrown off a motorcycle or jettisoned though a windshield adds another layer of threat and realism even in a game that still largely embraces bombast.
The combat eclipses the loose, clunky feel of the earlier games and evolves into something far tighter and generally more responsive. I do think RDR would later refine the combat engine to an even more polished sheen but the overall shooting and cover mechanics offered in GTAIV remains compelling.
I do understand that many people felt chilled by the reduction of scope in GTAIV, especially as a follow-up to the massively ambitious (and fun as hell) San Andreas. Yet personally, I was impressed that Rockstar took the initiative to reconfigure and re-write the entire core of the game, essentially focusing on substance rather than shallow filler. Both Lost and the Dammed and Gay Tony expanded the game mechanics and features further and when taken as a complete package I think GTAIV deserved every accolade it received.
Every subsequent GTA has been my favorite and I suspect GTAV will repeat that history.
Venom_Raptor
I can't help but realize that your arguments are sound, valid, and to the point.
What I must debate, on a civil level, is the car controlling. I've done plenty of car missions that blew up in my face, because the car didn't stop or turn on my whim. By the time I tried to stop or turn, it crashed into a fire hydrant or some kind of obstacle, forcing me to start the mission over. It was also difficult to shoot down your target and they made you chase the target, all the way until the end. It was annoying as all hell, I tell you...
I thought the realistic driving was fine, never had any trouble with it. I'm glad you couldn't speed around the corners like in most games.
The beauty of Physics
[/spoiler] inb4 horrified gasps i mean this thread basically is share your desktop, right? I guess uTorrent is becoming a household icon... :D
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