Grand Theft Auto IV Member Review for the PS3

Does the word overrated mean anything to you?

ok, first up, i'd just like to say that i know i'm going to be getting a lot of hatemail because of this review, but i really don't give a ****. i have enough fun arguing with one of my friends about how bad this game is and he loves it.

i'm not really sure where to start but i will say this, (i'm 100% serious on this) i think that rockstar has paid just about every game critic there is to praise this game as much as they have. i think that if anybody has a right to say anything like that, it's me, considering there wasn't one GTA in the past that i didn't love and play for hours on end. you would probably think that someone like me would be in love with grand theft auto 4, but i'm not, the game is a massive dissapointment and there is no amount of hatemail or even playing through the game that can make me change my mind about that.

speaking of playing through the game, since i love the series so much, i really wanted to like this game, so i have tried it on 3 seperate occasions (and when i say "tried", i dont mean i have put the game in the ps3 3 times and played it 30 minutes each time, i mean i have borrow it from a friend on 3 different occasions trying to get into it.) but despite how much i wanted this game to be good, it wasn't. and you can't say anything like i have to play through it more, because i have done 35 boring missions that i put up with trying to enjoy myself.

first off, i'll mention the good parts; the graphics are surprisingly good for a gta game, considering san andreas' were terrible even for their time (i still love that game a whole ****in load though) and grand theft auto 4 also had a pretty good story judging by where i got up to. also some of Nico's dialogue is hilarious, despite how much the game has dissapointed me, rockstar has still kept that same humor they have had throughout the series.

i'm already through with the good parts, now on to the huge list of bad parts about the game. the first thing i noticed that i hated when i played the game was the driving system. the only positive thing i've heard anyone say about it was "i'm used to it now", that is not good enough! the fact is that the driving system is terrible in every way. it's not realistic, it's not fun, it's just plain different and that may make it seem unique, but unique means its different but good, this one is different and just plain unnecisary. the camera is the most annoying part about it. it's so slow to react to the car turning, and using the camera analogue stick everytime you go around a corner is just plain annoying.

second, the combat is sluggish at best. shooting people may seem fun at first, but nico's movements are so slow and he feels so awkward to control. the worst part about it is having to hold down L2 very lightly to free aim and hold down tightly to lock on. the reason why this is bad is because it is too sensitive. to get free aim, you would need very soft fingers, otherwise you will go into locking onto the targets when you really don't want to. and besides, there's nothing revolutionary about the combat in this game, its just boring. if you think about it, every aspect of the combat is much better in some other game, the cover system (just to name one) is a good idea, but uncharted: drakes fortune has a much MUCH better cover system that is a lot easier to use.

the truth is that even if these bad parts of the game were improved, it just still wouldn't be a very good game. i just don't find it enjoyable. the missions are too similar to the ones in the old games which means that these ones just follow the same formula and bring absolutely nothing new to the series. this would be good if it were still in the PS2 generation. i don't know how they would improve on it exactly, but the fact is that when going into a new generation of gaming, you can't just use the same formula and expect people to love it as much as they could. the only reason my previously mentioned friend loves gta4 is because he's never really got into the old ones because he didn't like the story, therefore, he likes the story in this grand theft auto, so he plays this one and the formula would seem new to him. oh, and just so everyone knows, the mobile phone thing is not 'genius' as IGN.com calls it, it really is annoying just like GR calls it. not only that, its also just an addition that is very unnecesary.  

i can't really give an opinion to who would like this game and who wouldn't, because i just don't know why anybody does. it's overrated. thats all i can say about it

                                                         + great graphics

                                                         + still has that same grand theft auto humor

                                                         +and maybe even a good story line

                                                         - GOD-AWFUL driving system

                                                         - annoying and unnecesary mobile phone

                                                         - sluggish, boring combat

                                                         - missions are nothing we haven't seen before

                                                         - i'm so sick of hearing about how "great" this game is!!!