Daily Q: Is GTA worthy of its review scores?
Category: Features, Posted: 05/15/2008 at 10:52AM CDT by Creighton DeSimone, Staff Writer
Ok, so we've all had ample time to play Grand Theft Auto 4 and I'm certain some readers have already finished the main story. I have played very little of the game. My roommate however has logged over 20 hours and I have been sitting next to him for probably 18 of them.
Here at GamerNode I have already talked about the perfect 10 review score and how four of the highest rated games ever have been released in the past ten months. Eddie has also chimed in about the review scores for GTA4, believing 10 is a little high, and I agree there.
Then you have GameSpot changing their review from a 9.5 to a 10 after all the other reviews went live. A strange practice indeed, though not an uncommon one for that particular site (Jeff Gerstmann anyone?).
Comparing GTA4 to other GTA games and giving it a 10 is kind of BS. Is it better than those other games? Sure. But is it the best game ever? No. It's just the next stage in improvement, the natural state of a sequel. You can listen to Kyle and Eddie's chat about the game here.
But enough from us, I want to know what the readers think of Grand Theft Auto's abundance of perfect review scores.
Do you think GTA4 is worthy of its review scores? Is it the most perfect game ever made? Or has all the hype skewed the data?
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I think we all know where I stand. Good game, but not THAT good.
no it dosent. its good but not perfect which is why i was confused when it got a perfect 10 on several sites.
This is not a 10 game, it not even a 10 when comaperd to other GTA titles.
GTA 4 IS a great game and a must buy for any 360 or PS3 owner but it isn't a 10
The story, the characters, and the game play are nothing special compared to other GTA titles, yes it is all better than many games out there, but not the best in the GTA series (my vote is Vice City for characters and story and San andreas for gameplay, but thats me)
I would definitely rate this game a 9 or even a 9.5 (like gamespots original score) for the inclusion of multiplayer.
I haven't even made it off the 1st island yet, but yeah anyway, It wasn't like I was having an orgasm at every second of play, so no 10.
Not a 10. Very, very good, but it has a few too many glaring flaws for a 10. A 9, definitely, but no 10.
A 10 doesn't mean perfection. It means that it's significantly better than the stuff getting the 9.5s. After playing the game for many hours, I can see why it scored so high, despite its glaring faults. The massive amount of goodness outweighs the shorfalls by a ton. That doesn't mean we have to ignore the bad, and maybe giving the game 10s across the board is very bad feedback for Rockstar. I don't want them to think that there's nothing they need to do better. There's plenty they can improve.
- Fix the chase camera while driving. Jeez! Who ever signed off on it and never reexamined it after all these games in the series? Hint: You're supposed to point the way the car is pointing.
- Fix the dizzying automatic camera while on foot. At least give me the option to defeat it.
- Fix the punishing save system. How about mission checkpoints?
- Fix the traffic AI. People don't suicidally make left turns right in front of drivers coming across at 80 mph.
I'm sure I'll think of more, but that will do for now.
Really, all I want to see fixed is the sometimes crippled cover system and have the old driving style back. At least I could stop or make a left turn in the past few games...
Once I set the controls to classic I found that I could control the cars really well, sure I go off flying sometimes but thats fun.
My only gripe is the lack of a tank, common I was really looking forward to driving around in a tricked out nect gen tank!
I have expressed my views many times on this. I look at a 10 this way. The best game out right now should be a 10. That to me is a 10. The best so far. For me, it is GTA4, hands down. Show the developers it is not just about story, or polish, or gameplay, or immersion, or replay ability. But a culmination of all of those things. And to improve on your series. Bring it truly to the next (now current) generation. Expand on your genre (A cover system in a 3rd person sandbox game. Physics that actually augment gameplay. More destructible objects than in most FPS. Even throw in last minute multiplayer as a thank you for fans.) That is what I think. And as I have asked many people "Ok, so what game do you think is a 10? Best out there." Compare what GTA4 has done, and the improvements it has made to it's genre. Then look at your game. That's what I thought.