Spring of Grand Theft Auto

[Neon Ignition]

Going down the PS3 route for the most part to keep my interest holding on these, making the most of the US store sale and now have the original GTA3 trilogy downloading. I have the stories games on PS2 somewhere so will stick with those versions.

[wakka]

Vice City Stories had a really fun endgame, maintaining all those different properties and protecting them against rival gangs, while money flooded into your account!

I also enjoyed the apartment with the seaplane outside. I used that as my regular vehicle once I had enough cash to buy it over and over. Aww yeah.

[Neon Ignition]

Making solid headway already, currently 5hrs in at about 17% with the second safehouse open. The game is quite good looking at times but it takes very little for the engine to strain and the visuals go to hell. With a deep breath and methodical approach I've so far coped with GTA4's on foot controls. The driving took more getting used to with its tugboats in treacle steering but I'm getting settled in now, it still remains that the two biggest issues I have with this entry are the camera which struggles in doors and fixates on Niko when driving which means it often faces the wrong way to the car rather than the way you need it to (the car shoulder cam positioning still sucks too) as well as the design of Liberty City itself. The city is still a technical marvel but is so drab and without interesting landmarks. In previous games I had so many occasions of seeing somewhere and trying to get there where in this I'm finding myself staring at the satnav directions as I coast down samey looking streets.

Those aside though I'm finding myself getting more into it and hopefully that will continue. The fire of interest isn't lit yet for GTAV but this is starting the embers.

[Neon Ignition]

I've really been plugging GTA4, about 10hrs in now and I'm reaching the first really tiresome section where several current and recent missions involve idiotic npc's that get themselves killed and the whole mission fails, crappy design as there's no real way of protecting them. Best approach is to be more gun-ho to kill the attackers before they kill your comrades but then the combat control issues rear up. Hopefully Rockstar will sort that out by at least making npc's immune in GTAV for missions which aren't specifically protect based

[Neon Ignition]

I'm in the last phases of GTA4 and I'm settled enough into the game that it's control issues don't get in the way too much, I've probably enjoyed my 22hrs and counting run with this more this time than any other and I'm glad to be back on the right foot with the series. I've been reading up on the previous entries and the intricacies of San Andreas for a PS2 game are fascinating.

[Neon Ignition]

Managed to beat the 30hr trophy time limit by a few hours clocking GTA4 at 60%. The weakest aspects were still the weakest even after all these years and I have a check list of things I'd like to see sorted for GTA5 but all in all it was a pleasurable run and left me feeling in a better place with the game than any previous playthroughs have done. GTA4 is the first entry I've finished on this seasons run through so it will be my benchmark for the others, all in all I'd give it a current score of 8/10. It's a really good game but let down by misplaced ambition and some sloppy design decisions.

Next up is Lost and Damned, done the first mission and despite disliking the bikes in GTA4 I'm finding the characters more interesting already than Niko etc

[Neon Ignition]

Plugged away at Lost last night and hazard I'm halfway through now, as an expansion of IV it works fine but I'm finding my interest is falling as it doesn't really make use of the vehicles on offer and the missions seem to all be shoot outs with a group of cops and bikers. The least diverse GTA addition I've played, fun enough but thankful it's not a full game based on the first half

[wakka]

I found Lost and the Damned really dull actually. The characters didn't appeal to me and the levels were all very alike as you say. It also continued the GTA IV trend of dour and humourless dialogue and characters.

Gay Tony was way better. Arab Money!

[Neon Ignition]

I didn't mind these characters at first but the story doesn't really do much with them. Only Johnny and Billy are utilised and even then most cutscenes play out the same way, despite its length its pretty phoned in.

[Dogg Thang]

What I found to be the main problem with Lost and the Damned was the reluctance of the main character and this is something that is often a problem with GTA leads (if I remember, San Andreas suffered from this too). Maybe it's a way of making them not completely evil but the result is that they often come across as whiny and a pain in the ass and this expansion was worse than others for that.

[wakka]

Good point, that is a recurring problem with GTA leads. In an effort to make them relatable they're often such reluctant criminals, which stands out in bizarre contrast to the fact that over the course of the game they slaughter literally hundreds if not thousands of people, even mowing down pedestrians for no good reason on their way home.

That's why I like Tommy Vercetti. He just wanted to get sh*t done.

[J0e Musashi]

I hate GTA with a passion. For me it heralded the death of Japanese gaming. I tried out 3, and found it hugely repetitive. Moreso than anything I had played prior. COD is the bastard child of GTA IMO.

[Decider-VT]

I've only ever had real fun with GTA in multiplayer but I liked the fact that GTA3 allowed me to complete missions with a different approach if I wanted to- dropping a mob boss with a sniper rifle to avoid an annoying car chase, for example.

Multiplayer aside, GTA4 just bored me to tears. It had terrible car handling, laggy controls (on 360) and the writing reeked of hubris from Rockstar. Graham Linehan summed it up best when he said that it seemed like it was written by people who had watched more films than they'd read books.

[Neon Ignition]

I've definitely felt with GTA4 that the missions miss that freedom of approach that 3 era had. They lean to straight shoot outs more than messing about with what works or is possible to set up etc. Fave lead for me is Claude, no crappy whining or sour moods to deal with. Just simple execution

[Neon Ignition]

Lost is finished and it was entirely consistant to the end, I've been plugging at Ballad since and it's a big step up from Lost and in many ways IV but (this could change as I continue my replays) it feels like the 3 era casts a big shadow as the ott-ness begs how this could happen to Luis life but be missing from everyone elses. Good fun though, more diverse and hopefully a sign of V's direction