Whilst many a more talented, educated and optimistic journalist waxes lyrical about GTA 5’s upcoming potential to take our mind for a tour around Los Santos, making sure to smack it against every hot-dog stand, every vehicle and gang related murdered body along the way; I myself find the prospect of GTA 5 not merely an exciting one, but a chance to recapture something lost in the translation of the generation switch.
In short; GTA 4 delivered on graphics, narrative and modern setting, but in turn neutered the fun fully expressed in the tremendous video game gang opera that was Grand Theft Auto San Andreas; and it must be this that they try to recapture if they want GTA 5 to succeed.
I need to clarify here that no matter what this game is, it will succeed. The GTA tag carries with it such power within the gaming industry that it could be critically panned, be just 40 hours of gratuitous sexual violence within a game and people would still buy it no matter what.
My statement relates to the notion of fan approval, one which dipped after GTA 4 reigned in the madcap freedom given to us in GTA: San Andreas.
Would you like to fly a jetpack stolen from an Area 51 style military base in to a police station equipped with shower love toys? Feel free.
Would you like to buy as many properties as conceivable in money made through obtaining business interests, as well as carrying out missions and beating up prostitutes? Feel free.
Want to cut your hair, choose your clothes, and hone your body to look like a sexually inviting gangster or a ridiculous looking buffoon? Feel free.
You can feel free, but only with GTA: San Andreas, its expansive world detail and personality allows you to design and structure your environment and character how you see fit, GTA 4 took that away from us and gave little extra to justify it.
GTA 4 brings emotive story slightly better than San Andreas, and its graphic quality far surpasses that of its predecessor which looks like the finger paintings of torture victim subjected to finger removal.
However, Part 4 got lost in its own desire to be recognised as a game changer in the new-gen platforms to remember the fun, ludicrous missions it offered you at every single turn beforehand.
It’s with a combination of these madcap adventures, personal creation, trademark story and new gen design that will enable Grand Theft Auto V to be a contender as one of the most complete games ever made.
The style of game it used to be needs to be reinvented to help reconnect with its die-hard fan base who, unlike the critics, didn’t give 100% approval to GTA 4’s reigning in of the games previous capability to entertain with madness that stretched believability, but always felt real with Rockstar’s quality story tellers on board.
Rockstar has never failed to deliver on quality, GTA 4 was a tightly honed, engaging adventure, but whereas this games conclusion to the story was the only conclusion you were interested in, the ingenuity that previous adventures offered in its bonus missions truly kept you interested long after, and during the 100 or so hours you spend playing it.
San Andreas brought the adventure, the scope and the fun. GTA 4 brought the design, brought the story but also brought the disappointment as it tried to shed the mantle of its predecessor; if Rockstar wants to push the boundaries once more it needs to combine what these two great games had to offer.
And in a world with game franchises tiring themselves out by over hyping their own importance (COD, Battlefield), Rockstar can shake this tag off and bring the fun back, whilst improving its own brilliance.
GTA 5 is Rockstar’s chance to combine the stylish GTA of new, and the entertaining madness of Rockstar of old. It’s a chance it can’t miss if it wants to win back fan love.
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19 Comments
I agree with the author of this article. GTA V needs not be only a realistic, graphical continuation of GTA IV, but reviving the crazy fun and features of San Andreas. If they fail to do this, and give us another GTA IV, I believe it’s safe to say that many fans’ love for Grand Theft Auto will die. Just from what was in the trailer I think it will bring back old tradition. In the trailer we saw a working gym, planes, campers in the mountains,jetskis, which hints that this game will have far more to do than GTA IV. I don’t know if Rockstar intentionally dropped so many features from San Andreas when they made GTA IV, but with a new engine they might have been limited to how much they could include. GTA IV might have essentially been a base, like GTA III was the first non-top down view iteration, and had very limited features. They worked their way up to San Andreas. Now, the engine probably has improved and they can restore the old elements of San Andreas in addition to the updated graphics/technical quality of the new generation.
I kind of agree with u, i didnt think gta iv was a step back for the series like alot of people, i think its the best one so far. I think that there should be more to do in the game but they should keep the realism…some stuff in gta san andreas(great game one of my favorites) was too ridiculous, like chasing a guy on a hover craft and then finding conveniently placed go carts…i think we’ve moved past that. over all gta v will be sick
GTA4 was a quality game, great storyline, settings, everything. It did lack things to do once you had finished the story though, and that needs to be remedied. As far as jetpacks and dildos go they’re not a dealbreaker for me (thought they were fun when I was 16, I’d rather have more real weapons), you want them go play that piece of trash Saints Row series, GTA could be headed down a new path, one rockstar has tread a lot recently with the epic storytelling of RDR and LA Noire. I’m all for the better storylines and more realistic experience but I agree there should be more things to do outside of missions (and I disagree those things should be dildos and jetpacks, but properties are a big one, like in VCS).
I disagree with this article. Sounds like the author (and fans who agree) are stuck on San Andreas. Quite possibly, San Andreas might have been the first GTA game they’ve ever played, which would explain the nostalgia. Rockstar doesn’t do the same thing twice with GTA games; III is vastly different from Vice City, Vice City is that much different from San Andreas, and San Andreas was different from IV. So, V will be its on. People were looking for planes, mountains, jet-skis, and etc. in GTA IV, well that’s pretty dumb. GTA IV was Liberty City, which is a GTA re-imagination of New York City. There’s no mountains and jet-skis in New York City. There’s nobody taking a plane to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan in New York City.
And then this: “The style of game it used to be needs to be reinvented to help reconnect with its die-hard fan base who, unlike the critics, didn’t give 100% approval to GTA 4’s reigning in of the games previous capability to entertain with madness that stretched believability, but always felt real with Rockstar’s quality story tellers on board.”
I’m in complete disagreement with that. I am apart of the diehard fan base and we have NEVER disconnected to be reconnected because we understand that location matters. To do all of the things we could do in Liberty City in GTA IV compared to Liberty City in GTA III, it was so much better. We don’t see San Andreas and then say “that game was great, they have to do something like that again and again and again”. We sit back in anticipation of finding out what the next location will be and from there we would know what will be in the game. Us diehard GTA fans don’t necessarily have favorite GTA games because each game is its own, we have favorite GTA locations.
I agree with you,i never was in new york,but i belive that it would be stupid to see someone flying in jetpack or plane and i hope that we won see any dildos
Well, although the author of this article has a couple of interesting points, he is evidently struggling to comprehend just why Grand Theft Auto IV was so much better than San Andreas. In the latter, it was of course possible to do so many more crazy things – just like in a game such as, say, Saints Row (esp. SR III) – but the former gave us an incredible game, not only on the graphical side and physical side, but also on the storytelling side. GTA IV’s story was one of the best ever made in the gaming industry, rivalled perhaps only by Red Dead Redemption and the Metal Gear Solid series. It was also filled with satirically cynical commentary on capitalism and the American Dream throughout. If Rockstar were to re-introduce a fetishism for clothing and customisation and property-buying, they would lose this morale high ground from which they can criticise American life. If this is re-introduced, it will contradict a real story about building life from the bottom up. Niko Bellic at the end of GTA IV was not an Emperor in Liberty City, he was still just another man, and he was changed. He had experienced the American Dream – something which no other character in the main games really experiences. Sure, there might be more to do if we gets extreme customisation and ridiculously varied missions, and lots of crazy stuff to do – but then again, why not just go play Saints Row III or Just Cause 2?
I couldn’t care less about jetpacks, going to the Gym, changing my hair style, getting tattoos, having a million possible outfits to choose. The gym got real boring, real quick.
As for lost stuff to do any you finish the story, Yes, property buying was nice; but with the theme suggested for GTA V via the trailer, it seems to return.
Paramedic, Fire and taxi missions were lost, it would be nice to see a return. Stick-ups would also be welcomed back.
As for ‘Gang Wars’, after the two play-throughs, it becomes a daunting task, “Can’t really be arsed to but must!”
I don’t think that GTA IV lost that much from San Andreas, I don’t even recall any overt humor from the San An story besides ‘Pot Farmer Man’. I do recall much humor from Vice City though.
GTA IV didn’t suffer from the losses at all, I played through at least 7 times to date and still discover bits of subtle humor.
GTA IV was a progression, in my opinion, and I have a good feeling that
Grand Theft Auto V is going to be epic!
I’d like to add that I started paling GTA in 1997, when I was 10, pirate copy of course.
Couple of things:
1. I do not need a dildo to enjoy a game; I want to crush that rumour right now.
2. I did play Saints Row 3, I enjoyed it for all of 2 hours before it became the back page scribblings of a pubescent 15 year old who hasn’t had his 18th wank of the day.
3. I think the games need to find a balance, as far as San Andreas pushed things it always brought them back with its close-knit family storyline and rather small concept corrupt cop plot, this was all executed brilliantly but had a bit of madness in it as well to really add to the enjoyment of the missions whilst other ones got serious.
4. I loved GTA4, it’s up there with one of my favourite games ever played but in comparison to San Andreas, it feels too reigned in and constructed. I do hope a previous commenter was correct in saying that GTA 4 was the new-gen platform base to build upon.
Gta 4 sucked the author has great point of views the nice thing about san andreas
Was that it has features that different people enjoys im not a dildo fan
Myself but it was cool cause you had the option…free to do what you want
With what you want a gta 4 game had a dumb plot and got boring the second you completed
The last mission
I don’t know why no-one ever points out The Ballad of Gay Tony. It had awesome, insane missions, a seriously fun arsenal to torment the police and public with and it tied up all the GTA IV loose ends. If Rockstar are building on that for V, the game is going to be amazing. Although I don’t think anyone doubts that.
Glad someone else mentioned that Alec! People who are complaining about GTAIV, who haven’t played BoGT, should seriously do so before commenting. After they’ve done a nighttime base-jump off the Empire State Building onto a moving car, they might change their minds ;P It’s an amazing game…
San Andreas gave us all the madcap adventure included in the original price of the game, BoGT was quite an expensive add on to a game that was expensive to begin with.
If I’m going to pay 40 quid for a game I want the fun things to be included, not put out expensively afterwards; hence why I gave it no consideration.
GTA III was genesis to the GTA III era. Meaning that III was something to be built on culminating in San An. GTA IV is genesis to the new GTA era. TBOGT was excellent as a previous commenter said. I personally am expecting big things of V. Even if a third of my expectations and theorys are not implemented or proven, Grand Theft Auto is going to be an EPIC game with literal years of enjoyment – obs not 24/7/365.25!
I think some of you guys are focusing more on the details of the article and less on the point of it, which was, GTA4 simply had less to do after completing the game. And he’s right.
If they can keep everything that made GTA4 great (story, graphics, etc) and bring in the open sandbox feel of SA, that to me would be perfect.
Best GTA was Vive City. They have all been excellent though. It’s also true, TBoGT was an awesome add on. I want to go back to Vice City, but I’m looking forward to this remake of San Andreas – Ok re-imagining. They have all been sand box games with that feel, I liked GTA 4 because it was grown up, no pink spinny symbols to run over etc.. I liked the realism.
Look at the difference between GTA 3 and Vice City, then between Vice City and San Andreas. This game will hit new heights, just as VC and SA did. GTA 3 was a franchise finding its feet on a new console. GTA 4 will be regarded as the same by our future selves.
Brilliant article; I still believe that GTA’s gaming foundation-based on open world freedom and ‘REAL’ world interaction is unbeatable compared to the majority of boring titles(FPS,SCI-FI & Racing) released. I think too much focus is placed on graphics rather than gaming substance, which eats into replay-ability quality! I think I speak for many when I say that it’s frustrating to play a game which constantly switches to mini-game/graphics movie modes mid game. A typical example being Ace combat assault horizon, big disappointment over previous title…”I don’t want to be a zombie holding a controller watching a movie, occasionally being prompted to (push button rapidly to progress)etc: at the end of the game being left feeling cold from Blandness! I want to PLAY the game. GTA has always delivered this through organic and an uninterrupted feeling of gameplay excitement via freedom of movement in a world waiting to be explored. Can’t wait for V : )
I’ve loved GTA since GTAIII. But the love stopped at GTA4. I just couldn’t get pass the car physics. Cars had no weight. Tires had not traction and cars had jolly-jumper suspension. I found myself being a passenger in taxi’s more often then trying to drive. I sure hope they change that aspect. Everything else in the game was amazing as any other GTA game.