10 Incredibly Moving Scenes In Video Games Ruined By Player Input

2. Grand Theft Auto IV - Take Your Revenge

In my opinion, GTA IV tells the best story of all the GTA games. I also believe that this scene is the most powerful in the franchise's history and in fact, giving the player the ability to carry out the execution adds a more personal touch to it. So why is it on this list? It's on this list because of the freedom afforded to the player - it could just be as simple as shoot him or walk away, but instead you're allowed to mess about in what is supposed to be the emotional pinnacle of the game (well, depending on whether you choose to go through with the heroin deal or not later on, but let's not get into that). You can run around and act like and idiot and it just shatters the power of this scene. I didn't choose to go that way about it but the option is there and I'm willing to wager a fair few people took advantage of this. The biggest cardinal sin though is that if you choose to spare Darko's life, you can kill him as he runs away, and you can do it however you want. This includes, but isn't limited to: Running him over, blowing him up, punching him to death, stabbing him to death or shooting him in the unmentionables. Whilst GTA is a franchise that is all about player freedom, I can't help but feel like in this case, it could have just been a little bit more linear for the sake of the storytelling and not potentially turning this masterclass of writing, direction and voice acting into something comic.