10 Times Video Games Sucked On Purpose
6. Grand Theft Auto IV: Social Activities
As the undisputed king of open-world titles, Grand Theft Auto has had its share of iffy moments across campaigns that take many hours to beat. GTA 4 was the moment the franchise grew up in a sense, taking on a more realistic and serious tone in just about every aspect of its design. Not every fan of the franchise was happy with this change, but it helped the title achieve the acclaim it still enjoys today.
One element that reached memeable status however were the game's social activities. Throughout the game's storyline, protagonist Niko Belic would trade contact details with a range of unsavoury individuals, many of whom could be taken out on social occasions or dates. Drinks at the bar, the strip club and the most important of all; that great American pasttime, bowling.
While at first the social activities were a decent way of switching up the open world action and could unlock benefits by making Niko's friends happy, Rockstar's experiment became rather tiresome after a while.
Niko's contacts would constantly be ringing up and asking the player to drop what they were doing, lowering their happiness level if our anti-hero refused. If making socialising feel like work was the goal, then mission accomplished.