10 Video Games You Constantly Have To Defend Loving

Grand Theft Auto IV remains one the most eagerly awaited video games in history, and despite posting rave reviews and magnificent sales, its legacy is a bit of a complicated one.

For everyone who loves its gritty style and focus on "realism," there's someone who sorely misses the more cartoonish silliness of Vice City and San Andreas, not to mention that GTA IV's map size was considerably smaller than the latter's.

But GTA IV also marks the point at which the series transitioned into true "prestige gaming" territory, with a more serious-minded story and pointedly satirical overtone.

And yet, many fans still resent it both for not being San Andreas 2.0 and getting summarily outdone by the grandiose Grand Theft Auto V, dismissing it as an awkward lame duck entry in the franchise.

This is of course to totally devalue everything Rockstar put into GTA IV, a game that took bold risks when it could've just clung to franchise formula and likely been just as commercially successful.

Is it the best game in the series? Absolutely not, but it's tough not to get irked when folks call it "terrible" with a straight face.