By now it's pretty much accepted that Grand Theft Auto 4 was nowhere near as good as many people made it out to be at the time of release. Stripping back most of the wacky antics that defined the series in favour of a much more realistic setting, the fourth entry into the most famous video game series of all time lost part of its identity in striving for a more mature audience. Which is quite a noble effort in and of itself, it's just a shame that the GTA structure doesn't lend itself particularly well to a gritty aesthetic. Not to mention, the rather drab story and straight-forward characters weren't helped by open-world missions that really weren't all that interesting. More or less every quest had you driving to a location, shooting some guys in a dilapidated building and then driving a companion back to their house. Out of 30 hours worth of missions, only a handful had you doing things that you couldn't have accomplished in a previous entry in the series. Thankfully the beautifully rendered Liberty City and the incredible level of detail found in the game managed to alleviate some of the title's weaker spots. However, when you have a city this ripe for exploiting, it's a real shame that Rockstar never gave you tools to properly let loose in it.
