Committing Grand Theft Auto

I would like to announce with much fanfare that I have finally fired up my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV and I’m aiming to play right through it.  For me, that is quite an achievement.  The game has just been sitting there, gathering dust for over a year at my current estimate.  Partly I think it’s been due to lack of free time, and otherwise it’s been total apathy towards the game.

Apathy, you say?  Well, yes.  Back on the PS2 the Grand Theft Auto series was genuinely ground breaking and it offered something new.  On the next generation systems, despite great visuals, more detailed environments and gameplay enhancements, I’ve felt it’s been a case of peddling out more of the same.  Besides, during the launch of GTA IV in 2008, I got hooked on Race Driver: GRID anyway, which is a totally awesome racing game.  One in fact, that I need to revisit as all my gamesaves got wiped in the ‘Great PS3 Christmas Tragedy of 2008’ that I’ll continue to mention for a good while yet as it still hurts.

Back to discussing a bit of GTA IV- from what I’ve played so far, it mostly feels exactly the same as previous instalments.  The only thing that got my attention was the explosion of a car bomb, which looked so shocking and real.  A definite improvement from past instalments in the series.  Yet I’ve felt the apathy creep in again.  Although you play as an Eastern European with a conscience, you still end up going on a rampage like in previous games in the series, so I’m skipping through the cut scenes as I just don’t care.  A bonus in doing this is I figure I can go for the ‘Liberty City Minute’ Trophy where I’ve got to complete the main story in less than 30 hours.  Sorted.

Pausing to reflect for a moment: If there has been one downside to playing GTA IV and Prince of Persia, then it has been leaving Lara Croft on her own in some cave somewhere, waiting for me to guide her on her way…

6 thoughts on “Committing Grand Theft Auto”

  1. Funny you should mention this, I've had GTA IV still in shrink wrap for 6 months now. I guess I'm waiting 'till I have a chunk of time on my hands, and I'm also worried that the hype was unjustified. I think I need to book a 2 week holiday and plough through some of my as yet untouched games.

  2. I simply couldn't have left GTA 4 for as long as you have… It's a brilliant game imo, they seem to have spent more time making this one, plus with the additional downloadable content that they release, it just extends the lifespan of the game. Every time I get a GTA game it seems to last a long time, unlike some games that just get played and then shelved, but with GTA it's always a great game just to pick up and cause some trouble round Liberty City when you got some quick time.

    1. A large part of it has been apathy. I guess with the limited time I've had with my PS3 when not at uni, I've gone for other games instead. I'm sticking with playing GTA IV for quite a bit yet. That's the plan anyway… what I might actually end up doing is another matter entirely!

      Thanks for the comment 🙂

  3. By missing those cut scenes you are probably missing the best part of the game, the effort that has been put into those characters is amazing and there are some great storylines,

    Although you end up on a rampage, Niko really doesn’t want to be in those situations, his character has a lot more depth I feel which has made this game stand out from the previous ones.

    I’m sure Lara will be fine by the way 😉

    1. You make an excellent point! I've known plenty of people just rush through a game without watching any cut scenes and I felt like hitting them as they had missed out on so much! I suppose it's just that the magic, or novelty of GTA has more or less worn off for me. As a matter of fact, I'm still putting it off as I've actually fired up Prince of Persia again to collect remaining Trophies.

      I don't know how long my falling out with GTA will continue for, but I suspect for quite a while.

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