I'm split. On one hand I like the aiming, I like the shoot outs. I like some of the characters. I like the fact that once you get a person's level up they give you cool rewards. I like the difficulty, it's easily the hardest GTA since III, and the police system is mostly good. Once you bump it up to 3 or 4 stars it can be ball bustingly hard to get away from the cops without a great strategy. The radio is the best GTA radio station.
But a lot of it gets tedious. The game is far too big; I rarely drive. The game is called Grand Theft Auto for a reason. I just take a taxi because I don't want to deal with traffic or being thrown from my car if I drive too fast, which is distinguished mentally-challenged past the first hour. The game is too big and it's hard to memorize, which is one of my favorite to do in GTA games: memorize the layout. It's like this because they made it feel like an actual city instead of like a game. I don't like the fact they too away my favorites things to do. Vigilante missions rock, but they watered down taxi missions, ambulance missions aren't anywhere to be found, niether are firetrucks and it's fucking ridiculous how they downscaled GTA fun for...uhh "realism" was it? When you can fly out of a car 50 feet or something. I hate the fact the game is hardly rewarding like GTAIII and VC. The pigeons thing is fucking ridiculous. 200 pigeons and you get...a helicopter? Who cares fegs. In GTAIII and VC, when you get 10 packages or tikis, you get something cool at your safe house, whether it be a weapon, armor drop...all for free. This gave you incentive to tackle the sidequest. Finally, missions aren't even free form like in the past. They're mostly linear; what the fuck is with these invincible chases? In the past, you could shoot the people and kill them while on chases for the most part. You didn't have to wait for them to stop to kill them. There's not multiple ways to handle jobs either like you can in VC. VC has the best missions because you can handle them in so many ways.
I'm gonna continue this onslaught further. How come you can't hide in trash cans at 1 or 2 star levels like you can in Bully? How come you can't hide in the dark like in The Warriors? You know, stay away from the cops if it's a low level? That's the disappointing thing about the new wanted system. I have to drive out the circle at 1 or 2 stars, when I shouldn't have to. Also, this is GTA fan stuff: where the fuck are the gangs? Where the fuck are the gang CARS? They've gotten rid of tradition. What the fuck is this shit.
I still am playing the game, and while I like it better than San Andreas it's half disappointing, half fun sometimes. I waited for the game almost 4 years and it feels like potential wasn't even half met. Dead Rising remains the best game this game gen next to Portal. I don't even know what's with the sidequests. That's half the fun with GTA for me, and the only odd jobs in this game seem to be fucking dating. Get that shit the fuck out. It gets boring. I haven't unlocked Assassination missions, which are my favorite missions in GTAIII and VC though. I can't wait for them. People tell me they're more non linear than the rest of the other missions.
7.5/10
