A GIANT EMPTY CITY WITH NOTHING TO DO
This is my main complaint. There is -so- much city, and it looks more robust than any previous Rockstar game, but in terms of activities, their focus on the single storyline, to the detriment of all the "side mission" (R3 missions) is just unforgivable. In the end, you've got zero reason to do anything other than hop a cab to the next story marker and start it. Oddly, the Achievements in the 360 version of the game are the closest to sandbox gameplay:
"Can you get your car to do a triple barrel roll?"
"Can you blow up 20 cars in 30 seconds?"
"Can you survive at top Wanted level for 5 minutes?"
-- Saints Row 1 tried so hard to keep its mini-games within the context of a gang/drug trafficking game, but smartly abandoned that limitation in favor of gameplay in SR2.
Last-gen GTA always allowed its player to jump into a fire-engine or taxi or ambulance, and USE THE CITY to do tasks with which those toys are associated. GTA4 removed all that in order to keep the narrative focused on Niko as a character, because they forgot they were making a sandbox game.
yeah good radio stations tho
This much is true. I loves me some GTA radio. I almost bought the Tales from Liberty City pack just to get the '80s flashback station.
Please elaborate. I never tire of hearing the shortcomings of such a media darling as GTA4. Reviewers could not seem to get enough R* phallus in their mouths when it launched.
-Restrants that look like I should be able to go into them, but you can't
-Having to log onto to a fucking computer to check emails
-Having to type shit into the internet/phone/police car computer
-The phone, it's like a menu only really fucking small and your character slows down when you use it so it might as well just be a full blow menu
-A lock on system that fucking sucks
-Having to go on man dates to maintian relationships with frends, this ussually involves playing crappy minigames
-The city is too big or the missions spread out too quickly. I'm a 1/3 though the game and still have trouble finding where the ramps onto bridges are.
-Borning missions, where is the variety?
-mission check points that force you to redrive to the location
-I can't save when ever the fuck I want. I have to drive to a house, then go up a flight of stairs just to save.
That's just off the top of my head
What was crazy for me is the amount of work which went into the "Internet" only to have it used for an introductory mission, and then once more. There's some hidden content there, but not much. It's stunning how much interface work they actually performed there, only to leave it languishing, untouched.
But the man-dates really were the worst: I'm up in the north-east corner of the map. My fat cousin calls, "Hey, cuz! Let's go play darts! Come pick me up."
Fattie lives in the south-west corner of the map. If I go, I lose my driving progress to an actual mission, plus I have to drive all the way across the map to get to him. But if I say no, his feelings will be hurt and my relationship with him will be damaged. "Cuz."
Picking him up, I look for a place to take him. Oh, hey, the DARTS place is in the CENTER of the map. Hey, cuz, why don't you take ONE OF YOUR OWN FUCKING CABS and MEET ME AT THE DARTS PLACE?
We drive out. We play the lamest Darts mini-game ever. "Hey, cuz. Drive me home!" FFFUUUUUUU...
It's sad. The biggest success of GTA4 is the taxicab mechanic, because you can teleport anywhere, you don't have to deal with the driving, and no-one can call you in while instantaneous transit, lessening the chance of man-dates.
