Truly they revolutionized the game industry with GTA 3. An open world where you were free to do anything you wanted. I think we'd all agree that if we played it we probably spent more time running amok in the city than doing missions. It's a blast to have that freedom. See how long you can survive when the cops are out in full force. Use cheats codes and arm yourself to the teeth and cause mayhem! It was a blast!
I've played GTA, GTA3, GTA: Vice City, GTA4 and Red Dead and I haven't finished one of them. I acknowledge the level of detail in them all and the fully realized worlds and the emphasis on freedom, but my goodness.....they get so boring.
I'm writing because I never finished Red Dead on 360 and I picked it up again for PS3 over a month ago. I got to Mexico (my quitting point on 360) and did 1 mission and haven't played again.
I just find the missions boring and the fact that the game has an ENDLESS amount of tutorial help! For example there's a mission where a barn is burning and you have to save the horses inside. Understand that you're already anywhere from 5-15 hours into the game and you know how to play, but the game insists on telling you what ladder to climb to get in. To crouch walk to be careful not to fall. What window to go in. What ladder to climb down. How to smack the horse to make them run out. How to mount the horse. How to jump the fire while on the horse to escape.
I feel that almost every mission is like this. Why the hell won't they let me do some trial and error or exploration and find out for myself? GTA4 did the same thing.
I guess I'm ultimately frustrated at the crazy amounts of ass kissing game journalists do to Rockstar. With LA Noire around the corner it's already in full swing again at how amazing the world is. How lifelike the facial animations are. How story driven it is. How it's 25-30 hours long.
But is it exciting? Is it fun to play? Will I actually finish it?
Given the track record with me I'm gonna guess no and I'll gladly pass on it all while waiting for the Game of the Year awards to roll around and see it win again and again.
Again let me say that Rockstar is very talented, but I guess I just don't get it.
Feel free to pick the hell out of this and leave your own feedback.
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ReplyDeleteObviously I am mostly in agreement with you here. The only game of theirs that I have played to completion is RDR and I had plenty of issues with it. I didn't feel like they held my hand the whole time, but just that every mission is very, VERY similar.
ReplyDeleteI'll contrast this to 2 other sandbox games that I have played recently: Saint's Row 2 and Infamous. Saint's Row 2 just has a crazy amount of different types of missions to do, which excited me after playing RDR. Standard missions, strongholds, races, stunt jumps and helicopter escort missions just to name a few. I think there are something like 25 different variations in that one, and I really liked it just because of the variation.
Infamous was similar in how it just had a great variety. What really hooked me in this game, tho, were the power-ups to your character. You gain these awesome powers throughout the game and have to incorporate them into your play style or else you'll fail. I think there was ONE mission in RDR where you had to use a different gun (sniper) to succeed. I also love in Infamous how your character actually REACTS to gaining something new ("Oh, HELL yes!!). I also loved how it's a huge world, but you can get around it really fast and have a good time doing it by skimming along power lines, train tracks, hovering, etc. That's a huge contrast to riding your horse around an empty landscape for 10 minutes in RDR. Infamous is the BEST sandbox game I've played yet.
As far as L.A. Noire goes, I think it has great potential and I would be SUPER excited if it were just made by someone other than RockStar. I have no faith in them after putting in an attempt at GTA4 and hating it and with suffering through RDR. Hopefully when it comes out someone will put out a thorough review (instead of just stroking RockStar's man-parts) and I'll be able to get a good idea on what it's really like and if I want to try it out or just leave it on the heap of over-hyped trash.
Infamous was a good time, but I never got insanely hooked on it. I thought the exploration was a blast, but got really annoyed at the insane amount of bad guys that never ever seemed to go away.
ReplyDeletePowering up was a lot of fun, but I never felt like I was as powerful as I should have been. I have all these powers, but my main weapon is basically my hand that shoots not very powerful electricity much like a normal weak handgun.
As far as the best pure sandbox games I've ever played it's hand down either The Saboteur or Just Cause 2. JC2 wins cause of it's insanely large map and ridiculous amounts of ways you can play and explore it.
The Saboteur was just ridiculously addicting. Clearing out Nazi station posts and disguising as the enemy. Tons of fun, but a def not fully polished game as the developer was shut down before they could put on the final touches.
Yeah, The Saboteur and JC2 were both great. The missions can get repitive in GTA and RDR. I think I really loved RDR for the atmosphere, being a gunfighter, going out and hunting animals and skinning them and selling the skins so I could afford a new pistol. I finished GTA4 just to finish it but sometimes it was more like work than play. I mean, I enjoy long games but some start to get too long, especially when they aren't RPGs that are enticing you with the next level or next sword or next ability.
ReplyDeleteI'm really not planning on buying LA Noirse, maybe because I am worn out on super-long sandbox games. Give me a sandbox like Oblivion and I'll be occupied for hundreds of hours.
I'm skeptical about GTAV but am excited for the next Red Dead but just because I'm a huge fan of the wild west genre. Louis L'Amour, anyone?
And my turn.
ReplyDeleteI loved GTAIV. Yes, I felt dirty a lot of the time while playing because they go out of their way to push the envelope and make you feel uncomfortable... at least that's how I looked at it. However, once you look past that I think the game is phenomenal. No, it's not the best game ever, but its obviously good enough that I purchased both expansions for it. And those are good too. They add their own story, and different twists to make it unique and enjoyable. The Lost and the Damned, in my opinion was a story driven add-on while Gay Tony is all about over-the-top, extreme missions. Now, a confession: Although I enjoy it, I have yet to finish Gay Tony. The issue was the timing of it's release. There were too many other games I was playing at the time so it fell on the back burner. I just started it back up last weekend.
As for Red Dead. I loved that game too. It had such a different, relaxed feel than every other game. I really enjoyed the expansive, western setting. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I collected EVERY plant. That is dedication. I only had two main gripes about the game: the ending (well, the extreme amount of cow herding leading up to it), and the multi-player. Most of us can admit that the MP coop missions were a lot of fun, but every other aspect of it was just too... chaotic. I was very interested to try the zombie expansion but didn't want to do so by myself.
Anyway, there are my 2 cents.