Beste anmeldelse av GTAIV hittil - Tar opp svært gode poeng

[Kenny Bones]

Hei, på gtaforums har en bruker postet en utrolig god anmeldelse som er virkelig verdt å få med seg. Det satte ting i perspektiv for meg ihvertfall med tanke på at det var ting og tang som rett og slett manglet i GTAIV. Etter å ha rundet det så tenkte jeg "Åja. Ok" mer som.

 

Den kan leses her:

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?s=80bb8...howtopic=346159

 

Men tar den med i spoiler-tag

 

 

 

GTA 4 Review

By Ross Darvill

 

Around 5 hours into GTA 4 it becomes apparent where the majority of budget, time and attention went in the game. Rockstar have gone out of their way to create a world that, from a distance, looks alive. People use phones, police arrest criminals, there seem to be hundreds of animations for NPCs and everything is modelled to an extremely high level of detail. Many could complain about the technical shortcomings of the game, with framerate problems, especially at the worst times like car chases, and graphical glitches like dithering and popup getting in the way of the experience. These issues can be forgiven though, because it is a big task to take on an environment so large. What cannot be forgiven are the gameplay decisions the design team took, and their impact on the game.

 

San Andreas was much bemoaned for its control issues, and this is something Rockstar have tried to fix by implementing a cover system. One key design rule is to always make sure the core mechanics of the game, the things the player will be doing most of the time, work perfectly. In the case of GTA 4, you would expect that with so many shooting missions the cover system would be the most polished part of the game, but is riddled with bugs. From the clunky target selection, the inability to switch cover with ease and even worse, an aiming system that constantly glitches, the player is constantly forced to wrestle with the controls before they can focus on what it is they should be doing in a mission. This causes frustration, and adds a dangerously unmanageable challenge for the player and the design team, with some missions becoming harder simply due to the environments effects on the control system and not because of any conscious design decisions.

 

A perfect example of this is the 'Snow Storm' mission, where you struggle to shoot enemies in the corridors of an abandoned hospital. The cover system makes it difficult to advance, as there is no way to accurately move from cover to cover without switching back to your regular stance and running manually. Sadly the self centring camera, Nico's slow and awkward movement and the cramped corridors do not mix well. Considering the amount of animations in the game, it amazes me that when being shot by automatic gun fire, Nico ambles slowly around as you struggle to find cover, with the unhelpful camera getting in the way and moving abruptly without warning. Often you will find Nico facing the wrong way, or seeking cover in the most unhelpful of places as there is no way to accurately work out where you are moving to cover next. This is the kind of system that would not have been tolerated in lest generation games. This could have been easily fixed by simply allowing Nico to move to cover where the curser was pointed, in a similar way to Rainbow Six: Vegas. What results is failure of a mission usually due to the game's clunky mechanics and not because of a mistake from the player. With no in-mission save points, the cost of failure can mean minutes of lost gameplay, ammo and money.

 

Other issues hamper gun play, such as the slow time it takes to go into aim mode and the slow movement speed of the main character while shooting; while the environment seems to do its best to cause even more frustration. Doors will swing shut, with no way but to run through them to make them open again. This means coming out of cover, running into the room and back out again to cover, all while being shot at and while having to struggle with the camera. Some corridors seem to narrow for the camera and control system, causing twitching and flipping of the camera mid fight. The archaic weapon selection system, where you must click through each available gun is unacceptable, and with each weapon taking time to become 'active' it makes switching from say a grenade to a heavy assault rifle clunky and frustrating. This would not be acceptable in a game like Halo, and it shouldn't be acceptable here.

 

The game has a number of infuriating control and camera issues. The auto centring camera makes walking a chore, and it is common place to be hit by a car as you attempt to cross a road because you can't look quickly left and right, and is aggravated by Nico's long, unstoppable falling animations. Nico's turning circle and unresponsive controls make delicate movement a nightmare, with lining up to climb over walls or up ladders in tight conditions becoming exasperating, especially with many missions being against the clock.

 

More serious design issues relate to the games missions. From personal opinion, it is easy to be upset with the games lack of variation in mission setting and structure, especially when compared to San Andreas.

 

Most of the missions involve:

 

• Drive somewhere, chase someone, kill them

• Drive somewhere, the deal goes wrong, chase after someone/ escape

• Drive somewhere, shoot a group of enemies

 

 

More worrying is the breaking of yet another key design rule, namely don't give the player a new skill and then stop them from using it, because it will cause confusion, frustration and a lack of trust in the game's mechanics. Early on the player is taught how to disarm an enemy, and the player must use this technique to finish a mission. However this technique is never used in the game again and melee combat with armed enemies is never engaged in by the player. Players are also taught to shoot out tyres of vehicles to cause them to crash, and yet in all chase sequences, the player is unable to do this. Another early mission sees the player smashing a window to shake up a business owner by throwing a brick, yet again the player never gets to do this later on, and reverts back to killing and chasing their way through the game. Finally, even basic components such as the ability to car jack are removed at times, with no warning to the player. In the mission 'Three Leaf Clover' this is immediately apparent as the player cannot get into any of the police cars to make their escape, and has to follow the mission structure to the letter, even though later on, they then have to get in a car to flee. This is especially grating as many of San Andreas' missions were dynamic and had multiple ways to complete them. Not just in the missions does GTA4 break the key rules, but also in the world itself. Many shops from a distance seem to be areas that would be interactive (such as the Cluckin' Bell shops) but on close inspection are not.

 

This lack of mission variety is made worse by the hint of new and interesting mechanics which never get developed. When San Andreas introduced gang controls, or the ability to burgle certain houses, or piloting planes it kept them throughout the game and developed them. In GTA 4, the player embarks on a rooftop chase, which culminates on the top of a crane. This seemed to point to a tantalising new gameplay mechanic, and yet was never used again. The player at one point must stuff a body in the boot of a car to drive to a doctor to get rid of it. Yet again, this was never used again any further through the game, and the player must question why they must do it for just that one enemy. This all leads to the game having to rely on the same old mechanics that the series has employed for years. There is nothing new, and what's worse is that many of the things from San Andreas that added fresh challenges to the player and broke up the play are missing here. There are no target challenges in the gun shop, no planes, no bikes, no skateboards, no gang control, no burglary missions, no car customisation, no garages, no player customisation, no parachute, no tanks, no tag missions, no pimp missions, no stealth missions, less interactive buildings, no 'shooting' missions, no house buying, no hidden NPC'S, no hidden weapons, no car license challenges, no dancing mini game, the list goes on and on.

 

GTA 4 has sacrificed not only size since San Andreas, but has also variety. Many of the additional extras such as the comedy club, the internet and the TV channels are have nothing to do with the game's mechanics, and are non interactive. Instead of taking concepts that were hinted at in San Andreas, such as burglary, dynamic missions, gang control, business development etc and advancing these with more detail, the design team at Rockstar simply removed everything that made the last game stand out. This is GTA at is barest of bones and the decision to restrict so much content must have been due to time constraints of conflict with the obviously massive art budget. San Andreas saw the player piloting planes, sneaking onto boats, breaking into government buildings, taking part in war games, shooting toy planes out of the sky with a mini gun, going to driving school, riding bikes though a dirt track, setting fire to crops, driving oil tankers cross country, and yet in GTA 4 the player is constantly doing the same thing.

 

The environment never feels anything but a very pretty distraction, and offers little more to the player than previous GTA games. NPC A.I is especially poor, with seemingly no response between them and what is happening around them. NPC's simply run screaming at the sight of the merest of law violations, and at no point does the player get the chance to really interact with them and to see them as anything more than faceless entities, there simply to populate the area immediately around the player. This was acceptable for a game with the scale of San Andreas, but with GTA 4's cut down world, why is the environment not developed enough to enable the player to make their own choices in the game or to at least feel like they can make their mark on it? The lack of buildings to go inside is even worse than San Andreas, and many of the missions take place in derelict, uninspiring locales.

There is no excuse for the lack of variance in missions or the poor core mechanics of the game.

 

One area of game seems to be completely under designed is the wanted rating system. Scratching the side of a police car gets you one star, with the police hunting you down, sending you to prison, and making you lose a massive amount of money as well as all your weapons. Similarly, you can shoot someone in the head with an assault rifle and suffer the exact same fate. Why is there no correlation between the crimes you commit and how wanted you are? Why is there no moral consequence? When the player is asked to assassinate certain key characters, the game consciously attempts to draw the player in to a moralistic stance, yet this is totally negated by the fact they have been killing random people throughout the game with no consequence at all up to that point. If the game had introduced player through the mission structure to crimes of increasing gravity, or had made the player's actions correlate to their wanted level, the player would immediately see the consequence of their actions. When a player is being chased by the cops, and they veer off the road, running over six people, why is this not taken into account? A simple running total could be used every time the player is in a chase situation to account for the seriousness of the crimes they commit, and through this, the level of risk and reward could start to make some sense.

 

The wanted level mechanics are slightly more advanced than previous GTA game, with cops having a range of vision, and an area they can look for the player, which makes escape a more mentally challenging exercise. The problems come from a poor balance in difficulty. Getting in a helicopter for example, even when you are on six stars and flying around renders all cops useless, even the ones in the air. The ease at which the player can out drive police cars makes lower level chases far to easy, while on 3 and 4 star chases, cop cars spawn in ridiculous places (such as in the middle of beaches or up hills) making escape impossible not because of the challenge provided by the cops, but simply because you cant get away from all the spawning cars and thus always remain 'in sight'. This is something that should have been tweaked to perfection and again feels like it was pushed to the side in development.

 

One thing from San Andreas that has been upgraded in GTA 4 is the idea of 'buddies' and your interaction with them. These can include characters you do missions for and girlfriends you can date, and they provide you will extra bonuses as well as offer some dialogue between characters. Initially the game introduces the system well, with darts, bowling, pool and the Russian club offering some interesting options. The three mini games offer very little, with darts being ridiculously easy, bowling being clunky and lacking in depth and the pool interface making it incredibly frustrating to play. These options offer a good distraction from the main game, but the buddy system is constantly asking the player to play them and there are few other options.

 

The story in GTA 4 is darker than the caricature gangsters of San Andreas. Nico, his cousin and the story around them begins well, with the player introduced to a handful of characters, and the situation of debt the search for a nemesis and the brothers want for a better life slowly revealed. One excellent piece of play comes from the conversations Nico has with various characters while on dates or driving to mission locations. They offer an insight into Nico's personality without the obviousness of a cut scene and should be applauded as a form of character progression. After a few hours however, the story becomes disjointed, with his cousin's story thread being ignored, and various random strangers appearing and making Nico do their bidding. At no point does the game make Nico's desire for all of the money he is earning apparent, and the story seems to advance sporadically and with no relation to what the player has been doing. Nico leaves his cousin to get kidnapped by people he owes money to, gains $200,000 from a bank job and yet doesn't use it to help his brother, instead running to rescue him and leaving him again, still in debt and in fear. The dialogue is of a high quality, but many story threads either dilute the main story, or end to quickly.

 

One area the game does excel is its cutscenes and voice acting, which is always of a high quality and is brilliantly written. Indeed the game does a lot well. The animation is exceptional, with the rag doll physics making NPC characters a joy to run over. The general sense of fun from driving around Liberty City and seeing its sights is at times magical, and the added extras such as the internet, TV and comedy club offer an interesting distraction from the main missions. The mobile phone has been expanded on from San Andreas, but like the rest of the game, the options it gives the player only hint at what they could have offered the player. The feel of GTA is still there and there is a lot of fun to be had, but old issues from the series are still not fixed and many more have now appeared.

 

The general lack of things to do, and the bugs and problems with the core mechanics of the game are what ultimately drags the game down. With such a great feeling from driving around, why can't replays be saved? The buildings are more detailed than ever before, but barely any serve a purpose. There are more missions than ever before, yet they lack any variance. The shooting and wanted levels, two core components of the game, are buggy and badly implemented. There are very few rewards in the game but the achievement points system on the Xbox 360. You can't buy cars or houses; you can't do anything with your money. You have no influence on the world around you and this world is completely static. Why can't I make my own criminal business? Why can't I rob extravagant houses at night? Why can't I start my own car import business and steal cars to drive or sell? Why can't I approach missions in a way other than how the game tells me to? Why can't I walk into the police HQ and steal my confiscated weapons back or rob a bank when the security van turns up at night? Why can't I kidnap someone and charge a ransom or even order a drink at a bar? All these things would add depth and give the player options, but GTA 4 offers nothing more than a world that has no substance.

 

In conclusion, GTA 4 offers a hint at what a next-gen sandbox game can offer, and with other games such as Saints Row 2 and Prototype on the horizon it may not be long before the GTA mechanics are surpassed. The things it does well are typical staples of the series, and the excellent animation and physics make driving around the world great fun, while the missions are solid if not inspiring, and the game itself is packed with enough content to last many hours. The bugs in the game are something you can struggle past, and the added extras like the comedy club and internet are a great new addition to the series, with the phone being a useful interface for missions and interacting with characters. The problem is that there is very little else, and for a game that was supposed to be a huge leap on from San Andreas, it is a disappointment.

 

7 out of 10

 

NB - please note i havent included the multiplayer in this review, this score is based on the single player game only.

 

 

Han har utrolig rett i det at det lissom er så tomt i Liberty City denne gangen. Det er veldig lite å gjøre i byen bortsett fra oppdrag. Det var det eneste som dro deg til å i hele tatt ville dra fra punkt A til punkt B lissom. Det ble mer som en pen by å se på men ingenting å foreta seg I byen. Synspunkt angående dette? Eller anmeldelsen i hele tatt?

Endret 9. juni 2008 av Kenny Bones

[f(x)]

Kan si meg mer enig med denne anmeldelsen enn alle andre, der 10/10 ikke har vært et sjokk. Veldig lite å finne på, ingenting å bruke penger på etter main story. Skulle gjerne hatt mer å finne på etter storyen, så det eneste å gjøre er vel å ta storyen på nytt. Hadde vært mye mer moro med fly, noe jeg brukte mange timer på i San Andreas, da etter story.

[Pazleet]

Er helt enig med anmelderen, og synes han har flere gode synspunkt. Likevel er det først nå i ettertid jeg virkelig legger merke til disse problemene med spillet, jeg synes det fungerte godt da jeg holdt på. Jeg ble i alle fall revet veldig med av historien. Men ja, nå som jeg kun kan stjele biler for Stevie og skyte duer, så er jeg enig i at det ikke er stort å gjøre. Men jeg får jo kjøpt sinnsvakt mange raketter...

[Rookie_NO]

er vel bare 15 raketter man kan ha allikevel, og det kjøper man jo med en gang får tilgang på rocketlauncheren allikevel

 

Men som du sier Pazleet så la jeg ikke merke til dette før etter jeg hadde spilt gjennom store deler av mainstoryen. Sitter tilbake med en slags "var det alt" følelse...

 

Det som plagde meg mest var at alle missionene var så fordømt like etterhvert. Hvor ble det av modellflykjøring? Hvor ble det av å bryte seg inn på en militærbåt og stjele et VTOL fly? Hvor ble det av å kunne gå inn i Empire State Building og kaste seg ut i fallskjerm i beste BASE-stil? Mye moro som er borte!

[Kenny Bones]

Helt enig. Rockstar har kunne gjort så utrolig mye mer med spillet. Spesielt føler jeg at det ble litt kjipt og urettferdig mot de som har lagd de fantastiske 3d-modellene av bygninger og stedsområder. De blir lissom oversett av spilleren.

[Kvalen]

Det som plagde meg mest var at alle missionene var så fordømt like etterhvert. Hvor ble det av modellflykjøring? Hvor ble det av å bryte seg inn på en militærbåt og stjele et VTOL fly? Hvor ble det av å kunne gå inn i Empire State Building og kaste seg ut i fallskjerm i beste BASE-stil? Mye moro som er borte!

 

Helt enig, oppdragene ble veldig like! Kun å gjøre det samme om og om og om igjen. Håper at de i neste versjon har tenkt mer på oppdragene, og ikke bare grafikken.

Endret 10. juni 2008 av Kvalen

[And.rs]

Det som plagde meg mest var at alle missionene var så fordømt like etterhvert. Hvor ble det av modellflykjøring? Hvor ble det av å bryte seg inn på en militærbåt og stjele et VTOL fly? Hvor ble det av å kunne gå inn i Empire State Building og kaste seg ut i fallskjerm i beste BASE-stil? Mye moro som er borte!

 

Helt enig, oppdragene ble veldig like! Kun å gjøre det samme om og om og om igjen. Håper at de i neste versjon har tenkt mer på oppdragene, og ikke bare grafikken.

 

Lenge siden jeg har spillt GTA SA, men når du nevner modellflykjøring osv lengter jeg tilbake til gamle GTA. Blir kjedelig etterhvert og det er kun et fåtall av oppdragene som faktisk engasjerer. Så jeg sier meg helt enig i 7/10.

[Carlgutt]

Har ikke lest gjennom hele andmeldelsen men som andre sa så oppdaget jeg ikke mange av disse problemene før etter jeg var ferdig å spille. Oppdragene ble også noe lunde kjedelige etter vært. Ikke ta meg feil de var bra lagd og nokså realistiske til å være GTA men savner litt mer Crazy oppdrag, ikke noe sånn helt overdrevent men der du må gjøre noe litt spesielt oppdragene var liksom for normale på en måte.

 

 

Jeg føler at Rockstar ikke ennå har klart å lage onkelig balansen mellom realismen og Arcade. Folk tåler alt for mye og det virker ikke som det har en dritt å se om du skyter noen i hode eller i bene de reiser seg opp etter på likevel.

Oppdragene blir litt for ensformige og "realistikse" selv om det også igjen er litt fuck't up for lett Nico får arbeid, savner at litt at han må arbeid for Respekt alle elsker han liksom. Det perfekta hadde vært; Folk tåler mindre bilene blir ødelagt forter osv. Men mer "crazy" oppdrag.

 

 

Til slutt legger jeg til at jeg savner ennå mer blod, det ser veldig bra når noen faller ned etter at du har skut dem men savner at du kan sage av beina til folk med motorsag osv. Føler at Rockstar har vært litt for forsiktige på dette punktet.

[Kvalen]

Det som plagde meg mest var at alle missionene var så fordømt like etterhvert. Hvor ble det av modellflykjøring? Hvor ble det av å bryte seg inn på en militærbåt og stjele et VTOL fly? Hvor ble det av å kunne gå inn i Empire State Building og kaste seg ut i fallskjerm i beste BASE-stil? Mye moro som er borte!

 

Helt enig, oppdragene ble veldig like! Kun å gjøre det samme om og om og om igjen. Håper at de i neste versjon har tenkt mer på oppdragene, og ikke bare grafikken.

 

Lenge siden jeg har spillt GTA SA, men når du nevner modellflykjøring osv lengter jeg tilbake til gamle GTA. Blir kjedelig etterhvert og det er kun et fåtall av oppdragene som faktisk engasjerer. Så jeg sier meg helt enig i 7/10.

Når jeg tenker meg om, det er veldig lenge siden jeg spilte GTA III, men var ikke den også litt kjedelig? Litt samme som IV, mye av det samme om og om igjen? Håper på VC og SA med samme grafikk, yeah baby!!

[And.rs]

Ja nye versjoner av VC og SA hadde vært fantastisk! Som anmelder sier håper jeg de drar minispillet burglar fra SA et hakk videre samt muligheter for å rane bank osv utenom hovedoppdragene.

[Nuust]

Når jeg leser hans anmeldelse, kan jeg si meg enig. Den er svært overbevisende. Men når jeg selv vektlegger min egen fatning av spillet basert på at hele greia er kritikk av det amerikanske samfunn, så synes jeg mange av hans poeng kan virke blinde for hvilke funksjoner gameplayet har for å virke nettopp kritisk, for å sette det på spissen. For å si det på en annen måte - jeg synes spillet er ok. Rockstar har fjernet fun-crazy-faktoren fra spillserien (som alltid har vært en del av alle spillene) og gjort det enda mer dystert, for å kunne vektlegge de små budskapene som finnes i spillet. Og da er det jo en selvfølge at en tilhengergruppe av spillet blir skuffet. Kanskje kan man også si at han vektla mer spillet for spillets skyld og hvor underholdende det kan være utenom det samfunnskritiske, men nettopp uten dette ville heller ikke spillet ha vært noe som helst, synes jeg. Det er jo det som skal virke humoristisk og ironisk. Derfor synes jeg spillet er ok.

 

Jeg synes også at slik samfunnskritikk kan virke litt uetisk og unødvendig, men så er jo spill nettopp et medium når det utvikles på denne måten, så det kan jo være lov. Man sier det skal være plass for kritikk. Dog hadde det jo vært interessant å se hvordan jeg hadde oppfattet anmeldelsen hans om jeg i tilfellet var amerikansk.

 

Sært spill, med andre ord.

[petterpann]

Jeg greier ikke å runde GTA 4 fordi jeg er lei av selve spillet. Spillet er bra, men det er sjeldent at jeg ikke greier å fullføre spill jeg kjøper pga at jeg blir for fort lei.

[ostehøvel]

For å si det sånn, GTA IV har et utrolig stort potensiale. Selv om man blir fortere lei av dette spillet, så gleder jeg meg utrolig mye til det kommer "expansion packs" med den samme grafikk og fysikken! Bare tenk på Vice City og San Andreas med GTA IV motoren