Lowkey think that GTA IV would end up better staying on ps2-xbox generation. Developers would be forced to polish and enhance already feature rich code of old engine with snappy arcadey gameplay instead of trying to figure out how to code monkey dancing physics on 8 core chip with sluggish slow controls and overdone driving-talking segments.
And it's not like ps2 could not handle proper character models. True Crime Streets of LA character models released in 2003 looked like they are from different generation compared to Vice City of same year. They look not much worse than GTA IV's.
I can see where you're coming from; I think they jumped the gun releasing 4 on consoles. Developing games for the CELL processor was too complicated at the time, they didn't have enough experience with it. Same goes for the 360 counterpart, but to a lesser extent. They kinda figured it out more with the release of 5.
Figured out what? That instead of tight consistent action packed fun experience they can just shit out ton of boring ass cutscenes that mostly consist of characters talking one of the lamest scripts imaginable for hours, to then hours of slow ass boring driving and talking segments, to then finally be awarded with most basic shooting sequence for few minutes most of a game with a pinch of exciting mandatory gimmick sections like moving containers with crane and yoga session? Yeah, i guess Rockstar figured out their perfect slop formula that will sell hundreds of millions just because its THE GTA game. Get ready to hear Lucia bitch and moan to you for more than half of a game while you drive her across all of Vice City in GTA 6.
For how barebones GTA 3 is, at least it has decency to not force you to deal with bullshit mandatory gimmicks of future installments. No mandatory on rails shooting like in Vice City and so on, no mandatory qte dancing and low rider hopping and lame flight school from San Andreas, no bullshit gimmicks like crane and yoga sections from GTA 5, no mission structure that relies on you driving for hours while hearing useless dialog. There is even some pinch of freedom in how you complete some missions:
- instead of tailing taxi how you are told, you can grab taxi and drive target to destination yourself
- instead of delivering package while being chased by 5-star cops how you are told, you can just go to nearby pay'n'spray first and then deliver with ease
- instead of destroying flying plane with rocket launcher on boat and slowly collecting packages on water while being shoot with police helicopter how you are told, you can instead drive to airport and shoot plane from there and then collect all packages on the ground and quickly get away on vehicle.
You can even skip 30%-40% of missions for some reason (You can ignore current mission giver every time there is new one, except for K(Kenji), you can just ignore him.
Compact, cold, replayable.
Wanted to make some quick video showcasing slug ass pacing of
True Crime game versus action packed to the brim experience of GTA 5. But i quickly changed my mind when i saw more than 200gb download for full GTA 5 walkthrough. 16 hours to complete action game is already telling sign of how good its pacing is.
So i'll just post some screens highlighting premium elite experience instead.
Obligatory Arab Money:
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