1st May 2008, 8:12 PM
Okay, I did some soul-searching today and I finally came to conclusion that I feel is representative of the sum total of reality, at least insofar as this thread is concerned. And it is thus:
Taking away all the hype and rose-tinted glasses and wiping away the glossy vinear of HD graphics and textures large enough to wrap around the globe and you're left with what must essentially be labled the third best free-roaming action game on the Xbox360.
Yeah, it's fairly sacreligious to speak that way about the gaming communities new sacred cow, but that's the truth of the matter. GTAIV has its graphics going for it, maybe the multiplayer too, and that is, unfortunately, about it.
To be more precise, the handling of all the vehicles in the game is terrible, enough to make any car chase a hassle at best and a complete pain at worst. The shooting element has been bumped up with free-aiming, but it's still not that good. The story is a bit more serious this time around with an attempt at serious social commentary and Oscar-worthy human drama, but it's more or less the same thing we've seen since GTA3: some nobody works his way up through the ranks of various mobsters and gang organizations by doing oddjobs and driving around the city a lot.
So why is it third? Because Crackdown has the awe-inspring ability to leap dozens of feat into the air while simultaneously firing a rocket at a car full of drug dealers and Saint's Row is funnier and has good car handling and gun shooting.
There. I said it.
Taking away all the hype and rose-tinted glasses and wiping away the glossy vinear of HD graphics and textures large enough to wrap around the globe and you're left with what must essentially be labled the third best free-roaming action game on the Xbox360.
Yeah, it's fairly sacreligious to speak that way about the gaming communities new sacred cow, but that's the truth of the matter. GTAIV has its graphics going for it, maybe the multiplayer too, and that is, unfortunately, about it.
To be more precise, the handling of all the vehicles in the game is terrible, enough to make any car chase a hassle at best and a complete pain at worst. The shooting element has been bumped up with free-aiming, but it's still not that good. The story is a bit more serious this time around with an attempt at serious social commentary and Oscar-worthy human drama, but it's more or less the same thing we've seen since GTA3: some nobody works his way up through the ranks of various mobsters and gang organizations by doing oddjobs and driving around the city a lot.
So why is it third? Because Crackdown has the awe-inspring ability to leap dozens of feat into the air while simultaneously firing a rocket at a car full of drug dealers and Saint's Row is funnier and has good car handling and gun shooting.
There. I said it.
Sometimes you get the scorpion.