
I remember when GTA IV was first released. With a Metacritic score of 98, it had a tad bit of hype to live up to. Like most people, I was outside my local Gamestop at 11:00 PM impatiently waiting for my copy. The only other time I’ve anticipated a game this much was San Andreas. There was nothing I wanted more then to get home and pop in the disc. As soon as I heard Roman shout, ”Niko, my cousin!’, it hit me. This is the game I’ve been thinking about every time I went to sleep for years. I was astonished at the amount of detail put into this masterpiece. Never once did I doubt GTA IV was a 10/10, but other people just might have.
As the months passed, GTA had moved out of the spot light, but the hype didn’t. Over and over again, I hear it. “GTA IV is the most overrated game this gen!”. From then, until now, people complain that GTA IV was overrated. What I say to these people is, PAY ATTENTION! My guesstimation is 80% of the people don’t realise how good GTA IV really is. I’m a guy who can’t get enough details. Apparently Rockstar North has the same feeling I do. Down to the smallest crack in the road, or the way Niko stands when one foot is on the curb & the other on the street, it just seems perfect.
One thing I also hear people complaining about is the realism. I’ve never really understood this argument. Look back at previous GTA installments, what do you see? Some of the most realistic games possible on last gen hardware. Just because they took advantage of the GPU & PPU on todays consoles doesn’t mean they made it too realistic. All they did was take out things like the jet pack and car customisations. Things that don’t make or break a game. They did tone up the seriousness in GTA IV, which I’m a fan of. Combined with the story, and the game play, it just felt ‘real’.
So why do so many people on the Internet today believe GTA IV was overrated? It’s become quite clear. They’ve got so caught up in talking bad about the game, that they want it to be overrated. They never really gave it a chance from jump street. What I suggest to every GTA IV naysayer is, go play through it again. Rome Liberty City endlessly, until you see what I see. The most alive, astonishing, and realistic city you’ve seen in a video game ever. I hope Ive changed some minds out there, and I know there’s people that think I’m just a GTA fanboy. But, if you do play through GTA IV again because of this article, please, come in open minded and disregard anything anyone has said about this game. If you do, I can almost guarantee you’ll see what I see.
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