2013.16: GTAIV: The Ballad Of Gay Tony

Completed in 13 hours

Man what can I say about a GTA game I haven't said already. Quick highlights I want to re-mention: The vehicle damage system is still unbelievably amazing. Every dent, scratch, breakage happens on the spot of impact and also by how much force was applied. I haven't seen any damage system come close to this, let alone in an open world game.
Another highlight is how alive the club feels, it's a small space but in one corner you got the drinking, in another the dancing, in another the VIP room with all their little interactions that keeps you in this world. Along with all the glamour that comes with this lifestyle (monitor girl might give you a BJ after your bouncing job, you get super awesome cars and cool weapons etc).

I also love how alive the combat feels. Smoke starts filling the area after shots have been fired and debris flew everywhere, dead bodies look and act like dead bodies and after the action is over all the blood and the bodies in 'cool' dead positions are there to soak in for a super awesome experience.

This was also the game Rockstar let their hair down after their serious attempt (well, more serious than usual GTA) with GTAIV, which worked great but GTA is more like GTA when they are having fun with it. And here we got the great characters back and they give you tools like the N.O.O.S.E tank, a golden uzi and an automatic shotgun with explosive shells. Along with activities like parachuting and triathlons returning as well. Though I must admit the latter two feel a bit tacked on, like Rockstar did it just to answer fans and I have mentioned this in GTAV thread, it is a growing concern for me in GTAV as well. When thing are there just to be there, you can really feel it and it makes the game feel less special.

My major complaint, and I have mentioned this when GTAIV came out and also with RDR, is that, you are once again the errand boy. Rockstar comes up with some creative missions and some of them are amazing but the way they set it up and the reason for doing them has been the same since GTA1 and about half way through here it really hit me so I distracted myself with some of the side activities.
I am so glad in GTAV you are running your own heists and any "errand" missions you do seems to be only to help you prepare for the heist which is a MUCH needed, and a very smart way to shake up GTA's mission structure / motivation.

One thing that did not age well is the movement of the character, his turning angle is so fucking wide in real life you can turn a truck better! OK a bit exaggerated but it is pretty bad.
I also don't like how when you jump up the stairs you kind of glide up them which though to be fair it makes going up the stairs much faster but breaks immersion.
I also preferred it when we had to stop in the mission markers ourselves. Here you can drive 100mph right into a mission marker and do a magical stop on it. Another stupid thing for me. Let us pull up to the location properly.

Some good, some bad. A bit nitpicky points in both areas but overall I have been looking for a game to play all weekend, tried so many, searched through PSN and Steam, and this was the only game (GTAIV and Lost And The Damned included) that kept my interest and I had an absolute blast.

A great experience that shows some of GTA's ageing thinking;

8/10.