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Summary
Everything wrong with video games can be found in GTA IV
The Good
It comes in a box, so when you are thoroughly finished with it, you can pack it all back up and throw it in the trash! Convenient!It all honesty the production values of Rockstar have always been very high. My gripe is that you can polish a turd to a smoky brown gleam, but it's still first and foremost a turd. I like a little more focus on artistic interpretation, rather than always pushing the envelope as to representing the real world on your TV screen verbatim. I mean, if I want crystal clear graphics I can walk around outside. Do I really want to experience a grim urban setting with the utmost clarity though? No thank you. I get enough bland and boring scenes without turning on an SBoss.
The Bad
Where to begin?Essentially, the magic of video games from the mid-90s has given way to the silliness of GTA and its peers. Instead of artful design, we have pedestrian gunmanship. Instead of the wonder and intrigue of the SNES, we have grotesque urban landscapes, peopled by drug lords, pimps, and loudmouths.
There is nothing inherently wrong with all this, but quite frankly, I play video games as an alternative to the real world, not as an extension of it.
The Bottom Line
Just a waste of time and money. The dour sensibilities of grim Scotsmen have made their mark on video gaming, and it comes under the banner of Grand Theft Auto. What a terrible way for the once-glorious institution of gaming to go. Now practically every marquee title is either a GTA or a Call of Duty clone. Close as I can figure, originality in game design pretty well ended in 2001, with the release of Halo and the demise of EverQuest. Now, it's just a sad little exercise for 18 year old boys and their kin to pop off their allowance for this crud. For shame!Still, who doesn't hate young men? Even they hate themselves. So it makes total sense that I'd hate the games they amuse themselves with.
