April 30, 2008 12:14
My Thing About Grand Theft Auto IV
I've never been way into the GTA series. I've been medium-into it from time to time. I played Vice City and San Andreas, but never to state of total unambiguous completion. The sad truth is, I am one of those gamers people complain about, who are totally focused on combat simulation, and there are way way better pure combat simulators out there than GTA. After you've spent some time in Halo 3 and Gears and COD4, etc., the GTA games just look blocky and cheap, the repertoire of movements frustratingly constrained, the AI limited, the fluid modelling of the blood-spatters insufficiently detailed, and so on.
Obviously they sacrifice that stuff to maximize other aspects of the game: the size and detail of the environment, the complexity and sophistication of the story, the freedom and open-endedness of the gameplay. And I'm just gonna say -- and it's seeming sorta obvious as I type it, but just so somebody somewhere says it -- those kinds of things are exactly the opposite of what's supposed to be drive sales among hardcore gamers.
Yes, there is a shocking aspect to the games, because there are a lot of non-combatants around, whom you can shoot and run over, etc., and there is sex -- basic-cable sex! -- in the game. But that stuff isn't really part of core gameplay, and most people don't bother with it that much, except for a few times for the sake of looky-looky. It's not like killing civilians is rewarded. (And it's not like real civilians aren't being killed, in real life, in the actual world, and could use some media attention, for Crom's sake.)
You can get way better-quality violence elsewhere. What drives GTA sales is good writing and storytelling.
And now, Dave Chapelle.
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Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
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Reader Comments (6)
Nicely played, sir.
Posted by Church | April 30, 2008 4:24 PM
I think they need to make a GTA for the Wii, with the kiddy Mii-type animation. Try and tell me that wouldn't be hilarious.
Posted by Dave | May 1, 2008 1:08 PM
About 10 years ago I predicted we would have trouble with the first isue. I was a cashier at Walmart and had a real conviction about ringing the game even to adults. The adults would pass the paid product to the juvinile in front of me after protesting their young child being denied. Having to sell this product was making me sick as I saw what is happening today on our public streets. It became so bad that I had to transfer to a lower level as a greeter. The store was in NH with very low population but it created a low volume crime. Here in Jacksonville the store sells lots and we are going through one of the worst crime spells, and everyone is questioning why?. I still maintaine my explanation of the cause is the car theft training, low mentality and violent schooling of the video game...
Posted by poetlois101 | May 1, 2008 11:41 PM
I'm going to go and say poetlois101 is a troll, anyone that is saying gta4 caused a crime wave is ridiculous. The kids that decided to play it are still getting fat in front of their tv screens playing it since its such an engrossing game. This will leave them unfit to commit wanton destruction since they are out of shape.
Posted by Shambly | May 5, 2008 2:38 PM
I look at it this way - if someone is getting their jollies in a violent video game, that means they're not out on the street committing crimes.
And if a parent passes a game like GTA4 (or the upcoming Age of Conan) to a minor? It's their own damn fault, because these games are NOT for kids. That's why there is a rating system like in the movies. M = R, for all intents and purposes.
And if a parent doesn't teach their kids to distinguish a game from reality, that's another problem. GTA is not real, what's in the game is not something you should do in real life. You can be sure any kids I raise will know the difference.
Posted by SniperCT | May 6, 2008 6:52 PM
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Posted by ahmet
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August 16, 2008 4:13 AM