I'm pretty excited about next Tuesday when GTAV releases. I mean, I've been in love with that series since playing the first, classic top-down Grand Theft Auto game back in about 1998 or so. I didn't play too much top-down GTA2, but GTA3 just blew my mind when I played it on my Playstation. It's become bigger and better every time. I always enjoy shooting gangsters, running over pedestrians, and “making it rain“, though only in the confines of a video game. Open world games still seem to give me a lot of mileage while FPS games and MMOs are starting to wane a bit for me, as I mentioned in an earlier post.
GTAV was on my radar since it was teased last year, but when I started seeing more about it and finally seeing all of the information about the large-scale GTA Online portion, I became much more excited. Red Dead Redemption's online mode was a interesting concept, though I didn't do much of it with other people I knew and it didn't have a really in-depth “crew” portion to it. The scale of GTA Online looks amazing and if I can find a good, mature crew to join (AKA guilds to you MMO players) I will probably have a lot more fun with it.
And, as always, I do enjoy the single player aspect. Rockstar never disappoints with their game design. I've only been hearing really good things from the people that had early access. I don't get a ton of game time anymore, especially with these more mature games. Once my kids go to bed, I get about 2-3 hours at night at the high end, so having a high-quality experience is important for me.
For now, while I wait, I'm in sort of a pre-release gaming void. I really don't want to jump into anything new, but I am currently enjoying a pair of 4's with Europa Universalis IV and Saints Row IV. They are two completely different games and genres, but I enjoy them both.
SRIV has come a long way since starting as a GTA clone as it's now extremely far off from GTA. The only similarity left is they're both open world. This one is completely mental, but in a good way. PC Gamer was right when they said it was “both gloriously stupid and stupidly good.”
EUIV on the other hand is from the same people that brought me Crusader Kings IIÂ which I spent a ton of time on. It has a bit of a steep learning curve, but it gets really fun once you get the hang of things. Watching some “Let's Play” videos on it has helped me a lot.
Are you planning on playing GTAV?
Can I assume you’ve played GTA: San Andreas? I had a blast playing that one. Somehow the story connected with me, maybe because it seemed like I was fighting for more than just myself.
SRIV felt like someone took GTA and fully embraced the absurdity of it rather than trying to maintain some sort of veneer of dignity. It made the gameplay a lot more fun, but I couldn’t quite get into it fully, as if I still expected a non-flash game to be serious.
Definitely played GTA:SA. I even played it a bit more recently after getting that big Steam pack for like $4. Yeah, SA felt much more “global” in your scale compared to even GTA IV which felt almost sad and depressing the whole time (not including some of the DLC.)
V looks like be much more bright and tongue-in-cheek, but I guess being in sunny Los Santos instead of dingy Liberty City may help.
I usually end of just messing around in SRIV. My favorite weapon that I have unlocked so far is either the Abduction Gun or the Singularity Gun, even more than the Dubstep Gun.
Jeez, thank you so much for posting this! GTA looks So Rad! Is everyone going to wait to play online until after they complete the story? Or are you going to rip into it and not even bother?