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Roundtable: GTA IV Expectations

by Ryan Maffit March 25th 2008 1:10 PM EDT2 Comments

When the staff here at XboxFocus composed our Five Most Anticipated Games of 2008, only one game stood above Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar's critically heralded and mainstream friendly (yeah, that was a joke) franchise has been always had a soft spot in most of the gaming community's heart (especially here at XboxFocus), and whenever a new release is added to the series' line, excitement comes in gigantic quantities.

But GTA IV is different. Cloaked in mystery, little information is known about the game. Many fans have become nervous in the past coming months, and the anxiety will keep skyrocketing as the calendar days trickle toward the game's release. Hardly any videos, screenshots, or leaks have surfaced since the game's original announcement at E3 2006, and Rockstar has done a great job (well at least from their point of view) in sealing up all information regarding the game. This week's roundtable will feature each of the staff member's expectations for the mysterious GTA IV, and if you'd like to, post up a comment including your expectations as well. We'd like to see if your opinions match up with ours.

Jamez Pikover

I think that if all we've heard about the game so far is true, it'll be the most realistic sand-box game ever conceived, regardless of how good the gameplay will be. We already know that Rockstar has that down, so it's really the changes they make that'll define how well the game performs. So far, they've got a good streak going for them and I don't see that stopping with their biggest game.

What to expect? We've already heard that we won't just be teetering around the city and that it won't be so open that after a few weeks of driving cars through the air, trying all we can to get six stars, then hack off a tank, which is great news. If they can pull that off, give us a story worth sitting through all that extra gameplay for, and have a meaningful multiplayer, there's no doubt that it will be one of the biggest games of the century, and even of all gaming history.

Tyler Treat

Grand Theft Auto IV will sell. There’s no question about that. There’s also no question that the game will kick ass. It’s only a matter of to what extent will the ass-kickery take place?

GTA IV’s rendition of Liberty City is smaller in size than San Andreas’ map, but the amount of detail put into it is simply astounding. It’s the biggest single city in the Grand Theft Auto series due to the level’s verticality, the number of buildings you can go into and the level of detail in those buildings.

This is probably what has me the most excited – the sheer magnitude of the map. Getting from one side of the city to the other will take at least an hour, and there are five different boroughs to explore. Though, not only is the amplitude of the city appealing, but also its liveliness. Police react and operate differently, interpersonal relationships are more dynamic and pedestrians are much more intelligent, realistic and diverse. No longer will they walk around casually while all hell is breaking loose.

Rockstar has focused on creating a genuine and engaging environment for their next installment in its sandbox series, and with exclusive content that will be available to Xbox 360 owners, GTA IV is definitely a game that should be on the top of your list.

Matt Schmachtenberg

I don't really have much to say, as I'm one of the few people who's never played a GTA game (go ahead, shun me if you want to), but in the past few weeks, GTA IV has grabbed my interest. The videos all look stunning, and hearing about all the little touches like radio stations and Widgets have me as excited as a cat in a sack of catnip.

So, personally, after hearing everyone say how "GTA games are so amazing that I'd sell my kidneys to play them!!", I'm hoping IV will be the game that finally makes me like free roaming games, because I've tried others like Saints Row and Crackdown and they just never grabbed me. Can't be more excited for the game as April 29th rolls around the counter.

Chad Crawford

Unlike my staff counterparts, pencil me down as very skeptical. Besides the size and structure of Liberty City, nothing else from GTA IV is "wow"ing me. The few trailers we have seen have given off an aura of "same old, same old" in my mind. I didn't plan on waiting four years for a San Andreas sequel for basically the same game. Add in the fact that Niko, the main character of the game, looks kinda like a pervert and that a whole plot based around the Russian mafia doesn't interest me, and you can understand my skepticism.

Also, has anyone looked closely at the trailers? The character animations and models look rather standard, and if anything else, a little sub-par. For a game that is stressing thousands of characters, that isn't good.

Still, Liberty City can easily make up for any shortcomings the game may hold. We have all seen how Rockstar is planning to construct the city, and if everything works out with this simulation of New York, you may have one of the best sandbox games ever. But if it doesn't (and I'm not to confident that it will), consider it a gigantic flop.

Steve Wysowski

I love it when developers go into a game's development with the philosophy of "live in your world, play in ours". The fact that Rockster is trying to pull it off with Grand Theft Auto IV couldn't make me any more excited. Everything else aside, whether it be the insanely addicting gameplay the Grand Theft Auto series has always been known for, the interesting characters that GTA IV plans to have, or the fact that Liberty City might be the best recreation of a modern city to hit a video game are just some of the things that have me hooked onto every leak GTAIV opens.

Also, the fact that GTA IV will have some kind of multiplayer experience really has caught my eye. That has always been one of the walls that has blocked me from falling heads-over-heels in love with the franchise, and if the multiplayer is pulled off properly, who knows how fun it could be. So many things are aligning perfectly for Grand Theft Auto IV's that I can't wait for April 29th any longer (whether it's has an EA logo stamped on its cover or not).

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