Editor's Note: Years later, it’s fascinating to see how Grand Theft Auto and open-world games have evolved. Grand Theft Auto IV and V are still influential. However, new games and changing player views offer fresh takes on these classics.
Finishing Grand Theft Auto V made me wonder: why did I love it so much while Grand Theft Auto IV let me down?
This post is about why, despite my desire to like it, GTA IV finally drove me away. A follow-up post will explain why GTA V won me over as a remarkable, if still sometimes mad
The Table of Contents
A Newer Perspective on GTA and Open-World Games
What used to be sharp satire or edgy humor is now viewed differently. Today, player and cultural standards have shifted. My views have grown, and the gaming world has advanced. Still, the main points here spark
conversation.
My early impressions of Grand Theft Auto
I’ve never been a fan of Grand Theft Auto. I remember watching someone play an early top-down game a long time ago. It looked okay, but not very exciting.
First exposure to GTA III
I remember watching my 14-year-old cousin play GTA III at my grandma’s house during Christmas 2001.
Shock Value and Juvenile Appeal
In three minutes of watching, he showed me the open world’s most notorious trick. You could sleep with a prostitute to gain health, then kill her to get your money back.
Why GTA III Never Clicked for me.
I tried it out for a while. I liked the open-world design, but the world felt too childish to keep my attention. I focus more on what you can do in a game than on what’s fun or worthwhile. What I enjoy is subjective,
after all.
GTA III felt like a proof-of-concept made by, well, a 14-year-old. The plot was there, but it wasn’t the main focus. The key points were the groundbreaking gameplay and the juvenile tone, which was not.
Expectations Going into GTA IV
When GTA IV came out, I started hearing much more interesting things about it. The game and its characters understood how messed up their world was. They did some interesting things with this insight. Because of this, the story was actually interesting.
Approaching GTA IV with a serious mindset
The open-world gameplay had become too good to pass up. So I gave GTA IV a serious shot. I played for about 20 hours. I got halfway through the story missions and did plenty of side quests, too. But I had to admit to myself that I wasn’t having that much fun.
Where GTA IV started to fall apart
The cars felt clunky, like driving a boat on ice. It’s a famous point of contention among fans. Some love GTA IV’s heavy, realistic physics, while others find it frustrating. Rockstar made a deliberate design choice
here. They aimed for realism instead of arcade-style handling.
The cover and shooting mechanics were frustrating. The story was okay, but it didn’t grab my attention. While playing it, I felt like I was holding my breath. I was wading through a sewer of crassness and misogyny. It was always in your face.
Guys on steroids have little penises. America has nice-looking women, but they all want something; what a hassle. Liberals are idiots, and so are rednecks, and so is everyone else. Okay, GTA IV, we get the joke.
Repetition without insight.
No need to repeat it 10,000 times in different ways. People are stupid, and women are barely people. The whole approach felt like the most arrogant guy I knew in high school had written the script.
What’s telling is that even Rockstar itself eventually moved beyond this. The same studio gave us Red Dead Redemption 2. This game told a subtle, humane, and deeply nuanced story. It’s proof that “edgy for the sake of edgy” has a shelf life, even as the developers grew up, and so did their writing.
Characters, tone, and missed potential
He wasn’t funny in high school, and he and his 2000 NPC clones weren’t going to be funny for fifty hours in a game. The Niko stuff felt out of place. It was just okay, surrounded by all the teen insecurity chatter.
The Infamous Phone: Narrative vs. Annoyance
Oh, and the phone. I hated it when, on my way somewhere, I’d get a call on the phone from a character asking to hang out. I wanted to see where the side stories with Michelle, Roman, or Little Jacob would lead.
So, I often paused what I was doing.
Side Activities That Went Nowhere
Then the ‘hang out’ usually meant bowling or darts. I had to drive home drunk and ended up far across the map. I never felt I learned anything interesting or that the character opened up new options.
It felt like a waste of time. That was the game's main issue. No matter what I did, I always felt it wasn’t worth my time.
Mission Design and Player Frustration
The world was interesting, but I spent too much time driving across the map to reach mission markers. Some missions drove me nuts with their endless failures and retries.
Failure, Restart, Repeat
I’d do well for the first few minutes of a mission. Then I’d lose track of the target or hit a dead end. That’s when the mission would fail. I’d have to restart the mission. I’d replay the parts I know well, then fail thirty seconds later. This means another restart and more minutes of the same tasks.
When Playing Started to Feel Like Work
At one point, I wondered why I kept playing. I didn’t have a clear answer. Still, I thought, “enjoy this game later.” But trying to like it often felt like a chore.
And yet I felt like so, so many aspects of the game were almost really fun or almost really thought-provoking. As a technical achievement, I couldn’t help but respect GTA IV; I was just sad to find out that I still didn’t want to play it.
Respecting GTA IV without enjoying it
Niko’s “serious” story was okay, not the “Oscar-caliber” experience IGN claimed. The humor still missed the mark. The gameplay improved in the open world, but I only cared about a quarter of the activities. So, it
got boring quickly.
The main story felt too serious. The characters and side interactions didn’t engage. The driving scenes didn’t add much either. The interesting parts were rare and appeared at unpredictable intervals.
Why GTA IV ultimately didn't work for me
The combination of elements in GTA IV didn’t work for me. I was eager to explore this well-crafted world. However, most of it wasn't fun, and the serious parts weren't that interesting either. Clearly, many people disagree with me on this. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t get into GTA IV.
How Open-World Games Evolved After GTA IV
Over the past decade, open-world gaming has improved a lot. It has tackled many of the "almosts" that made GTA IV less enjoyable for me. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion led to V: Skyrim. GTA IV paved the way for Rockstar’s V. Since then, the genre has grown bolder. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and the recent GTA VI show this change.
Why GTA V succeeded where IV stumbled.
Both Vs took the vast sandbox worlds of their predecessors. They packed them with fun content. I explored, caused trouble, battled, and enjoyed the story for hours.
GTA V succeeded where IV fell short. It has better mission design and pacing. The three main characters offer a great variety. Plus, the tone mixes satire with real moments of humor and heart.
Endless retries and boring driving became less frustrating. Creative payoffs and a world that rewarded curiosity replaced them. This trend has carried into the 2020s. We see richer worlds and better storytelling. I go into more detail about the storytelling in my GTA V rant.
An Open Question for Players
I’m interested to know, though, which parts of GTA IV other people liked and didn’t like. Is the juvenile humor part of the appeal more often than not? Or are plenty of people willing to put up with it to get to the state-of-the-art open-world gameplay? Or is it hit and miss, with some jokes working and others falling flat? Did the driving and mission structures bore or frustrate you, or work for you?
For more gaming perspectives, check out our retro game articles & reviews.
