BEP: GTA IV Will Disappoint More Than Innovate

BEP: The delays are done, and the official release date is etched in stone. Fans who have been waiting patiently for the next game in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series have mere months of thumb twiddling left to do. The problem is we’ve been fed the kool-aid, and everyone has decided that IV is the second coming of III. If we lived in a land of magical fairies who granted our wishes that would be spectacular. But reality has to hit at some point, and I’m betting on April 29th there are going to be a lot of people who stroll down the streets of Liberty City once again and think: "Hey, this seems familiar. Like I’ve done this in a lower resolution at some point."

I’m not going to bother going into whether the GTA games are good. There’s no need to get into something so pedestrian as qualifying the value of a nearly decade old game. If you aren’t a fan of the sand box style games, you still have to respect the place Grand Theft Auto III holds in the revolution of game design. I’ll fight any man to the death – or maybe just to the hurt feelings – on the abysmal experience that is sitting through Citizen Kane. The film is still a marvel of cinematography and visual story telling. It is the same for GTA III, a game that is as important to gaming as it is fun for those who spent 70+ hours in Liberty City.