Why Does Rockstar Keep Doing This?

Upon release of GTA IV, the Rockstar writing crew received an excessive amount of praise for the creation of Niko Bellic. Two years later, many people have realized that there was a huge disconnect between the game play and the character of Niko. How can this man, who wants to have a different life in America, kill hundreds of cops and even some men that he has called his friends? Subsequent releases of The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony did little to correct the problem.

[Cpt_Spacebound]

In a way I agree, that bank robbery mission in GTA4 along with a few others basically forced you to kill more than a few cops in order to complete them. It wouldn't be such a big "disconnect" if Niko was like one of the main characters from Kane and Lynch, but he was a character that showed emotions. Still, Rockstar has no control over what the player does aside from the missions, so in my opinion, it's all acceptable.

[Redempteur]

There is no problem at all these character simply get into a spiral of problems and it's very hard to escape from it .

As for the bank mission , it's a epic mission with a lot of action and it's one of the best ones in GTA4 ( blowing stuff , escaping ... ) So kills cops ? and then ?it's a damn game.. Also by the time , kino realised that there was no american dream for him . ( back stabbed twice , lied by at least 3 people )

[Dee_91]

i didnt know so many people get caught up in the life of these video game characters

[Bereaver]

Actually, I think the whole point of Neko is that he has this amazing ability to change himself to please so many people.

[gtamike]

Just make a GTA as good as San Andreas thats all I want

[sofocado]

They did already. It actually was better than San Andreas.

[gtamike]

Not downgrade with new graphics and physics engine (GTA4)

[N4g_null]

What is funny is you the player can choose not to play the game thus having the main character not go thur these horrors.

Maybe rock star should go even further and make an Althernate mission where the character gives up and works as a toll booth worker and get evicted from his apartment.

[Darkstorn]

I did find it strange that John Marston was willing to kill thousands of frontiersmen, rebels, and government officials to protect his family. Now THAT'S sociopathic behavior...

[Incognegro]

lol so I take it you won't go to great lengths to save the ones you love then. I can understand the author's beef with the game, but I think Rockstar did a better job of presenting John's character than they have with previous tries.

In Mexico, he gets questioned a couple of times with siding with De Santa and John even goes on to mention that he doesn't even care about the outcome of the ware, and that his only concern is to save his family. Another aspect was that he wasn't always quick to kill people either. He would only do so if he really needed to. Well, that's my take on it at least.

[Silver360]

Those people he killed were between him and his family. John only has his family. His mother was a whore that died early his father a drunk that died on him early to. Dutch his father figure left him shot up and dying. He had no one but his wife a former whore and his son. The man is has no human connections outside of those two, so of course the rest of humanity are either there to assist him or obstacles in his way.

[Darkstorn]

That does not change the fact that John Marston's behavior is beyond sociopathic.

[seinfan]

Sociopaths don't care for anyone. Why would he care for his family?

[masterg]

Do you know what a sociopath is Darkstorn?

[HolyOrangeCows]

Better question: Why don't journalists ever catch these disconnects in Rockstar games?

Because Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear, etc...they all get away with murder with these giddy journalists.

[maddhatter123]

with halo and gta you have a point but you can beat mgs4 without killing anyone even the bosses.

[KaBaW]

How do you 'not' kill the bosses?

[Man In Black]

Tranquilize them.

[Sean Ryno]

Where in Halo do you have to kill another person? Beyond that, there are very very few situations where you HAVE to kill anything. You can get it done being all Swiss. With the exception of:
-A Scarab Halo3
-Tartersauce Halo2
-The monitor Halo3

[GuruStarr78]

the game was entertaining as hell.....the operative word being "game"....

[nickjkl]

because if he didnt kill anyone there would be no game

[xg-ei8ht]

That's what i was thinking, why does rockstar keep releasing games.

[cranium]

Are you saying they make bad games? Because I disagree with that.

[ZBlacktt]

Watch and see who wins GOTY this year.... ;)

[AliTheBrit19]

John Marston is win

And he kills many people to save his own family? ummm that IS relate-able, because we all know, put in the same situation we would do the same, well, I would.

[Darkstorn]

I can't say the same. John Marston killed a LOT of people without any attempt at diplomacy. As a result, he was killed in cold blood.

The corrupt lawmen may have been directly to blame for his death, but John Marston sealed his fate.

[TheTimeDoctor]

go to the congo

[GoodSpeed]

Darkstorn. You should rewrite your post. Or at least place a SPOILERS!! heading so that people won't read it accidentally. Just a suggestion.

[Rocket Sauce]

This hit me hard in GTA 4 when the heroin-addict brother of Niko's Irish friend asks you to kill random people while he's tweaking out. This is AFTER you rob the bank, too, so it's not like Niko needs whatever measly cash this guy has.

He went from, "Pretty Alright" to, "Total Bullshit" right there for me. I understand you've gotta do nasty things in a game like this, but maybe they shouldn't have tried to make a sympathetic character.

[sombrero]

Yeah, the whole "omg, no american dream for me" bs at the end was ridiculous.

[BiggCMan]

rockstar makes the same games over and over. every gta game is exactly the same, red dead redemption is basically a gta game, bully is not so different from a gta game. the only different game they have made that i know of is red dead revolver. while all the games are obviously good, theyre just the same things.

[omi25p]

is rockstars table tennis like grand theft auto????? or maybe the psp music game made by rockstar is a grand theft auto copy?

[Jay520]

So midnightclub was similar to GTA.

[yess]

Or Smuglers Run?

[sombrero]

Did rockstar make that? That was my first ps2 game and I loooooooved it.

[yess]

Yes! They did..And it was my first on PS2 to...

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

You guys are forgetting that rockstar makes games that essentially revolve around crime. Of course they're gonna make their main character a crazy killer. It happened in just about every single rockstar game.

[omi25p]

i realy enjoyed playing as all of these characters. nico is forced into doing these bad things such as bank robbery because he needs the money and then at the end you have a choice, money? or the right thing to do, i think nico was a ritch fun character with great backstory, but he didnt overwelm the player.

john marston i feel is one of the best characters ever in a video game. you talk about how in mexico john starts to kill innocent people, this if you listen and understand the story he goes to the mexican army before the rebels. He is told by the army that he is to kill the rebels threating mexico, so blindly marston fights the mexicans thinking he is doing the right thing.

Then after the linal reves mission (sorry cant spell his name) where you meet the female rebel, john starts to realise he is fighting for the wrong side, then his missions for the mexican army more or less stop. The missions you do for them john shows how he regrets everything he does, then finally he fully joins the rebels and fights back against the army. so im sorry i have to disagree with what you said about each character.

[-EvoAnubis-]

While I see his point to a degree, this is the man's family we're talking about here. If it were MY family at risk and the only way to save them would be to kill the guy that wrote this article and everyone who commented here on N4G, then there would be a whole lot of dead people that far as I'm concerned would be someone else's problem.

What man wouldn't do anything he had to do in order to save his family? Is this guy saying he wouldn't? Is there anyone here who wouldn't?

[Eternus]

Desperate times call for desperate measures. John Marston is one of the best protagonists in years!

[Dellis]

None of the R* games are about story, none of them if you play GTA or this broke back mountain stuff for the story you are not doing it right. R* are masters of huge words/exploration gameplay, the character are the worlds created by R*.

[TheTimeDoctor]

i think you hit the nail on the head. if there was a little more broke back in this game, the author would not have a problem with it.

[Otheros00]

If it was more broke back mountain everybody would be gay.

[KillaFreedom]

John Marston killed a lot of people to save his family, thats why he let himself be killed because he knew it was justice and he knew the government wouldn't bother his family again. That's understandable.

Niko on the other hand, just killed people to make money and status in the city.

Is it that hard to understand?

[chadneil123456789]

I agree with you bro... I don't get this article lots of immigrants come to America wanting a better life and end up doing bad stuff. So how is niko any different? Dumb article

[KilZoneGeneralStrife]

Niko on the other hand..GTA4,simply didnt have the deapth of Red Dead.GTA4 ends the same way the other games ended.while Red dead,He gets the 'bad' guys, takes down his old gang...and then heads home..I dont believe any game hits home about reasoning why John did what he did through the game than having missions with his family at the end.until,well.that bastard kills him.It was epic.it was pretty 'real'.no man would let his family die.

[Man In Black]

GTA4 didn't end the same way as the other games. Did Tommy Vercetti lose someone close to him at the end of Vice City? No, he took over the city. GTA3 had a more ambiguous ending, and San Andreas ended on a pretty upbeat note. Not the case with GTA4. I think Rockstar summed it up well. Instead of going from rags to riches, you go from rags to slightly better rags.

[The_Zeitgeist]

I think the writer looked at it all wrong. Marston grows more desperate as time goes on. Everyone is screwing him and taking their time and he feels desperate to get his family back. He has reservations but above all else he feels he must do these things to save his family. Rockstar even address this in a long drive towards the end of the game.

[MadMan00]

I thought the article would be about why Rockstar keeps making the same shit but in a different timeline.

[OpiZA]

create a complex character, who isn't pure evil or pure good. I demand less character depth, maybe we can replace him with a Pokemon, and his horse could be Yoshi.

[No Way]

Well, I'm off to play some RDR Free Roam, and shoot some townsfolk in the face. :)

[You Noob]

What a stupid article...

[zeeshan810]

Rockstar Games hater. :@

[adonis183]

the main character of the ballad of gay tony was dominican.. just like me

[SergeantPope]

Honestly, people who play Grand Theft Auto don't care about the character as long as their badass. Useless article =P

[bjornbear]

the trick of a good narrative is to present someone you as a viewer thinks he has NOTHING to do with them.

then you learn to like them, grow a bond and realize you are more alike than you'd imagine.

citizen kane:

most of us aren't multi-million dollar power houses, but anyone who watched that movie i'm sure felt something for Kane at the end.

you don't need to be EXACTLY like them, so as long as SOMETHING relates.

to some, its the fact he has a family and he'd do anything to protect them

to others, its the fact he has to do what he is doing without a choice

others just relate because they always wanted to shoot mexicans xP - point is, i think marston is one of the best rounded characters R* ever gave birth to =)

[Spenok]

I thought the game was pretty much fantastic. Im pretty sure that if anyone else was in John's situation, and wanted to settle down with his family. And was forced back into the life he was trying to leave behind, you would do some pretty crazy things.

One thing i dont understand about this article is the dude is bitching about how John is a Sociopath because he's killing cops and innocence for the hell of it, or for missions. He wanted to get into the character and have him be believeable, but because of his random killing structure he couldnt. But didnt they kind of answer that already? I mean they did a good job explaining that John came from a rebel gang that used to kill random people, loot whatever they wanted and such. If he came from a background like that wouldnt it be more plausable for him to kill cops and innocence again?

[CountDracula]

Same shitty Gears of War mechanics in place of additions THAT ARE ACTUALLY FUN AND NOT REPETITIVE!

And I payed 60 bucks for this.