Written by Matt Goldberg

 

GTA IV was released to the following reviews:

10 out of 10 -- Gamespot.com

10 out of 10 -- IGN.com

98.33 out of 10 -- EGM

A -- 1UP.com

9.8 out of 10 -- GameTrailers.com

Basically, it has a 97% rating from GameRankings.com.  Critics really liked it.  I don't blame them.  No one wants to stir up a shitstorm like GameSpot did in 2006 when they had the gall to give "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" an 8.8 out of 10, thus angering all the fanboys who hadn't played the game but were sure it was the best thing since what they imagined blow-jobs were like.  And no one was wrong to be excited for "GTA IV".  It was the originator and king of the violent sandbox.  There have been many pretenders but there's only one "Grand Theft Auto".  And this was next-gen "GTA"!  It had to be even better than the amazing last-gen GTA games!  

I am grateful that a game called "Saints Row" by THQ came out in August of 2006.  Many saw it as a way to get your free-roaming criminal fix until GTA came out.  A stop-gap but nothing of consequence.  But for me, "Saints Row" served a greater purpose: keeping the "Grand Theft Auto" series honest.  Without competition, without innovation, a series like "Grand Theft Auto" can stagnate.  It can rest on its laurels.  And having played over fifty hours in each game, I can say that while there would be no "Saints Row" without "Grand Theft Auto", Rockstar would have done well to jack a few of "Saints Row's" ideas.  

Before, I launch into why "Grand Theft Auto" isn't the perfect game the critics imagined it to be, let me first say why it's a great game and a must-have addition to any videogame collection:

The story is second-to-none.  You may be able to create your own character in "Saints Row" but the drawback is you don't get such a detailed character arc as you do when the creators make one for you.  The tale of Niko Bellic is one of the best in all of videogaming.  But not only does it take you down a great narrative, it also offers dramatic choices that make "Bioshock's" moral questions seem like the equivalent of what to get on McDonald's Dollar Menu.  Despite having the cast of better-known voice actors, "Saints Row" doesn't have the character development or the wit of "GTA IV".  Also, "GTA IV's" ending is classic whereas "Saints Row's" ending is hateful.  It makes you feel ashamed of completing the game.  

Also, as far as multiplayer is concerned, it's no contest.  "GTA IV" is as good as multiplayer gets and "Saints Row's" is well...not.  

Where I start taking issue with "GTA IV" is gameplay and I'll start with the flaws that aren't nitpicks but major drawbacks that no self-respecting critic should have missed.

The driving is awful.  I pretty much only take cabs in "GTA IV" because the driving is bad on so many levels.  I don't want my car or motorcycle to control realistically.  It's fine if you want to send me through the windshield if I smash into a telephone poll at 100 mph, but there's no good way to turn in this game unless you slow to almost a crawl.  If you try to hit a sharp turn by slamming on the handbrake, you're just headed into a spin-out.  This is a major problem when a large portion of the main story missions are chases.  It gets even worse when you have to kill someone while driving.

"Saints Row" gets it right.  It has multiple control schemes for your car and one of them is perfect: it puts steering AND acceleration on the right thumbstick so you can put weapon-aiming on the left thumbstick and fire with the right trigger.  Some may argue that such a scheme takes away the challenge, but I'd respond by saying that the challenge shouldn't come from poor button-mapping but from the design of the mission it self.  If you want to throw a bunch of curves at me, ramps, and an army of guys shooting at me, so be it.  But make it so that if I fail, it's because of my screw-ups and not because you were so busy making it "realistic" that it forgot to be fun.

Of course, this is all assuming you can get in your damn car.  Again, "Saints Row" has the nice feature of making all enemies little red dots on your map.  Niko may look left and right before breaking into a car, but even if you stop him, the cops know what you were up to and you may as well steal the car and go on another tiresome one-star chase before you can get to what you wanted to do.

Most reviewers and gamers celebrated that if you died or got arrested, your phone would take you back to the beginning of the mission.  That's a pretty neat feature except when you consider that almost every mission requires you driving to a location before the mission truly begins.  "Saints Row" has this same problem and both need to fix it.  I know the designers are damned proud of the worlds they've created, but sometimes I don't want to cruise the same streets of your city and listen to your satirical radio stations; I just want to play through the mission.

And mission variety is another area where "GTA IV" falls short.  I will say that "Three Leaf Clover" and "Museum Piece" are classics and I wish there was some feature that allowed me to go back and play them rather than just creating separate saves before those missions.  They're hallmarks in gaming history.  Unfortunately, most of the other missions are either one of two options: massacres or chases.  You're either taking down an army of guys or chasing down a guy.  Sometimes, you'll follow a guy to an army of his guys or you'll have to kill a guy while driving.  

In "Saints Row", there are these kinds of missions, but there's far more variety.  Sometimes, you just get to ride shotgun and kill the shit out of anyone that comes after you.  Other times, you're an escort, making sure people or vehicles reach their destinations.  Also, you're always aware of your allies' health, so you can adjust how you play rather than trying to fight through an area only to have Phil Bell suddenly cack on you.  A little notification that my ally is taking heavy fire doesn't help me.  

But let's get to the major issue and the one that inspired this article: side-quests.  A recent ad for "Saints Row 2" took a direct shot at "GTA IV's" side-missions and guess what: it's true.  Sorry, but bowling and pool aren't the most brilliant side quests ever devised.  Neither are vigilante or drug deliveries which are staples of the series but what else is there?  It's especially bad that I'm forced to do these stupid activities or else my "friends" show themselves for the whiny bitches they truly are.  And you better waste time keeping them happy or else they won't help you any more.  

Side-mission variety is key in an free-roaming environment.  If I'm stuck on one activity, I can switch to something else.  If I'm having a rough time getting enough prostitutes to the brothel, I can try insurance fraud instead.  In a world as big as Liberty City, why isn't there enough to do?  Sure, I can always create mayhem if I want, but in "Saints Row", I get paid for doing it.  That's another thing: completing side-missions in "Saints Row" actually has an affect on the gameplay.  Killing all 200 pigeons in "GTA IV" will get me a helicopter (which is silly because I can steal a helicopter from the helitours pads easily) but if I tag all 75 locations in "Saints Row", I can run and never get tired.

But let me answer the question that I'm sure you're asking yourself by now: does this numb-nuts think "Saints Row" is better than "GTA IV"?  No.  "Saints Row" has some major problems of its own.  It needs a feature that lets you restart activities if you fail just like you can restart missions if you fail.  The quests to find a particular vehicle or hitman target are boring as hell and completely unpredictable.  Like "GTA IV" there needs to be an ability to "warp" because my cribs are way too far apart.  Furthermore, Liberty City is a masterpiece.  The attention to detail is breathtaking.  And it's consistently funnier than "Saints Row's" best joke (which, for those of you wondering, is calling the fast food joint, "Freckle Bitch's").  My question is why did the designers put as much attention into the gameplay as they did into crafting the Internet, TV shows, and radio programs?  

"GTA IV" is not a perfect game and I wish that reviewers would revisit it and see that they were too generous in their praise.  There should be a rivalry between "Saints Row" and "GTA" because it will keep both games honest and force developers to either deliver the best product possible or be outdone by their competitor.  "GTA" is still clearly in the lead but it needs to watch its back.