5 Reasons I Love GTA4

Here are five of the reasons I love Grand Theft Auto 4, and two ways it could be better.

1. Expansive
There are so many options, most of which you can do at any time; vigilante cop missions, street racing, killing innocent pedestrians, dating, playing on the internet, bowling, and I could go on.

It's almost like an RPG where these aspects of the game are the huge selection of sidequests. In fact, this can be seen as a very non-traditional RPG in a lot of ways, as I'll discuss as we go through some of these points.



2. Solid (Main) Storyline
The side storylines are great, but the main story is really pulling me in. I haven't played through the full game yet, (this is 5 reasons, not a review) but so far it's been fantastic. They've managed to keep a diverse enough set of missions, which is big, since a game like this could easily fall into a rut of repetitive missions. There are clearly going to be common themes: stealing cars, killing cops/civilians/criminals, etc. but if you're getting bored with that, you probably never started playing GTA4 in the first place.

3. Voice Acting
Excellent voice acting has been an up and coming feature in games, with my favorite being Mass Effect (you'll be seeing a review of this eventually), and BioShock is another good example. There used to be some mediocre voice acting, which would make games take up multiple discs, but as technology has progressed this aspect of games has really blossomed.

This is especially relevant for RPGs, since a common criticism is that they are too text heavy as a result of their in-depth stories. Why do movies sell better than books? People don't like to read that much, especially with the crowd that would be playing GTA4, which probably isn't your typical RPG crowd.


4. Smooth Controls
When I'm speaking of controls, I don't just mean how natural it feels to steal a car, leap from building to building, or get in a knife fight with a gangbanger, but how the game itself is controlled. (Though the game controls themselves are done well.) In point #3 I talk about how much there is to do in the game. One option is to have a big map, and you can drive to different parts of the game. GTA does this, but they're not the first to do this. You could select different missions from the pause menu, but that wouldn't feel very streamlined; it would feel like a bunch of separate games.

The three ways that they do this effectively are through the use of your cell phone, and the ability to take cabs. With your cell phone, you can call up contacts, and start missions up; this will still require some driving, so it doesn't feel like you're skipping around, but it's not tedious either. Don't feel like driving across the city? Take a cab. It'll cost you some cash, but you'll save time, just like in real life.

5. Whelming
Don't be confused, this just means that it's not over or underwhelming. This sums up some of the above points in discussing the seamless integration of the game; combining points 1 and 2 (via point 4). Another way they do this is through the GPS unit. I have a terrible sense of direction in real life, and it only gets worse when I'm playing games.

A GPS in my phone in real life has done me wonders, and it's done the same in this game. I'm not just talking about a map in the pause menu, or overlaid on the screen which tells me where I am, but a HUD at the bottom of the screen showing me where I need to make turns. In a non-linear game focused on driving, this is a dealbreaker, and Rockstar did it excellently.


a. Stupid Cops
During the main storyline missions, the cops are fine, mostly because you always have a wanted rating, and they're chasing after you. However, during 'free play' if I'm just driving about, they're not so bright. If they see me steal a car, take down my license plate; have them be looking for me later if I'm dumb enough to not switch cars. I blow a red light right in front of you, while T-boning a car, and what do you do? Nothing! This is the type of thing I would like to see adjustable in by a difficulty option. It would be annoying if I couldn't speed without getting into a car chase, but if I want to play more stealthily?

b. Absurd Rating System
This is similar to point a, but different enough to warrant it's own point:

Shoot a pedestrian in the face, next to a cop. 1 star.
Shoot a cop. 3 stars.

That sounds like a fair comparison. Let's try another one:

Barely nick a cop because you didn't brake in time. 1 star.
Pull someone out of their car, stab them to death, and drive off in their car, whilst a cop watches. 1 star.

This aspect could have use some more balancing.

Image: Flickr
Image: GameSpot

Godspeed.

5 Reasons I Love Jenga

The idea behind this column is that every game has it's pros and cons, and everyone loves lists. This won't be restricted to board games, or any type of game in general. Also, all games will have five pros and two cons. If there's not five reasons to love a game, it's not worth writing about it. If there aren't two things to hate about the game, you're probably too enamored, and should leave it someone less biased.

Here are five of the reasons I love Jenga, and two ways it could be better.

1. Psychological Warfare
The act of physically removing blocks and placing them on the tower only makes up about 10% of the game. When an opponent is removing a particularly dangerous block, how do you get the edge? Make them laugh, make them cry; anything you can do to physically jostle them, mentally. You're a standup comedian on the side? Tell some jokes. Know some embarassing stories about your opponent? Tell them as he plays. Make sure that you're emotionally ready though, you better expect the same to be done to you.

2. The Money Shot
How fun is it watching the construction of a building over the course of months? Unless you're an architect or engineer, probably not that much fun. What about destroying a building? There are people out there whose jobs it is to make buildings implode safely, for millions of people to watch, both in person and on television. Building a card house? Not that much fun to watch. Impressive, but not to watch every second of. You should be getting the idea of this now, people love destruction in any and all forms. Here are a couple from PLAY.


3. Gimmicks
If you're too good of a Jenga player, and you want to spice it up, it's easy. Wikipedia tells us of some offical Hasbro variants, such as: Throw 'n Go Jenga, Truth or Dare Jenga, and Casino Jenga: Las Vegas Edition. These aren't too hard to think up, just combine a couple games and you've got a gimmick. Write numbers 1-6 on all the blocks, then roll a die before you play, to determine which block to remove. The possibilities are really endless.


4. Simplicity
I love complicated games with oodles of rules, such as Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Axis and Allies, and Riskopoly*. However, many people don't, and getting them to play a game with you is going to be harder if they're resistant while you're trying to explain page 86 of the rulebook. If they can't understand Jenga, they're too dumb to be hanging out with you. And if they can't appreciate Jenga, they're probably not human. Teaching the rules of Jenga will take about 15 seconds if you talk really, really slow. If you don't use any punctuation, you could probably explain it in about 4 seconds.

5. Speed
This is pretty similar to #4, but there are differences. With many games, if you take the hour or so it takes to learn a game, you can play it in about 30 minutes. Those games are fast, but not simple. If you learn how to play Monopoly, Risk, or Trivial Pursuit, which aren't all that difficult, it's still going to take a while. Even if you're playing with expert, emotionally stable (see #1) players, there are a limited number of blocks, and the tower can only get to be so tall.

a. Tedious Setup
The process of setting up Jenga is pretty tedious. It doesn't take too long, but removing blocks from the pile of wreckage (see #2) can take time. Then you have the flimsy piece of plastic that came with the game to help you line up the blocks right. Unless you take really good care of your games (i.e. don't bring them back and forth to different places on a weekly basis) your box and plastic straightener are probably broken. I don't have a solution to this problem, but I can imagine something that worked like a coin sorter would be helpful, and entertaining, but wouldn't be worth carrying around with you, since it would take up more space than the game itself.

b. Wait Time
Wait time? You should be focusing, even if you're not the person playing at the moment! (See #1.) If this doesn't work for you, play a non-time based game on the side, while you wait. Make sure you can pay attention to both games at once though, you don't want to be the annoying guy that people have to keep reminding to take your turn. Also, remain aware of your surroundings, you don't want to miss the money shot, or get hit in the face by said money shot.

Someone actually wrote a Masters thesis about Jenga; Richard, you must top this.

*I haven't actually played Riskopoly yet, but I really do think I would love it.

Photo: Flickr
Photo: Flickr

Godspeed.