[Ozymandis]

This game seems to come up a lot. Figured it needed its own topic.

I answer no, of course. The play mechanics got old quickly, and the missions were tedious. I felt the same way about the first two games of the series, and the third was the exact same thing (with a different camera perspective and more depth).

The only draw of the game was its violence. Being able to be a psycho and a killer... and this didn't appeal to me at all. I don't mind violent games, but I prefer to play as at least a semi-good guy.

Sadly enough, I'll probably have to buy Vice City to appease my casual friends who seem to think that it is a requirement as a Playstation2 owner to own and enjoy these games. I try not to burden their minds by broadening their horizons even slightly, and they'll no doubt enjoy it when they come over

Anyways, vote, and post your opinion.

[CeiserSöze]

I voted no. I bought the game (PC version), played it for about a week, got bored and forgot about it. I pretty much agree with all the points Ben made in the other threads so I won't elaborate why I think GTA3 ist not an excellent game...

[Thowllly]

Originally Posted by Ozymandis

The only draw of the game was its violence. Being able to be a psycho and a killer... and this didn't appeal to me at all. I don't mind violent games, but I prefer to play as at least a semi-good guy.

Hmm, so first you say you are drawn to the violence, then you say the violence doesn't appeal to you? That doesn't make any sense, so I guess you're saying the reason anybody is drawn to the game is because they like the violence. That is not true at all. I like this game very much, but I don't like it for its violence. It's the freedom the game gives you I like.

And you do play as a semi-good guy. If you only kill as much as you have to, you end up only killing bad guys, and...

*** Spoiler alert ***

...by the end you the game you have pretty much wiped out organized crime in the city... in fact, you could pretend that you are playing an undercover agent, and the story would still work…

Almost all console games are violent, GTA3 is no exception, but it is nothing special in the violence aspect. I end up killing just as many people playing any modern fps.


Now, can anybody tell me why I am unable to vote in this poll?

[-tkf-]

GTA3 is a revolution, first time i actually felt a sense of freedom in a video game.

[Blade]

I warez'ed the PC version of GTA3 and got a few good days of enjoyment out of it. Haven't touched it since.

I like the game and all, but it had some flaws that'll likely be fixed in GTA:VC and future GTA games.

[Ozymandis]

Originally Posted by Thowllly

That doesn't make any sense, so I guess you're saying the reason anybody is drawn to the game is because they like the violence.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

[Logan Leonhart]

Come on, Ozy, does our opinion on this game really matter? Millions of people are going to be enjoying VC, does anybody in the least care about a really small bunch of jaded/grumpy/"hardore" guys in an internet forum?

You can´t please everyone, even if you´re the most popular game in the planet, or one of the best.

[Glonk]

I can see why it's popular, but it's not really my thing. I played it a couple of days but haven't had the urge to touch it again.

[Kolgar]

Have to admit, I thought this game a revolution the first time I played it. Stunning in its freedom to create mayhem, to go anywhere and do as you please (so long as it's violent).

Did I tire of it? Yes, but maybe only because the graphics engine was less than amazing and there are so many other great games to play these days... Otherwise, I'd probably still be at it.

Anyway, a big step for gaming.

Kolgar

[V3]

The game sux. No challenge, no fun, and worst of all its freaking slow.

[CaptainHowdy]

its a cool game, and fun for a while, I certainly am not excited about Vice City though, mainly because I have just had my fill, if it were coming a year later, I might have had enough time to want to enter that world again.

[BenSkywalker]

So far all the people that like the game that have posted here got bored with it.... this is supposed to be the killer app of this generation?

[Tommy]

Lotsa fun!

I just know so many people who own PS2s, which is why I haven't bought one yet...and may never.

[clem64]

I answered yes.

What was impressive about this game was the freedom you had between and during your missions. In the first part of the game at some point you have to kill some big shot mob leader and at first the mission seemed really hard. I would position myself on the roof just next to the door in the back of Luigi's bar (sex club 7?) and his goons would always see me and start firing. So every time my "victim" would end up getting away. Until I decided to position myself about a block away and use the sniper gun to take him down. It's at that point that I realized the amount of freedom you're given and that's part of why I like this game. You can approach every mission in any way you want as long as you get the job done.

But, to be honest, the biggest reason why I enjoyed GTA3 so much was the amount of carnage you're allowed to cause in the city. I mean, isn't that really the reason why it was so polular? I think so. That's always what I hear from people talking about this game. "it's so much fun to torture the city residents!". The problem with that though is that it gets old fast. kinda like a game with the best graphics you've ever seen. It's really cool the first few hours but after a while you're like "next!"

I played GTA3 for a few months and in the end it was only to make my kill count as high as I could make it (It's around 8000 now ). I expect the same thing for VC except that the violence aspect of the game will probably feel 'been there, done that' a lot faster. Still, should be fun.

[Blade]

Clem: Exactly. I mean, it's a hilarious game to play.. (and watch)

It's just that once you've killed people and blown up cars every way possible.. it gets quite old.

[Ozymandis]

Originally Posted by Logan Leonhart

Come on, Ozy, does our opinion on this game really matter? Millions of people are going to be enjoying VC, does anybody in the least care about a really small bunch of jaded/grumpy/"hardore" guys in an internet forum?

Hey, I got an idea. Since the posters on this forum aren't like the millions of casual gamers out there, why don't we just close up shop tonight?



Seriously, when I find myself caring about what the millions of moronic, misled casuals think about MY hobby, it's time for me to hang up my controller and move on. Call me an elitist, but that's how I feel.

[mkillio]

I played GTA3 over at a friends house and I thought teh freedom was nice and all but it was just to shallow and it got real old real fast.

Originally Posted by Tommy

Lotsa fun!

I just know so many people who own PS2s, which is why I haven't bought one yet...and may never.

I only have one friend with a PS2, the others have either a GC or an XBox and one of them has both. None of my friends minus the one above like PS2 in the least including my self. I still stayed open minded about GTA3 though. Speaking of what millions of people think of something that I think totally different about, I didn't like MGS at all.

[Vince]

I voted yes, because it set a new paradigm for the worlds that we inhabit in video games. The open-ended gameplay and sheer fun (thats why we play games - or though I thought).

It was the first time I felt like I was in an actual action movie being chased by the cops - trying to drive my way out out, then eventually run my way out - which never gets you very far

The only draw of the game was its violence. Being able to be a psycho and a killer... and this didn't appeal to me at all.

If that was the 'draw' of the game the why did State of Emergency sell like ass? it was so over-the-top in insane killing - yet it's sales were horrible - why? Because it was a poor game, unlike GTA3.

Nice try though....

I answer no, of course. The play mechanics got old quickly, and the missions were tedious.

This is what confuses me - how did the mechanics get old when you can constantly reienvent how you go about the mission and the exact methods used to complete it. I had fun trying diffrent ways of completing the missions in increasingly insane and funny ways.

Tedious? I guess you never played Hitman then?

I mean, if you wanta play some totally linear game thats perfectly 'PC' with the necessary great graphics and ass gameplay - then go ahead, but don't expent your opinion to be that of the majority... which this clearly isn't.

[Johnny Awesome]

I disagree of course. I think GTA3 is pure crap.

While you have some freedom in GTA3, it's not an immersive experience. When almost all the consequences of your actions are taken away, the freedom the game gives you is irrelevant. You may as well be playing Wack-a-mole, considering the piss poor AI that is thrown against you.

Some people get a big thrill out of games with no challenge, no restrictions, and no consequences. That isn't fun to me. That's not why I play games.

The game engine is horrible. Versatile, but at the expense of being poor in every single area. Bad driving and shooting mechanics, a busted world simulation, and horrendous AI add up to a poor game in my opinion. Don't even bother defending the graphics.

It's simplistic to say that GTA3 sold just because of the violence. It's more accurate to say that it was "unrestricted violence" coupled with the illusion of freedom. I think there was a surprise element as well for some people, that you could walk around a virtual city, but this is something I had already done in Shenmue and Crazy Taxi. It was nothing new from a freedom perspective.

I certainly don't expect the masses of casual gamers to agree with me. I don't particularly care. They didn't like NiGHTS or Shenmue, but that doesn't matter to me either.

One thing to note - only one in five PS2 owners think GTA3 is good enough to own. Considering the legendary hype, there must be an awful lot of people who don't think it's all that great.

[marconelly!]

Shenmue was a great game, but immersiveness that it's city offered was nowhere near that of GTA3. In GTA3 you could just sit there and watch people go around - someone would start a fight, beat each other, the ambulance car would come, which you could steal... or get into the nearby taxi and get a whole miniature Crazy Taxi game as a bonus.

Besides, GTA3 was as much fun as you wanted it to be. It reminded me of the LEGO bricks in that regard: Some kids would be just sitting there, having no clue how to have fun with them, probably thinking 'if someone just told me what to create - walk me through it...' others would make their own castle and spaceship designs come to life...

Sure, you couldn't *create* anything in GTA3, but the imaginative and open minded approach was always very rewarding to a player.

[zurich]

Vince,

The May or June copy of Official PS2 Mag said that SoE sold 700k (world wide I assume). That's not GTA3 sales, but its far from the crap it derserved.

zurich

[iscariot]

One thing to note - only one in five PS 2 owners think GTA3 is good enough to own.

whch equates to about 7 million. ouch, quite the underachiever (espescially considering it wasnt even released in japan, another 10 milion consoles that shouldnt even be included in your 'theory', using Sega math again...) so, to correct you, so roughly, basically 1 in 3 PS 2 owners purchased the game. Pretty good, ay? 8) Escpescially considering there is a PC version available...


anyway, yea its a fun game. The target system sucked but they fixed it in Vice thankfully, but it was at the very least workable for 3. Anyway the immersiveness and virtual city are the main attraction for casuals, including myself. Games like Shenmue and Crazy Taxi shouldnt even be muttered in the same breath as GTA 3 concerning a realized enviroment, espescially CT. Heck, GTA 3 is so good, it uses the entire CT formula as a puny mini game.side mission

[Jogi]

Originally Posted by Johnny Awesome

The game engine is horrible. Versatile, but at the expense of being poor in every single area. Bad driving and shooting mechanics, a busted world simulation, and horrendous AI add up to a poor game in my opinion. Don't even bother defending the graphics.

It's simplistic to say that GTA3 sold just because of the violence.

Bad driving ?? IMHO it has very enjoyable driveability and collision/physics that other games should envy.

Bad shooting mechanics?? Only for slight anoyance for targeting with some guns, nothing to prevent me to enjoy rest of the game.

a busted world simulation?? Depends what you want for that. I accept it as game and it doen fine job for me to create living city.

horrendous AI ?? Depends,.. some people cry out when watching MGS2 "idiot" soldiers field of vision that is few metres... Doh, it is a game, it has game rules. I find that AI very nice in GTA3. Just follow some freaked car driver and see how it drives or have some 3-4 stars and cops do very nice job toi chace you.... just great.

Graphics... they are not photorealistic, but do their job nicely. 5-10 miles of visibility, nce weather effects, lots of little nice things..

Oh, you forgot to critisize sound.. Thats very cool too

I tend to create carnage sometimes but it is not main thing, just flavor when not playing missions. Same goes for taxi, police etc. side jobs. Together they all just create the best game I have played...

[zurich]

I have the attention span of a speck of dust, so after 5 minutes of GTA3 I'm already bored of it. I'm not joking either, hehe, I've been meaning to get tested for ADD :P It's games like Final Fantasy with their linear, compelling stories that can keep me glued to the TV for hours on end. There are other exceptions ofcourse, but thats my main problem with GTA3. After 5 minutes of play, my brain decides that it's digested all the gameplay mechanics that the game has to offer, then calls it quits :P

So, for me, open ended gaming == bad.

zurich

[-tkf-]

Originally Posted by Johnny Awesome

I disagree of course. I think GTA3 is pure crap.

Bad driving and shooting mechanics, a busted world simulation, and horrendous AI add up to a poor game in my opinion. Don't even bother defending the graphics.

Bad driving? Compared to GT3 sure, compared to any other games with the same size and freedom? NAH! the cars handled differently and i quickly learned to use the handbrake combinded with a bit of contra steering. On a keyboard i'm sure it sucked.

Bad AI?
If you think in FPS maybe, but again, it worked very well in this game, the mission where you have to shoot the mafia boss (mentioned above)
Caused me a bit of trouble as well. Since the game really isn't geared towards fps shooting i usually solved missions with cars instead of guns (wherever i could) but this mission required the sniper. My problem was that the target was in plain view for a very short time so i tried something else. I parked a car in front of the club so that he couldn't get out, i firgured a stupid AI would just be standing there.

I was surprised when i saw one of his bodyguards DRIVE MY CAR AWAY!

Stupid? maybe.. but not bad.