Post by classicswim on Apr 29, 2023 6:08:24 GMT -8
Out of left field, but I felt like rambling about it.
I’d say it’s a game that got better with age. I remember when it first released, I was put off by the controls and just went back to playing San Andreas for awhile.
I also favored Saints Row 2 when it came to that little rivalry. IV eventually won me over and sorta became a time capsule like SR2.
Everything from clothes I used to wear, nailing down the ‘00s East Coast hip hop scene, terrorism rants, having the near final act of the game be a rebuttal to Sopranos ending. Could go on and on.
In a world where regurgitating the same ol’ shit prevails, IV took its own complex turn and still expanded on all the good stuff from the GTA Trilogy at the same time.
You have these aged mobsters yearning for what they had back in the Vice City days, and the most lethal fixer in town is detached from all that as he’s spent most of his life in some Yugoslavian hovel.
And mind you that soft-rebooting “a franchise about killing cops and prostitutes” was never quite necessary. Aside from entertainment’s overall push to HD.
I get at this point it’s an echo chamber to say it’s the most dark and gritty game or whatever, but the writing’s still insanely good.
Not to slight the trilogy, because much of the appeal in the first place was having those one-note mob flick caricatures. Only IV made it so even Ray fucking Boccino had a decent set of layers in the script.
As for multiplayer... fun times. The most useful feature ever was turning off the police.