GTA 4 is still the best Grand Theft Auto and needs a remake

A reader comes back to GTA 4 and claims that it does many things better than GTA 5, especially when it comes to its story.

With all the hype and excitement for GTA 6, I thought I’d go back in time to 2008 and check out the first Grand Theft Auto from the Xbox 360 era and play GTA 4. You don’t expect to go back to a 16-year-old game and not come across I’m having some problems and was wary to try it at first because I didn’t enjoy the GTA Trilogy remasters at all.

The remasters were just bad and didn’t necessarily mean the games underneath were just not presented in the best possible way. So I went into GTA 4 with a certain amount of optimism, even though I remember having problems with it at the time.

I spent most of last weekend with it and I have to say it’s actually kind of better than I remembered. I think it has to do with the fact that I was prepared for the car physics to be weird and the combat to be crazy, but to me combat was never an important part of GTA. Instead, it’s the exploration and the characters, and I think they’re the best they’ve ever been in GTA 4.

The first thing you notice, aside from the graphics, which hold up very well, is that Niko is a much better protagonist than anyone in GTA 5. I didn’t really like any of the trio, but even though Niko is a deeply flawed person, he feels. like a real person, not the cartoonish exaggerations that are in GTA 5. Most of the time he wants to do the right thing, or at least feels bad about some of the things he gets involved in, and that’s important.

More importantly, and I think this was GTA 5’s big mistake, GTA 4 has a proper plot with a beginning, middle and end. In GTA 5, things happen randomly until the game suddenly closes the story out of nowhere in an incredibly rushed and unsatisfying way.

But in GTA 4, there is a real build-up to the finale, because everything builds to an inevitable conclusion, and your actions have real consequences, not just the stupid final decision at the end of GTA 5. People get what they deserve, and things are not played just for fun.

There are issues with the gameplay, I don’t think anyone would say there isn’t, but even if it feels a little out of place, it’s now obvious that the weird vehicle handling is because Rockstar tried to make the physics more realistic. That’s not always as much fun, but it’s at least more ambitious than GTA 5’s lackluster racing.

I’m still not sure why Rockstar made the combat so complicated in the early games and that’s kind of indefensible. But as I say, it’s not really the focus of the game and you get used to it.

The mission design is also very good and while that’s definitely one thing that GTA 5 got right, I’d say GTA 4 is just as good, with a more realistic take on the GTA world that includes some mundane tasks, but I think it adds to it. for immersion and a sense of reality. However, the lack of mid-mission saves is a real pain.

So yes, I would definitely recommend GTA 4 and I honestly think it might be the best of the series. I would absolutely love to see Rockstar do a remake or remaster with modern graphics and controls. Just maybe don’t use the same people as GTA 3 for this.

Reader Goldin

Reader features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500-600 word reader at any time, which, if used, will be published in the next convenient weekend block. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t have to send an email.

MORE: Call Of Duty to GTA 6 Trailer 2: what to expect from gaming in the rest of 2024

MORE: GTA 6 demo appears in GTA Online as fans fear return of hated feature

MORE: GTA Online introduces new feature behind paywall and fans are now worried about GTA 6

This page is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy and terms of service apply.