Grand Theft Auto IV PC Review

[Emabulator]

EuroGamer is first out of the gate with a review (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=322028) of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC. Rockstar's action game received a final score of 9/10. On a less surface level, the changes in multiplayer are inspired. And while the custom-game support to allow you to find appropriate games easier is a functional boom, its real appeal is as simple as crossing out one number and replacing it with another. That is, "16" swapped for "32". The possibility for mayhem of the best GTA game modes increases pretty much exponentially as you amp up the number of players. Until you've had 32 bikers line up on a starting line for a race around the centre of a city, you haven't really seen GTA IV at its most insane. That is, best. One of the general criticisms of GTA IV is that it's abandoned the dumb-but-fun ground to the dizzily stooopid Saint's Row while chasing other priorities. If you consider that true, 32-player chaos totally puts that idiocy back in. Any time I played, I honestly didn't care whether I won or lost. By playing, I'd totally won.

[murpes]

I know it's a dead horse at this point, but it could have been an 11/10 and it could include Chrissy Moran as my personal sex slave and I still won't buy it. I don't want to install all that crap that has nothing to do with the game. Not just the DRM, I don't use IE and never even bother updating it, I don't want to install GFWL for just one game, and I sure as hell don't need Rockstar Social Club. I'd like to install the game, nothing more.

Who know, maybe I'll get at 360 for Christmas and I can check out that version. I really haven't been a console gamer since the 2600 days, but if this trend continues that's gonna change.

[firecut]

That's all good and well. They could give it a 9,000,000/10 and I still won't buy it thanks to Rockstar's idiocy for using SecureROM to 'secure' their product. Treat us like criminals by forcing us to install a root kit to our PC's and you won't get a penny from me. I "was" very much looking forward to this game. On the bright side I will have more time to be productive.

[Windsong]

Was honestly going to buy this one, until Rockstar dev had to drop attitude and boast about triggers in the game that will do a disc check and then cause problems. So if I buy the game, then apply a no disc fix, I'm fucked?

I seem to remember another company that did the same with Titan Quest. And where are they now?

Guess I will just bypass purchasing it altogether.

[ascl]

Steam sounds like the only manageable way to buy this game, but the DRM still sounds fucked.

:(

32 person multi-player does sound good, but securom... sorry, can't do it.

[E Huntington]

You know, all this "voting with my wallet" is really cramping my gaming. First it's Mass Effect, then it's Spore, now it's GTA 4. It's getting very annoying.

[Valkyrist]

The day they take out SecureRom is the day i'll pick this up. I don't have a new console, and the few times i got to play it at a friend's house (who has a 360) were just teases.

Rockstar, I want to play your awesome game. But you gotta meet me halfway on this and take that bullshit DRM out. We're LONG past the controversy phase. The gaming community in a rare moment of unity has told you (the developers) that we outright despise SecureRom. It ONLY hurts gamers who actually buy your games legit. How you think it's a good idea at THIS point truely baffels me.

[MurderSandwich]

I'm sick of everybody shitting on games because they have Securom. I've pretty much bought every 'big' game that has Securom on it since Bioshock (unintentional, I swear). I haven't had an issue whatsoever. Not once. You people are snobbing some brilliant games. Really, I think the only issue you could have with Securom would be if you went door-to-door installing copies of Mass Effect on your neighbour's computers. Honestly, some people here have to stop the "HURF DURF DRM HACKING MY COMPUTER" crap.

GTA4's gonna own.

[murpes]

Murder, I semi-agree with you that SecurRom is, unfortunately, just part of PC gaming these days. And, as far as I'm aware, I haven't really had any technical problems with it, just philosophical.

I'm mostly just tired of all the extra crap that developers and publishers (I suspect mostly the latter) insist get installed with their games. I install and uninstall a lot of applications, and I try to keep Windows as vanilla as possible to push of the inevitable reinstall when it runs too slowly. There's always some unnecessary and auxiliary crap in my registry or running at a service or hidden at startup or has a poor uninstall routine - mostly for stuff I don't want or use.

Sierra Utilities, GameSpy Arcade, NCSoft Launcher, EA Downloader, Steam, Game For Windows Live, X-Fire, and countless forms of copy protections that runs as a service, driver, application, etc. None of it has anything to do with THE GAME, but so many game installs insist on them. And the problem is compounded with the fact that my PC isn't just a gaming device, and I have to install crap software with every piece of hardware I buy as well. Really, do I need The Sharper Image software just for a freaking USB picture key chain? Please.

Seriously, when did I lose control over my computer? I wouldn't mind so much if the extra stuff actually effected multiple games that I frequently use, which is why I have a higher tolerance for Steam, but what use could I possibly have for Rock Star Social Club? I own two other Rock Star games, and neither of them are installed right now. It's not like Rock Star released games for the PC with such high regularity, either. And they patched GTA III oh-so-well, you can tell that PC gaming is a huge concern of theirs. What will happen when I try to install GTA IV in a couple of years, on Windows 8? Will all this extra crap cause problems, even though the game itself will run fine? I find it odd that I can run old DOS games with less rigmarole than I can Windows 95 games these days.

All this extra crap gets under my skin because it effects the overall performance of my computer, it's very specific in its focus and usefulness, and it potentially limits the long-term playability of the game. GTA IV just seems like the worst game for this stuff in a long time, and you'll LIKE it because, you know, we're Rockstar and this is GTA so you don't have a choice.

Whew. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! :D

[Emabulator]

Murder, I semi-agree with you that SecurRom is, unfortunately, just part of PC gaming these days. And, as far as I'm aware, I haven't really had any technical problems with it, just philosophical.

I'm mostly just tired of all the extra crap that developers and publishers (I suspect mostly the latter) insist get installed with their games. I install and uninstall a lot of applications, and I try to keep Windows as vanilla as possible to push of the inevitable reinstall when it runs too slowly. There's always some unnecessary and auxiliary crap in my registry or running at a service or hidden at startup or has a poor uninstall routine - mostly for stuff I don't want or use.

Sierra Utilities, GameSpy Arcade, NCSoft Launcher, EA Downloader, Steam, Game For Windows Live, X-Fire, and countless forms of copy protections that runs as a service, driver, application, etc. None of it has anything to do with THE GAME, but so many game installs insist on them. And the problem is compounded with the fact that my PC isn't just a gaming device, and I have to install crap software with every piece of hardware I buy as well. Really, do I need The Sharper Image software just for a freaking USB picture key chain? Please.

Seriously, when did I lose control over my computer? I wouldn't mind so much if the extra stuff actually effected multiple games that I frequently use, which is why I have a higher tolerance for Steam, but what use could I possibly have for Rock Star Social Club? I own two other Rock Star games, and neither of them are installed right now. It's not like Rock Star released games for the PC with such high regularity, either. And they patched GTA III oh-so-well, you can tell that PC gaming is a huge concern of theirs. What will happen when I try to install GTA IV in a couple of years, on Windows 8? Will all this extra crap cause problems, even though the game itself will run fine? I find it odd that I can run old DOS games with less rigmarole than I can Windows 95 games these days.

All this extra crap gets under my skin because it effects the overall performance of my computer, it's very specific in its focus and usefulness, and it potentially limits the long-term playability of the game. GTA IV just seems like the worst game for this stuff in a long time, and you'll LIKE it because, you know, we're Rockstar and this is GTA so you don't have a choice.

Whew. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! :DMy problem with SecuROM is more philosophical as well.

I already bit the bullet with it when I installed Crysis: Warhead (I did not know about it when I pre-ordered the game). I'm going to end up biting that bullet again with GTA IV and Far Cry 2. At least GTA IV does not have install limits and with Far Cry 2 you get your 'install token' back when you uninstall the game.

The way EA is setting install limits, with no token returned when the game is uninstalled, will probably keep me away from Dead Space and C&C: Red Alert 3 until they hit the bargain bin. I would have purchased C&C by now, I really want to play it. I see they dropped the price on it from $50 to $40 already, maybe EA will get a clue that their hard limits suck.

[Gedd]

Ahh.. DRM. Whether we like it or not they are going to keep doing this shit, just remember to Cover Your Ass and keep the paperwork. Some things i've been anal about doing lately when purchasing PC games:

Save and place the receipt in the game case if it's a retail purchase.
Print out any online purchase receipts and stow them away.
Uninstall all games before system wipes (if possible).
Keep a spreadsheet record of all your CD keys and stow that away in a safe backup somewhere. (preferrably offline storage like a thumbdrive)

So far i've had no problems with any DRM games, thankfully, but i'm prepared if any arise (outside of factors not in my control).