Daily Q: Can another franchise take down GTA?
Category: Features, Posted: 05/06/2008 at 03:16PM CDT by Eddie Inzauto, Senior Writer
When the idea of the Daily Q was first pitched to me, today's question was the very first thing that came to mind. With all of the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto 4, I wonder how the gaming community views the competition (if you even acknowledge that there is any) that "GTA clones" present to Rockstar's flagship franchise. Here's my question:
After one solid week of playing Grand Theft Auto 4, do you think there is room for other free-roaming action games in that style, or does the GTA series' prominence make competition impossible?
I'd say that GTA is pretty much unsinkable at this point, more due to brand awareness than to actual game quality. While it is definitely a great game, I am fairly confident that another studio could eclipse GTA4 in terms of videogame quality. It would take lots of time and effort, however, and would be pretty damn ballsy to try to take on the GTA freight train now that it has so much momentum. Do developers have balls nowadays?
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i cant wait to see what game Rock* is working on next. In earlier interviews (as soon as I find it I will post) they said they where working on a new IP that would change gaming the way GTA3 did. Boasting? sure. But if anyone can dethrone GTA it would be the people who created it.
GTA IV doesn't have a lock on the genre, that's for sure. But what GTA IV has done is to establish itself as a game with an involved storyline. The game is fun but with a bunch of graphical bugs and glitches. I felt as though the whole game were just filled with busy work missions at times...sort of like Animal Crossing for adults. Good game, but another developer could probably do better with the concept.
I agree with Quasar on this one. GTA IV is not what we call perfect, and yet when you think about it that's pretty much impossible. However, if a "GTA killer" were to emerge, my guess would be that it's not coming from Rockstar. It feels more like GTA IV has instilled fear in the competition of trying to combat such a mammoth franchise rather than perfect the genre.
Think of it this way: GTA IV cost a ton to make. If every other company had as much of a budget to drop on a blockbuster like this one, we'd probably be talking about some other game right now. Of course that's not the case, but what i'm getting at is these big name companies turn their biggest projects into less of a game and more of a phenomenon. What we need is a great game to come out and build itself a following that encourages improvement and innovation upon itself; that's how GTA came to be. So many other big hits follow this formula, yet it scratches my brain why this one gets so much more praise. I'm not a GTA basher or anything, but it seems the less realistic and more vulgar games are, the more people want to buy them. Just thinking out loud, sorry for rambling
"I'm not a GTA basher or anything, but it seems the less realistic and more vulgar games are, the more people want to buy them. Just thinking out loud, sorry for rambling"
Maybe it's the idea of being a "bad boy" by buying and playing GTA IV that is also the allurement for some. The game may not be that great, but with all the hype, it's sort of a badge of honor to say, "Hey, I've got GTA IV!" and be a bad boy. But I agree with your statement about some games turning into big phenomenons rather than being good on their own merit.
Anybody remember Halo 3 anymore? Anybody remember Final Fantasy VII? Nuff said.
"The game may not be that great"
gtfo.
Definitely. GTA isn't some god, there's always something better.
I played a lot of GTA 3, and a bit of Vice City and some GTA4... i also played some Saints Row, and some Godfather. Of the lot Grand Theft Auto 4 is by far the best game. It's just the next logical step in the franchise and the genre. I don't think Saints Row 2 is going to surpass GTA's quality and attention to detail. But I do think something will... eventually.