It seems with each new GTA people always say the one before it was better. I remember when everyone hated SA and praised VC. Now suddenly SA is loved and cherished by many while GTA IV gets all the hate. GTA III And IV are to completely different games with completely diffferent styles with completely different methods of immersing the player. People need to understand this before they judge GTA IV or compare it to the others. 

gta iv is a great game -- and the story is absolutely amazing.... but don't you feel like its just more of the same re-hashed concepts from previous gta games?

for me, the novelty wore off about halfway through vice city.

I think the missions are pretty much the same fare but the difference for me is the story - in GTA 4 there is some semblance of narrative with characters you can actually give a crap about. There wasn't anything I cared about in SA or VC - apart from becoming a sociopath.

Not really. I always find something interesting to do in the GTA games. The only thing I wish GTA IV had more of are the completely insane cheats that the past titles have had.

With such critical acclaim and so many sales how can you say it gets so much hate?

IMO the game is not as fun to play as San Andreas, It was missing a few key things

GTA 4 is just suffering from the lashback every acclaimed game gets, just wait it out, it will eventually neutralize itself.

its a very fun game. i beat the single player mode, which was a blast by the way. but the main fun factor to this game is the multiplayer. I could play this game all day with friends if i wanted to. addicting stuff. GTA4 does have flaws but i think the good outweigh it.

The larger the playerbase, and the more media attention a game gets, the louder the vocal minority seems.

I agree with crack_rabbit. The missions are a lot alike older games, this is the worst thing in the game. And that's it. The rest of the game was updated in every way possible and presented with new features. People hate it because it's cool to hate something so big and popular. Yeah, it's as stupid as that. Of course I'm not talking about every hater, but probably more than half of them. Also, some people hate it because they don't have any system to play it on. lol

i think the ending is bad, like it tortures you, making it a test of patience not skill

Because people hate things that are popular?

Nah, I think it's because it's different, and people hate that

One of my gripes about GTA IV was the driving, I didn't like how bouncy the cars felt to me.

I didn't care for SA personally either, and will still say VC is my favorite in the franchise.

I thought it was fantastic the story was great the choices seemed meaningful and the gameplay was great too.

All in all most any game - no matter how good it is will always have people whine and complain about it.
GTA4 is just a big target because of how huge it was to the gaming community.

The thing about GTA4 is that it's a bunch of games rolled into one. It's not trying to be one particular game brilliantly, it's trying to be several at a playable standard, and hoping that those elements lead towards a great game (which they do, actually).

I wish the multiplayer actually worked.. :(

Like Termite said, it's propably because it's different. I find that most people don't just mess around like they did in VC or SA, they just beat the story and then they are done with it. I still play it very often since it's still just as much fun to try to do crazy stunts and see how long you can survive with 5-6 stars. Eventually people will start to enjoy it, I had this problem with SA - when it came out I thought that VC was way better but over time it grew on me and now I prefer it to vc. GTA4 is an amazing game and people will start to like it way more once they get used to it.

"gta iv is a great game -- and the story is absolutely amazing.... but don't you feel like its just more of the same re-hashed concepts from previous gta games?

for me, the novelty wore off about halfway through vice city.
"

I love GTA IV. San Andreas seemed like it was quantity over quality were GTA IV is the opposite. Everything just cliccked with IV.

"I love GTA IV. San Andreas seemed like it was quantity over quality were GTA IV is the opposite. Everything just cliccked with IV."

It's popular, what else can you expect?

"It's popular, what else can you expect?"

Saints Row 2 FTW!

GTA IV was awesome, but tried to be TOO realistic. Can't wait for SR2.

I don't get it either. It's easily the best entry in the series

It was a great game but it lacked that special something that San An had for me

I definitely think its better than SA and the other previous games.

I don't really care what anyone else says, GTA IV is absolutely phenomenal on all cylinders, and is easily my favorite GTA game of all time, and one of my favorites games of all time, for that matter. Its that good, in my opinion. The voice acting is superb, the story is excellent, and game mechanics are phenomenal as well.

The multiplayer isn't too shabby, too.

I honestly don't see why anyone should bother comparing GTA IV with the past games of the franchise. GTA IV was Rockstar's attempt to create a real world where real people live. That's why you don't see any stupid jetpacks or military jets. The driving in IV is highly challenging,but it's realistic at the same time. While driving in SA,and VC was more like in NFS and Burnout games,driving in IV is much like Forza Motorsport.
Niko Bellic is an amazingly real character. All the other lead characters that have come in ANY games before him,can't hold a candle against his complex,yet likeable character. If you don't expect GTAIV to be a re-hash then what do you expect it to be? A completely different game that has it's setting on an alien planet?

I honestly can't find any flaws in the game's design (I am not talking about the draw distance and frame-rate). In terms of gameplay,story,characters,music,and the impact that GTAIV will have on the gaming world makes this game nothing short of perfect.

I think everyone is forgetting that this is the first true GTA game for the nextgen console. For their first crack at it I'm actually quite impressed. I'm sure the next version of the game be the true essence of the franchise. Rockstar is well-known for their quailty in the industy. The second try will be the the ultimate test.

It is good, very good in fact. However I feel that people harp on too much about how great the story is. Am i the only one who feels that the story in San Andreas was just as good as the one in GTA 4?

Those in tune with reality find the game to be an extremely fun game to play, and do not bitch about the prior titles.

"It is good, very good in fact. However I feel that people harp on too much about how great the story is. Am i the only one who feels that the story in San Andreas was just as good as the one in GTA 4?
"

I don't understand it either :/

I think the story line and missions are the best in any GTA game so far. Also, that game in my opinion is way ahead of the others just because of the superior controls. GTAIII/Vice City/SA were pretty broken when it came to shooting, you may have noticed...

But i agree that it isnt as much fun to free roam in GTA4 as theres less stuff to do, and its way more realistic... But afterall Rockstars goal was to tone down on the crazy level. (Like getting rid of fucking jetpacks and planes...)

Yeah, I don't understand the hate either. On another forum, I had a guy debate to me that Saints Row was a better game than GTA IV. Really? Sure, it may have sucked that there were no pizza delivery missions and stuff, but I actually beat the game because I wanted to with this GTA, something I had never done with GTA III through San Andreas.

GTA IV was very different from the previous GTA games. It was trying to be more realistic and people who were used to the over the top nature of San Andreas didn't enjoy the direction the series was going.

Also, most people like that game. It's just that the people who don't really stick out more so you see more of them

I think it's probably the furthest I've gotten in a GTA game since 3, but as always the lack of creativity and variation in the second half killed the game for me.  I stopped playing with maybe 8-12 missions to go I think, and I don't see myself going back.  It felt like work.

I don't agree that GTA IV is "totally" different from previous games in the series - I mean come on, it's still Grand Theft Auto, and the premise hasn't changed.

That said, GTA IV is much improved from the previous games.  I care about the characters, the missions are varied in target, methodology, implementation, nuance, etc.  I don't think I've played the same mission twice!  Yes, they are variations on the same theme, but each one feels different to me.  I borrowed this game from a friend who stopped playing after a few hours, and I'm considering asking to buy it from him because I can see myself replaying this.  I still play Crackdown every once in a while, so I think GTA IV will become something similar for me.

Its my favorite in the series.

It's a really, really good game -- it's just once the story and initial exploration is over there's not much more need to play.

Because to all great things, theyre will always be haters

humans have something far up their asses that makes them automatically hate anything new and praise everything that is older... read comments about jim carrey, HIS OLDER STUFF IS BETTER.. go to a fanpage about metallica, THEIR OLD STUFF IS BETTER.. same with any kind of art. we just cant love the past AND give the future the time to try and get used to it and experience it and love it.. 
 
that whole "older is better" comparison makes me sick in my stomach and i never think that way. the older GTAs were legendary as FUCK and this game had what made it unique and innovative and entertaining and Very touching at certain moments.

i thought the gta games were good but average at best 
they are open world games and a lot of missions 
but i thought most of the missions were stale and pointless and only a few were actually good such as the bank robbery mission 
the most fun ive had with the game is just messing around in the game with my friends or finding glitches or something

i say saints row 2 is beating it in fame at the mo. i think in my opinion saints row is better.

I personally found it pretty boring.

I thought that GTA4 was really boring.  San Andreas is definitely my favorite of the series.

I understand when people say that they like SA or SR2 better, but when they say that GTA IV is a bad game it just gets under my skin. Just because it doesnt cater to your needs of flying with Jetpacks, beating people to death with a dildo, or doing a bunch of complete random and irrelevant minigames does not make it a bad game. GTA IV has a great story and characters coupled with realistic driving and shooting. It was never MENT to be the next San Andreas.

The game is good and I think that people just don't really know what they want anymore....