Kind of along the lines of my post the other day about SO4 vs. IU, I thought I'd post on another title that had me expecting one thing, but then delivered something completely different:  Grand Theft Auto IV.  Now, before you read, keep in mind that I'm not a big GTA fan.  I used to play the first one a lot.  (Remembe the top down version on the PC?)  I never played the second one, and pretty much ignored the series after that.  I felt it was playing to the lowest common denominator and could possibly be one of the biggest reasons that kids act like such shit heads sometimes. 

When GTA IV was released, I could not help but to be drawn in by the hype.  I pre-ordered my copy and waited in line at midnight at my local Gamestop to pick it up.  I was even interviewed on WGN radio about the launch the next day and what I thought about the game.  (I called in because they asked if any of their listeners had gotten the game.  I ended up winning $50 worth of free pizza for being on the air.)  I was getting the full blown launch experience of a huge title, and I was loving it. 

But when I really started playing the game, something wasn't right.  This game was supposed to be a 10/10 title, and I wasn't enjoying it.  I couldn't get into the story, the missions seemed annoyingly hard, and I hated all my needy friends that kept bugging me on the cell phone and then getting mad when I wouldn't come and play pool with them any time they wanted.  Eventually, I just stopped playing the game completely, and it sat on the shelf.  I almost traded it in once, but thought I may be bored one day and would possibly want to pick it back up again.  All in all, for me, this game had turned out to be 100% hype and I wasn't falling for it.

Fast forward to this summer.  The moment came where I DID get bored of all my other games, and I put GTAIV in my console.  After getting the hang of the controls again, I started doing the story missions and trying to remember where I had left off last year when I had given up on the game.  I found myself interested, then more than just interested, then completely hooked.  I am full blown addicted to this game right now.  I still feel they did some smoke and mirror tricks to make the graphics seem better than they really are, and I still think the controls take a lot of getting used to, but all in all, this is a really well made game.  The difference this time around is that I'm not hearing hype about it 24 hours a day.  I'm enjoying the game on my own terms, and not reading forums full of GTA IV posts about how amazing/sucky it is.  No 5 page reviews, no fanboys, no news coverage.  Just me enjoying the game.  And I'm having a BLAST.

But here's why I'm disappointed, as the title suggests.  I allowed the hype to ruin this game for me.  I wish I could have enjoyed the game from beginning to end without all the outside influence.  Now I find myself struggling to remember all the things that happened in the story before I quit playing.  On the bright side, I guess I could always start over and play it again.  I guess my point is, if the media and fanboys were turning you off to this game, give it another shot now that nobody is talking about it anymore.  It's a quality title.  And what I'm slowly realizing is that it's actually a spoof on the very people who PLAY these types of games as well as a spoof on the American public in general.  Some really smart people wrote this game.  It's worth another shot if you wrote it off.

You are about 15 months late.

Great post man. I had a similar experience, enjoyed the game a lot -  just finished it a few weeks ago actually.

Wow dude, thanks.  Did you happen to notice that was the whole point of my post?

Yeah, I replayed it recently to about 85% overall completion (all of story mode and a few extras for the odd trophy) and really enjoyed it a lot more than the first time.

I didn't let myself get over-hyped pre-launch, so my first playthrough was actually pretty good too, but it has definitely been better this time around.

I think he sold it then, unlike you. I quess he can't replay it that way.

wow long post but i managed to read it all (yay me) and i agree the game didnt live up to the hype and no game could the hype was HUGE
my storys the same as yours i went back to play it 2 months ago i enjoyed it the only problem is its nowhere near as good as GTA san andreas

Just for reference, half the ppl on this site only read thread titles before they comment  :p

But when I really started playing the game, something wasn't right.  This game was supposed to be a 10/10 title, and I wasn't enjoying it.  I couldn't get into the story, the missions seemed annoyingly hard, and I hated all my needy friends that kept bugging me on the cell phone and then getting mad when I wouldn't come and play pool with them any time they wanted.  Eventually, I just stopped playing the game completely, and it sat on the shelf.

 

You need to stop playing regular GTA4 and start playing The Lost and the Damned.  Problem solved.

wow, thats actually a really inspirational story. i never once picked up the game because i thought it cost too much, and i was never really a huge fan of the series. (i just liked killing people). i was also turned off by the constant talk about the game.

its nice to know that the game has some actual meaning behind it and the people behind it were actually intelligent. i might have to pick up the game sooner than i thought.