Got it the day it came out and played the piss out of it. I feel as though I am one of the only people who was sorely disappointed with it. A lot of things were sweet, but I was not impressed over all.
GTA 4 came in the mail yesterday and you aren't the only one disappointed.
First, I installed the game and it tells me I need to make a Rockstar Games Social Club account, which I do. Then it tells me I need to make a Windows LIVE account and "link" the two accounts. Which I just ignore because I think Windows LIVE is malware. Then I installed the newest patch.
I start the game up and I get some pretty cool opening cinematics followed by some tutorial-style missions that are meant to get me familiar with the interface. So I learn to drive, I watch some TV, figure out how the phone works, buy some new clothes and go bowling. So far so good, the only complaint i have at this point is that, even with "mouse sensitivity" turned all the way down, I am either always looking straight up or straight down, which makes driving/walking somewhat difficult.
Then I get the first mission where I actually have to learn how the fight interface works. I go into a park and fight a couple thugs, they do some damage but I beat them despite the needlessly complicated controls (hold down right-click while pressing the left-click, q, r and space buttons). Then I have to immediately jump into a car and follow a third thug (if you don't follow him you fail the quest and have to do it over). So I follow him halfway across town to a warehouse where he stabs me in the face and I die because I'm so low on health from the first two fights.
I try the mission 3 more times with the exact same result. So, after only an hour or so of gameplay I am stuck (there is no difficulty setting). What a waste of $50.
Oh, and, when you go to save (which can only be done by using the bed and sleeping for 6 hours) the game tells me I need a Windows LIVE account in order to save. This is complete crap because you can choose to "log in offline" using the Social Club account, they are just trying to trick you into making a Windows LIVE account. And who in the fuck thought it was a good idea to require the player to log into an online service in order to save their single player game locally?
-420
