I got this shit. It's fun to fuck around with but boy do I have complaints. The last GTA game I played was San Andreas. Didn't touch 4 and I know nothing about it. I haven't finished it yet; just about 70% of the way through according to the save file.
<The radio stations feel unimpressive. I haven't listened to all of them, but most of them seem to have really shit music choices. I'm constantly reminded of Sleeping Dogs' stations and how I like them more, like having a classical or electronic station playing while causing mayhem. I haven't listened to the talk station in V. I remember the talk station in Vice City being incredible.
<There is no sense of progression, characters bounce around from one state to the next. One moment Franklin lives in the ghetto of Los Santos, and instantly he gets a house up in Vinewood. Michael STARTS in Vinewood and moves back and forth between Los Santos and Sandy Shores. Trevor moves back and forth between LS and Sandy Shores but starts at Sandy Shores.
<The grinding skills from San Andreas is back but toned down. Should be removed entirely and replaced with an EXP system or something, where you earn EXP from quests or missions or doing things around town and those can be spent on leveling up those skills. Or just not be replaced at all. Grinding shit like "stealth" and "strength" is not fun, especially in a game that's not an RPG and doesn't seem to give you any major thing for maxing out certain skills. Shooting skill just makes you sway slightly less. In San Andreas at least you got abilities such as being able to dual wield certain guns.
<Speaking of stealth, the game has stealth mechanics but 9/10ths of the time enemies trip the alarm and are thrown at you from the get-go. Very little chance to stealth through missions (which again calls into question the existence of the "stealth" skill)
<I keep getting characters for heists, and the game tells me characters get better with each heist they take part in, but heists have been so few and far between with a limited number of people I can choose for them, I wonder why that's a thing at all.
<Seems like the devs forgot what the series was called and decided to give characters designated cars that respawn for them. And the cars are actually pretty good, can be upgraded (and they respawn with the upgrades). Unfortunately you can't switch designated cars so even if you acquire the rare Veyron knockoff you'll never be able to assign it as your default which means you can lose it if you park it and walk too far away from it.
<Several of the properties, when you buy it for a few hundred thousand each, just give you a vehicle or piece of equipment and tell you "hey, YOU WORK for the money". And each job is gives a pittance for the amount of money you pay to acquire the property.
Positives:
>I like the idea of switching (instantly, with little loading) between three protagonists with different personalities, strengths and abilities at almost any time, even during missions. If they're going to have multiple characters in GTA, they should just do away with the skills and have characters who are good at certain things but not good at others, like what they tried to do in this game but added those skills to grind for no reason.
>I like the idea of heists. Getting the option of how to approach them, as well as choosing a proper team. The downside is that there don't seem to be enough heists to justify acquiring heist members and such.
>Some random events are pretty neat, like finding the case of money in the Deal Gone Wrong event. Or finding that daughter of a mafia boss who was in the middle of being buried alive.
>The phone is pretty decent, it just needs to be expanded upon more just like most positive things about this game. You get contacts but most of the time you can't call them because they're always busy. You get messages from them but most of the time you can't reply back. The facebook knockoff is nice with it being updated after almost every event.
>Driving around Los Santos at twilight or night time when the rain is falling.