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A couple of days ago I told you a little about the mobile version of Grand Theft Auto Vice City, a title that while it knows how to retain all the charm of the original version released in 2002, it also aggravates several of its problems in terms of gameplay, a direct consequence of the attempts to transfer its complex game mechanics to a touch screen.
Between this and the hype surrounding the eventual release of GTA VI (so we will have to wait AT LEAST until 2026), I have been dedicating some time to the older games of the franchise, although at this point even the most recent one (GTA V) is more than 10 years old.
For me, one of the most interesting debates in the gaming world has always been that of GTA IV vs GTA V, two games that start from similar ideas in general terms (the idea of transferring the Grand Theft Auto universe to HD), but as we analyze in depth we discover that they have a totally different approach to their respective universes.
Because of this, even though there are several years of difference between them (Remember that IV is from 2008 and V is from 2013), and GTA V is an objectively superior title (The seventh generation has been around for more years and is definitely better optimized), these diametrically opposed approaches make it perfectly understandable to prefer one over the other, even ruling out nostalgia as a factor.
And while I always felt that my preference for Niko Bellic's story was a direct consequence of this (Nostalgia), having revisited the streets of Liberty City opened my eyes, since I feel that GTA IV is simply a superior title, not because V is bad, but because it represents a perfect evolution of the Rockstar franchise: introspective, mature, with complicated and interesting characters... All this without having to give up its characteristic humor, as well as in the efforts to create one of the most solid satires of North American society and the modern world.
Despite its simplicity in terms of gameplay options, it plays in GTA IV's favor that they are presented with a higher level of detail than its sequel, paying less attention to scale and focusing on the ability of each corner of the city to immerse us in the experience: from the music, the weather, the attitude of the NPCs, the traffic, the random events, etc.
Both are video games and respond to the same gameplay scheme (obviously) but there is something extremely gratifying in the way each mission is presented, the characters seem to exist beyond our control, and calculating our decisions with precision is inevitable.
Obviously things are not perfect, and GTA IV has several of the most bitter aspects of the franchise, there are not always a variety of options to approach our objectives and the shooting/combat/cover mechanics are not as polished as we would like, however, these gameplay drawbacks end up increasing the tension of our experience, something that ironically ends up playing in favor of the final result.
Personally, I will continue to enjoy GTA IV, and I hope that GTA VI follows a theme much closer to this one than GTA V, although I see it as unlikely considering the years of success it generated.
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