This guest article comes from the keyboard of ashw92, one of our community members.
The biggest game of the year was released yesterday in the form of Grand Theft Auto 5. However, I really haven’t been able to get myself excited about. Left and right through nearly every conceivable media stream I have been inundated with marketing spiel and hype inducing communications.
Social media has also been a hotbed of discussion, with the overly pro-GTA bandwagon out in full force against the ‘hating it for the sake of it’ brigade. And then there are those like me, clustered somewhere in the middle, in Grand Theft Auto limbo. We know full well there are copies still about to pick up from your local retailer of choice but having no real motivation to go and do so.
Obviously the announcement of the latest game in Rockstar’s insanely popular series was no surprise whatsoever. Everyone knew it was coming, but after GTA IV left a slightly sour taste in my mouth I wasn’t as excited as some to see the announcement that would soon be upon us. However, when that initial announcement came around and the first few trailers and big bits of information were released my interest grew rapidly.
A return to Los Santos, a big city and an open area to wreak havoc in, three playable characters and some nearly-next gen looking graphics all piqued my interest to the point where I considered putting down an early preorder.
This excitement, however, did not last. The more pieces of small information that were released, and the drip feed screenshots began to bore me. Yes, that plane looks cool and yes, that is nice looking mountain and yes, Trevor does look like a crazy bag of fun, but do I want to play it? I’m not sure. The more I heard the more my interest deteriorated, it wasn’t a case of it looking unappealing as such, it just didn’t seem overly appealing to me.
When all of the reviews were released it was clear that GTA V was an amazing game. With near unanimous 9’s and 10’s from a broad range of outlets, it seemed that Rockstar had produced the game that would mark the swansong of the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation. But still, a smorgasbord of praise and a Metacritic score of a whopping 97/100 didn’t make me want to get back on the hype train. I appreciated that it was a great game and definitely something that I should play and would undoubtedly get into and enjoy but I still didn’t consider buying it.
Today I walked into a Tesco to buy some lunch and saw, beside a security guard who really seemed to be taking the link between GTA and crime all too literally, was an enormous display with dozens of copies, ready to picked up for only £38. I paused for a moment and looked at them.
This game, the most expensive game ever made, one of the most critically acclaimed games ever made, and I just walked straight past to get a pot of pasta. I had the money, I have the time to play it and I had the opportunity to buy it, but even the ever-present cries of how good the game is from the Internet as a whole couldn’t sway me at point of purchase.
Ultimately, this worries me slightly. Why did I, an avid gamer and writer about games, not pick up the biggest release of the generation when it was starring me in the face? I can only really see two possible reasons; that I am simply losing interest in video games or that I am experiencing current-generation console fatigue.
I sincerely hope it’s the latter. I love video games and I hope to continue to do so, and that deep down that I am simply in need of a change. New hardware, new IPs and new experiences are all coming later this year.
Saying that, I did hold back on preordering a PS4 too…
colmshan1990
I bought it on the spur of the moment…
It’s worth it, as someone who has disliked and quickly grown bored of every GTA since Vice City (including San Andreas), GTAV seems to be on a whole new level.
That said, it’s still a bit aimless and scattershot. It’s probably the most entertaining game this generation, but it’s not the best at any one thing it does apart from being bigger. So far, it’s my third favourite game of the year, with Bioshock second and The Last of Us third.
It would be my game of the year any of the last few years though (except maybe against Uncharted 2).
zillah
All of this is exactly how I feel. Even down to the ‘am I just not that interested in games as I get older’ bit. Then I remember how much fun I had playing Saint’s Row 3 and the Last of Us that it made me think, maybe I’m just bored of GTAV because of how dreary and boring the last one turned out to be.
XisTG
I too am out of the GTA5 train, and I blame it on getting older. My main reason for not buying it is because I feel that I no longer have the time to spend on such a huge game. So I bought Puppeter instead :)
Dan Jones
I don’t really understand the lack of interest for GTA. You know that with every Rockstar game you’re going to get a game of pure quality, and one that you can play countless times and never lose interest in the world they’ve created. At least one aspect of the game should interest you; the combat, the driving (which is better than most driving games) and the story.
There’s never a risk involved. Unlike other big games, GTA never has yearly iterations like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and FIFA, where there’s never much of a difference between the last game to warrant the full wham of £40.
It seems like a no brainier for a gamer, but that’s just my opinion.
gybrocker
im the same also.. im not gonna play this game even if it comes to ps plus.. just not interested.. 1st ps game i brought was ff7 for ps1 and loved it.. and got ff8 then ff9 after that i couldnt care less about those kind of games even i played them every chance i had..ive had my go at black ops and battlefield an just find them boring.. im now 30yrs old an have 2 kids. my boy is almost 6 an girl almost 5. an now all i want to play are lego games.. few racing games and have a nice collection of skylanders(around 50 or so) an they are so much fun.. and we cant wait for swapforce an new marvel lego game.. i think we just change type of game as we get older. for me its my kids as i dont play shooting games around them so i have no real time to play them then just lose intrest in playing them. also waiting for ps4.. :)
Airiaen
If I had kids or even lil cousins around, I’d love to play more games like Littlebigplanet.. they just seem perfect for that and fun but I find them to be quite rare. Like racers a lot but sometimes I find them a lil dull or probably because I always play offline or alone. You know if I wanted too, I’d just depend on Nintendo for that. I find Sony to be kinda weak in that which is a shame because they have so many talented studios. Like Mario Kart 8 and Smash bros is going to be a blast.
Also I’m still waiting for a Lbp rival or something cool with create stuff but multi-platform. project spark looks great but bleh Xbone.
Foxhound_Solid
I love gaming and have done for years. I’m 33 and have gamed since I was 9 (started with a Master System and a NES) Grand Theft Auto… For me, I just don’t get along with it. For me Rockstars greatest moment was Manhunt. I find their games drawn out and slightly, dare I say it? Boring.
I have a huge collection of games with my favourites of this gen being MGS4, TLOF and Uncharted 2 & 3 to name a tiny amount of my favourites.
Ill play it at my brothers no doubt, but even amongst the hype I still ain’t interested. So your not alone. Time spent gaming, properly, develops your taste as we become connoisseurs of the medium.
I have had a PS4 preordered since day one :-)
plutoniumdragon
I’m of the older model as well ;) Here’s an idea, maybe I don’t want to be a gangster, how about letting me play the game as law enforcement?
Not that I’m averse to creating ingame havoc ;), but the reasons for it in this game simply don’t appeal to me.
Airiaen
I believe its really due of experiencing the same games for years, there’s nothing really innovative or amazing about the recent games that have been released in my opinion. Such as Uncharted 3 which too me was dreadful after a few hours, Bioshock Infinite is beautiful yet I don’t get the violence and The Last of Us…. well I haven’t even played it yet which is strange. In a world and economy were a non-shooter or games are designed to be generic and bland just for the fucking mass. the industry is fast heading towards mediocrity. There’s nothing even remotely interesting on consoles that I find that I’d like. As usual its the same games I play every year like Pro Evolution Soccer which I’m sure I’d get sick off. Rayman Legends I was really hyped for but it felt disappointing in some way. Maybe because it was too much like the first game and short.
One thing I’d have to say is that Grand Theft Auto V may probably not be like the Fourth game which was really just the story and activities. There was no single reason to play it anymore. I hope that isn’t the case with GTA V I can see myself exploring the land like I did with San Andreas. Liberty City was tbh not as exciting. Not surprising since I dislike GTA III the most. I’m excited but I don’t think current gen consoles is the right time to play it.
Really I crave for something different and enjoyable but worst I see nothing like that on Playstation 4 or Xbox One. Yakuza and Gundam is giving me hope but I doubt it’ll they’d be localized considering how niche they are here.
Wozman23
I feel the same way. I preordered it, but have not picked it up for a few reasons. As a member of the 30ish crowd with less time for gaming than the past, I’ve been preoccupied with other, more creative titles that I was looking far more forward to. Rayman Legends absorbed all of my time the week it released, then it got kicked to the curb when Puppeteer (my most anticipated game this year) came out. I’m slowly making my way through it and loving it.
As I grow older, I only find myself gravitating toward the whimsical, colorful, creative stuff even more. I’m also not looking forward to lengthy games anymore, and often find the indie stuff more fascinating. That’s why I’m also planning to pick up Brothers before jumping into GTA.
I’m also unsure of what ultimately triggered this shift. I too wasn’t a fan of GTA IV and find myself trying many of the more realistic, mature titles only to be unimpressed. They’re starting to feel derivative; they’re a chore. I’m not sure if it’s simply fatigue, or the fact that I may not quite be the target demographic anymore.
Thankfully there are still other alternatives, like indies and 2D platformers, that do continue to retain that sense of wonder. It’s just a shame that none of them sell near as well.
MadBoJangles
That’s what me and my mates call “a dip in the old gaming mojo”.
Nothing to be ashamed of :D