Andrew,
I just wanted to say I enjoyed your latest column. You raised some very good points about GTA3.
Personally, I think GTA3 is the best thing to come along for mature gamers since sliced bread. Why shouldn’t there be games made for adults ?
HubBub#17: GTA3 - Dial M for Mature
Cheers,
Sean.
Brava, excellent article.
One of the girls I work with and I have been debating about this game for like two weeks, now, on and off. I just forwarded her article. :)
I agree. These are my dominant thoughts on the game as well.
However, I think it is a unfortunate that such great content and design is masked by, lost in, all the hype and controversy. While this game is mature in all the right ways (as we discussed in the old forums) it is also mature in a load of obvious and unencouraging ways. The question is whether the lesson the market learns from GTA3 is that ambitious, non-linear, design and smart content is the great goal or whether doped out cop-killing rampages and stereotypical graphic shock content, regardless of gameplay design and aesthetic styling, are the key to massive sales.
As for GTA3 as RPG? Nah. Not really. It does offer some great roleplaying elements such as freedom to explore and experiment but it lacks the ability to chose a role and live it. You’re going to be a punk and the moral and narrative choices you make have no measurable impact on the world or the character - which is also why many CRPGs really aren’t RPGs for that matter.
“the lesson the market learns from GTA3 is that ambitious, non-linear, design and smart content is the great goal.”
According to my friend Sherry, the lesson is that it’s okay to abuse women as long as you have great gameplay.
Thanks guys,
Amanpour, who I haven’t seen yet on this board (this makes me sad), will no doubt consider me a defector. I still agree with him about the more loathsome qualities this game has but I was totally unprepared for how much I enjoy the missions. The game is just so varied and well put together, I’d forgive almost anything at this point.
It’s also an interesting (not necessarily accurate) way to judge a person’s character by watching them play this game. My uncle only rampages. He never plays the missions. I pity and kind of fear him because of that…
Anyway, I just finished Part Two of the article, which should go up later this week. It’s about the RPG aspects and, I think, it’s a good read.
Hey, how about a few Haikus from you guys? Email them to me.
Roger, tell Sherry that I’ve abused far more men in this game than women. But if she’s talking about that hooker angle, well, I don’t actually use that option (it’s silly and offensive) so I agree with her there. But also tell her, yes, great gameplay does forgive a lot. GTA3 doesn’t force you to abuse women, it’s an option only. It’s offensive that it’s there, but the game is too good to simply dismiss it because of offensiveness, in my opinion.
That would be like dismissing a film like A Clockwork Orange for the rape scenes. Reservoir Dogs for the violence. Last Temptation of Christ for the Jesus gets it on fantasy at the end. Or Eminem for the… well for the lyrics.
Er, more like disregard Eminem because he can’t write, nor sing, nor make music.
Yeah, where is Amanpour? Anyway, I found that as I played through the game, I tried harder and harder to minimize civilian casualties. If a stray shot hits a police officer, you have a serious chance of blowing the mission. Even hitting a pedestrian as you race from one spot to another can raise your wanted level to an unwanted level (har). If something needed blowed up real good, I’d rather use an expensive rocket than a free grenade because I could aim the rocket better.
If you use a convertible (and don’t Banshees rule?), it skips the squeaking suspension animation and just instantly gives you 125 health, regardless of how injured you are. As soon as you stop in an acceptable location, the hooker just gets out and leaves. Combined with the free body armor for finding enough hidden packages, I cruised around most of the time with 225 hit points.
I thought it was a good bit of polish that hookers are only in certain parts of town at night.
This is what I keep telling people. I combine it with the comments of Judge Posner in that Indianapolis decision where he discusses the role of violence in literature, and that there is no proof that playing a violent game causes any more bad behavior than a well-written violent story.
Grand Theft Auto III
You can play any way you like
Or just blow shit up
Grand Theft Auto III
A living, breathing game world
If it moves, shoot it
Grand Theft Auto III
Contains so much violence!
Kind of like TV
Grand Theft Auto III
Breeding future criminals?
Hey, it’s just a game
I’ve used my lunch hour to try and capture GTA3 moments in Haiku:
My taxi aflame
I’m just passing with a fare
Damned Triad jerkoffs
It took me a while
But I found a Yardie car
Wow, check out those seats!
Gosh, they’re lesbian?
Like an FBI driver
Oh so darn subtle
Hah, they can’t stop me!
Even the soldiers have failed
Uhh, is that a tank?
Seaborne packages
It’s hard to jump to the pier
Stupid fucking boat
Don Love disappears
His old asian boyfriend weeps
Looked so good in sweats
GTA sells big
Take Two stock dips lower still
Shareholders are hosed
Cute guys, very cute.
But I can’t use them in the column unless you email them to me. Please do, you’re all much better than my very British GDR column audience. Feel free to cover any game you like.
(This is not a knock on the British, only their Haiku skills)
Can someone explain what a Haiku is and how it works ?
All this stuff is too cerebral for me …
Grand Theft Auto 3
Show me the target
And I will kill it
Haiku are three lines, with 5 syllables, 7, then 5 again. Many say they are supposed to invoke nature, too:
Lisping Yakuza
Would he not feel the Don Love?
Dawn breaks without him
An easy way to make a haiku…
Sing Moonlight in Vermont and make up your own lyrics. Poof! Instant Haiku.
-g
Sean Tudor, that fool!
Read my column but missed the…
haiku instructions.
It is supposed to be about nature, but I stole the idea from Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback column. In there it must be about Football. In HubBub it must be about games.
"It’s also an interesting (not necessarily accurate) way to judge a person’s character by watching them play this game. My uncle only rampages. He never plays the missions. I pity and kind of fear him because of that… "
Maybe he hasn’t played it enough. My friend did the same thing for about the few 100 times he played it, got bored and is in the third city now. Someday, I’ll get my PS2 back… Someday…
BTW, how the hell do I put quotes into the boxes when I post?
Hit the quote button on the top right of the message.
As for the rest of your post… maybe. I doubt it. He played GTA and GTA2 for his computer for years without ever playing missions. He’s Mr. Cheat Code too. Played Half-Life all the way through in GOD mode. What’s the point? I asked him. Entertainment! He answered. Live and let live.
Still, I found the Rampage option pretty dull after a couple times. I do it now and then still, but only when I screw up a mission for the 3rd or 4th time.
"Sing Moonlight in Vermont and make up your own lyrics. Poof! Instant Haiku. "
SOunds more like instant homosexuality
or is moonlight in vermont a song widely known outside of the antique shop owners community?
If anyone is interested, the new HubBub, #18 is up at GDR. More on GTA3, a short story and an answer/argument to that RPG question I posed in the previous column.
As a bonus there are haikus from me, Alan Au and the inimitable Sparky. I want to thank them for their help.
Enjoy!
EDIT: My TechTV review is up - and that’s enough self promotion for one day. :oops:
http://www.techtv.com/extendedplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3388522,00.html