Former Rockstar CTO ‘didn’t like GTA 4 too much’ at launch because ‘we had to make so many sacrifices in terms of gameplay’
Former Rockstar CTO Obbe Vermeij said he wasn’t a big fan of GTA 4 due to its reduction.
GTA: San Andreas is still everyone’s favorite for a reason. It’s absolutely huge and brought this PS2-style GTA game to its natural conclusion. And following that up for the first time in next-gen GTA would undoubtedly be a difficult task for anyone, which is probably why Rockstar ended up taking the series in a more realistic, character-driven route with GTA 4, leading to a somewhat controversial entry… and that didn’t just come from the fanbase.
Speaking to GamesHub, Vermeij explains: “I actually didn’t like GTA 4 that much when it was finished because, yes, it has an atmosphere and I think Nico Bellic is probably the best and most fleshed out GTA character in the universe, but I think we had to make a lot of sacrifices in terms of gameplay.”
He adds that this is mainly due to the lack of mission variety, saying that there are “four missions”. He explains: “You can either follow this car, or clear this compound, or follow this car with a time limit, or assassinate this character, or it’s a mix of all of those. But that’s it.” Vermeij explains: “In previous games there were crazy missions like following the train, taking a plane to drop flyers and you didn’t know what to expect.”
We’ll probably never see a Grand Theft Auto set in a futuristic city like GTA 2 because the team ‘hated it’: ‘People weren’t connecting to the game or its city’
