While
driving one of these tarmacked satanic pathways I realised that I could really tell
you why I hate them. Ok I’ve already tired, but that’s much more fact than
fiction.
Once
or twice over my 10 year driving tenure I’ve found the urge to drive a
motorway, tempted to see what I was missing. I’d try the M23 from Brighton to
London and ultimately stick with my conclusion that they are a bit shit.
At
some point over the last year or so, however, and I have no idea why, but I’ve
had the urge to drive them all over again. And in some of these instances I’ve
even ‘enjoyed’ the ease of my journey.
I
don’t know what it was this time around that made the difference for me,
whether it was a lack of traffic, a beautiful day or the car I was controlling,
but I was now in this place where I loved a good old motorway.
I
realise now that the point of this article has been lost somewhat – however I’m
trying to anecdotally explain that opinions change. I wager that many of you
have experienced similar scenarios in your time; it can happen in all walks of
life, and it’s certainly true of video games.
In
this instance, for me, motorways equal Grand Theft Auto. Unlike motorways,
however, it was never an outright hatred for the Rockstar series from the very
beginning, but rather it became a swift decline as the series continued.
I
remember enjoying the original GTA on the PSone/PC in my youth, and I found
some amusement in both San Andreas and San Andreas but ultimately I grew bored
of its aimless story and never quite finished it. I tried to play GTA IV on
three or four separate occasions due to peer pressure and its overbearing
popularity, and have never got much further than the tutorial hours.
Desperate
to be part of the crowd, I even tried going back to the GTA III sage through my
Android Phone which managed to leave me wondering if I really did enjoy the
original game half as much as I remembered.
The
same issues I had from the very beginning seemed to dog me right through GTA
III: constant, frustrating interruptions just as I was starting to enjoy
myself. Baffling side missions, monstrous amounts of mobile phone calls, side
missions and business ideas.
No
one could argue that I hadn’t given the game a chance at least; I’d tried every
game in some capacity, always sucked in by the pre-release hype. I was finally
starting to feel at ease with the idea that Grand Theft Auto and I were not a
match.
Last
year, however, things changed. I was supplied with a copy of Grand Theft Auto
IV again by a friend who was moving abroad. I did my best to do just ‘give it a
go’, but the familiar annoyances raised their heads initially. As I got more
hours into the game, the more time I spent appeasing Cousin Roman, chatting up
local ladies and building my business empire. My former hate points became
areas of relaxing fun.
Aside
from the superfluous stuff, though, the game’s core mechanics really clicked
into place, with its camouflage-based stealth system providing a slow-burning
but untouchably tense experience. Kojima’s trademark attention to detail too
was far more evident to me now, leaving me impressed. I was finally
appreciating his ideas and quirks.
While
I cannot tell you what prompted my sudden change of heart, I can say that the
more effort I put into the game itself the more I enjoyed its gameplay
mechanics. A game that I had completed avoided previously was making itself
into my favourite games for the current system.
As
Nico grew in stature my passion for the series ignited and I even managed to
finish GTA III on my phone and San Andreas on my Xbox 360 (from games on
demand). This successful, and what I
considered at the time to be my final, attempt at breaking into the series as
left me gagging for GTA V later this year. I’m even contemplating keeping hold
of my 360 (at least for a while after the Xbox One release) so I can give the
next instalment a good old go.
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