The current generation of consoles have got four out of out seven of the past mainline Grand Theft Auto games available to buy, regardless of whether you believe the quality and value of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: Definitive Edition is worth it or not.
With GTA VI launching at some stage in 2025, unless there is a last minute delay, it will mean that the only titles not to be available to purchase on current generation consoles excluding the Nintendo Switch, will be the original 1997 Grand Theft Auto for PlayStation and PC, the 1999 GTA2 for PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC and GTA IV for the PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PC.
While at the time of release, GTA IV looked absolutely breathtaking and was considered a great insight into just what the future of Grand Theft Auto could be, it was marred by some annoying decisions such as the constant phone calls to take a certain someone bowling to the point it became an instantly recognisable meme and the lack of the colour and satirical comedy seen in previous games and in some ways to mention just a couple.
Going back and looking at GTA IV from a current day perspective, as you’d imagine with anything 3D polygon game related, it’s aged and not too well. It takes time for developers to really get to know what they can do to maximise the custom hardware that was found in consoles of the past. It’s in part why GTA V looks significantly better, but in part that is also due to a change in artistic direction to a more bright colourful world. Granted, GTA IV is supposed to be a fictionalised New York so colour is a little bit more challenging, but it was a complaint that Rockstar Games obviously recognised.
Regardless of the drawbacks of GTA IV, it is interesting that right now, it’s the only mainline 3D Grand Theft Auto game not to be readily available to purchase and play on PlayStation though it is available through Xbox backwards compatibility. What we would really like to see is a remaster, though not from Grove Street Games. Music licenses aside, some updates to the visuals, controls and perhaps reduce the amount of annoying calls etc could make this a great game to go back to.
With GTA VI on the horizon, the chances of seeing GTA IV remastered anytime soon is unlikely either before or after. But, it’s something we hope to see one day.
