14 DAY TRIAL // Grand Theft Auto is probably the most popular sandbox shooter series out there. It has won over millions of fans across the world with its innovative gameplay and hilarious story, and has made Rockstar, its developer, one of the most respected companies in the industry.
Although the franchise has never been a stranger to controversy and accusations, like the fact that it is corrupting young people or teaching them how to be violent, it has always delivered a great gaming experience to fans. That is, up until now, as the PC version of the latest installment in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, has quite a lot of annoying bugs.
Although the controversy surrounding this game started a few days ago, as Rockstar announced that it would employ the infamous SecuROM DRM (Digital Rights Management) system in order to protect its game against piracy, many users wouldn't have minded such a thing. But now, players are assaulting various GTA forums where they accuse the company of shipping a faulty game, as a lot of bugs and crashes occur almost anytime they want to play it.
Numerous error codes and glitchy graphics have gotten users very irritated. Also, the fact that the game doesn't have support for two graphic boards running in an SLI configuration has forced gamers to resell or take back their copies to the stores from which they bought them. Steam, the online digital content distribution service that also offers GTA IV in the form of a direct download, is now offering a refund for angry users who have had enough of the problematic game.
Another very annoying issue is the fact that users who own above average PCs are forced to play the game at low setting because of the horrible frame rate. Rockstar replied to these claims by saying that the "higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."
Although these problems are very irritating, Rockstar has issued only a brief statement, in which it says that the development team is working on solutions to these problems, but gamers need to be patient. Until a patch can be resolved, the company has also released a document that sums up the various error codes that appear after the game crashes, which can be found here.
Let's just hope that Rockstar will release a patch as soon as possible, because a lot of PC gamers have waited for this title and it would really be a shame if this problematic experience was the way they would remember it.