GTA Online Will Never Be As Fun As GTA 4’s Multiplayer Mayhem

thegamer.com:

Rockstar Games’ online modes have been talked about a lot recently, from the untimely demise of Red Dead Online before it even had a chance to get started, to some long-requested changes being made to GTA Online that are apparently enough to bring jaded fans back on board.

I wish I could say I particularly cared about either of these, but the sad fact is that Rockstar’s online outings simply haven’t been on my radar for years. I used to adore playing GTA Online with my friends when it first released, but in recent years I haven’t given it another glance. I’m sure when GTA 6 is revealed I’ll have Vice City tattooed across my face before the first trailer’s even finished, being the IP simp that I am, but anything to do with GTA Online or Red Dead Online simply doesn’t do it for me anymore.

Related: We All Miss The Old Rockstar

My main problem with Rockstar’s latest online games is that they’re incredibly overcomplicated and noisy. Jump into a lobby and you’ll get two challenge notifications, 20 phone calls, five random players trying to kill you, and one major headache all within the first couple of minutes. It’s way too much when you just want to jump online and play through some missions with some friends.

That seems like it's being fixed somewhat with this latest update, but for my money, it doesn’t matter because GTA Online simply can’t match up to the simplistic mayhem of GTA 4’s multiplayer.

Let me take you back in time. The year is 2010, two years after GTA 4 released because hey, you’re young and you had to argue your case even to be allowed to play the world’s most violent game in the first place. You load up as Niko and immediately jump into the menu to play online (which loads far faster than GTA 5 but we won’t