Fumito Ueda on GTA IV and Super Mario Galaxy: Not impressed

Posted Jul 6, 2009 at 8:45PM by Mabie A. Listed in: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 Tags: Fumito Ueda

Fumito Ueda, director and lead designer for the hit video games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus is not a big fan of GTA IV (Xbox 360, PS3) and Super Mario Galaxy - both hit video games too in their own rights. He expresses his opinion on this issue and more in the latest issue of LEVEL magazine.

On GTA IV, he says that "the biggest problem with the game is the lack of innovative things int he game. The graphic style impresses, but not the base premise, which is exactly the same as the predecessors."

As for Mario Galaxy:

Yes, I have played it, it was hard not to since it was rumored that Miyamoto-san was inspired by me. But I had expected more, that segment, was like the rest of the game, not so fun as it could have been. I think the fans made a big deal out of nothing when they said Miyamoto had stolen it from me. The thing I am critical over isn't that they didn't borrow anything that isn't unique for my game, but that they didn't make more fun stages out of it.

Hmmm... that's an unusual food for thought right there. If you should "borrow" ideas, make sure to utilize them to the best of their potential so as to not add insult to injury. In my words, or something.

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Comments

# . — NarooN 2009-07-06 15:39

I didn't play Galaxy, but I agree strongly with him about GTA4... They tried too hard to make it realistic, and there wasn't anything really innovative in it at all. Wow, I have to go to an internet cafe to email my mom who lives all the way in friggin' Eastern Europe. How new and fun!

# Damn it... — papajag 2009-07-06 15:41

That's what I was going to say. Anyways GTA4 just felt incomplete compared to the Vice City and San Andreas.

# ... — FelisCatusLover 2009-07-06 16:03

You can thank the crap 360 for GTA's failures. If it werent for Microscum's choice to use obsolete dual layer DVD's, the game would be good because it would be on Blu-Ray disk. But of course, Microsoft needs to save money...

# .. — blkthunda 2009-07-06 16:13

I don't think the blame is on the format of the disc but rather that GTA is the same thing from the previous GTA games.

# o rly eh, cthulhu fthagn — Orlyeh 2009-07-06 16:17

Maybe the fact that it was basically the same game with prettier graphics and tighter controls made it full of fail?

Now excuse me, I have to go talk to a guy across town, accept his mission, do the mission, and return to the guy a whole bunch of times.

# ... — astaroth001 2009-07-06 16:56

He is 100% right in GTA...I haven't played Galaxy but I've seen it in my uncle's house and is not that fun...but hey my 3yo couz likes it

# who teh f*** is he? — kon_e3 2009-07-06 17:53

Ask me if I care about his opinion

# hmm funny — death 2009-07-06 18:11

i was just about to ask you if we should give a flock about yours

# W/E — Master Chef 2009-07-06 18:11

This guy's game are also amazing in their own ways, but I loved GTAIV and Mario Galaxy. To each their own I guess

Last Guardian looks better than all of them combined tho

# ...... — Shazman1984 2009-07-06 18:56

HAHAHA, Seriously, this guy has made 2 *****ing games and thinks he's on the same page as Miyamoto. Get the ***** outta here. Ico and Shadow of Colosuss were good games( found them on the boring side), but definitely not comparable to GTAIV or SMG.

# point taken... — ov3rkill 2009-07-06 19:29

Fumito Ueda got point on what he says. Although, looking at it in a shallow point of view. He is still none the less a playstation fan. Maybe because he's an employee there and a first party developer in that sense OR plainly he's just another fanboy. Whatever the case is, he sure got talent. Don't get me wrong, I liked both Ico and Shadows of the Colossus though. He shouldn't have said about those things. It's bragging and he didn't even have anything up for the next gen yet. Yeah, we know he's got Last Guardian up his sleeve but it isn't even out yet and we can't judge and compare it to GTAIV, SMG, and others.

# . — Solid Snicker 2009-07-06 21:47

regardless of GTA IV not really showing anything 'innovative' it's still an awesome game. Just messing about in the city with 15 other people is pretty fun.

But yeah there are some pointless things in the game like the internet cafe etc.

# . — NarooN 2009-07-07 00:54

Well, I know for a fact that a lot of Sony developers and 1st party developers own more systems than just those they develop for. Just because you work at Microsoft doesn't mean you aren't allowed to play a PSP or a Gamecube.

As for Shazman, what do you mean "on the same page"? He doesn't have to develop 50 games about the same thing to have a valid opinion.

# I liked it — Navani 2009-07-07 03:08

Sure, I think Vice City was the best game. Buying properties, actually NEEDING money, hilarious missions, but GTA IV was good in its own way. I like the reworked shooting system and the people, but I think the cars were quite stiff and I agree that the internet part was kind of lame. I also don't like the mood ups and downs.. It made the game seem less open world. But overall I enjoy and still play it

# And the ratings on these 2 comments — Nineball 2009-07-07 03:12

Shows you why QJ.net is thought of across the internet as a Sony Fanboy site.

# When Ueda has been developing games for 30 years — Nineball 2009-07-07 03:15

...with a comparable success rate to Miyamoto, then he can talk. This reminds me of when Oasis made one good album and then proclaimed themselves to be "better than the Beatles".

# and you talk bout fanboys? — Tekkenlord 2009-07-07 03:32

just because u have ONLY a wii and blindly follow CASHENDO and gayamoto doesnt mean his opinion is wrong, he is right, gta IV calling it a bad game is making it a favor, the game is the SAME that ALL the other cr.ap that came before it nothing new and just using the same ol' engine with nothing new to apport, shame on them, and for mario gayalaxy well i respected admire miyamoto in a time we all did but lets face the truth he is the michael jackson of videogame industry (and yes he looks now as odd too) 10 fu.c.ing years and theres nothing relly NEW and good in his games? mario 64 was the last ORIGINAL and GOOD Mario game he did, zelda ocarina of time was the LAST original zelda game he did after that is the same ol' crap just like gta IV, repeating the formula over and over, so stop putting the guy in a pedestal specially when he hasnt done anything good and original in YEARS

# feliscatuslover — truk 2009-07-07 10:30

anyway to bash the xbox huh? actually, the xbox version is better because microsoft spent more money on it as in dlc

# to nineball — truk 2009-07-07 10:32

i dont understand the correlation?

# to nineball — truk 2009-07-07 10:35

wow 2 stupid comments in a row.

fact, miyamoto was actually inspired by ueda. read the article. i think that says a lot about ueda's calibre

# hm... — astaroth001 2009-07-07 11:38

I actually note more bashing and hate towards Sony's stuff than anything else here

# ... — FelisCatusLover 2009-07-07 15:22

RockStar makes a great game and I can guarantee you if it werent for the 360 there would be more. The game completely maxed out the DVD for 360 so it would be impossible for them to have added more.

# ... — astaroth001 2009-07-08 19:51

Tha game is gonna be epic...and I think is gonna make me cry...i fear that either boy or the creature is gonna die :(...but is gonna be amazing, I cant imaging the level of exploring they're gonna add, if SotC world was big...what about this one? goddam

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