Many were excited when Microsoft announced that Rockstar’s GTA IV had joined the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility list, meaning gamers could enjoy one of the best open-world video games released to date on their new-gen console.
And GTA IV was undoubtedly one of the best games of the past console generation, thanks to its superb characters like protagonist Niko Bellic, his cousing Roman and an assortment of twisted criminals like mobster Mikhail Faustin whom Niko got to put down during his time in Liberty City. The game also had superb missions, great atmosphere and graphics, and was surely one of the unmissable games of the Xbox 360 era.
Rockstar’s game is a bona fide classic then, but a report by gaming website Eurogamer suggests GTA IV might not run so well on the Xbox One. This is despite the fact that Eurogamer admits the game “hits the same performance level as original hardware” and can even “deliver anything up to a 5fps advantage” at times.
But it seems GTA IV is not such a smooth experience on the Xbox One, mainly due to its inconsistent frame rate. “Frame-pacing on Xbox One isn’t quite right”, says Eurogamer’s report, and also that the game “feels choppier and more uneven” on the Xbox One adding that “the experience doesn’t look or feel quite right”.
The report concludes that GTA IV “is one of a small number of back-compat titles that we’d prefer to play on Xbox 360 instead”, which is a bit disappointing taking into account that Rockstar’s game is one of the best ever released for the Xbox 360, and it would be great if it delivered a smooth experience on the Xbox One.
So here’s hoping Microsoft’s backwards compatibility team is perhaps able to optimise things a bit more so that players can enjoy this game better on the Xbox One, even if it still is a great addition to the console’s backwards compatibility program no doubt.
Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)