GTA 4 is everything that I want in a game, but is brought down by gameplay that fails to engage you.
GTA 4 does so many things incredibly well. It has a very good story with characters that you will remember for a long time. The conversations between characters and the performances are so natural and entertaining which very few games can emulate. The open world has a certain vibe to it that just makes it entertaining to drive in it even if there aren't that many activities happening around the city. But it has a fundamental flaw which is that it just fails to engage me with the gameplay. At the start of the game they introduce a few mechanics like shooting and driving. Those basic fundamental mechanics are used from the start of the game all the way to the finish in every single mission without ever evolving or adding to them. The game is littered with Linear shooting sequences and car chases that are exactly the same in most missions. Now you may say that most games are like this, but at least other games offer things like skill trees or you know midway through the game they may add new mechanics that atleast make you think a little bit. With gta 4 after probably the 5 hour mark I felt like I was playing the game on autopilot. The only thing that really engaged me was the story and the characters but I felt like the pacing of the story was affected for me because of the boring gameplay. Even the open world doesn't really have much to do. The hangout missions are just extended dialogue drives with various characters. You can pretty much just watch them on youtube without missing out on much. Also having money is pretty much useless in the game as the only thing you can buy are weapons.
I have a personal theory on probably why there is this disconnect between the gameplay and other aspects of the game. I think the main directors at rockstar put most of their work and effort into the story and dialogue. Maybe they put an "insert shootout" or a "insert car chase" tag into the script and offloaded that work onto another team which is probably why various aspects of the game just don't coalesce together.