Grand Theft Auto IV (and R* rant)

[frogbeastegg]

Don't like anything about the setting, yup. The sandbox, on the other hand ...

[rajpoot]

Well, considering that you don't like any of the stuff that is actually supposed to be done in the sandbox gameplay......driving, shooting, causing mayhem in general, I really doubt you'll find the game interesting. Many other sandbox games out there though. Assasin's Creed I have not played first hand, but it's supposed to be really nice.

[Craterus]

I don't think you have to be killing prostitutes to enjoy the sandbox play.

Here's what I'll say:

So far, Liberty City is great. It looks fantastic and has character. It's also huge (could be good, could be bad).

There's lots to do, even outside of the missions.

Hmm, the real strength would be (I hope, but not too far in yet) the story. GTA always has good storylines which, by the way, SHOULD BE PUT IN SPOIL. Grrr, I didn't even want to know about an ulterior motive. Damnit.

The driving is certainly a lot more difficult than the old games so that's something that you have to get used to.

Hmm, that's all I have to say. I like it so far, but I've been playing GTA games since 2002 (GTA3).

frogbeastegg, I think you should play it for a few hours and see if it grabs you.

[Geoffrey S]

Well, considering that you don't like any of the stuff that is actually supposed to be done in the sandbox gameplay......driving, shooting, causing mayhem in general, I really doubt you'll find the game interesting. Many other sandbox games out there though. Assasin's Creed I have not played first hand, but it's supposed to be really nice.

It's not about the driving, the shooting, the mayhem. Those are tools to a goal, which is furthering the personal plot of the main character in a continuous fashion. Above all, GTA IV is a game, and excels at that. I've played a couple more hours and seen plenty of really nice stuff, and the gameplay mechanics are way better than San Andreas - which I started to play, hated, and only enjoyed mucking about in with other people's save games. IV has cohesion and from what I've seen a very strong plot.

As for spoiler tags, this game needs them. I had guessed nothing about an ulterior motive, and can easily imagine there are plenty of similar surprises waiting. Please keep that in mind.

[frogbeastegg]

Well, I played for an hour and a bit. Done a couple of missions, wandered about a bit. In all that time I have killed 1 person, stolen 1 car, and been chased by the police once. There's definitely more to the game than crime and chases.

Overall the game world is impressive. The animation is as good as it looked on the videos, and the detail is nice. Niko got a bit of paper blown into his face when he rounded a corner. I've seen a few silly AI interactions too, the best being a police car banging into a parked car at some lights. The owner of the damaged car jumped out and started demanding insurance details from a befuddled policeman.

The wealth of options have enabled me to sculpt Niko into a semi-smartly dressed chappy who listens to classical jaz on the radio as he drives. When I get access to other shops I'll see if I can find him a nice suit. If I have to be a criminal I'd rather be a stylish criminal than a slob, and the game allows for that. Yay! Wish I could make him shave off that stubble.

Clothes and musical tastes aside, Niko shows promise. He seems like a decent guy who has been put through hell and now wants to move on with a new life. We all know he's not gonig to get that wish.

I've seen a bit of the famous GTA humour, mainly on the radio. A politcal interview with a candidate is probably the best so far. He starts out talking about trimming away the rights nobody uses so everybody can focus on the ones which are useful, and finishes by rambling on about breaking the teachers unions so money can be spent on the important things in education, like new uniforms and footballs. It's better than it sounds, honest. The advert for a TV program about a famous actress who is adopting a new child every day was good too.

The game has crashed once. It went very slow during the friends tutorial video, and then got stuck on a loading screen for several minutes. I had to exit to the dashboard and restart.

The audio levels are completely wrong. I have to crank up the volume on the TV by 4 notches and turn the music down to half if I want to hear the speech.

I have been on a date. Roman's car was ah ... crumpled into a smoking wreck and there didn't seem to be any other legal cars around, so I stole this posh looking parked vehicle. I turned up at her home in my smart new clothes, had a nice chat on the drive over to the destination, and fell into a shoulder deep ornamental lake as I was getting out of the car. Smooth.

I have played pool and bowling. Both were ok, nothing too exciting.

I keep driving on the left hand side of the road. I read the road paint British style: yellow lines = no parking, dotted white lines = the edge of a lane. I look for traffic lights at eye-level, not hanging from the air. The layouts of the roads are entirely alien to me - so many right angled turns, wide roads, and crazy junctions. Oh, the mayhem!

Driving is not realistic, whatever the reviews say. Or rather it is realistic for a car with bald tires on a road covered in sheet ice.

The manual is rubbish. It has next to nothing about playing the game, and so you are left reliant on tip boxes which appear once and once only. There are lots of things I am told you can do, and I have no idea how to. I'd like to change the wallpaper on the mobile phone to something which provides a better contrast with the text. Defaulting to dark grey and black?! Gah!

I like the conversations as you drive about during missions. They are well acted and well scripted. It appears each mission has at least two sets of dialogue for it, so if you fail you get to hear something different to the first time.

I encountered what must have been a glitch with a mission, and consequentally failed it. Minor spoilers for an early mission:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I got boxed in by the police the instant the cutscene ended, meaning I couldn't get away. The second time I attempted the mission one car pulled in behind me and the second was driving in through the other entrance as I sped on out of there.

On that same mission I ended up skidding about all over the place as I tried to shake my pursuers. Crash, smash, bump - the car deformed beautifully, and my passenger kept making remarks about it. "Roman's not going to like that ..." as the bonnet flew off. Said bonnet knocked over some dustbins on the pavement, and scattered some nearby pedestrians. The things they shouted after me were not complimentary. Lol!

[rajpoot]

I've seen a few silly AI interactions too, the best being a police car banging into a parked car at some lights. The owner of the damaged car jumped out and started demanding insurance details from a befuddled policeman.

That's new, I'll love to see that; Seems like they've really made some progree with the AI.

[Kekvit Irae]

I keep driving on the left hand side of the road. I read the road paint British style: yellow lines = no parking, dotted white lines = the edge of a lane. I look for traffic lights at eye-level, not hanging from the air. The layouts of the roads are entirely alien to me - so many right angled turns, wide roads, and crazy junctions. Oh, the mayhem!

Welcome to America!

[Spartan198]

Hmm, the real strength would be (I hope, but not too far in yet) the story. GTA always has good storylines which, by the way, SHOULD BE PUT IN SPOIL. Grrr, I didn't even want to know about an ulterior motive. Damnit.

Oops. Uh, yeah, maybe I should have. But I didn't tell what that ulterior motive actually was, though, did I?

Welcome to America!

Chaos and mayhem at its best!

[frogbeastegg]

That's new, I'll love to see that; Seems like they've really made some progree with the AI.

There are lots of interactions like that, both with multiple AIs and with some AIs and the player. I clipped the wing mirror of a posh car with my dingy old taxi while learning the basic controls. The driver hopped out and ran after me down the street yelling "And who's going to pay for that? Eh? You ! Come back here!" He'd abandoned his car in the middle of the road, and another driver rammed it. He joined in, having a go at the other driver for parking stupidly. That caused a traffic jam with much horn honking and shouts of "Get a move on!" and "What's the hold up?".

Welcome to America!

That was what the shifty guy on the boat in the intro said

[Caius]

Looks like its improved. I only played GTA VC.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I keep driving on the left hand side of the road. I read the road paint British style: yellow lines = no parking, dotted white lines = the edge of a lane. I look for traffic lights at eye-level, not hanging from the air. The layouts of the roads are entirely alien to me - so many right angled turns, wide roads, and crazy junctions. Oh, the mayhem!

I suddenly want to see videos of Froggy playing GTA 4.

[Kekvit Irae]

I suddenly want to see videos of Froggy playing GTA 4.

[frogbeastegg]

I suddenly want to see videos of Froggy playing GTA 4.

I can't manage that, but here's a DIY guide.

1. Drive on the left hand side of the road. It's only civilised. From time to time suddenly swerve onto the right hand side as you remember that you're supposed to be in America, and people drive on the wrong side there.

2. The white dotted lines mark the edge of a lane, so hug your left side close to them.

3. The double yellow lines mean no parking or stopping whatsoever, any time, whatever the reason. If you can see double yellows you'd better keep moving.

4. There don't seem to be any traffic lights. There's no filtering policy, and no give way policy. That means you only need to stop for hazards directly in front of you.

5. Honestly, roads don't look like this, so they can't make sense and aren't intended to. Reading the road ahead? Forget it! Might as well try to read the mind of a butterfly. You'll have to drive by the seat of your pants.

6. When approaching one of those weird want-to-be jumbo crossroad junction thingies just check your satnav to work out which way you need to go, cross your fingers, and keep on going. Lacking traffic lights or a handy give way policy there is nothing at all which controls which car is going where. If you find one of those silly little turn right go forward a fraction then turn left junction freaky things then just ... try your best. In fact that applies to all of those other impossible right angle turns and such. Just try your best. People will understand that you can't tell where you are meant to be going, and be forgiving.

7. Why is the road so wide anyway?! What is this? A motorway? Uh oh, better hit the accelerator - dawdling below 50mph can get you pulled over, and that would only gain me attention I don't want.

8. No dangerous driving! ()


It's odd. American roads look weird but semi-usable in films and TV programs. This is the first time I've been placed in a position of 'driving' on them and it's like trying to read Greek.

[Papewaio]

Sounds like me in real life on a scooter in Taiwan...

[Kekvit Irae]

Or me in a taxi cab in Kingston, Jamaica.

[Craterus]

Well, today I discovered that doing any kind of job for Little Jacob and his friend is generally a bad idea.

[Ice]

Well, I played for an hour and a bit. Done a couple of missions, wandered about a bit. In all that time I have killed 1 person, stolen 1 car, and been chased by the police once. There's definitely more to the game than crime and chases.

Overall the game world is impressive. The animation is as good as it looked on the videos, and the detail is nice. Niko got a bit of paper blown into his face when he rounded a corner. I've seen a few silly AI interactions too, the best being a police car banging into a parked car at some lights. The owner of the damaged car jumped out and started demanding insurance details from a befuddled policeman.

The wealth of options have enabled me to sculpt Niko into a semi-smartly dressed chappy who listens to classical jaz on the radio as he drives. When I get access to other shops I'll see if I can find him a nice suit. If I have to be a criminal I'd rather be a stylish criminal than a slob, and the game allows for that. Yay! Wish I could make him shave off that stubble.

Clothes and musical tastes aside, Niko shows promise. He seems like a decent guy who has been put through hell and now wants to move on with a new life. We all know he's not gonig to get that wish.

I've seen a bit of the famous GTA humour, mainly on the radio. A politcal interview with a candidate is probably the best so far. He starts out talking about trimming away the rights nobody uses so everybody can focus on the ones which are useful, and finishes by rambling on about breaking the teachers unions so money can be spent on the important things in education, like new uniforms and footballs. It's better than it sounds, honest. The advert for a TV program about a famous actress who is adopting a new child every day was good too.

The game has crashed once. It went very slow during the friends tutorial video, and then got stuck on a loading screen for several minutes. I had to exit to the dashboard and restart.

The audio levels are completely wrong. I have to crank up the volume on the TV by 4 notches and turn the music down to half if I want to hear the speech.

I have been on a date. Roman's car was ah ... crumpled into a smoking wreck and there didn't seem to be any other legal cars around, so I stole this posh looking parked vehicle. I turned up at her home in my smart new clothes, had a nice chat on the drive over to the destination, and fell into a shoulder deep ornamental lake as I was getting out of the car. Smooth.

I have played pool and bowling. Both were ok, nothing too exciting.

I keep driving on the left hand side of the road. I read the road paint British style: yellow lines = no parking, dotted white lines = the edge of a lane. I look for traffic lights at eye-level, not hanging from the air. The layouts of the roads are entirely alien to me - so many right angled turns, wide roads, and crazy junctions. Oh, the mayhem!

Driving is not realistic, whatever the reviews say. Or rather it is realistic for a car with bald tires on a road covered in sheet ice.

The manual is rubbish. It has next to nothing about playing the game, and so you are left reliant on tip boxes which appear once and once only. There are lots of things I am told you can do, and I have no idea how to. I'd like to change the wallpaper on the mobile phone to something which provides a better contrast with the text. Defaulting to dark grey and black?! Gah!

I like the conversations as you drive about during missions. They are well acted and well scripted. It appears each mission has at least two sets of dialogue for it, so if you fail you get to hear something different to the first time.

I encountered what must have been a glitch with a mission, and consequentally failed it. Minor spoilers for an early mission:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I got boxed in by the police the instant the cutscene ended, meaning I couldn't get away. The second time I attempted the mission one car pulled in behind me and the second was driving in through the other entrance as I sped on out of there.

On that same mission I ended up skidding about all over the place as I tried to shake my pursuers. Crash, smash, bump - the car deformed beautifully, and my passenger kept making remarks about it. "Roman's not going to like that ..." as the bonnet flew off. Said bonnet knocked over some dustbins on the pavement, and scattered some nearby pedestrians. The things they shouted after me were not complimentary. Lol!

Hahaha

Wait till you play the mission where you have to steal coke and "evade" many DEA agents. If you go through that one with only killing one person I'd be very impressed.

[frogbeastegg]

I don't remember playing a game which made me swing between frustration and fun so frequently as this. One minute it's great; the city is alive and I'm doing neat things. The next I run into an issue, or some outdated design, or it crashes on me.

My biggest, most persistent, tooth-gnashing bugbear is the interface. The mini-map is microscopic. All of the text is tiny. The phone has black text on a dark grey background, hard to read even in the large font size. The targeting hud is too small as well; I can't see how many blocks of health targets have. It can't be blamed on my TV either, as I'm playing it on a 32inch HD screen using a HDMI connection. Nor my eyesight; I have 20/19 vision with my contact lenses.

The last mission ('Clean Getaway') I completed is a text book example of the Gah! factor:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I was tasked with collecting a car for Vlad and driving it to his lock up. No problem. I hopped on the train as instructed and travelled to the location. The car was parked a short distance from the station, marked by a blue blob on the mini map. As soon as I arrive Niko starts speaking to the guy who owns it.

Once the conversation is done a lengthy tutorial text pops up on the screen, telling me how to sucker punch someone. It's in the usual tiny text, so it's not easy to read. The guy I'm meant to be practicing it on goes nutso on me as soon as the conversation is finished, so I have to try and defend myself while reading this text. To block you have to time your button presses, so you need to focus on the attacker - the guy who is on the opposite side of the screen to the text. You can see one or the other, not both. That's not hassle enough. A nearby policeman started shooting at me (train of logic: that guy is being beaten up and is not fighting back at all, I've got to kill him!) and I acquired a 2 star wanted rating.

A couple of shots later and I'm on my last hit. I leg it before I die. After much running (why do I have to hold a button to run? I'm not using a d-pad here) about on foot I lose the wanted rating, and can limp back for another go at picking up the car. The tutorial text is long gone, and will never be repeated. All I know about the sucker punch is that it's something to do with B in combination with something else, and unless I find instructions on the internet I never will know.

When I got back to the car the area was deserted. I picked it up and drove off with no problems. I take it to be cleaned, and drop it off in the lock up. Great. The game autosaves, and I breathe a sigh of relief. That might be it for irritation for a bit. I head on over to meet Vlad for the next mission. The game hangs at the loading screen.

This game needs a manual. A book which tells you the controls and features, not the self-indulgent pamphlet it comes with.

I spent a while driving around on the legitimate taxi missions, and I swapped to the first person camera. I'm now fine unless I have to drive at high speeds. Unfortunately that's what my next mission is asking me to do. Through loads of sharp corners. While watching a tiny blob on my tiny mini map. Failed 4 times in a row, and getting very fed up. I'm a bad chase driver and admit it, however the game could give me a helping hand. I have the distinct feeling that if it drew a line on the mini map from my location to the target I'd do much better as I'd know with a glance which direction to go. Plus the big line is easier to spot then a tiny blob. Then I'd be able to concentrate on where I'm going.

As you may be able to guess, I am currently on the frustrated side, not the fun side

Wait till you play the mission where you have to steal coke and "evade" many DEA agents. If you go through that one with only killing one person I'd be very impressed.

If I get that far without snapping the disc I'll be impressed.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I just got this little wonder today, and so far it's all fun and games. A definite improvement on previous titles - no longer can you run into roads when you feel like it, otherwise you risk getting a hands-on demonstration of the swanky new ragdoll system.

And i quote from a post i made on 4chan:

Having a shootout at the hospital after having killed a bunch of people in the waiting room, a bunch of SWAT team members ran through the door. I promptly fired off my RPG, and watched with glee as they all jumped to the side. The rocket carried on going, smashing straight into the face of a cop who was coming up the stairs.

Then later on i was taking a nice Sunday drive through the park when i noticed a pedestrian who i thought would be great fun to sandwich between me and a wall. I went to ramming speed, and needless to say they jumped out of the way at the last second. Niko then turns into a human cannonball, flies over the wall and lands in a road, where he is promptly smashed into the next lane by a taxi, and then killed by a garbage truck.

The ragdoll system most definitely adds a lot of fun to this game, as does the intelligence now being included in the phrase artificial intelligence.

Tomorrow's objectives - fun with petrol stations. The youtube videos are very promising.

[rajpoot]

But if you are really really fast, you can still run over people right? I mean they won't all jump out of the way and simply ruin the fun would they? I loved running over people in the Combine Harvester you could drive in GTA SA.

[Mikeus Caesar]

But if you are really really fast, you can still run over people right? I mean they won't all jump out of the way and simply ruin the fun would they? I loved running over people in the Combine Harvester you could drive in GTA SA.

Oh, don't worry, you can still hit people, even without speed. I myself managed to kill 15 people in about 5 seconds when i wasn't paying attention and went on the sidewalk at low speeds. I then proceeded to floor it when i heard sirens, only to go flying off the big cliff at the end of the road, landing on a car at the bottom, then skidding along on my roof into even more people. Very fun.

[Spartan198]

(train of logic: that guy is being beaten up and is not fighting back at all, I've got to kill him!)

Typical American law enforcement right there, my froggy friend!

[Ice]

I just bought the game today. WOW is it amazing. I honestly could play it all night.

[Mailman653]

http://www.collider.com/entertainmen...id/7867/tcid/1
Vlad and Niko on TV.

[Bob the Insane]

If you are having problems with the driving, try stealling a better car... A chase in Roman's old taxi is a pain, it wallows all over the place and will spin out if you try a slide around a corner. The sports cars are neat and anything that looks like a Japanse car or a BMW drives pretty nice...

Taxi's (cars, not the vans) and police cars drive well to...

The mini map is a little small, it is easy to miss a turn on your GPS if you are travaling at high speed. However if you steal a nice car the GPS will actually talk to you ("turn right in 300 yards!")...

Motorbike are fun, but really dangerous... It is very easy to come off and get badly injured when you hit/clip something... I have been killed instantly coming off a bike and then getting run over...

I love that the cops are more of a challenge now. Sure enough on 1 or 2 stars it is pretty easy to get away. From 3 stars things start to get interesting. You rarely get busted because it is easy to get away on 1 or 2 stars and by the time you are on 3+ the cops are shooting at you. You know if you are getting busted there is a moment when the cop stops talking that you can run away, they start shooting and you get an extra star (it is never worth getting busted as you lose you weapons). There are achievements for escaping after getting 4 stars and for staying alive for 5 minutes with 6 stars...

I have finished the story mode and have heard that there may be multiple endings but i am not sure how that works because the mission list is fixed I think...

The story was pretty cool and almost completely devoid of silliness...

And i don't think it spoils anything to say that the bank robbery is really sweet... Make sure you use cover!!

[Praxil]

I have finished the story mode and have heard that there may be multiple endings but i am not sure how that works because the mission list is fixed I think...

There are four main choices you can make during the game, as far as I know. Not only that, you can actually choose at least twice during the missions, whether to kill or let the target go.

And i don't think it spoils anything to say that the bank robbery is really sweet... Make sure you use cover!!

The bank heist was one of the first things R* revealed before the release. In my opinion is best mission in the game. I suggest to use grenades or RPG's against the cop cars and you'll do fine.


My top three characters, on dialogue/discussion lines.

1. Manny Escuela
2. Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov
3. Playboy X

Manny is definitely one of the best written characters in the series. Catalina in San Andreas holds the top podium. I have to play some Vice City, because I don't remember that much from it anymore. And if I remember it right, then Rosenberg had great dialogues in Vice City. Speaking of characters in GTA IV, I think that the "Italians" weren't that good this time. A "default" performances that's all. Maybe more of the Russian mobsters would have been better for the story. Or maybe the case with the IV is that at what time of the story you do job for them. Or maybe the reality is in fact that the Mafia is still bigger than the Mafiya in the United States. Still, best story in the series, for sure.

[Warmaster Horus]

Thread revival!

GTA IV coming for PC! Supposedly with better multiplayer...

Wonder what other new features they put in...

[OverKnight]

Good news, but November?! Ugh, I want mayhem now.

I must admit however that I was a bit underwhelmed by GTA: SA on PC. For those who've played both IV and SA, how do they stack up?

[Mailman653]

Better MP would be lobbies IMO, I'm not too fond of the current system currently employed on the 360 version.

[rajpoot]

Thread revival!

GTA IV coming for PC! Supposedly with better multiplayer...

Wonder what other new features they put in...

I'm so happy I could cry!!!