Floshenbarnical

I agree. The "hell" missions inside the mind of the Darkness almost made me void my bowels, and yeah that bit with the power drill was so so bad

I don't know though because I ended up finding the game really short. Niko's story arc is pretty much finished unless you count Bulgarin still being alive but as a character he has reached the peak of his development so trying to do anything else with it is like trying to keep maddy jokes alive. I'd like to play as a different character, as an undercover cop or something and maybe see some of the storylines that they just discarded by the wayside finished off. Like finding out what the fuck happened to Jonny the biker or the U.L. Paper guy. Maybe as an undercover cop you could actually find it more in character to be genuinely torn between wasting a load of criminals who are already shooting at you and executing someone because the crime lord at the top of the chain says so. A scope or SOMETHING for the M4 would be nice because it looks stupid all bare.

I'd agree. I work in a games store and all the customers pretty much were talking about how SR was too cartoony and how they can't wait to play a more realistic city but a few months into launch most people are talking about how awesome it'll be to base jump in SR2 which is where I really think R* missed out, if they'd put the realism in there and then had some fun which serious players could choose to ignore then it would have been awesome. So many times have I scaled a tall building and thought "Ah, fuck. No way down now." It's not just that aspect but driving around LC tonight I just got a feeling of emptiness about the place where in Stilwater I never got that.

Same. Saying that, I'm about to turn it on and I'm going to cry if it dies

From some perspectives (nay, most) it is but from a story point of view and the feeling that you're in a huge interactive city with loads of customisation options... And I liked being a policeman officer

I would personally like to see some more stores open, more clothing, more weapons (perhaps some weapon customisation options) chiefly a SILENCER which would be FUCKING AWESOME More parking space But really, more missions. And maybe they'd get rid of Alderney and put something good there.

I heard GTA5 will have an obligatory 2-hour tutorial on how darn holes in your clothes after getting shot to make the most of the amazing Sixaxis...

Yes and it was fucking brilliant and I ruined my GCSEs because of that on DRIV3R Just so unbelievably cool, I made a little machinima TV show using it. I've got so many friends Little things that GTAIV misses out on which previous games did so well. I know they wanted to make an artistic statement but if in doing that you lose out on FUN then you're missing the point Have you ever played True Crime: NYC? Shit sandbox but if you approached it as playing through your own cop movie it was incredible. The story was really well-developed, the characters were nicely fleshed out and Marcus never did anything out of character like kill 20 cops and then struggle to work out whether he should kill a drug dealer. It all seemed believable and the end was really conclusive and strong. Character customisation was great, what with the learning of Taekwondo and Karate and getting promoted as a detective and solving street crimes and buying elaborate new weapons... Unfortunately there were more glitches than I care to remember but whatever. It was memorable and I only stopped playing it when I realised I wanted a 360 more.

I really like fixing things. One time in 2003 I got fed up with Vice City on the last mission and stamped on my PS2, a decision which I immediately regretted. Opened it up as it was out of guarantee and found that I'd ruined the disc drive and broken ome weird-shaped thing so I went to my local games store, the manager of which I was friends with and got a broken PS2 they were going to throw away. Opened that up. switched the components over... But alas I couldn't fit it all back in the housing so it just lay open (but working) like a gutted fish. EDIT: To get a faulty out of warranty 360 working again, I'd take it from six different men at once. But the 360 hasn't been out for three years yet so they're still covered by M$'s 3-year manufacturers guarantee...?

I really agree. Like walking through Middle Park in the morning when there's a little bit of light mist or on top of a skyscraper in Star Junction in the howling wind, pelting rain and crashing thunder (there's one building next to Star Junction that you can get to the top of using a window platform) and you just really want to take a picture to capture it. That, and tits. So many great, great tits in this game. Tits, tits, tits... Replays would be good, but I don't know how it would work, maybe the last 10 minutes of in-game footage? So many times have I done something suitably epic and then you just have to continue about your pottering about muttering to yourself "Well I saw it, and it was awesome"

I don't know, I like the mobile phone and I'm used to it. I like experimenting around with numbers you see on billboards. The only thing I hate is the way it doesn't save pictures taken with the camera so all the tits I've photographed at train stations were in vain. A couple of things were introduced that looked to be a continous thing in the game, like taking pictures of people and then searching their faces in the LCPD database but I think that only happened in about 2 missions. Another thing was taking to rooftops and using these to get around in a chase- this looked to be a fairly solid consistent theme but again that only really happened in I was playing last night and noticed a couple of things that hacked me off. These included: 1. Buildings without fire escapes meaning that you leap onto a rooftop off another rooftop/ crash land a helicopter onto one and then have no option but to plunge inexorably to your death for your valiant efforts. 2. Objects that appear solid but evidently are hallucinations of Niko's meaning that should you step on them, once again you will fall to your doom. Like when I was climbing a crane to jump onto a rooftop but it was at the wrong angle so I walked up the cable (which again is ridiculous considering his feet were not touching it on either side) to its apex, then back down again to get on top of the criss-cross "tunnel" that covers the long walkway. I walked along the side of this structure which was apparently fine and then the game arbitrarily decided that one of the cross-beams was a ghost and I fell through it. Frustrating. Happens far too often. 3. Cranes, and the fact that for some reason you can't enter the cab and swivel them around. This would make for some of the most epic chases ever although to be fair the most epic chase I have had did involve leaping onto a building from a crane and then scaling down a fire escape (the one in the blocked road just south of Split Sides Comedy Club in the Meat Quarter). 4. Niko's seeming disinterest in the fact that he is being shot at while performing actions, say for example shutting a car door after exiting said car. This has lead to me getting shot so many times when all he has to do is jump out and make off like an escaping rapist but no! His OCD leads him once again to his death. 5. Lastly, the way the game arbitrarily decides which heights will kill you. Last night I plummeted from the roof of Grand Central Station (The huge station opposite the U.L. Paper building) and lived, and I was on full health. I ended up on 10%. This lead to some experimentation and I found out that sometimes you live and sometimes you don't. One time Niko landed on his feet and went "Aggh FUCK!", and was fine. A second later his momentum caused his knees to buckle and he landed on his knees and suddenly 80% of his health disappeared and he died. I find both situations weird because although the building is fucking tall the fact that you sometimes survive it really pisses me off because it draws you out of the experience and instead of you thinking "fuck that I'll die, I'll try something else" you think "oh, last time I made it" which causes you to fall to your death. 6. Ok, really lastly. Niko's slippery shoes. I'm talking about jumping onto the roof of a stationary train mid-pursuit and waiting until it leaves only to find that you roll over and over. I wish they'd sort this out because it'd be so damn sweet. Even grabbing onto the front/back/side doesn't work- he just lets go and it's soul destroying. This is probably the major think I wish they'd sort

Went to see Turisas on Wednesday... Viking Battle Metal. Epic.