GTA:IV Official Thread

[Dimahoo]

Morning. I see nothings changed in this thread then.

[Meh]

Great post.

[rubberducker]

Dude, but thats my point. Saints row didnt have the writing or the endless resources, but it got the fundamentals better than even GTA IV does. With an endless deadline and more money than god, it should have been better in EVERy area. the simple fact that a cheap knockoff does some things better is pretty embarrassing for rockstar

there an awful lot of people in this thread that won't hear a bad word about this game.

the controls are still fucking awful. saint's row certainly did them better (do they put retards in charge of this at rockstar?), and the game world really isn't all that. Assasin's Creed's world felt far more solid and detailed. it just had repetitive missions, ala GTA.

i am playing this on a ps3 and am disappointed by how little the GAME has evolved since GTA SA. i know the fanatics won't get it - but really in a year's time everyone will realise just how ordinary this game is.

[mmcg]

The gameplay is poor?

GTFO

[Kelthink]

If there's one thing that grinds my gears it's the lack of 'health recovery by waiting' systems, like in Halo or Uncharted. Health kits are old hat!

[Meh]

there an awful lot of people in this thread that won't hear a bad word about this game.

the controls are still fucking awful. saint's row certainly did them better (do they put retards in charge of this at rockstar?), and the game world really isn't all that. Assasin's Creed's world felt far more solid and detailed. it just had repetitive missions, ala GTA.

i am playing this on a ps3 and am disappointed by how little the GAME has evolved since GTA SA. i know the fanatics won't get it - but really in a year's time everyone will realise just how ordinary this game is.

Finally, some fucking sanity.

San Andreas at least experimented a bit, though: proper planes, three different locations, fucking bicycles... god, even Lazlow seems compromised in IV.

[cassidy]

well I'm only about 10% in and I'm loving the story so far, just performed my first execution, got a new boss and did one mission for him which made lol. I think the story and characters are a million times better than previous GTA's. And I'm still doing my best to not kill innocents, although I did have to shot the porn star in the head with a shotgun.

[RubberJohnny]

there an awful lot of people in this thread that won't hear a bad word about this game.

Or we don't think it's that bad, I have zero problems with the controls, and I've never played Assassins Creed.

I'd say this has the best mission design out of any of the GTAs so far, even simple filler stuff like the races or vigilante missions are improved massively by the better gunplay and car handling. The actual story missions are varied, and fleshed out brilliantly by the cutscenes, in car dialogue and NPC co-op partners.

Mission checkpoints may be an improvement, but it's hardly an embarrasment that they're not in. Everything is so much more balanced and controlled this time round that I've really only fucked up due to my own errors, like falling off tall buildings.

[Parappa]

Not sure whether this has been mention but WTF?

http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/frameset.html

EDIT: Ah this must be the DLC for the 360 version.

[Uzi]

Not sure whether this has been mention but WTF?

<a href="http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/frameset.html" target="_blank">http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/frameset.html</a>

EDIT: Ah this must be the DLC for the 360 version.

XBLA? PSN?

[Spacehost]

Mission checkpoints may be an improvement, but it's hardly an embarrasment that they're not in. Everything is so much more balanced and controlled this time round that I've really only fucked up due to my own errors, like falling off tall buildings.

Most missions are only five to ten minutes long anyway. I have no qualms about abandoning one midway through when I get an online invite as a result.

[Lorfarius]

Not sure whether this has been mention but WTF?

<a href="http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/frameset.html" target="_blank">http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/frameset.html</a>

EDIT: Ah this must be the DLC for the 360 version.

Blocked at work. What does it say?

[Kinketsu]

XBLA? PSN?

It's been confirmed that the countdown is just the old one to the PS1 release of GTA2 and that it wasn't made Y2K proof, that's all.

[Robo_1]

Quickest backlash ever???

[RubberJohnny]

Well, it's Meh.

[murray]

Well, after playing for a bit, here’s my take:

The bad:

I miss the countryside

I miss Fernando Martinez

The music is a bit crap. Vice City still has the best soundtrack, and will probably never be beaten.

All the missions seem the same. They’re all just go here, shoot them. They haven’t progressed at all.

I’m not feeling the story at all (I’ll tell you how far I am, I just did a mission which involved a kidnapping) but I’m really not feeling it. Me and Ben have joked “Right, so in this mission I’ll guess we’ll kill another double-crossing friend, eh?” And that’s what every mission seems to be. I’ve felt no affiliation with anyone/

What made the countryside in SA so good was that missions felt a million miles away from Los Santos, here they all seem the same.

No parachutes to base-jump off buildings.

Can’t buy properties, which I liked.

It actually seems like the world is less interactive.

The good:

It looks gorgeous.

Euphoria is amazing.

Combat system is much much better.

Basically, online (when it works)* is amazing. But I’m not really feeling the single-player yet.

I’m sure there’s much more I could write, but that’s all I can remember right now. I await your replies.

*I'm on PS3, remember.

[Parappa]

It's been confirmed that the countdown is just the old one to the PS1 release of GTA2 and that it wasn't made Y2K proof, that's all.

Ok, surely bit strange that is has the '08 date though, and this has not been spotted before?

[Laine]

Well, after playing for a bit, here’s my take:

The bad:

The music is a bit crap. Vice City still has the best soundtrack, and will probably never be beaten.

I love you Murray.

[df0]

Is the game (too) dark for anyone else except me?

It seems the vast majority of mission I do are late in the evening or at night. Sometimes I can't see anything, especially when it is indoors or in an alley. I have set the brightness of the game to max and I still can't see shit. I'll be damned if I have to max it even more out by altering the brightness of the telly.

[murray]

Yeah, and I'll add that to my list, it's fucking dark.

[Smitty]

I've been mulling this over for a few a days, and, well here it is. I have had this whirling around my head for a while, but I wanted to see if things would change in the game.

Meh is right. The missions are very samey, and have not only not evolved from GTA:SA, they actually seem to have taken a step backwards.

The only thing balancing it out, for me, is that because of the improved graphics and combat/driving even the most basic shooting has more bite and impact. Chases are thrilling, gunfights punchy. But it's those over and over again.

However, that doesn't disguise the fact that the missions are largely simplistic and overall lacking in variety. This is all compounded by the game being rather easy, in my opinion. Even when there is a different slant to a mission, everything is explained to you with on-screen instructions, and then the individual elements of that mission are very basic. So everything is spoon-fed to you and what you get doesn't have much flavour.

I have been having enormous fun with this game, even once I began to accept that the missions really weren't doing anything for me. I still am. But, so far, GTA:SA is the better game, in terms of the actual missions. They were more interesting and more varied. There isn't really anything vaguely next-gen about how the missions play out in this game. Much to my dissappointment, they do largely consist of drive to X and kill Z. The gunfights are better than before, the driving even more of a joy, but the meat and bones of the game are quite uninteresting.

I haven't seen anything inventive or revolutionary so far.

I say all this with a heavy heart, frankly.

[Puck]

Well, after playing for a bit, here’s my take:

The bad:

I miss the countryside

I miss Fernando Martinez

The music is a bit crap. Vice City still has the best soundtrack, and will probably never be beaten.

All the missions seem the same. They’re all just go here, shoot them. They haven’t progressed at all.

I’m not feeling the story at all (I’ll tell you how far I am, I just did a mission which involved a kidnapping) but I’m really not feeling it. Me and Ben have joked “Right, so in this mission I’ll guess we’ll kill another double-crossing friend, eh?” And that’s what every mission seems to be. I’ve felt no affiliation with anyone/

What made the countryside in SA so good was that missions felt a million miles away from Los Santos, here they all seem the same.

No parachutes to base-jump off buildings.

Can’t buy properties, which I liked.

It actually seems like the world is less interactive.

The good:

It looks gorgeous.

Euphoria is amazing.

Combat system is much much better.

Basically, online (when it works)* is amazing. But I’m not really feeling the single-player yet.

I’m sure there’s much more I could write, but that’s all I can remember right now. I await your replies.

*I'm on PS3, remember.

I think you missed one big plus: the mobile phone. Being able to ring people up and get them to drop stuff off to you or pick you up and being able to ring the emergency services are all good, but for me, it particularly comes into its own when forging and maintaining the various relationships - getting texts and phone calls from acquaintances asking if you want to hang out, or simply to say hi. I really love this aspect of the game and it’s already informing the way I play. Shall I do this mission now? Nah, I haven't seen Little Jacob for a while, it would be cool to shoot some pool with him and keep in his good books.

Using the phone whilst driving is as difficult as it should be.

[Trigg]

A lot of people are now coming out saying they don't like as much or its not as good as it should be etc. Do you think people had their expectations a little too high and built it up in such a way it was only ever going to disappoint you?

I'm still loving it however and I haven't got a bad thing to say about it, yet. Not played half as much as some of yous though (around 12% through) so this may change, maybe.

[Talk Show Host]

the controls are still fucking awful. saint's row certainly did them better (do they put retards in charge of this at rockstar?), and the game world really isn't all that. Assasin's Creed's world felt far more solid and detailed. it just had repetitive missions, ala GTA.

I think this makes any opinion of yours not worthy of any serious discussion.

[Kinketsu]

I like single player. I think the missions all put some spin on go there, shoot him or chase that.

I actually don't like multiplayer very much so far. It takes ages for a game to get going sometimes because people still don't know to press ok on the lobby screen. The average game of Cops vs Crooks so far goes like this:

Enter the lobby. Five players on each side. Half the players don't hit OK. Wait in the lobby for ages. Half the players leave. The game eventually starts 3 crooks vs 2 cops. Cops flip the car putting them way behind from the start OR the whole thing starts near a bridge/underpass, meaning both sides get confused as to what ramp they should be taking and two of the players quit.

Mucking about with some people in a bit of deathmatch or turf war is OK, but long term I can't see me playing it that much. So yeah, I'm mostly focused on single player and I'm having a great time with that. The missions might not be as 'wacky' as the ones in SA, but those games had a lot of missions that were just 'follow this car, don't let the meter go over' that I guess I lot of people forget about when looking back. Most of the GTAIV ones put more interesting angles on things, plus it's more fun to actually drive the car in a chase, or shoot the guys in a shootout.

[Uzi]

I've been mulling this over for a few a days, and, well here it is. I have had this whirling around my head for a while, but I wanted to see if things would change in the game.

Meh is right. The missions are very samey, and have not only not evolved from GTA:SA, they actually seem to have taken a step backwards.

The only thing balancing it out, for me, is that because of the improved graphics and combat/driving even the most basic shooting has more bite and impact. However, that doesn't disguise the fact that the missions are largely simplistic and overall lacking in variety.

I have been having enormous fun with this game, even once I began to accept that the missions really weren't doing anything for me. I still am. But, so far, GTA:SA is the better game, in terms of the actual missions. They were more interesting and more varied. There isn't really anything vaguely next-gen about how the missions play out in this game. Much to my dissappointment, they do largely consist of drive to X and kill Z. The gunfights are better than before, the driving even more of a joy, but the meat and bones of the game are quite uninteresting.

I say all this with a heavy heart, frankly.

It's easy for someone to point something out and you go "yeah, that's right actually", and forget all the amazement you felt and fun you had when you were in the game by yourself without other people pointing out the faults, which at the time you were having too much fun about to notice yourself.

Maybe considering the similar missions etc a 10 is too generous, but it's still a 10 for me. The game world is insanely interesting and convincing. First open world game where nearly every pedestrian seems to have a personality- even if it's a one sentence one. The mobile phone system felt amazing and it felt so awesome to get a call from Roman just chatting shit with you. The did imo improve the driving and combat, especially the latter, greatly. They made an interesting character and the missions because of the characters and story have been interesting enough. I even look forward to the post mission phone chat.

The internet thing is fucking amazing- being able to date online and all the detail and stuff packed in there could take up hours, and the cabaret club and comedy show have been examples in this game where you can sit back, not touch the pad and control it. Yeah, maybe the missions haven't jumped ahead incredibly, but look at Bully. One of the most basic games ever ever made. It's basically collect this and go beat up that. But still insanely fun- reason? because the world, atmosphere and characters make it fun. GTAIV built a world like no other before and all the GTA games have had samey samey missions with limitations- but the world made them popular and fun. Now we have an incredible world, a fun multiplayer and a new, I repeat, new social system that actually works with a character unlike any of the other GTA games and I think it's incredible. Still. 30 hours in and I love it. Even if failing a mission in the last second pisses me off a lot. It does- sometimes I turn the game off in anger. But I turn it back on 30 minutes later. The lawyer mission for me gave me more than one option and I loved it. Also the shootouts, considering how much they make up GTA games, make the previous ones, including SA, seem like total shit combat wise. Total and utter shit.

Kerriag's and everyone elses criticisms make sense and are well founded, but I wouldn't let that ruin the game for me. I just love it for different reasons.

[murray]

I've been mulling this over for a few a days, and, well here it is. I have had this whirling around my head for a while, but I wanted to see if things would change in the game.

Meh is right. The missions are very samey, and have not only not evolved from GTA:SA, they actually seem to have taken a step backwards.

The only thing balancing it out, for me, is that because of the improved graphics and combat/driving even the most basic shooting has more bite and impact.

However, that doesn't disguise the fact that the missions are largely simplistic and overall lacking in variety. This is all compounded by the game being rather easy, in my opinion. Even when there is a different slant to a mission, everything is explained to you with on-screen instructions, and then the individual elements of that mission are very basic.

I have been having enormous fun with this game, even once I began to accept that the missions really weren't doing anything for me. I still am. But, so far, GTA:SA is the better game, in terms of the actual missions. They were more interesting and more varied. There isn't really anything vaguely next-gen about how the missions play out in this game. Much to my dissappointment, they do largely consist of drive to X and kill Z. The gunfights are better than before, the driving even more of a joy, but the meat and bones of the game are quite uninteresting.

I say all this with a heavy heart, frankly.

Totally.

The countryside, and just sheer size of SA made the points you went to the next city a really big moment, here they don’t make as much of an impact. When you went back to Los Santos at the end, you really feel you’ve been somewhere, and so far - and please bear in mind I haven’t completed the story mode yet – here I really don’t think I’m gonna feel that.

[Smitty]

By the way i'm about 43%.

Look, the strange thing is that i'm still really enjoying the game. But who can deny that it really isn't pushing anything new in terms of gameplay, and that the missions aren't very special?

So, it's weird. Missions are more of the same, it seems, but I still have fun doing them. I just keep wishing for something more interesting in the next mission, and so far that hasn't happened.

That said, the game does supply visceral thrills. I had a hard time getting away from the gang in Muesuem Piece, and by the end of it my ride was riddled with bullet holes, and I got a kick out of finally giving them the slip. The game is good at that.

[Smitty]

Kerriag's and everyone elses criticisms make sense and are well founded, but I wouldn't let that ruin the game for me. I just love it for different reasons.

I dunno, I think those are really just wish-list things. I don't really care that there aren't checkpoints within missions, or that the world isn't as next-gen and incredible as some people had hoped. I'm fine with most of the game. But the missions just don't cut it, really.

I think Kerraigs complaints about vanishing cars and the whole window debacle, are really trivial, and are far less important than the variety, depth and iventiveness in the missions, and the gameplay therein.

It's easy for someone to point something out and you go "yeah, that's right actually", and forget all the amazement you felt and fun you had when you were in the game by yourself without other people pointing out the faults, which at the time you were having too much fun about to notice yourself.

Yes, but, I started thinking all this before Meh even made his first comment about it. I'm just saying ''meh is right'' now, because he's the one saying this the loudest. I haven't started noticing it because of him, I noticed a long before he said anything about it. I'm just agreeing with him.

[robdood]

I've been mulling this over for a few a days, and, well here it is. I have had this whirling around my head for a while, but I wanted to see if things would change in the game.

Meh is right. The missions are very samey, and have not only not evolved from GTA:SA, they actually seem to have taken a step backwards.

The only thing balancing it out, for me, is that because of the improved graphics and combat/driving even the most basic shooting has more bite and impact. Chases are thrilling, gunfights punchy. But it's those over and over again.

However, that doesn't disguise the fact that the missions are largely simplistic and overall lacking in variety. This is all compounded by the game being rather easy, in my opinion. Even when there is a different slant to a mission, everything is explained to you with on-screen instructions, and then the individual elements of that mission are very basic. So everything is spoon-fed to you and what you get doesn't have much flavour.

I have been having enormous fun with this game, even once I began to accept that the missions really weren't doing anything for me. I still am. But, so far, GTA:SA is the better game, in terms of the actual missions. They were more interesting and more varied. There isn't really anything vaguely next-gen about how the missions play out in this game. Much to my dissappointment, they do largely consist of drive to X and kill Z. The gunfights are better than before, the driving even more of a joy, but the meat and bones of the game are quite uninteresting.

I haven't seen anything inventive or revolutionary so far.

I say all this with a heavy heart, frankly.

All of this is fair, but none of it bothers me, I've never been so 'into' a game when I play - with this one I find I always end up sitting on the edge of my seat without realising! So much so that I only realise once my back starts aching. I'm really enjoying the atmosphere, it's true it hasn't evolved much, if at all, but I really wasn't expecting anything more.

And besides, this is the GTA3 of this gen. Vice City and San Andreas next gen are coming, eventually