GTA:IV Official Thread

[Guest]

I think Chase needs banning forever.

[Chase]

Oh and, it's fun going around a suburb in a tank. Running over bikes and shooting rockets at cars to make them explode. It happened in real life in the US - Police Camera Action showed it, guy was going around the city crushing cars as he went, till he got stuck in the crash barriers between the opposite lanes of a motorway. And y'know, explosions are cool in general - and look fantastic in this game - and a tank chasing you means there's plenty of opportunities to be dodging explosions.

So yeah, they should have had tanks.

Tanks and chainsaws and planes and parachutes and bikes and countryside.

[Mr Do 71]

Now I've got a race mission I'm repeat-failing.

That's easy.

[Dimahoo]

Right...i'm going to start another thread about this as its been bugging me all day.

*edit* - no i won't. The control system does have flaws.

I can personally adapt to them okay but i'd be lying if i said theres issues with the control and camera. No game killing ones as far as i'm concerned but frustrating ones.

[Chase]

Afterbirth is going to make a thread about how this game doesn't deserve a 9, let alone a 10. Trust me on this, guys.

[Mr Do 71]

Oh and, it's fun going around a suburb in a tank. Running over bikes and shooting rockets at cars to make them explode. It happened in real life in the US - Police Camera Action showed it, guy was going around the city crushing cars as he went, till he got stuck in the crash barriers between the opposite lanes of a motorway. And y'know, explosions are cool in general - and look fantastic in this game - and a tank chasing you means there's plenty of opportunities to be dodging explosions.

So yeah, they should have had tanks.

Tanks and chainsaws and planes and parachutes and bikes and countryside.

Maybe in the DLC

[SM47]

The only reason Chase hates the radio stations is because apparently they feature 'too much black music'. So he obviously hates black people and is a massive racist and so his opinions on everything should be struck from all the records forever. He should also be killed.

[Strawp]

I largely agree with Chase, except for the Soundtrack, which is ace and the thing about it being Hi Def San Andreas. San Andreas was better IMO. It was more fun, it had more depth to it and it at least had a few areas of innovation.

I haven't seen a single new idea in GTA:IV.

[Dimahoo]

Afterbirth is going to make a thread about how this game doesn't deserve a 9, let alone a 10. Trust me on this, guys.

wrong again.

I was going to start a thread aimed at people that moan about control systems and how i personally adapt to them but then realised it was a little futile as we all "adapt" to them as we have too.

What i mean is control methods where some say they "kill enjoyment" of a game whereas i say - adapt to it.

I personally have no problems adapting to a programmers chosen control/camera methodidgy but appreicate in this game some issues do exist.

[Chase]

Maybe in the DLC

The DLC is gonna be hilarious:

"For just £10 plus VAT you get 10 hours more missions!

MORE driving people around!

MORE fetching stuff for people!

MORE shooting at invincible people!

MORE use of the motorbike which now drives like a turd!"

It's looking like it's gonna come out towards the Autumn/Winter too so it's gonna get completely overshadowed by about 10 stellar titles coming out during that period.

[Talk Show Host]

I haven't seen a single new idea in GTA:IV.

Member of Blind People Anonymous?

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

The only reason Chase hates the radio stations is because apparently they feature 'too much black music'. So he obviously hates black people and is a massive racist and so his opinions on everything should be struck from all the records forever. He should also be killed.

Lol did he actually say that?

[Capwn]

I'm sure R* knew what they were doing with the check points thing. Makes the game feel more like a 'good old videogame' if you ask me. In the olden days when dead you had to start the entire game again! Nobody can not admit that this doesn't make it so much more tense? Not that I agree with it, time is too valuable and it's not like they need to stretch out the playing time. I think their heart was in the right place but there needs to be some sort of compromise.

[Dimahoo]

Lol did he actually say that?

I think he probably meant urban music really but New York is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

I think they've covered most bases.

[Chase]

Lol did he actually say that?

Not just that, after I said it I started talking about how the holocaust never happened and that Mel Gibson was my hero, and so on.

[SM47]

I think he probably meant urban music really.

Nah, he actually said 'black'.

[Dimahoo]

Yeah i know.

Its the PS3 playing on his mind again.

[SM47]

There's 18 radio stations and about 13 of them seem to be 'black music' - jazz, r'n'b, rap. Too generic.

[Chase]

I'm sure R* knew what they were doing with the check points thing. Makes the game feel more like a 'good old videogame' if you ask me. In the olden days when dead you had to start the entire game again! Nobody can not admit that this doesn't make it so much more tense? Not that I agree with it, time is too valuable and it's not like they need to stretch out the playing time.

Games where you can save at any time can and do feel tense too. Shouldn't need an antiquated save system to bring about that reaction in the player. It's just frustrating.

[Paulando]

I just can't believe that R* decided not to use any checkpoints at this day of age.

Aye, It's incredibly frustrating when you fail a mission to have to drive all over the place just to have another go. That's what killed the previous GTA games for me- if you fail a mission (which was quite easy later on, thanks to the shitty aiming system), not only did you have to fart about driving around again, but you had to re-buy all of your guns and that.

They have sorted most of the annoying things about the previous games in GTA IV though, I can see me playing it right to the end this time.

[Dimahoo]

I think its the most immersive thing i've ever played.

I'm not one for MMORPGS though.

[Chase]

Actually you misquoted me there, SM47. What I said was

There's 18 radio stations and about 13 of them seem to be 'black music' - jazz, r'n'b, rap. Too generic.

Ultimately, the game needs more racism. Needs an apartheid system in the city. Needs some subjugation of the ethnic minorities. And you know what? Jay Z shouldn't be headlining Glasto and I say that because I'm a racist and for no reason other. I also think To Kill A Mockingbird is a load of liberal bollocks designed to let the terrorists win.

[Talk Show Host]

I'm sure R* knew what they were doing with the check points thing. Makes the game feel more like a 'good old videogame' if you ask me. In the olden days when dead you had to start the entire game again! Nobody can not admit that this doesn't make it so much more tense? Not that I agree with it, time is too valuable and it's not like they need to stretch out the playing time. I think their heart was in the right place but there needs to be some sort of compromise.

This only works when you lose due to your own fault. When you lose due to the game's fault (like the cover/camera system not working very good in closed quarters) you better offer some compensation to the player. I think it's just bad game design and nothing more.

[Dimahoo]

I'm sure R* knew what they were doing with the check points thing. Makes the game feel more like a 'good old videogame' if you ask me

Whislt i partly agree, sandbox games are an example of where this "arcade" mentality has subsided. It is frustrating when you fail a mission and R* know this too because Nico says it himself.

[kerraig UK]

You're really talking out of your arsehole on this one. Like, seriously.

Well I agree personally. I think the music in this is seriously limited compared to previous GTA's. in fact I agree with all of chase's post. I just find it ironic that he was the one spunking his load so much over the ps3 version only to get a shitty version of a game he doesn't even really like all that much.

[CarloOos]

The fact is you can skip nearly every drive on a mission retry, people just seem to be ignoring it. There's only a handful of missions where you need a specific vehicle from the word go and can't just get a taxi and skip directly to wherever you need to be, even if you do have someone with you.

[Chase]

Just out of interest - is there anyone here who thinks this deserves a 10/10 grade?

Or anyone who doesn't think it's something of a step-back, gameplay wise, from San Andreas?

[Dimahoo]

Without a doubt its a 10/10 IMO. The effort thats gone into this is amazing. Sure it has faults, but its still worth a 10.

I don't how easy it is to program a game of this scale but its clear a lot of heart has gone into it.

[kerraig UK]

I'm sure R* knew what they were doing with the check points thing. Makes the game feel more like a 'good old videogame' if you ask me. In the olden days when dead you had to start the entire game again! Nobody can not admit that this doesn't make it so much more tense? Not that I agree with it, time is too valuable and it's not like they need to stretch out the playing time. I think their heart was in the right place but there needs to be some sort of compromise.

Nah i dont agree. not when you have to redo really boring, challengelss stuff like "go get on a train" or "follow this guy really closely for 5 minutes". Once youve done that without incidence you really shouldnt have to do it again.

Also, I find it weak that they dont give you enough information to properly prepare. As good as the script is, the cutscene should better brief you as to the type of mission "man, you should tool up before going in there cos it could get heavy" or 2make sure to get some fast wheels cos them boys will run". I hate going into missions only for the game to spring some surprise mass shoot out or chase on me out of knowhere.

[Capwn]

Ok so one thing about this game that has been quite personal to me as a games artist is that it's quite demeaning! With most of the games I've worked on I'm told to not have seams, not have repeatable features (like the green bins that all have the same paper/poster layout), bricks that don't align, low res textures etc etc. I mean I'm going around really looking at this stuff and there is some truly horrendous stuff going on BUT the art direction is amazing. Basically they have the details where they need it and everything has been made to work together along with the lighting. All the critics are saying the graphics are amazing as are the public.

So I was wondering, are many of you looking at things close up and going 'Thats messy!' ?

What would you prefer a 100% sized GTA like this or a 50% one but with no seams, clean hi res textures, lots of variation etc?

I'm guessing it's the former, right?