GTA4

[Scott_Arm]

What obonicus said. I would like RPG like character progression (Crackdown). I'd like pathing skill trees for specializing weapon skills, not to mention more weapons which are upgradeable.

No thanks. GTA isn't an RPG. It's a pick up and play action sandbox game. When I play GTA I don't want to micromanage statistics and upgrades.

More stuff to spend money on. Better missions, not just drive and kill a person, which is 80% of GTA4. I'd also love co-op like Crackdown.

With all the 10/10 reviews I expected more.

Yes thanks. Co-op is most definitely my most favourite feature that can be added to any game. Some more variety in the missions would be nice. More stuff to spend money on is cool depending on what it is.

 

[DJ12]

Ostetpop, you are being too kind.

In this day and age games are heavily marked down for bringing nothing new to the table, and this should apply to GTA too. There is basically nothing new at all in fact some stuff that they removed actually makes the game worse than previous GTA games.

I would give it a 7 out of 10, 8 at a push (with large backhander from Rockstar )

But how can a magazine give it anything other than a 10, they will lose all creditability with the millions of people that just love it because it's GTA. Give it a fair review and please 5% of the people or just go with the hype and give it 10s and please the majority.

 

[Antan]

50% into im thinking along the lines of a solid 8 to late 8`s.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Okay, how the frek are you supposed to "repeatedly tap A" at the end?
I've fell down like 5 times and had attempted the mission 20 times altogether, 4 hours straight. This is what I frekkin hate about console games.

 

[RobertR1]

After playing GTA4 for a long while now, i gotta say this game doesn't deserve all its 10\10 ratings. While i was pleasantly suprised with how the cars drive, and the graphics (sometimes) overall, this has to be the most overrated game ever.

If you read the reviews, reviewers give a lot of cudos to the game for tiny features. (Not to meantion features that have been in other Sandbox games for a long time).
Saints row allready had a mobile phone where you could call people and recieve calls like in GTA4. Nothing new, and nothing special.

I remember in the previews they made such a big deal out of this phone, and how you could set up and plan stuff. Now the game is out, and the only thing you can plan are 4-5 rather boring activities (drinking and driving is still hilarious imo) like eating, playing darts, pool etc.. From the previews, i thought you could use your friends more actively with missions, getting your m8s to help you out with whatever. Not just being able to call some guy up in order to go out and play darts.

The physics engine has gotten tons of good words, and yes its good. Its just as good as Saints Row physics engine (havoc based). (Well, the GTA4 physics engine is probably much more complex, but the end result, meaning what you see on screen is about the same ). Everything ive seen happend in GTA4 from physics i have seen in Saints Row.

The graphics, the graphics are okay, if you forget about the sub-720p resolution on the PS3, it can look great sometimes with the right lighting scheme. Sometimes it looks bad. Sometimes it looks like a xbox 1 shooter (indoor stuff).

The story is okay i guess, i think it starts out great but the last 10 hours feel like a drag. Also, why on earth do i keep killing people for 5,000 USD, when i allready have a couple hundred thousand?

While GTA4 is a very good game, i think its getting much more credit than it deserves. Yes its the best sandbox game out this generation without a doubt, but its not doing a lot of new stuff, while it keeps getting hailed as some godly masterpiece that has perfected a genre. It certainly hasn't.

I say 9\10 or so. Its the best sandbox game out there, but its far away from being a 10\10.

Thanks for saving me the keystrokes Swap Saints Row with Crackdown and I agree with this.

The main thing is that story really starts to drag on after a while. They add too many characters and each has a lot of missions, some rather irrelevant and could have easily been written out. It took me around 29 hours to beat the story line. 20 would have been perfect.

All said and done, I'd rate it a 8.5/10.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Okay, how the frek are you supposed to "repeatedly tap A" at the end?
I've fell down like 5 times and had attempted the mission 20 times altogether, 4 hours straight. This is what I frekkin hate about console games.

I can get the tapping A easily, I just suck at the following segment. Crash, crash, crash, crash ..... oh man.

I have to agree with the comments that the story is too long. The first third is pretty tight. The middle is kind of a lull, which would be acceptable if the last third really ramped up, but it doesn't. The story gets off track and never really comes back. The character stops being interesting. Then the game just ends very suddenly, and there's some stuff that happens that I probably was supposed to care about more, but it had never developed well enough.

Still, for me this game is a solid 9. I don't rate video game stories or writing very highly in general. GTA4 had potential to really stand out in that regard, and it does for a while but then loses it. The general gameplay and multiplayer is enough for me to give this a 9.

I never played Crackdown or Saints Row, so maybe if I had I wouldn't have been as impressed. I remember watching vids of those games and not being particularly interested in them.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Fully Ramblomatics review is imo the best GTA4 review out there

 

[Scott_Arm]

Ok, the last mission is REALLY pissing me off.

Spoiler

My helicopter gets shot down with rockets every single time. I can only dodge so many. A couple of them almost seem to follow me.

How am I supposed to get past this?

PM me if you've got some tips.

 

[kyleb]

Just bob and weave, don't worry about shooting.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Yeah, and there's no need to fly close and low to your target...

 

[Scott_Arm]

Spoiler

After you get shot, you just need to keep the helicopter from crashing for a very brief period and it will trigger the next cut-scene.

From what I remember.

Yep, following Kyleb's advice I was easily able to pass the mission.

Spoiler

The problem is I was flying low trying to shoot the boat. I'd dodge all the ones that could be dodged, but the last one will hit 100% of the time. Since I was flying so low, I'd always end up hitting the water which causes you to fail the mission. When I did it the way Kyleb suggested, I passed on the first try. I got hit by the rocket but I was high and flying pretty fast, so I hit that invisible line near the island that triggered the cutscene. What a stupid mission. I'd probably been crashing 20 feet from the point that triggered the cutscene the previous 30 times I'd tried it.

Oh, and the game has the longest credits in video game history, I think. It's incredible the number of people that were involved with the project.

 

[obonicus]

Oh, and the game has the longest credits in video game history, I think. It's incredible the number of people that were involved with the project.

Not that surprising, considering the manual has 10 pages of credits to 12 pages of game-information (including 2 full-page fake ads).

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Spoiler

Yeah, the last mission has pretty much everything bad about the game, bikes, spawning enemies, invincible enemies and scripted chase sequences, and so on... and IMHO it isn't even that rewarding, the story just stops there.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Spoiler

Yeah, the last mission has pretty much everything bad about the game, bikes, spawning enemies, invincible enemies and scripted chase sequences, and so on... and IMHO it isn't even that rewarding, the story just stops there.

I agree this sort of sandbox game should not have missions that are so heavily scripted. The gameplay and mission structure as a whole are very outdated and I honestly didn't have too much fun playing it through. I gave it an 8 mainly because the city is pretty spectacular, but my fun factor went down steadily as the game progressed. It is unbelievable how good reviews this game got.

The scripting in some missions was pretty horrendous for example

Spoiler

The one where you had to grap on the back of a truck, because the driver is immortal! Immediately after the driver went to the truck I sniped him twice to the head and thought that was it, but I soon found out that the truck is still going. I stole a car and drove it in front of the truck, came out and fired two clips with the assault rifle to the head of the driver, but he just kept on going... The game wanted me to go behind the truck and climb on top of it.

That certainly wasn't the only mission where similar things happened.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Thats pathetic! thank god I didn't buy the game!

 

[Cornsnake]

It is supposed to be a sandbox of gameplay, but they put all these limitations in there that you never expect. The previous GTA games never had this much scripting. It can really get in the way of the gameplay sometimes.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Ya, but there should be enough hints as to what they expect us to do.

 

[infinity4]

So bored without MP. I would have enjoyed the game more had they not forced me to finish the game under 30 hours.

 

[Tap In]

GTA IV DLC by xmas 08

GTA 4 DLC by xmas 08

Microsoft has today confirmed that the first of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable episodes is to be released exclusively for Xbox 360 this autumn.
The platform holder notes that the Xbox 360 will be the "only console with new Grand Theft Auto IV content available this Christmas".
Exactly what we'll be getting in terms of gameplay from the exclusive episodes is still to be confirmed.

 

[RobertR1]

It's getting close to Holiday season that hopefully we get some news and hype about this! I wonder how they'll market it?