GTA IV

[SnakeCharmer]

So. 

Basically. 

Second Life without the furries,  , and flying peni? 

:D

[Falconeer]

*rolleyes*

The city is a MASTERPIECE of digital craft.

If you can't see that then you are blind on so many levels.

[schild]

If it's ugly (which it is)

You should have your head examined.

No, it's absolutely ugly as fuck. But that doesn't mean it isn't well-crafted. It is NASTY ugly. Like, holy shit how did they spend so much money ugly. Turns out they spent the money videotaping rain and shit instead of filling it with awesome til there was blood coming from their eyes.

[eldaec]

I'm just not seeing what is so spectacular about it that it's getting all these rave reviews, especially when the graphics are subpar for this generation, the controls are horrible, and the AI is weak.  Why do these HUGE points not kill the game like others?  Because of titties?  Because of NPCs and your avatar yelling fuck!  shit!  nigga please!?

Stop asking these questions.

[Falconeer]

If it's ugly (which it is)

You should have your head examined.

No, it's absolutely ugly as fuck. But that doesn't mean it isn't well-crafted. It is NASTY ugly. Like, holy shit how did they spend so much money ugly. Turns out they spent the money videotaping rain and shit instead of filling it with awesome til there was blood coming from their eyes.

No it's not ugly at all. Get your number in the line for the head doctor.
See that's exactly what is not: ugly.

Technically debatable for a Next Gen console? Sure.
Ugly? No.
Mastercrafted? Hell yeah.

[schild]

Look, I don't know where you live in Italy (as I find most of Italy fucking beautiful), but New York is ugly and so is Liberty City. Liberty City just happens to have a little less trash than New York.

[Falconeer]

It's not like I'd love to live in NY (While I'd love to at least visit North Ameica once before I die). I just think it's incredible, and unexpected, to have a real, huge city into your PS3.

I still stand my point that this shows how beautiful this game is.


EDIT:

Look, I don't know where you live in Italy (as I find most of Italy fucking beautiful)

You know it's Roma. And yes, it would be awesome to have GTA VII - Eternal City.

[schild]

Yea, it's easy to make something expansive and impressively large when nearly everything is ugly, all the shades of a few colors with random neon here and there, and only 5 different body types with about 30 sets of clothes split between them.

Look, it's ugly graphically. It's masterfully crafted though. I'm not seeing how you can't make the distinction between the two. It's a video game. Beautiful is Mirror's Edge. Beautiful is some of the landscapes in LOTRO. Beautiful is the fantastic. GTA is not the fantastic and it is ugly. I'm not splitting hairs here, I'm merely seperating the graphics department from the craftmanship of the actual city.

Edit: I know it's Roma, but Los Angeles has some beautiful parts and it also has Crenshaw. I meant, I didn't know where you lived there.

[AcidCat]

Well, everyone has their opinion, I think the game looks great for the amount of detail it has, all the things you can see at once, the lighting. In my mind I don't really compare it to any other games but the previous GTA's - and it is a huge graphical leap over those games, I really have no complaints. And I dig the driving controls, it takes a bit of skill and all the cars have their own feel.

[Tebonas]

I find the city is ugly, I just presumed its supposed to be that way. Dirty and bleak, with some obscenities in neon. The ugly side of the American dream - literally.

Vice City was the only brightly colored GTA I can remember.

[Murgos]

I posted earlier that I thought Crackdown had better art direction.  It managed to make a dirty, bleak and run-down city that was still graphically attractive (if you like cell-shading).

It certainly wasn't as detailed, large or complex a game as GTA:IV but it's similar and had a few novel elements that GTA would have benefited from adopting.  The timed races leaping and jumping across buildings around the city were just a straight up blast.

[photek]

Vice City was the only brightly colored GTA I can remember.

San Andreas ?

I absolutely love the art direction in GTA IV. Flying with a helicopter or just driving around over the bridges, on a boat, nighttime or daytime, it looks awesome. Also as someone up here said, having a huge city on your PS3 and inside a game like GTA is win.

[AcidCat]

I took some time the other day and took a long walk through the city, with the camera in the closest position to Niko, using the camera stick frequently to just look around. Not worrying about missions or anything, just walking through a city. At the end of the walk I really had a new appreciation for Liberty City and how much effort Rockstar put into making it feel real. There's so much you don't really notice when you're just zipping around between missions following the gps. Ambient sounds, hundreds of little details, the way the light changes throughout the day.

[LK]

That's why I think it was such a damn shame for them to hold speed contests for their game during the launch window.

"COMPLETE THE GAME QUICK! GET YOUR KEY! PLAY FAST!"

Then they have these marathon competitions that serve no real point on the Social Club.  Ergh...

I do like me some Multiplayer though.  I found myself speeding up once the May 19th deadline for the key approached (I wouldn't have had a chance otherwise) so now I can enjoy the repeatable content that is Multiplayer.  Rocket Launcher FTW.

[Azazel]

Key?
Social Club?
Did I miss something relevent?

[caladein]

Not really, but... http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/

[Murgos]

I accidentally got Carmen killed in a vicious motorcycle accident while out on a date.  With the sandbox nature of the game I think I am going to let her stay dead rather than reload.  I'm rather surprised you can kill off NPCs, I hope she wasn't important.

[vex]

I accidentally got Carmen killed in a vicious motorcycle accident while out on a date.  With the sandbox nature of the game I think I am going to let her stay dead rather than reload.  I'm rather surprised you can kill off NPCs, I hope she wasn't important.

I couldn't stand her.  I think you did the right thing here.

[Samwise]

I wonder what would happen if I drove a car with Roman in it into the ocean and bailed out at the last second.

[Moosehands]

That's accounted for.

The first time Roman called me and asked to go to a strip club I picked him up on a Faggio.  The minute he got on the scooter he started complaining about how they were dangerous and they made him nervous.  So, being the douche I am, I decided to do a bunch of stoppies on the bridge headed to the club.  But I misjudged my braking distance and slammed into the back of a pickup, which catapulted Roman over the truck and into oncoming traffic.

I got a message saying "Your companion has been hurt!" and I failed the mission.  Roman's mission icon disappeared off the map.

I figured I'd just rampage around for a while without saving then reload since I figured I'd broken the game.  But five or so minutes later, I got a call from Roman.  He was at the hospital, and needed me to pick him up and drive him back to the cab garage.  He complained profusely the entire ride home.   

[Samwise]

That's AWESOME.  Time to see how many ways I can kill him.

[Yegolev]

Stupid Roman.

Phone rings...

"Hey, let's go play darts, Cousin Larry!"

...at the pub...

"Awwwwww, not darts!  I'm sooo bored over here!"

Assfucker.

[Samwise]

"...Cousin Larry!"

 

Also, I learned last night that if you drive a friend into the river they just hop out and swim back to you.  Damn.

[rattran]

High-speed crashes, preferably on fire are the way to go to end unpleasant dates.

[Jeff Kelly]

The missions get more and more one-dimensional as the story progresses. Somehow it just seems to be "Go there and shoot dozens of enemies" which is near to impossible without carbine and body armor.

Also I'd very much like a way to see which packets/graffiti/pidgeons you have already killed and where the missing ones are. I'm at 199/200 and cannot find the last one because I made an error following the guides.

[JWIV]

I'd just fucking kill for either a quick save or god damn mission checkpointing.  I don't have enough time in the day to keep repeating 5-10 minute drives to fail a 20 minute mission and have to repeat it.

[murdoc]

I'd just fucking kill for either a quick save or god damn mission checkpointing.  I don't have enough time in the day to keep repeating 5-10 minute drives to fail a 20 minute mission and have to repeat it.

A-FUCKING-MEN.

[Bunk]

9 out of 10 missions, you just hit the retry option on the phone, hop in the nearest cab, and hit A.

There are a few that insist you drive a mile first, but they are relatively rare.

[Rasix]

He's probably specifically speaking about the fucking bank mission.  That one made me put the game down cold for a while (still haven't picked it back up).

[Ozzu]

He's probably specifically speaking about the fucking bank mission.  That one made me put the game down cold for a while (still haven't picked it back up).

I had some troubles with that one. I don't remember how many times I had to run through it, but the most heart-breaking was getting to the area where you need to run through the Subway tunnel and getting hit by a stray bullet just before I was about to get through it. Grenades are your friend on that mission though. If you can heave a grenade into the middle of those police cars, they'll go off in chain reaction mode.

On another note, I can't emphasize enough how important getting Kiki up to 100% on the friend rating. Her ability to clear wanted level with just a phone call saved my ass so many times.

[LK]

The game isn't going to last as well as Call of Duty 4.  I am probably going to go back to COD4 once my time in GTA is finished (at Rank 10 and all Achievements).  I found out the Co-Op missions are a ridiculously easy way to earn cash to rank up.  $4500+ for about 3 minutes work.  Team games don't reward nearly that much and solo games take 30 minutes just to make something close to that.

[Samwise]

I've pretty much gotten used to driving the cars with the gamepad... but fuck the ground combat right in the ass with an analog joystick.

I'm on the hospital mission right now.   

[Jeff Kelly]

The last mission should die in a car fire. I have repeated that one 20 times so far. Long mission, no savepoints, dodging rockets with a helicopter = fail.

[Samwise]

It sounds like it at least involves vehicles.  Unlike the hospital and bank missions which are each 20 minutes of walking around shooting things and then dying and retrying.

I'm on my seventh time through the bank mission or something.  Finally made it up out of the subway without getting hit by a train, and I got shot to death while getting in the getaway car.  Son of a bitch.

[Jeff Kelly]

Well the missions are a lot less exciting and varied than in precious installments. Most times you just have to walk and shoot everything. About halfway through I always had a vest + carbine rifle with maxed ammo. makes the missions a whole lot easier.

Also cover and ducking by pressing L1 (on the PS3) and moving between cover spots is essential for success. Out in the open you usually don't survive for long. A few grenades also help (Although because of the abysmal targeting I tend to blow up myself more often than my enemies)

All in all I would give GTA IV a 9/10 for the world part (the city is awesome but I could imagine even more just by taking other GTA releases as example) and a 6/10 for the missions that tend to get "go there shoot everything and escape" more often. 7/10 If the camera handling while driving and shooting was better.

Sometimes I couldn't even hit opponents from cover because you can't hit something that is not in view of the camera, even if it is in view of your character.

Also a hint for all of those trying to get all pigeons. On the ingame rockstar map large blips designate more than one pigeon usually two near each other. Liberty Island has 6. Oh and there is one pigeon missing on the map on the third island.