Grand Theft Auto IV

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  • Hoos
    MVP
    • Mar 2003
    • 3998

    #1636
    Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

    Originally posted by Havok410
    I'll probably be back for GTA4 as well. And I remember the old GRAW days well. Alot of fun times but because of that game I couldn't really get into some of the online games that followed. I'm sure GTA4 will change that though.
    Cool Havok, it'll be nice to have you back in the mix. I'm pretty sure you were playing the night when the whole "Back of Your Face" thing went down.

    IMO, GTA4 is going to revolutionize online gaming.
    Other game companies will have to step it up if they want to compete, which in the end may work out to our benefit.

    As a potential host of some OS exclusive matches, I can't wait to dive in and unleash the fury. The sky's the limit and with some of the OS'ers that are in our ranks, we'll be pushing this game to it's limits
    XBL Gamertag: hoos4974

    PSN: hoos4974

    Comment

    • Brandwin
      Hall Of Fame
      • Jul 2002
      • 30621

      #1637
      Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

      18 days!

      Someone brought up something interesting at another forum. Can we get in the cars with enemies online and shoot them in the head while they are driving?

      Would be amazing to get into the backseat and pop someone in the back of the head.

      Comment

      • Hoos
        MVP
        • Mar 2003
        • 3998

        #1638
        Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

        Originally posted by DookieMowf
        18 days!

        Someone brought up something interesting at another forum. Can we get in the cars with enemies online and shoot them in the head while they are driving?

        Would be amazing to get into the backseat and pop someone in the back of the head.
        That would be cool and I wouldn't be surprised if it is possible. The guys at Rockstar seem to think of almost everything.

        Imagine infiltrating the enemy team's location and sneaking into the back seat of one of their vehicles. Would be hard to do with your player name and blip on the screen but if you could somehow crouch down (which removes your name and blip) and weasle your way into their parked car........LET THE FUN BEGIN
        XBL Gamertag: hoos4974

        PSN: hoos4974

        Comment

        • Sandman42
          Hall Of Fame
          • Aug 2004
          • 15186

          #1639
          Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

          Originally posted by Tomba321
          true if halo 3 had problems then uh this might as well. again microsofts fault if it happens
          Halo 3 didn't have problems when it came out though. The only problems Microsoft had was that 2 week period around the holidays.
          Member of The OS Baseball Rocket Scientists Association

          Comment

          • Hoos
            MVP
            • Mar 2003
            • 3998

            #1640
            Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

            Originally posted by Sandman42
            Halo 3 didn't have problems when it came out though. The only problems Microsoft had was that 2 week period around the holidays.
            I don't remember problems with Halo 3 either when it came out, but the holiday issues and COD4 did not mix well.

            It was atrocious online with COD4. I had 12 days off from work during the holidays and only had maybe 3 or 4 trouble free days. *Blech*
            XBL Gamertag: hoos4974

            PSN: hoos4974

            Comment

            • Brandwin
              Hall Of Fame
              • Jul 2002
              • 30621

              #1641
              Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

              Originally posted by hoosier4974
              That would be cool and I wouldn't be surprised if it is possible. The guys at Rockstar seem to think of almost everything.

              Imagine infiltrating the enemy team's location and sneaking into the back seat of one of their vehicles. Would be hard to do with your player name and blip on the screen but if you could somehow crouch down (which removes your name and blip) and weasle your way into their parked car........LET THE FUN BEGIN
              That would be amazing!

              I hope the servers can hold up.

              Comment

              • allBthere
                All Star
                • Jan 2008
                • 5847

                #1642
                Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                Originally posted by hoosier4974
                I don't remember problems with Halo 3 either when it came out, but the holiday issues and COD4 did not mix well.

                It was atrocious online with COD4. I had 12 days off from work during the holidays and only had maybe 3 or 4 trouble free days. *Blech*
                With this game though, the single player should be amazing...I want to play it a lot before I even think of going onlne.
                Liquor in the front, poker in the rear.

                Comment

                • ProfessaPackMan
                  Bamma
                  • Mar 2008
                  • 63852

                  #1643
                  Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                  The Only Person to finish Grand Theft Auto IV AND Metal Gear Solid 4

                  GamesRadar Xbox Editor Charlie Barratt contributed to this interview.
                  By now, you may have already seen our interview with UK journalist Rob Taylor, who's finished Grand Theft Auto IV and shared some of his impressions of the game. You might have even seen similar interviews with other people at other websites. But right down the hall from GamesRadar's US office is Rob Smith, Editor in Chief of PlayStation: The Official Magazine - possibly the only person outside of Sony to have finished both GTA IV and Metal Gear Solid 4, two of this year's biggest releases.

                  Above: Rob Smith is hardcore
                  Obviously, we couldn't let him keep all that to himself, so we sat down with Smith to discuss his thoughts on finishing the PS3 version of GTA IV, the depth of Liberty City and - fleetingly - how Niko Bellic's crime spree stacks up against Old Snake's upcoming stealth epic.
                  GamesRadar: You’re one of the first journalists in the US to have played Grand Theft Auto IV to completion. What can you tell us about your general impressions?
                  Rob Smith: So, going in... they call this work, but sort of holing up and having to play GTA IV for, you know, as many days as possible, was not a bad job to have. There’s been a lot discussed about how the storyline was going, how this was not going to be a plot to become the king of New York, the character was very different from previous GTAs, and so I think there’s a lot of interest in just how that would ultimately shape out. So that was pretty fascinating, to go through and see, ultimately, just what they did, without being sort of qualitative about that... it was... it was just interesting to see their approach.
                  And then, blend that with just the experience of traveling through the city. I mean, we'd had the opportunity to play a couple of brief missions and things at different times in the build-up. But once you open up sort of the entire city and see all the different sort of variations there, just moving through that world is pretty amazing in itself. It’s not just the size, it’s the style as well, and sort of how the different areas look, and it was interesting to do this in New York, where when I went out to go buy sodas... it looked like the game! The police cars have the same markings as the police cars have there. I actually thought I got surround-sound going on in the hotel room, when… I thought I'd triggered a warning level by bumping something accidentally when I heard the sirens going. And it was actually outside, but it could well have been in the game. So I think that just the experience of traveling around the city is just going to be a real standout.

                  GR: Does it feel substantially different to play than the other GTAs, or is it still at its core the same sort of experience?
                  RS: It’s absolutely, at its core, it’s GTA. You can’t get over the fact that this is GTA, and certainly at the start of the game... anybody that’s played GTA will know what to expect, know how to control it, know where to get going. The difference is just how you then interact with the city and then with the characters, and how you sort of choose to move. I mean, you know, you’re not going on pizza-delivery runs this time around and that kind of thing. It’s definitely changed from that style, but that’s more focused around what the missions are and what it is that you choose to go do.
                  GR: About how long do you think it took you to play through the game?
                  RS: I can tell you exactly, because it’s tracked in the stats that you can see. And the stats are just incredible. I mean... a vast number of details, so I can tell you how many bullets I fired, which I think come the end was something like 19,900 and something. So I actually wanted to just go shoot some rounds off, just to get to 20,000 when I was done. But it was 45 hours. Now, bear in mind, that was to go as much on the critical path as I could.

                  GR: How close did you get to 100 percent?
                  RS: My final stat isn’t that close to 100 percent, but that’s partly because [I was] trying to get through that critical path, because we’re on a time crunch and we have to get the story wrapped... in time to make the issue... It’s so easy just to wander off and do things. I mean, driving around, finding the stunt jumps. I mean, here are stunt jumps in the world, and some of these cars go pretty fast, and they can be pretty spectacular. You could easily spend 10 hours just finding them, let alone then completing them, because you have to… nail the landing, or land in a certain place or do a certain thing to actually get it complete. It’s not just, like, find it and leap off it. You can spend a lot of time. So right now, I’m going around and finding some more of those, but in the course of, like, blazing through, I, uh... I’m not sure I want to say the actual number... it’s 60 percent.

                  Above: Remember this guy?
                  GR: After having played both GTA IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 to completion, how would you compare them as next-gen experiences?
                  RS: Well, they are fascinating, because they’re both huge, but they’re apples and pears. I mean, there’s no comparison, because of what they sort of do. Metal Gear is more story, exposition... I mean, there’s so much story in Metal Gear, the whole point is that it wraps up all the answers. Which means that it wraps up all the answers. There is a lot of exposition about who did what to whom, how, when, where, why... But within that, the actual gameplay is still that of a sneak game. Although there's some just incredible firefights. I also think visually, Metal Gear shows what the next generation is really all about. It’s absolutely phenomenal.
                  From a presentation standpoint, both games show what you can do with 200-plus people, I suppose. The credits on GTA took at least 10 minutes to roll by. At least. I think it’s more like 15. The number of people involved in just things like dialogue, for stuff that I’m sure that, even in 50 hours, I'm just scratching the surface. I mean, they’re both huge games. They’re both… right at the top of the awareness list for really good reasons. But in Metal Gear, you’re on a path, you’re on a story path that is not an open-world kind of thing. And as a result, it can do and present things in a slightly different way. But both of them are very good reasons to have a PS3.
                  #RespectTheCulture

                  Comment

                  • ProfessaPackMan
                    Bamma
                    • Mar 2008
                    • 63852

                    #1644
                    Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                    Page 2

                    GR: By the end of GTA IV, did you feel like you had a good idea of where the downloadable content might go, story-wise?
                    RS: I think... there is, you know, Niko, he hasn’t ascended to any unassailable position by the end of the game, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity for extended content, whether it’s detail within the world or it’s as pieces that plug on at the end. Because many of his situations and issues are still as relevant come the end of the game as they are at the beginning. So that exploration could go on indefinitely, for sure.

                    GR: What's the story progression like? The way Rockstar's been describing it, you don’t get missions in the traditional sense - you meet new friends, and they eventually give you jobs. Does that give the story a more organic feel, like it could have gone in kind of any direction at any time? Or does it still feel like there’s a linear progression, like you meet Person A, they give you a job and that leads you to meet Person B?
                    RS: Yeah, you never really know where those missions are going to take. And actually, it was pretty interesting to see who it was that would progress [the storyline], because you might have three, four, five people who you could call on your cell phone for missions, and not be entirely sure if that was just something you were going to do for fun, or for money, or because they were a nice guy and you liked them when you chatted - or if it was part of the critical path to the end.
                    So it really was kind of varied in the way that you approached that. If you choose when you start the game to say, "I just want to blaze through this critical path," it won’t be obvious who takes you there. So you’ll have to try a lot of new things, and you will get people coming in that make you go, “OK, well, I like what you’re saying to me, I think you can help me, I’ll go down this path.” But it won’t necessarily be part of the critical path.
                    GR: Was there anything you missed from previous GTA games in this one, like swimming underwater or planes?

                    RS: I didn’t really miss planes. There are helicopters, so you do get aerial. And I think it’s really important as well, because... seeing the city look like it does from altitude like that is pretty awesome. It's just fun to fly around, and you can take a helicopter tour. You can actually go down to a helipad and just choose a tour, and they’ll fly you around, and you know it’s cool because there are landmarks to see, and sights to see. And there are helipads on top of a lot of buildings, so you can just sort of fly over and land on something and, you know, look out from there, because there are some elements of gameplay that make going up on the roofs worthwhile.
                    GR: Going back to the story, Rockstar has hinted that you’ll have some control over the choices Niko makes. Was there ever a time when you felt like you were making a decision that was actually influencing the direction of the story?
                    RS: Several. Some really critical ones. Without giving anything away, you do make a conscious A or B choice, and that... can be something that you’re not entirely sure what the outcome is going to be. It’s not instantly apparent, because of the vagaries of who you’re dealing with and what their reactions will be. But yeah, you’ll definitely feel like you’re making choices that have an impact on the way the story goes.

                    GR: So those decisions, do they leave you wanting to go back and load a save file, just to see what happens when you choose the other way?
                    RS: That’s what I’ve been doing, to sort of see what happens when you do it this way. Fortunately, [Official Xbox Magazine Managing Editor] Cory [Cohen] played as well, so we actually tried to coordinate. And he did it one way and I did it another, and so we actually found out what a couple of the decisions were.
                    GR: And did it dramatically alter the course of the story?
                    RS: No, it doesn’t dramatically alter the course. It does alter, or it can alter, some of the things that you do, get and see. So, Cory had - because of a decision he made - something that I didn’t. And couldn’t get. Never got. Not a path that was suddenly closed off, but just sort of how that... opens up options. It was just cool to know that difference was there. But there are a few places where in making those decisions, you’ll have to sit and think for a moment before doing whatever it is that you choose to do.


                    #RespectTheCulture

                    Comment

                    • ProfessaPackMan
                      Bamma
                      • Mar 2008
                      • 63852

                      #1645
                      Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                      Page 3

                      GR: How would you compare Niko to Carl, Tommy and the other protagonists? How is he different from them, and how is he the same?
                      RS: I would say he’s more grounded in a real person than... well, the other guys were kind of cartoon characters. Movie characters, maybe. I think that there’s been a real strong effort to ground Niko as a realistic immigrant to Liberty City, as much as you can be realistic with a guy that honestly goes around shooting a lot of people. So his narration of the story, what he describes in cutscenes and that kind of thing, they're sort of more subtle, the emotions and the feelings and the motivations are more subtle, because it’s not “I just want to get money so that I can become the king of New York.” There’s clearly a past at work. There’s clearly other sorts of motivations that become pretty clear. He just doesn’t have a tremendous sense of humor. He gets on and does the business with his own goals.

                      GR: Is romance a big part of the game?
                      RS: Big part? It’s part. It’s possibly the most interesting... it was one of the most interesting parts... Just because [the romantic interests] weren’t obviously a bad guy wanting you to go do something. The way that you react to and with them is more subtle, because it’s not just about, you know, somebody telling you to go and kill somebody, and if you do that successfully, they say, "Well then, there’s a pat on the back and 10 grand." Now the relationship that you have, the interaction that you have with them is much more of your own making. So it’s more interesting to sort of work out what it is you need to do and how to do it.
                      GR: Without ruining anything or giving anything major away, what would you say is the biggest general improvement in GTA IV over the previous games in the series?
                      RS: Without a doubt, the city.

                      GR: Just the city itself?
                      RS: The city itself is the main character. It plays its own role. So just that experience of going around it, however you choose to go around it, by helicopter, by cab or just driving. The city is an amazing standout.
                      GR: Can you think of any good, specific examples of the city seeming like a living, breathing place?
                      RS: Yeah... people walking around the streets with a coffee cup in their hands. I blew through a crosswalk just as a guy was – I was kind of going through fairly slow – but he was holding his coffee cup, the car came really close and he kind of jumped. I mean, the reaction – because they're using the Natural Motion engine – the guy sort of reacted to the car. He jumped back, dropped his coffee, starts bitching about dropping his coffee and, you know, you just go by. But the whole sort of movement and interaction between the person and the car looked like what would happen if you went too close to a guy carrying a cup of coffee on the sidewalk. And it really is some of those little details that help.

                      I mean, you don’t see couples walking around holding hands, [but] there is also an awareness. You know how when you jack a car, but get a bit stuck and they come back after you, and start trying to fight with you? Well, their buddies could come and help. Somebody else might go and attack one of those guys. Seeing a police officer with his gun out, arresting somebody else that’s not you, was kind of awesome. It’s like, “ha, ha!” So there’s so many of those sorts of people in places that help you feel like it’s a good... an interesting place to hang out. I shouldn't say "good," because to be honest, everybody’s f***ing miserable. I’m not sure I would want to meet any of these people myself.
                      GR: Was there a more overall dismal feel to Liberty City than there is in the real New York?
                      RS: You know, New York’s got that New Yorkness of crap attitude, and there’s a lot of people rushing in a lot of directions, you know, for their own purposes. But at the same time, there are going to be people who are smiling. I didn’t see any... nobody [in the game] said anything that implied that they were smiling. Liberty City, it’s a tough place to come to. There’s not a lot of fluffy bunnies. Everybody’s hard-edged, everybody’s got a purpose.

                      GR: Are there any teases or hints of other cities existing out there, like Los Santos or Vice City?
                      RS: Yeah. They’re talked about. I mean, this is clearly a city in a world that includes Vice City and those from San Andreas. I mean, they’re not forgotten. They’re clearly out there, and there’s references, whether it's on the radio or in what characters are saying.
                      #RespectTheCulture

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                      • ProfessaPackMan
                        Bamma
                        • Mar 2008
                        • 63852

                        #1646
                        Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                        Page 4

                        GR: So do you think that, overall, the game is worth the hype it’s been getting and the amount of coverage that we’ve been giving it up to this point?
                        RS: I don’t think there’s any way it was going to not live up to a lot of expectations. I think that individual interpretations of what people play when the game comes out are going to be really fascinating. I don’t expect it to be...I don’t expect everybody to think the same thing. Let’s put it that way. I think that there will be some areas, some elements that have people reacting in a different way, which is probably a goal. It probably works for the game to carry that kind of discussion.

                        But you see, that – that’s all about single-player, that doesn’t touch on the fact that, well, for the first time we’ve got multiplayer. And that in itself is going to... I think a lot of people are going to jump on, start powering through that, because there is a character persistence. You know, you do go up star levels and can open up new outfits and all that kind of stuff, with different pieces that prove that you put the time in. I mean, that’s a whole new part of the franchise that you know hasn’t been touched on that much, hasn’t been discussed that much, but in the long run will potentially be the ongoing lengths.
                        GR: We’ve been pretty nice to the game up to this point, but were there any major flaws that stood out to you?
                        RS: Well, I will say that I think that some people will react quite differently to pieces of the story presentation. I don’t think that there will be universal appreciation of what Rockstar has tried to do.
                        GR: Do you think that that might disappoint players who are looking for a simpler sort of rags to riches story, like in previous GTAs?

                        RS: Part of the thing with that statement is that most people just won’t care. Most people, you know, with the ability to do what you can do and the depth of content that there is to immerse yourself in around the city, irrespective of your sort of buying into the whole emerging plotline, means that for most people, it really won’t matter. And if you don’t buy the story, go do something else. I mean, it’s not like there aren’t things to do that are cool, GTA-type events that will still generate stories. To be honest I think one of the most interesting things for me was how much fun it was to fail missions. Because failing missions usually involves some kind of unexpected outcome that generated a more interesting story than sort of completing first time.
                        One example was that, as I was failing a mission and I was retreating, I got like a two-star warning, so I’m trying to get out, and I rear-ended a taxi. All of a sudden it bursts up into flame, fire started coming out. I was like, "oh crap," so I drove [up] a little bit further out of the way, and it was in an intersection with a lot of other cars. Then a few seconds later, a guy stumbles out of the taxi in flames. So then the first car explodes, and another car that was right next to it catches fire.

                        So I actually felt kind of bad about this. I mean, the poor guy’s running around on fire. So I pull out a telephone and I call the fire department. So a few seconds later, a big fire truck comes up, parks too close to one of the cars that explodes right as it gets there... and then the fire truck explodes. Six or seven cars ended up going up in flames and exploding, and people are running around on fire. It was all sort of this dynamic setup that I kind of triggered by one tiny event: I rear-ended a car. You do that a lot. But this one happened to spark up. And then when I called the fire truck, then that exploded and one of the firemen was running around. And it’s just... these are the things I’m not expecting to see.
                        On another occasion, I was racing across a bridge, and...there was a massive pile-up, to the point where I just could not get my car through. There were just so many cars there – there were police all over the place. So I jumped out of the car, off the bridge and into the water, thinking I might be able to swim to my escape. But then I got run down by a police patrol boat in the water and that was that. I died there. Those kind of varied things, you might not see unless you try stuff a different way.
                        #RespectTheCulture

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                        • ProfessaPackMan
                          Bamma
                          • Mar 2008
                          • 63852

                          #1647
                          Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                          Page 5

                          GR: Given the game's more realistic approach, is the violence more disturbing than before?

                          RS: I thought that it was going to... I thought that it was going to feel like the realism of the world might make the violence – because it is violent – feel more, I don’t know, troublesome? It’s still a cartoon game. I don’t think there’s any denying that.
                          GR: Were there any really recognizable voice actors this time around?
                          RS: You know, no. There’s a couple of celebrity appearances, one of which is absolutely awesome. But actually, going through the credits - and I don’t know if it’s just me - but I didn’t recognize any voice talent. But there are a couple of guest spots that are really worth it.

                          GR: More impressive than Phil Collins in Vice City Stories?
                          RS: Yes. One of them, when it’s revealed, is absolutely worth viewing a couple of... two, three, four times.
                          GR: And it's really obvious who it is?
                          RS: Yes. Because it’s his name.

                          GR: Is it a cutscene, or can you shoot him?
                          RS: No, it's a cutscene. [laughs] You can’t shoot [him].
                          Apr 9, 2008
                          #RespectTheCulture

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                          • DTX3
                            Hall Of Fame
                            • Jun 2003
                            • 13022

                            #1648
                            Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                            Now why did you have to post that? i just wet my pants.
                            XBL: DTX3
                            PSN: DTX987
                            WII U: DodgerBlue760

                            Comment

                            • Brandwin
                              Hall Of Fame
                              • Jul 2002
                              • 30621

                              #1649
                              Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                              Thanks for posting that.

                              Comment

                              • Holic
                                All Star
                                • Feb 2003
                                • 6424

                                #1650
                                Re: Let's talk about... Grand Theft Auto 4

                                I've never wanted a game as much as I want GTA IV. With all these new MP previews, etc. it's just making the wait that much harder for me.

                                I'll probably get into the SP as much as possible before going online. I think once you get hooked on the online portion of the game, that'll be it. You'll be hooked..

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