Article about Grand Theft Auto 4.

[Hammerskjold]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/421141

I was kind of surprised, I thought it was only me and my friends that does it. Half the fun I got out of the GTA games was when me and my buddies do our own version of MST 3000, and seeing how spectacular of a mayhem we can cause. Though sheer carnage is not the only goal of course. Stupid funny deaths are also given high marks.

On another note, GTA 4 from what little I did sample, is spectacular. I heard there was still problems with the multiplayer component, but for me at least everything else was superb. The TV channel is great, atmospheric rendering at night and rainy weather is really nice looking. The cars handles a lot nicer too at least for me. I give top marks for the artistic style and the biting sarcasm. And the virtual ultra sax and violins.

[Mithrandir]

The cars handles a lot nicer too at least for me.

Ugh. This is one of my few complaints about GTA 4 - even the nice cars handle like they are boats. The game is also really, really dark for some reason... I had to turn the brightness and contrast almost all the way up to be able to see *anything* past 8pm. Also, I can't understand what the hell the Little Jacob and Badman characters are saying for the life of me.

I'm really stretching to come up with complaints beyond this. This game is good. Really, really good.

[[wcip]Angel]

I read both the perfect-score Gamespot- and 9.8-score Gametrailers.com-reviews before playing the game, and so my expectations were reasonably high when I first started playing.

So far, I'm quite impressed and very happy with the game. Whether or not it merits a perfect 10 remains to be seen. I'm not quite there yet.

To me, one of the most impressive things I've seen so far, is the characters, the acting and the dialogue. The script for both in-game characters and radio commentators is well-written, convincing and often quite funny.

The graphics are good, but have their ups and downs. In the city itself, there seems to be a lack of detail. I'm not saying they didn't make a decent effort, but it just lacks that little extra to make it truly rich and vivid. Maybe that impression will change. The game truly shines at dawn and dusk, when night and day are slowly coalescing. Also, to repeat myself from what I said the first time I played Morrowind on my newly upgraded PC some years back: "I've never seen water look this realistic". Truly spectacular!

On topic: We too play around the projector screen in our house. I live with two friends and we often sit and watch each other play. The only problem is that my friends just want to drive around, explore and cause mayhem, while I want to advance the storyline to see what one of my favourite game characters will do next.:)

Oh, and the game is too dark for the projector screen during the day. Even with the blinds and curtains closed, I still can't make out what my SMS-messages say. Is it possible to get a new/better mobile phone? I know you can change the text size, but that doesn't help matters.

edit: one final thing, the handling of the cars. Yes, it takes a few hours of playing before realising that you can't drive cars in GTA4 in the same way you did in the previous iterations of the series. I haven't decided yet if I think it's a step in the right direction making the driving more realistic and less arcade-y, but my driving improves with each passing hour. I think it's just a matter of adjusting to the game's unique take on car-handling. Also, one of my flat mates found a very decent car last night that was easier to handle. Perhaps the handling and driving will improve as you get to the further stages of the game and can access some of the more posh cars?

[Mithrandir]

Angel' date='May 5 2008, 01:29 AM' post='147347']
edit: one final thing, the handling of the cars. Yes, it takes a few hours of playing before realising that you can't drive cars in GTA4 in the same way you did in the previous iterations of the series. I haven't decided yet if I think it's a step in the right direction making the driving more realistic and less arcade-y, but my driving improves with each passing hour. I think it's just a matter of adjusting to the game's unique take on car-handling. Also, one of my flat mates found a very decent car last night that was easier to handle. Perhaps the handling and driving will improve as you get to the further stages of the game and can access some of the more posh cars?

I'm 15+ hours into the game and still think that the driving is pretty annoying the majority of the time. It's a lot better than it was my first hour in the game, but I still keep wishing for the vehicles to handle like they did in GTA 3 / VC / SA.

[Arnulf]

The game is really something. I am amazed at the level of detail. Random things that made we wonder how far Rockstar went:

- The smoke billowing out of the car when driving with Little Jacob. At first I thought the car's engine was going to be bust, when I noticed an arm casually flipping a stub out of the window... every three minutes or so. I had to turn on subtitles to get at least some bits of what Jacob says..

- TV. The concept is really weird. A TV in the game, and I really sat and watched a whole episode of "Republican Space Rangers" or what they're called. Later I saw in the game manual that Wil Wheaton voiced one of the aliens. Nice nod to him.

- You have to pay to cross the bridge? Do you have to pay to cross into Manhattan too?

- Algonquin (the in-game caricature of Manhattan) is huge compared to the first two islands. The ramps on and off the bridges alone are so complicated, I wonder how many people worked on these...

- Sometimes I really try hard to drive by the rules, just to prove that I can still do it. But still it's very hard. Once I thought I managed to do it, but when I looked at the car really closely (I wish there was a zoom) I noticed small scratches in the lacquer.

Compared to Vice City, the only other GTA game I own, this is so much more complex. And almost everything is over-the-top; radio, commercials, burger restaurants, even the stuff the pedestrians say.

I like the story and can sympathize with the main character, despite the atrocious things I have to do to advance the story. I think at one point I had the choice to spare one life, but did him in anyway... since I only use one save-slot I will probably play the game at least twice. Maybe many times more.

Cutting corners, running red lights, hearing the other drivers and pedestrians swearing makes me giggle like a little girl. B)

[Rhydderch Hael]

The cars in GTA IV are slippery, but it's not that bad if you've cut your teeth with Forza Motorsport 2 or the like.

Driving down the bridge with the lit skyline of Algonquin shining through an evening fog, with some jazz pouring out of the radio, is an experience to behold.

As to amusing GTA occurences that no one else got to watch 'cept me, I had a small doozy of one just yesterday.

There I was, playing with grenades, as I had Niko stand between two cars parked on a busy Algonquin street and drop one to the asphalt. Niko was boxed in on two sides, and I had a choice: have him run towards the sidewalk, or do I have him dash out into the street? I chose 'street'.

There's a catch to that, though: streets were made for cars, not people, and the instant I had Niko break into a sprint for the other side, a white car comes along and closes up the third wall to this box. Niko runs straight into the right fender, and the forward motion of the car spins the fellow clockwise 180° before he collapses on the ground back where he started... right on top of the grenade.

He's getting back up onto his hands and knees, a fused grenade staring him straight in the face. I was hoping he'd be able to get up in time, but you know that wasn't going to happen. He was still on all fours when the grenade went off. Everything goes into slow-motion when Niko gets killed in this game, and apparently this cutscene doesn't end until Niko's body hits on the ground— that grenade blast made sure that that occurence did not happen for a long, long time.