Tuesday
May062008
GTA IV
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 5:05PM
I've had it a week, I suppose I should write down something about GTA IV. The capsule review is that I've played it quite a bit and enjoyed almost all of it. The car physics are improved but still feel good for driving about - not realistic but enjoyable. The new aiming and combat controls make gun battles fun now. They've lost the goofy RPG elements of San Andreas. It's still recognizably GTA, it's still awesome. We've been waiting a long time for more GTA (the last "real" installment was San Andreas in 2004, and there were two PSP titles but the last of those came out in 2006), and the magic is still there.
Having said all that there is of course a "But". While combat has vastly improved and lots of little things have been improved (you can now retry a failed mission almost immediately for example), oddly it's lost some of the GTA-ness. There are more radio stations (too many really), but the distinctive DJ's are gone. Fiddling with the radio isn't as fun as all three of the PS2-era titles were.
The city is prettier and bigger, but it also seems emptier. I've got three islands unlocked now and the population seems very homogeneous. I miss having the gang-controlled sections and the almost cartoonlike "this is the Mafia section of town, over there are the triads" and so forth. Everything is more realistic, but the draw of GTA wasn't realism, it was a particularly stylized world. You don't hop in a cab to run cab missions, or grab in a cop car to run vigilante missions. You can call somebody on the phone and do a cab mission, but the Crazy Taxi mode where you tried to deliver more and more passengers against a timer is gone. You can steal a cop car, then hack the in-car computer and get a vigilante mission, but it's just another mission, not a unique little mini-game.
Similarly, there's no strange garage with a big list of vehicles requested. There's a character that wants cars and he'll send you email telling you to get him a particular vehicle, but again it's just a normal mission. Go get this particular car at this street and bring it here. The spontaneity of being on a mission, seeing a car you needed and jacking it and then trying to hang onto it while doing something else is now gone. Perhaps more realistic, but it is definitely less charming and idiosyncratic. There are no ringing pay-phones with crazy little side missions. I haven't found any vehicles that have secret hidden missions where you drive explosive toy trucks around. Everything is now get text message/phone call/email, set waypoint, drive there, grab whatever you need and rinse/repeat.
The new multiplayer is fantastic. We played a few deathmatches, a couple of races, and spent most of an evening playing the "Cops and Crooks" mode. In one of the races I got my car flipped almost immediately and ended up in a fire truck. Ridiculous but then it was pretty easy to just crunch a sports car of another racer. There were a lot of "Wow that was super-cool" moments in the multiplayer. In Cops and Crooks I (as a cop) stumbled across the crooks' getaway boat and stole it. We had a great time fooling around with it until I accidentally flipped it on a sweet jump. And that counted as a win since I destroyed the getaway vehicle!
All of my complaints are still pretty nit-picky overall. It's a great game so far. I hope they bring the series back to more of the exaggerated gang action of GTA III or Vice City, but I imagine I'll spend a happy amount of time in Liberty City yet.
Having said all that there is of course a "But". While combat has vastly improved and lots of little things have been improved (you can now retry a failed mission almost immediately for example), oddly it's lost some of the GTA-ness. There are more radio stations (too many really), but the distinctive DJ's are gone. Fiddling with the radio isn't as fun as all three of the PS2-era titles were.
The city is prettier and bigger, but it also seems emptier. I've got three islands unlocked now and the population seems very homogeneous. I miss having the gang-controlled sections and the almost cartoonlike "this is the Mafia section of town, over there are the triads" and so forth. Everything is more realistic, but the draw of GTA wasn't realism, it was a particularly stylized world. You don't hop in a cab to run cab missions, or grab in a cop car to run vigilante missions. You can call somebody on the phone and do a cab mission, but the Crazy Taxi mode where you tried to deliver more and more passengers against a timer is gone. You can steal a cop car, then hack the in-car computer and get a vigilante mission, but it's just another mission, not a unique little mini-game.
Similarly, there's no strange garage with a big list of vehicles requested. There's a character that wants cars and he'll send you email telling you to get him a particular vehicle, but again it's just a normal mission. Go get this particular car at this street and bring it here. The spontaneity of being on a mission, seeing a car you needed and jacking it and then trying to hang onto it while doing something else is now gone. Perhaps more realistic, but it is definitely less charming and idiosyncratic. There are no ringing pay-phones with crazy little side missions. I haven't found any vehicles that have secret hidden missions where you drive explosive toy trucks around. Everything is now get text message/phone call/email, set waypoint, drive there, grab whatever you need and rinse/repeat.
The new multiplayer is fantastic. We played a few deathmatches, a couple of races, and spent most of an evening playing the "Cops and Crooks" mode. In one of the races I got my car flipped almost immediately and ended up in a fire truck. Ridiculous but then it was pretty easy to just crunch a sports car of another racer. There were a lot of "Wow that was super-cool" moments in the multiplayer. In Cops and Crooks I (as a cop) stumbled across the crooks' getaway boat and stole it. We had a great time fooling around with it until I accidentally flipped it on a sweet jump. And that counted as a win since I destroyed the getaway vehicle!
All of my complaints are still pretty nit-picky overall. It's a great game so far. I hope they bring the series back to more of the exaggerated gang action of GTA III or Vice City, but I imagine I'll spend a happy amount of time in Liberty City yet.
tagged Games, GrandTheftAuto, Xbox360 in Journal, Media Commentary
Games, GrandTheftAuto, Xbox360 in Journal, Media Commentary 
Reader Comments (6)
I've played only 20 minutes so far, having narrowly avoided playing it all night and missing work today, because I have my Responsibility Hat screwed on tightly.
So far I like the car physics, though they're touchier than they were last-gen. There's a squirrely-ness to the e-brake turns that discourages overuse, but I'm happy that the same "floaty-ness" which happens whenever you get air is still present. That's a bit of fun that Saints Row and Mercenaries have either chosen not to include, or they were unable to figure out.
Reading your review, I already feel like I'm going to be unhappy. The little thrill of getting into a car, and having some hidden mission start up is core to my enjoyment of the GTA III-era titles. Having a board with cars to collect on it is one of my favorite things from III, San Andreas and VCS, because it's always a thrill to be in-mission, recognize a car, and DROP EVERYTHING to go after it.
Then again, the lock-on and flip-between-targets mechanic for shooting was seriously weak sauce. I'm excited to think about a duck and cover system which encourages tactics and skill over twitchiness and a "Hail Mary."
Where is my "avatar" being managed? I don't remember uploading this pic here.
The only setting I find for avatars is that the log uses "gravatars" based off your email address. See http://en.gravatar.com/ Have you set that up (or has some other blog set that up for you)? JP also has a picture, so maybe he could offer some insight?
As for managing your profile, on the sidebar under Meta, click Site Admin, then click Profile on the right hand side. There's no picture option there, but as far as I can tell it has to be pulling the pic from this gravatar site based on your email address.
(BTW, that previous "timtest" post was indeed me - I was checking out how the site worked for a non-admin user.)
The cars get a little less fishtail-y as you progress. Also, this is the first GTA where I've found the analog trigger useful - the cornering difference between halfway-down and floored is significant. I don't break a whole lot anymore, but I decelerate more for corners.
As for the hidden missions, I agree that it's a bummer that they are gone (and it's possible that they AREN'T gone, I just haven't found one. But I don't think so.) but I wouldn't describe it as "core" to the series. I mean there were what 3 or 4 of those in any of the other games? The garage mechanic is certainly more significant, because basically a part of your brain was always playing that mode.
Ironically I think the missions are much improved due to better targeting and tweaks like the retry mission options, while the "just screwing around in the city" sandbox has lost some of the character that made it unique. I think the missions gained more than the city lost, but it's an odd choice to be sure.
Since I've posted this I've found a comedy club. I won't spoil anything, but definitely check out the club when you get a chance. They got some recognizable comedians to record stand-up bits for the game. That's the sort of crazy detail that's pretty awesome.
Yeah, I like watching TV as well, and the comedy club was one of the bits in there. I was a little weirded out having REAL comedians in my analogous city.
Oh, and I set up a Gravatar for BRAD SUCKS' site, so it was getting that, I guess.