"This is the mansion?!"
This is going to be of virtually no interest to most people, so I'm going to cut it. But here is
I've had the game for about a week and a half now and, although only 38% through the game, I have a better and more constructive idea of the differences between it and previous GTA games.
1/ Graphics Obviously these are vastly improved on previous games in the series, but a note of explanation is needed anyway. First the bad. Rockstar promised that there would be no jagged lines and no slow loading times, meaning that you drive into cars that haven't appeared or run into walls that you can't see. While this has improved substantially, it is still somewhat of an issue. But this is mainly because there is so much going on in Liberty City. When you get to Algonquin (Manhattan) at night and drive to The Triangle (Times Square) then you can see just how impressive the games visuals are. The lights are bright and perfectly in perspective of one another and there are tens of screens projecting different images, colours and textures that is quite simply unbelievable. In terms of wow factor, I think that this beats anything that I've seen before.
At night, when lightning strikes, the whole city is briefly illuminated in ultra bright light and you see details that weren't there before. When rain falls you can see reflections in the road. If you manipulate the camera and zoom right in on the cars you can see pock marks of rust and other damage. Even the car headlights perform a useful function (driving without them in dark areas is tricky) and there's even full beam.
The faces and movements of character has become extremely lifelike and expressive, adding to the overall realism of the game. And there's a shitload of them. There is less repetition in the NPCs that you see littering the streets of Liberty City, which, for seasoned GTA players, will come as a relief. Each and every character has a lifelike look about them and they all move like real people.
On graphics alone, you honestly believe that Liberty City is a living and breathing city that exists even after you stop playing. Impressive, and then...
2/ Sound...you add the sound.
Grand Theft Auto has always excelled when it comes to soundtrack, and GTA IV is certainly no exception. There are more radio stations (19 in total, 16 music and 3 chat), offering the same mix of music (from Hip Hop and RnB to Ambient Avant Garde and Jazz), DJ banter and genuinely funny adverts. All have been written by the team of Dan Houser and Lazlow Jones, the same team as every radio station since GTA: Vice City. The radio stations follow the same form as they took in San Andreas with a non linear playlist and news reports updating the player with the chaos caused around the city and weather reports. The music played on the music stations don't quite have the same nostalgic delights that were found on GTA: Vice City, but there is variety that mixes well with the characters that are found in the game. And, for me, tearing along crowded streets while having The Who's The Seeker blasting out is about as exciting as gaming gets.
The voice acting again remains more or less consistent with the flawless standard of previous titles. There are notably no actors of the fame of Ray Liotta or Samuel L Jackson this time around, but the mix of unfamiliar voices works easily as well as the veritable who's who of famous names of previous games. There is virtually no repetition of spoken lines said by passers by in the streets now, partly due to the power of the new technology and partly because they simply say less. But rather than feeling like a cutback, this feels so much more natural and more realistic.
3/ Gameplay It probably goes without saying, but this is where the biggest changes and improvements have been made. Make no mistake, this is a GTA game. You'll have to ferry people around, chase people on motorbikes and rob people for packages. But there are enough of the improvements to make this an enjoyable and exiting experience. If escorting someone to do a mission with you then they will chat to you. Fail the mission and start again and they will still chat to you. About something else. The missions are generally more forgiving this time around, with skill rather than circumstance being the overall deciding factor between passing and failing a mission. Not that the game's any easier - if anything its more challenging than previous games - but it feels fairer and certainly less frustrating.
The driving remains the joy that it always was, but the cars feels tighter and more realistic. This takes time to get used to (for players like me who used to use nothing but the hand break, it came as somewhat of a shock that this will result in nothing more than spinning off the road in most cases, unless manipulating the foot brake at the same time) but is well worth it in the end. If GTA: San Andreas leveled you up to being a better driver via a computerized system, then its the player's own experience that improves driving in GTA IV. There is also a GPS system that will plot out a route for you in addition to placing a marker on the map. This is a welcome new feature that will please gamers that, like me, used to spend vast amounts of time in previous games getting lost.
On foot is where the game really does show off its improvements and developments. Most notably, there is now a cover system, which makes the shootouts feel more balanced and strategic. Again, this doesn't make the game any easier, but it does allow for more satisfying encounters with higher numbers of bad guys and makes way for some huge, cinematic set pieces that have to be played to be believed. The cover system does sometimes fail and the aiming system is still not 100% perfect, but it is very very almost there. Importantly, the shooting sequences now feel like as important a factor of the game, rather than a tacked on extra to some driving missions. At its best, it feels much like Gears of War.
The system for loosing the police has also changed, now featuring a system which reminds me a lot of Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Rather than going to pay and sprays or changing clothes (which still both work, providing that the police don't see you enter) you now have a circled area on your radar that you need to escape from. This is not all that tricky if on a 1 or 2 star wanted level, but becomes difficult when helicopters become involved. It makes escaping from the police exciting and strategic and is vastly better than the old system of just getting to a Pay and Spray.
Another key addition to how the game plays is with the in game mobile phone. This can be used to call friends and dates to enhance your social life, or get taxis, phone the police or an ambulance or even programme in to do lists on the organiser. It's a gimmick for sure, but its a great one.
4/ Lifespan Are you fucking kidding? It's a GTA game. The main game is about as long as San Andreas, there are loads of extras and then there's online. Now that's a lot of game.
Fuck, longer than I thought there, but there it is. Not exactly a coherant critique, but hopefully answers some of the questions of how it compares with previous games. I've probably missed loads of things out, but its so vast that one can't be expected to remember everything...
Yesterday, I made a Muxtape, if anyone cares. Its a summer selection of songs, which don't necessarily reference summer but nevertheless make me think of being happy, relaxed and warm. So have a click if you can be bothered, and maybe you'll feel some of my sunshine.
I found out today that it is illegal to die in the House of Lords. I wonder what the punishment is for that. Maybe they deny you a burial and force your corpse into being a high court judge. It was originally thought that it was illegal to die within the Palace of Westminster, but this was found to be be false in 1812 when Spencer Percival was assassinated and didn't even get so much as a ticking off. Amazing what you can find out by taking an interest in the "On this day..." section on Wikipedia's homepage.
For those that are interested and aren't familiar, please get yourself into the Manchester band, Elbow. They truly are the best British band since Radiohead and create music that is transcendentally beautiful, so if you like that kind of thing then you really owe it to yourself to have a listen. Here's an example.
Switching Off (Live)
...And Guy Garvey looks a bit like me.
(For the studio version of this song, please go to my Muxtape, linked above :-D)
I've had the game for about a week and a half now and, although only 38% through the game, I have a better and more constructive idea of the differences between it and previous GTA games.
1/ Graphics Obviously these are vastly improved on previous games in the series, but a note of explanation is needed anyway. First the bad. Rockstar promised that there would be no jagged lines and no slow loading times, meaning that you drive into cars that haven't appeared or run into walls that you can't see. While this has improved substantially, it is still somewhat of an issue. But this is mainly because there is so much going on in Liberty City. When you get to Algonquin (Manhattan) at night and drive to The Triangle (Times Square) then you can see just how impressive the games visuals are. The lights are bright and perfectly in perspective of one another and there are tens of screens projecting different images, colours and textures that is quite simply unbelievable. In terms of wow factor, I think that this beats anything that I've seen before.
At night, when lightning strikes, the whole city is briefly illuminated in ultra bright light and you see details that weren't there before. When rain falls you can see reflections in the road. If you manipulate the camera and zoom right in on the cars you can see pock marks of rust and other damage. Even the car headlights perform a useful function (driving without them in dark areas is tricky) and there's even full beam.
The faces and movements of character has become extremely lifelike and expressive, adding to the overall realism of the game. And there's a shitload of them. There is less repetition in the NPCs that you see littering the streets of Liberty City, which, for seasoned GTA players, will come as a relief. Each and every character has a lifelike look about them and they all move like real people.
On graphics alone, you honestly believe that Liberty City is a living and breathing city that exists even after you stop playing. Impressive, and then...
2/ Sound...you add the sound.
Grand Theft Auto has always excelled when it comes to soundtrack, and GTA IV is certainly no exception. There are more radio stations (19 in total, 16 music and 3 chat), offering the same mix of music (from Hip Hop and RnB to Ambient Avant Garde and Jazz), DJ banter and genuinely funny adverts. All have been written by the team of Dan Houser and Lazlow Jones, the same team as every radio station since GTA: Vice City. The radio stations follow the same form as they took in San Andreas with a non linear playlist and news reports updating the player with the chaos caused around the city and weather reports. The music played on the music stations don't quite have the same nostalgic delights that were found on GTA: Vice City, but there is variety that mixes well with the characters that are found in the game. And, for me, tearing along crowded streets while having The Who's The Seeker blasting out is about as exciting as gaming gets.
The voice acting again remains more or less consistent with the flawless standard of previous titles. There are notably no actors of the fame of Ray Liotta or Samuel L Jackson this time around, but the mix of unfamiliar voices works easily as well as the veritable who's who of famous names of previous games. There is virtually no repetition of spoken lines said by passers by in the streets now, partly due to the power of the new technology and partly because they simply say less. But rather than feeling like a cutback, this feels so much more natural and more realistic.
3/ Gameplay It probably goes without saying, but this is where the biggest changes and improvements have been made. Make no mistake, this is a GTA game. You'll have to ferry people around, chase people on motorbikes and rob people for packages. But there are enough of the improvements to make this an enjoyable and exiting experience. If escorting someone to do a mission with you then they will chat to you. Fail the mission and start again and they will still chat to you. About something else. The missions are generally more forgiving this time around, with skill rather than circumstance being the overall deciding factor between passing and failing a mission. Not that the game's any easier - if anything its more challenging than previous games - but it feels fairer and certainly less frustrating.
The driving remains the joy that it always was, but the cars feels tighter and more realistic. This takes time to get used to (for players like me who used to use nothing but the hand break, it came as somewhat of a shock that this will result in nothing more than spinning off the road in most cases, unless manipulating the foot brake at the same time) but is well worth it in the end. If GTA: San Andreas leveled you up to being a better driver via a computerized system, then its the player's own experience that improves driving in GTA IV. There is also a GPS system that will plot out a route for you in addition to placing a marker on the map. This is a welcome new feature that will please gamers that, like me, used to spend vast amounts of time in previous games getting lost.
On foot is where the game really does show off its improvements and developments. Most notably, there is now a cover system, which makes the shootouts feel more balanced and strategic. Again, this doesn't make the game any easier, but it does allow for more satisfying encounters with higher numbers of bad guys and makes way for some huge, cinematic set pieces that have to be played to be believed. The cover system does sometimes fail and the aiming system is still not 100% perfect, but it is very very almost there. Importantly, the shooting sequences now feel like as important a factor of the game, rather than a tacked on extra to some driving missions. At its best, it feels much like Gears of War.
The system for loosing the police has also changed, now featuring a system which reminds me a lot of Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Rather than going to pay and sprays or changing clothes (which still both work, providing that the police don't see you enter) you now have a circled area on your radar that you need to escape from. This is not all that tricky if on a 1 or 2 star wanted level, but becomes difficult when helicopters become involved. It makes escaping from the police exciting and strategic and is vastly better than the old system of just getting to a Pay and Spray.
Another key addition to how the game plays is with the in game mobile phone. This can be used to call friends and dates to enhance your social life, or get taxis, phone the police or an ambulance or even programme in to do lists on the organiser. It's a gimmick for sure, but its a great one.
4/ Lifespan Are you fucking kidding? It's a GTA game. The main game is about as long as San Andreas, there are loads of extras and then there's online. Now that's a lot of game.
Fuck, longer than I thought there, but there it is. Not exactly a coherant critique, but hopefully answers some of the questions of how it compares with previous games. I've probably missed loads of things out, but its so vast that one can't be expected to remember everything...
Yesterday, I made a Muxtape, if anyone cares. Its a summer selection of songs, which don't necessarily reference summer but nevertheless make me think of being happy, relaxed and warm. So have a click if you can be bothered, and maybe you'll feel some of my sunshine.
I found out today that it is illegal to die in the House of Lords. I wonder what the punishment is for that. Maybe they deny you a burial and force your corpse into being a high court judge. It was originally thought that it was illegal to die within the Palace of Westminster, but this was found to be be false in 1812 when Spencer Percival was assassinated and didn't even get so much as a ticking off. Amazing what you can find out by taking an interest in the "On this day..." section on Wikipedia's homepage.
For those that are interested and aren't familiar, please get yourself into the Manchester band, Elbow. They truly are the best British band since Radiohead and create music that is transcendentally beautiful, so if you like that kind of thing then you really owe it to yourself to have a listen. Here's an example.
Switching Off (Live)
Click to view...And Guy Garvey looks a bit like me.
(For the studio version of this song, please go to my Muxtape, linked above :-D)