GTA IV: First Impressions thread

[bdog_147]

I'm still early in the game. Only under 13% complete. Spent most of my time driving around and goofing off. Graphics are amazing (compared to previous GTAs). The peds reactions I found to be more realistic then the previous games. The first time I got hit and run over by a car I almost hit the floor laughing. My body went flying! I don't like the driving controls and the free aim shooting, I still need to get the hang of that. As for the radio stations I haven't checked them all out. So far I like Electro Chock (i think thats what its called...the techno-ish station) the classic rock station and the jazz station. Everytime I get into a car that has rap playing I quickly try to change the station. The missions I can't really comment on since I'm still in the beggining part. I like how the screen is not cluttered with stats. All you have is the radar at the bottom left of the screen and the health and armour are part of the radar. If you pick up cash or a weapon it will show that at the top right of the screen for a breif moment then dissapear. I don't mind having stats shown on the screen at all times, but it's also nice to not have it there. Well I guess thats all I have to say about my first impressions. I might post again when I get more missions done.

[+remowilliams]

OK, I officially can't say enough good things about GTA IV. Due to the fact that I don't generally have the patience for long forum posts, and the hundreds of little points of brilliance in this game. Suffice it to say that it has met and by far surpassed my high expectations. It really exceeds the sum of its (excellent) parts in providing an amazing experience.

 

There are so many things I'd like to ask and discuss with other GTA IV players, but I can't think of any decent way without major spoiling.

[+Random Terrain]

There are so many things I'd like to ask and discuss with other GTA IV players, but I can't think of any decent way without major spoiling.

You could always create a new spoiler thread and to be extra careful, highlight what you typed, click on Insert Special Item, select Insert: SPOILER, then click the OK button and all of your text will be covered in black. Then no one could mistakenly read your questions and comments.

[moycon]

The figures are in....

 

Take-Two coughed up Grand Theft Auto IV's first-week sales numbers early this morning, and as predicted, they're absolutely huge. The free-roaming crime drama racked up over $500 million in worldwide sales over its first week, setting a new record for interactive entertainment. The previous record holder, Halo 3, "only" mustered about $300 million.

 

GTA IV's whopping tally corresponds to about six million copies, of which a touch over half were sold on the game's April 29 launch day. In a press release, Take-Two's chairman, Strauss Zelnick, heralded the game's release as "the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment" and went on to claim it has surpassed any movie or music launch to date.

 

I noticed however, the article doesn't mention the fact that Halo 3 was released on one system as opposed to two.

It's might be a record for interactive entertainment sales, but it's not as impressive when you look at it that way.

[rsiddall]

I was listening to Xbox Live's Major Nelson Radio podcast as they were discussing GTAIV on a recent podcast. Anyway, they mentioned the 'Walk Free' 50G Achievement (Lose a 4 star wanted rating by outrunning the cops). Really not that hard to do...I got a Turismo and drove out to the airport and onto the tarmac to activate the wanted level.

 

All in all, I haven't had to replay many missions (only 2)...don't know if the difficulty level isn't as hard as previous installments or I'm just used to playing GTA from previous titles.

 

Listen mostly to Liberty City Radio or whatever the classic rock station is called and IF99. Was hoping for a broader selection of tunes/stations. They've had such a great selection from past games, while this is such a disappointment.

 

I do like the GPA navigation - it's a nice touch and being able to plot a waypoint is a blessing.

[+remowilliams]

You could always create a new spoiler thread and to be extra careful, highlight what you typed, click on Insert Special Item, select Insert: SPOILER, then click the OK button and all of your text will be covered in black. Then no one could mistakenly read your questions and comments.

Yeah, spoiler tags wouldn't really help. I want to see people's decisions/reactions in game, but the questions themselves would be major spoilers.

[Atari5200]

ok, i must be retarded. But how the hell do you free aim? I went into the pause menu, went to controls and the free aim button and the lock target button are the same god damn button, or is the shoot button. every time I tried to free aim, it would just lock to the closest person in the direction I was facing, or if there was nobody there, it would turn me to lock on the closest person. Nothing I could do would free aim. help, i'm sure it's something simple I'm doing wrong but can't figure it out.

[+remowilliams]

ok, i must be retarded. But how the hell do you free aim?

On the 360 it's by holding LT in only half way.

[Atari5200]

ah, ok. thanks.

[spacecadet]

Well, I got the helicopter. I'm not really that impressed with the city from the air. Considering the power of the PS3 vs. the PS2 (or the 360 vs. the Xbox), it's really not that big. It is definitely smaller than the world in San Andreas (though SA was really too big). I particularly don't like the way the entire city seems to be an island in the middle of the ocean - not so obvious when you're driving, really obvious when you're flying, especially because of how small it is. That's actually more noticeable in this game than in previous GTA's, because you're allowed to fly higher and there's not as much "fog" affecting the draw distance.

 

I'm also getting more and more annoyed that I can never seem to find a car when I need one. Come on guys, this is supposed to be modeled after New York City! Half the time the game will plop me into the street near the hospital (after dying) or near my apartment or whatever, and there won't be a car in sight. I'll have to run up to the nearest major street to find one. Ditto with pedestrians - I've found with every GTA game that when I get sick of doing missions, before turning the game off I like to just run around and cause massive mayhem for a little while (after I've saved). But in GTAIV, I literally cannot find enough people to shoot or run over. I can't get my wanted level up above 4 stars no matter what I do.

 

It is a very dead feeling city to me. Maybe part of it is because I'm actually from New York, but the previous games I don't remember being so empty feeling. I could always find a car, and there were always multitudes of people walking around.

[+remowilliams]

Odd, I find people and cars everywhere. The only time I have a car problem is when a mission ends in some really desolate place or late at night, then I gotta hit up Roman for a cab. That guy that drives for Roman is hilarious in his hatred for you.

[spacecadet]

Odd, I find people and cars everywhere. The only time I have a car problem is when a mission ends in some really desolate place or late at night, then I gotta hit up Roman for a cab.

 

Well, but where are the parked cars then? The cars driving around during the day just disappear at night. There should be a basically consistent supply of cars; driving around during the day, parked at night. I understand that they probably had to save some horsepower so they can't make it as automobile-dense as the real city of New York, but especially given that the city is an island in the ocean, it seems like the cars should actually *be* somewhere at night, not just taken out of the game.

[Atari5200]

i've experienced the no cars/no people quite often in older GTA games, this seems to happen only after dieing or getting caught by the police.

 

As for GTA IV, no problems there at all. One of my favorite things to do in GTA IV is go into the restaurants and massacre everybody in there, but you can't just waltz in at anytime and expect there to be people, you need to pay attention to what time it is. Also, I like how you shoot people in their cars from the front, head shot and they will fall into the steering wheel making the horn constantly blow, nice detail.

 

Also, could the strippers have been just a little better detailed? honestly, that's some PS2 strippers there.

[Seob]

to get a 4 star wanted level, all i have to do is drive up on the landingstrip of the airport.

For a 5 star wanted level got to a internet point and go to the website of www.littlelacysurprisepageant.com.

[moycon]

My first impression now that I've played the game.

This is a damn fine game.

The graphics do tend to get sort of fugly in parts, but when you look around at the detail of the city it is easily overlooked. (Mass Effect had the same issue)

So far the title screams "QUALITY" to me. The world is REAL and it sucks you in. The attention to detail kicks ass. The voice acting is spot on. The game play fun and involving. There is so many nooks and crannies to discover (and from what I've heard, quite a few easter eggs). I played so long my body ached from staying in one position too long. LOL

The biggest disappointment so far is lack of full blown co-op and the feeling that they borrowed a few things from Saints Row.

I've heard Saints Row 2 is going to feature a much beefier co-op experience for players. I was hoping Rockstar was going to try and steal their glory with GTAIV. Oh well. The praises FAR outweigh the gripes right now.

Edited May 12, 2008 by moycon

[Atari5200]

X-play yesterday had a segment about review integrity as it related to GTA IV. Apparently IGN bought the rights to review the game before it was released and the speculation is that they gave it a more favorable rating than had Rockstar not allowed them to review the game before it's release. IGN even released a statement about the integrity of it's reviews and that by Rockstar allowing them to review the game before it's release had no affect on the review...BS. And Gamespots review is BS too.

 

of all of us whom have played this, how many think this game is a 10 out of 10 game?? At this point in the game for me, I'd rate it an 8. The controls themselves don't warrant this game being a 10. They're not bad controls, but they're not 10 out of 10 perfect controls.

[Seob]

I think i would rate it 8.5, i have some problems with the controls (ps3 version), maybe it's because i'm playing also uncharted on ps3 and gun on the ps2, so i do mix up some controls. But what i have seen is that shooting from cars is an other button then shooting when walking.

Also i have notices a bug where cars are laying on they're side keep bouncing. And i have difficulty with hitting people. Sometimes Roman is just punching around without punching into the right the right direction.

Also the subtitles are a little to small when playing on 480p (can't buy a hd-ready screen).

And i do miss some thing from gta san andreas, like customizing your car (i'm only 8% into the game so i don't know if it will come), more clothes shops, and other personal customizing.

Online i have experienced some lag. Where other players are popping up randomly on the screen making it impossible to hit them.

 

But i really do like the game. It has some nice details, like people trying to get they're car back when you have jacket it. If you wait until they grab the door, and then drive away, they try to hold onto the car. If you bump into people and they have something into they're hand they let it drop. Or hit a pedestrian softly with a car, when he gets up again, he will limp.

[+remowilliams]

I'd give it a strong 9. I have no issues with the controls. Initially I couldn't drive the cars worth a damn, but solved that by switching into first person view while driving and had no problems.

 

I finished the storyline at about 35 hours and loved nearly every minute of it. Fantastic game.

[bdog_147]

Well I am currently about 25% complete in the game now. I am finding the missions to be kinda meh. I feel like iv'e done something similar to this before. I like the game but....i'm not getting that "wow" feeling I got from San Andreas or even Vice City. Either my expectations were waaaaaaaaaay too high, or I'm simply getting tired of this franchise. Don't get me wrong I am enjoying the game it's just.....I guess I wanted more....I was hoping for more variety of missions I guess. I'd say the game is more of a 7 out of 10.

[moycon]

I'd give it a 9 out of 10.

It should be noted that I didn't play SA at all, and I only played Vice about 2 hours in so any redundancy from other sequels is probably lost on me.

[Shannon]

This is probably the 1ss GTA game that I've bothered to spend alot of time with. Driving around is kinda fun, although it takes a little getting used to. I had this one time when I jacked a car and the guy took it back, this happened a few times. Mostly because other vehicles blocked my getaway. I eventually just ran the dude over.

 

The missions are kinda meh so far. Get more enjoyment out of fooling around. Dialed 911 had a firetruck and ER come and jacked their vehicles. Got another car and the firetruck on far. Was gonna use the ambulance to push the firetruck over a cliff (that's where I wrecked it) but ended up getting killed before I could do it. The other thing I've been trying to do was run a vehicle into a gas pump without getting killed. Have not succeded in that yet.

[Atari5200]

i just shoot the gas pumps from a distance.

 

I got the helicopter the other night and it raised some questions.

 

Didn't Liberty City have a damn? I flew all around the fricking town and didn't see one, also when did Liberty City become so flat? The part of the town with the damn was very hilly.

 

I keep looking for landmarks and things from Liberty City Stories in this game and so far nothing in this Liberty City looks familiar.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Atari5200

[Shannon]

Yeah shooting the pumps was my next option but for some reason the "autolock" feature was throwing me off. But now I think I know what I need to do.

 

I also forgot to mention the occasional "passenger" that will be in a vehicle I jack. It's pretty hilarious watching their reactions, or see them try to get out of the vehicle.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Shannon

[Seob]

I had some trouble with the autoaim as well. But you just press the aim button half then you're able to manual aim.

[Atari5200]

that was the problem I had because I found guns before I should have, there's a shot gun in the strip club in the DJ room. I actually just finished the mission that teaches you how to manual aim, and i'm probably 5-7 hours into the game, though I will admit, most of the time I play I just screw around town going on killing sprees.