Grand Theft Auto IV First Impressions? Warning: Here Be Spoilers!

  • Thread starter Thread starter KieranMurphy
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lmfao @ getting drunk. Also, I think drunk driving gets you a star.
 
I sure hope some stores still have some copies when I get off work...

I agree, San Andreas was just too 'big'... I didn't like it as much as Vice City.
 
Omnis
lmfao @ getting drunk. Also, I think drunk driving gets you a star.
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I think if you pass a cop or cop-car when drunk driving you get a star. I've driven home from drinking sessions a couple of times without getting any stars but I passed a cop car after a drinking session with Jacob and I got a star. The characters can be really funny when drunk. On a couple of occasions, Niko collapsed right onto his face on the floor. The drunk driving is exactly like the Boomshine mission for Phil in Vice City, same blurry effect and difficult to control vehicle.

I wonder how long it'll be before I get to unlock Algonquin (don't tell me!). I've done 30 missions so far and played over 10 hours so I can't imagine I have to do much more. The city is damn huge. I've read that the game map isn't as big as San Andreas (or about the same size) but it's all city and very densely detailed. Getting to know the previous cities took long enough. Getting to know this Liberty City off by heart will take a LONG time I think.
 
Ive unlocked Island 2 last night. Upto 14hrs gameplay now also.

I really enjoy the characters this time, they have to much more life and are so much more funny. Soon enough you will meet a wanna be gangsta whos "protecting" the streets... haha.

classic.

KM once you do a mission called snow storm, let me know how you went... You shouldnt be too far off it now.
 
KieranMurphy
The citizens of Liberty City sure are trigger happy... I was chasing some guy down the street in a mission to kill him, and after I fired a few shots at him, all hell broke l0ose, lots of people whipped out their guns and started shooting at me!

Also, I was talking to Roman after completing a mission and some random dude just ran up to me and started stabbing me and shouting at me and then ran off - he almost killed me.
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Hehe one time I was stealing a Bobcat and I didn't get away fast enough and the owner of it whipped me out and started punching me. Two pedestrians charged and I thought aw crap I'm screwed but they actually started punching the owner of the Bobcat. So I went ahead and left with the Bobcat. :lol:
 
Small_Fryz
Ive unlocked Island 2 last night. Upto 14hrs gameplay now also.
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Ok, I've just under 12 hours gameplay now according to my stats page, so I probably don't much more to do to unlock the next island assuming we're playing at about the same rate and mainly concentrating on missions.

KM once you do a mission called snow storm, let me know how you went... You shouldnt be too far off it now.
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I'll post here in this thread once I do it or fail it or whatever.
 
There is a seriously hard mission that i presume is the last for the second island, Algonquin; you basically fight an entire army of men. I really need to hone my cover-system skills.
 
KieranMurphy
I wonder how long it'll be before I get to unlock Algonquin (don't tell me!). I've done 30 missions so far and played over 10 hours so I can't imagine I have to do much more.
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Well, the very next mission I did unlocked the next island. I might explore "Manhattan" a bit now to see what it's like.
 
I've been finding the car handling tricky but quite entertaining. A lot more weight to the cars, you can't really brake and turn at the same time and the handbrake has to be used with more caution than previous GTAs! Love the game already though and I've only played for a few hours.
 
The handbrake I find to be only used in emergency situations - it really lets the car slide out of control. I did the first street race for the Steroid Monkey and passed it on the 4th try because I had to learn to go easy on the handbrake and to get used to the regular brake - and even then to go easy because the cars ain't as easy handling as in previous GTA games.
 
KieranMurphy
The handbrake I find to be only used in emergency situations - it really lets the car slide out of control. I did the first street race for the Steroid Monkey and passed it on the 4th try because I had to learn to go easy on the handbrake and to get used to the regular brake - and even then to go easy because the cars ain't as easy handling as in previous GTA games.
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Some cars handle it better than others, but yes for the race i found out quickly it was better to brake properly and turn rather than handbrake like old GTA's. I do enjoy the new handling and their is a big difference between say a turismo and a regular crappy sedan.
 
Small_Fryz
Some cars handle it better than others, but yes for the race i found out quickly it was better to brake properly and turn rather than handbrake like old GTA's. I do enjoy the new handling and their is a big difference between say a turismo and a regular crappy sedan.
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im a big fan of the new driving dynamics. the sound quality and the damage models really make the cars super enjoyable in this game. i love the depth of the tire squeels and the many different engine sounds. the sound in general of this game is probably my favorite part. R* did a great job making the cars more varied in styles and performance. im pumped up.:sly:
 
lmracer
i love the depth of the tire squeels and the many different engine sounds. the sound in general of this game is probably my favorite part.
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Yeah, have you noticed how you can hear the supercharger squeal in muscle cars, if you look behind you while driving? A nice touch.
 
also when your turning sharp in a car like the duke and the front bumper hits the road, sparks fly everywhere lol. You can really do some nice drifts and slides now.
 
I still prefer Vice City. :lol:


I've only got a couple of hours under my belt, but the characters and linear storyline to this point have not gripped me yet. The controls make me want to kill kittens. The lead voice actor doesn't have a distinctive enough voice (just like San Andreas - this was one of Vice City's major strengths) for me to distinguish his voice from others, which could me I've missed a vital piece of speech thinking someone else has said it.

Still, good graphics and some nice attention to detail (I quite like the interference noise you get while listening to the radio and a text message is inbound). I could do with learning Liberty City too - something I've never really fully got round to. But I hope to hell that the characters and storyline become a bit more engaging soon - attention to detail is all well and good, but they're just gloss and there's not much point putting gloss on a wall made out of shaving foam.
 
yeah, my index fingers are killing me from the damn RL2 triggers. This game was designed for xbox.
 
Hmm...

*plugs in G25*

Otherwise, I might have to reset the controls to Classic mode.
 
Small_Fryz
KM once you do a mission called snow storm, let me know how you went... You shouldnt be too far off it now.
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I got it done on the 2nd attempt. First time I did it, I got in and out of the building ok and killed everybody, and when I was on the run from the cops, I did the stupidest thing, I was driving along and for some reason I hit the button to bail out of the car and Niko rolled right under a cop car and was killed.

Second time through the only hitch was when the cops arrived and the SWAT guys were there. Congratulation Rockstar on another crappy autoaiming system. There was a guy 6ft from me shooting and the autoaim kept aiming at guys 50 yards away, I was low on health so I just made a run out of the building, ignoring the cops and grabbed the first vehicle I came across and eventually lost my wanted level.
 
Yes i spent the 1st 5 times trying to kill all the guys on the way out... more and more and more cops kept coming and i wasnt making progress, i was just dieing and loosing health.. finally on the 6th go i just ran out past every cop, shooting about 1 or 2 and hijacked a car and lost my wanted level.
 
I think I'm going to like this game, not least because the cars look and feel so much better, and getaway driving was always my favourite bit about GTA! The action, however, is not a million miles away from VC or SA, but that's not something to complain about really!

Last night I accidentally murdered someone :lol: I found a Molotov Cocktail, and tried to put it away but accidentally chucked it at Dardan (?). It missed him (luckily), but I then had to beat him up. Unfortunately, when we were fighting, I punched him and he fell to the ground and landed in a pool of burning petrol and that was the end of him :lol: I felt really bad...! :guilty: :D
 
KieranMurphy
I got it done on the 2nd attempt. First time I did it, I got in and out of the building ok and killed everybody, and when I was on the run from the cops, I did the stupidest thing, I was driving along and for some reason I hit the button to bail out of the car and Niko rolled right under a cop car and was killed.
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I too, am unfortunately, guilty of doing that. :ouch:
 
You'll soon find that running away from cops is much more constructive than killing them.
 
Joey D
I hate the lighting, the whole game seems to dark.

But with the controls you can revert them back to classic in the menu, which I did right away.
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Agree and same
 
Classic controls + new DS3 = win. Much, much better now, but I'm still yet to be gripped by the characters' plights or story.
 
Not sure how far you are, but I already have 5 pr so phone numbers to call for jobs. You can call people for jobs even if they are not on the map as a mission.
 
Did anyone try the internet cafe yet?
There are a few website you can check out, like craplist and love-meet
Its gonna be fun if you can get more interaction
 
Famine
Classic controls + new DS3 = win. Much, much better now, but I'm still yet to be gripped by the characters' plights or story.
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The central character isn't as good as Tommy Vercetti. But he's a very likeable guy with a dry sarcastic sense of humour.

I think they did the right thing with Vice City - the game was about a gangster so they made the central character a psycho gangster, and added a sense of humour and some excellent voice acting to make him my favourite by far. I'm not too fond of these attempts to make us sympathise with the characters by giving them backgrounds and family and revenge motives etc. It just doesn't go well with the fact that they'll pop a cap in someone's for a few bucks or to serve their own ends.

I'm starting to get to grips with the cover system now. I just completed a mission called "Hostile Negotiation" which couldn't have been done without it. It's not perfect - sometimes you and a goon end up on opposite sides of a pillar and there's no way to get him apart from getting out of cover and exposing yourself to gunfire in order to kill him and even then it can be difficult because the autoaim system still sucks when close to an enemy.
 
First impression of pool: impossible.
 
Omnis
First impression of pool: impossible.
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You're joking, right? I've beaten them all except Jacob. Now darts, I suck at. And in bowling, I've only gotten 1 strike, and many spares.
 
Darts is easy as... I havnt tried pool yet and bowling is quite hard.
 
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