It was at a friend's house
wat. liar. Hetaria isnt even a real place, I made it up like years ago.It was at a friend's house
Someone some of you know actually, someone from hetaria or whatever that secret place is called.
wat. liar. Hetaria isnt even a real place, I made it up like years ago.
wat. liar. Hetaria isnt even a real place, I made it up like years ago.
Now you can dodge and counter-attack, disarm, kick, and block.
hay look ayfeks twins
Quote time!It took me a while, but I'm done.
I decided to put each of the detailed sections into spoiler tags for those of you that don't want to hear about some of the more specific parts of the game before you see it for yourselves. I will never say anything specific about the plot so don't worry about those types of spoilers.
Intro
First off, this IS a GTA game. Anybody that expects a departure from the general formula is kidding themselves. While it is a GTA game with the same types of mission structures and overall game concepts, EVERY aspect of this game has been pushed to outstanding quality. After a cool intro (they implement the opening credits in my favorite manor), you are free to do as you please just like any other GTA. The first thing I did, was marvel at the city.
Grand
Best environment I've ever seen
Come for the sights, stay for the peopleAs every preview and hands-on feature says, the city is the main character of this game. I don't know about you guys, but put me in any section of Liberty City from GTA III, and I could probably tell you where I am or find my way to the city's central hospital. I could do that because each area of the city had a unique look and feel to it. Games like Assassin's Creed are too repetitive and sprawling to have unique enough areas to spot and remember in an instant. GTA IV is giving me the same feel so far. I can navigate a good chunk of the first area of the game without much use of my map. I don't know if it's just me, but I get a distinct feeling that the beginning area in GTA IV shares a lot of characteristics of the same area in GTA III.
Ragdolls FTL - Euphoria FTWPedestrians drive and walk about their daily lives in a much more realistic manor. In previous GTAs, peds were simply spawned on sidewalks to be used as hood ornaments or target practice. In GTA IV they add an amazing sense of feel to the city. People walk around chatting on their cell phones. Some people huddle around smoking and talking. Others are carrying their groceries home. Some even get into car accidents and yell at each other over the damage. They are also a joy to shoot and hit with cars thanks to Euphoria.
We've all seen tech demos of Euphoria in action and a few tastes of it in the trailers, but it plays a very large and entertaining role in this game. Hitting people in previous GTA games meant a canned animation of the ped flying onto his/her back and sitting there. Now it's fun to simply bowl through a crowd of people to see them realistically roll over your car or get tossed on the ground. I even like to bail out of my car or crash my bike at high speeds to watch Niko do the same. The way Niko stumbles about and uses objects to keep himself steady after drinking is just plain entertaining to watch and control. Also, when you try to steal somebody's car sometimes (and this can happen the other way around), the person will speed off as Niko grabs the handle, dragging him behind a short distance. Even shooting people is more fun because of Euphoria. People limp away, and react nicely when they've been injured (even from car accidents). There are still so many possibilities to be seen with Euphoria in GTA IV.
Remember when ragdoll demos and games first came out? Remember how you'd just toss them around to see how they moved for inordinate lengths of time? Get ready to do it again in a living breathing world filled with violence and crime.
Theft
Wanted levels
CombatI'm not 100% sure on the specifics just yet of each level, but I do know that the wanted level system this time around can be a lot more unforgiving to some people this time around. I'll start with wanted levels as I've had them.
0-Stars: Running red lights, hitting other traffic - Sorry to whoever wanted this to get cops after you. Police cars do squawk their siren at you if you run a red though
1-Star rating: Hit a cop car or commit a minor crime (pedestrian injury/murder, driving drunk) in front of a cop - Buzzing by a toll booth without paying also gives you one pathetic star.
-This is very easy to get rid of just like in previous games. The radius of the wanted zone is very small and easy to elude.
2-Star rating: Kill enough peds or commit some other moderate crime.
-This radius isn't so small that I can say it's always easy to escape, but it's not too tough. You'll have to drive pretty fast. Once you're out of the radius, you'll need to watch your radar to avoid other patrolling cops that might spot you and re-center the wanted zone on you.
3-Star rating: Kill ONE cop
-This is a pretty big radius to escape. You'll mostly likely get 4-5 cop cars chasing you and a helicopter that doesn't do an amazing job at sticking to you. On top of that you have a bunch of other cops lurking around waiting to jump into the chase and re-center the wanted zone on you. This can take a little while to escape and your car WILL get shot up from chasing patrol cars.
4-Star rating: Kill more cops
-So far I've only gotten this during a mission and eluded it from something I did in the mission. The radius is pretty f'ing big and they send SUVs after you that can shove you around the road - probably more, I didn't have it very long.
5-Star rating: Haven't gotten one yet
6-Star rating: Try to cross a bridge unauthorized.
-MULTIPLE helicopters, SWAT vans, the works. I only survived about 15 seconds with this on and a good 3-4 seconds of that was me being launched airborne off my motorcycle as I hit cross-traffic going at top speed.
The game starts you off nice and slow with a progression combat. You start with hand-to-hand, which is more than spamming the attack button now
The gun-class system is still in play (one handgun, one shotgun, etc). I don't know if it was a fluke, but the only time I swapped my shotgun for another shotgun, I was unable to swap back right away. I wasn't able to pick up the gun I had dropped on the ground a few seconds prior.
The cover system works nicely so far. It works just as advertised and makes for some good gunfights. The auto-aim makes things too easy, so I'm going to turn it off and see how I do. All you have to do with it on is hold LT and lightly push the right stick up a bit and you have a headshot lined up. Keep holding LT, flick the stick to the side, gently push the right stick up again, etc.
Shooting accurately from a car can be challenging. Sometimes I get a little too involved in my aiming and forget to watch out for other obstacles in the road, which of course, I will then smack into. It's done very well though and it's a great addition. That reminds me, next time I'm in a car I have to drop some Molotov cocktails behind me to roast some pigs
Auto
Driving Mechanics
The CarsKnow this: You CANNOT drive in GTA IV like you have been in the previous games. It is a much more realistic setup. If you slam on the brakes, your tires will lock up and your car will stop turning. If you floor it, some cars will fishtail like crazy. If you hit the handbrake hard you will whip a 180 or more depending on your speed. The first 10 minutes in LC I was smashing into walls and other cars. After 20 minutes I was taking corners pretty well at decent speeds. Now I'm doing reverse 180's mid-chase (not hard at all with the proper car) and pulling Ace Ventura-style parking jobs for the fun of it.
To drive properly in GTA IV, you have to drive kind of like you would in real life. Ease on the accelerator a bit instead of flooring it for those touchy rear-wheel drive cars. Most of all, EASE ON THE BRAKE when you corner. This is the thing I found most important.
So far my favorite car I've come across is the Mustang-esque Sabre Turbo or the Coquette a.k.a Corvette. They can slide around a bit, but are a lot of fun to drive. The Coquette has surprising braking power and corners nicely. The Sabre Turbo just feels right to me.
I haven't really noticed the car-clone effect that plagues the other GTA games (definition: if you happen to find and start driving a rare car - suddenly you see that car EVERYWHERE). It seems like it might be a LITTLE more common, but I haven't noticed it enough to be annoyed by it yet.
I still haven't hit the really high-end cars yet and I look forward to it. It's really nice how each car has its own feel.
IV
Miscellaneous
Choices - Story - NO SPOILERS
I'm going to quote Niko: "I'm just trying to make the right decisions".
The plot of the game has really drawn me to the characters for good or bad like no other game has before. I find myself actually in the role of Niko, trying to decide if what I'm doing is really the best thing for the characters I like or if it will end up blowing up in my face. Even though the game might not give you choices all over the place, you still feel responsible for some of your actions and how they might affect other characters. It's an interesting feeling going through the game and trying to walk a fine line along the way.
An organic and real experience
The way the game flows and handles is fantastic.
Need some new clothes to impress a girl? Go to the clothing shop, walk up to the rack, try on the piece of clothing right in front of you on display. If you like it, keep it on, pay the $$. Don't like it? Move to another rack. No menus and no going into a magical dressing room stocked with the entire store's clothing line.
Looking for something to do? Go online, call somebody on your phone, stop by their place or reply to an email. Do one of those and you can go on a date, mission, pick up some work or just hang out with a friend.
Internet
This is a hilarious addition to the game. It's filled with cultural parodies. The MySpace parody site is my favorite. Stopping by Tw@ (what an awesome name) has its uses though. You can download ringtones and themes for your phone through the internet or you can actually get some missions as well.
Vigilante missions are...
IN. You have to get to a certain point of the game to access them. When you do, you can get into any cop car, go onto the computer and select a crime in progress to stop. The crimes only involve gang activity and stolen vehicles so far, but I've only tried it once and it beats the old vigilante missions so far.
Humor
I still haven't hit the comedy club, but there is plenty of other stuff to laugh at. The talk radio stations are my favorite so far. The Cabaret club also has some funny shit, but sometimes pedestrians and cops take the cake. Here are a few quotes that I'm kinda paraphrasing
Ped. answers phone: "Yeah, I got your message. Let me sum it up for you, "Blah blah blah...blahblahblahblahblah".
Cop chases me: "Stop right now or I'm going to wear your balls for earrings"
Ped. watches me blow shit up: "TERRORIST!!!"
A mini-story
I was on a mission that IGN actually used a clip of in their video review. This was one of my coolest moments in the game yet.
I had to chase a guy down in a car on a highway and kill him. The guy swerves around the road knocking into trucks to knock barrels loose that come at me. He hits a semi that drops its load of logs for me to dodge. He swipes another couple cars so they spin out dangerously close to me. All the while I'm speeding after him and trying to take out his tires or just blow up his car.
Unfortunately, when I was acquiring the car I had, the vehicle had taken quite a bit of damage and was smoking heavily already. When the target swiped one of the cars at me JUST as I was getting really close to him, I glanced off the car, hit a something on the side of the road, launched into the air, did a barrel roll (Are you happy now Peppy?), and came down spinning. I landed facing the wrong way but because I was going very fast when launched into the air, I was still going pretty fast in reverse. I threw a 180 turn but noticed that my car was on fire...this thing is now a ticking time-bomb.
So I sped after him again, taking some more shots at his car as I caught up. 5-10 seconds later, as I got close I bailed out of the car. I watched my car careen at high speed right at the back of the target car. It exploded just before it hit the target car, but the damage was enough to set the target car on fire. I watched as the target guy bails out of his car as it was on fire. He didn't bail out soon enough because it exploded and killed him
Mission Accomplished.
Conclusion
I'm glad they made a departure from the CJ-focused game in SA. Now instead of spending free time tapping a couple buttons to make yourself look more muscular, you spend the time getting to know other characters better. I can't wait to play Multiplayer.
Oh yeah...the game looks great and sounds awesome even on an SDTV
This is officially my biggest post ever.
Suck on THAT HL2.net.
That's awesome. I haven't noticed the fat cops firsthand, but I've seen some of the other types.
When I've pulled a gun on a cop car before, one of the cops put his hands up and acted freaked out. The other stepped out quickly and opened fire right away while yelling at me
I have only seen things like billboards and small street objects pop-in so far. I can't say anything about textures for sure because every time I get going really fast I'm focused on weaving through traffic
[Matt] said:
Oh well.
EDIT2: Ok there is definitely a bit of car pop-in. I was doing a race, check behind me for a couple seconds on a clear straightaway - come back, *slam* - cop car
![[Matt]](https://valvetime-data.community.forum/avatars/m/0/25.jpg?1330940173){kind=avatar}
