Today I have mostly been playing my sexy copy of GTA IV. I have been enjoying myself. I went bowling, watched TV, listened to the radio and went on a date. Then I tried playing the game and it all went a bit, well, average.
Please, please don't just think I am insulting the game. I know I usually sound like I don't like anything, but I do. I just also seem to notice the negative things more. I'm a passionate gamer and I expect a lot from the games I pay my money for. I will try to keep this brief.
The hand to hand combat is terrible. It feels slow and awkward. Guns are fine, not up to the standard of a game like Crackdown, but alight. Why I need 3 buttons when 1 will do, I still don't understand.
Corners. As it happens, I would like to go around them sometimes. Don't give me any bullshit about me not being a good driver. If you have played as many driving games as me, you can not help but notice that GTA's cars are “different”.
Why can't I have a start menu? Why, when I want to play multiplayer, do I have to go through so many loading screens. Besides the fact it's about 2 inches wide, it is totally pointless. At least give me an option to have a proper start menu.
Apart from those specifics, I can't help but feel I'm just travelling through cut scenes. Very very good cut scenes I must say, but the in-between bits just feel, dull. I keep finding myself just getting bored. Which is a shame.
I do love the game as a whole. All of the extra stuff is awesome, I just really hope the core of the game becomes what I hope it will and what I know it can be.
Hope, I still has it.
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(# 0) on 05/02/2008 17:15
(# 1) on 05/02/2008 17:20
(# 2) on 05/02/2008 17:20
(# 3) on 05/02/2008 17:26
Looking forward to GTAIV: Next City, I would want a more robust fighting system. They'll have enough money by then to buy half the individual dudes that worked on SoulCalibur and Tekken, right?
They nailed the macro world and the map is pretty amazing (2D foliage excluded). If they fine tune the "mini games", I'd be even more satisfied.
(# 4) on 05/02/2008 17:27
(# 5) on 05/02/2008 17:28
(# 6) on 05/02/2008 17:28
(# 7) on 05/02/2008 17:58
But I've got driving down pat, pretty much. I still hit cars sometimes, and the occasional street lamp, but that's not a problem. It's gotten pretty easy. It just has a somewhat steep learning curve.
(# 8) on 05/02/2008 18:12
(# 9) on 05/02/2008 18:13
If I have one big gripe I would say it is too easy to evade the cops...I like the idea they have, just should have had a larger area of cover. Unless I have 6 stars, I can get away every time. I've evaded 6 stars once, and that was fun...But when you have a wanted level of 1-4 it is pedestrian at best.
I think they used more hooks this time around, but I can't complain. I loved the music in SA, but most of that felt forced on me (game wise). In this the cell phne can get overwhelming at times, but you can just turn it off if you want to tool around and check shit out...I've played about 16 hours or so, and I am about 18% complete...theres a lot of game here...and I dig it.
(# 10) on 05/02/2008 18:16
(# 11) on 05/02/2008 18:18
(# 12) on 05/02/2008 18:24
(# 13) on 05/02/2008 18:27
It's not like Rockstar would have to have gone to much effort to make one. It makes going online with GTA a royal pain in the arse.
As for the car control, I agree that they're as loose as your mums vagoo but everything you do in them is OTT and cinematic, rockstar went for style over substance and I don't begrudge because of it.
(# 14) on 05/02/2008 18:30
(# 15) on 05/02/2008 18:34
And I've been hearing about this driving guide for 4 friggin days! I'm curious about it...
(# 16) on 05/02/2008 18:50
(# 17) on 05/02/2008 20:46
(# 18) on 05/02/2008 21:37
(# 19) on 05/02/2008 21:56
(# 20) on 05/02/2008 23:22
(# 21) on 05/04/2008 16:06
OH SHI-
(# 22) on 05/05/2008 13:14
The car you drive for LJ is my favorite early on without hunting for one of them sport coupes like the one located next door to Dimitri's (or Dimitri's partner, I forget which is which).
When you get to racing, though, those sport cars handle perfectly. I goofed off a bit yesterday with the cheat phone numbers for some of the cars and I was going max speed and handling very nicely for long periods of time.
You want something that's a pain in the butt to drive? Go carjack the bus at the bus depot on the first island and try turning a corner in that thing at almost anything other than a crawl. Fun as heck because it takes a lot to destroy that thing and you can spend half an hour just side swatting cars by making sharp turns.
Now, what pisses me off is the pool gameplay that relies way too heavily on keeping you joystick movement precise and straight when they have a cue placement setting for determining where and how you hit the ball. Bowling is similar but isn't as bad, but you pretty much have to learn to bowl one move constantly. And good freaking luck ever getting a spare from a split... it's just not going to happen except by luck.