GTA gets a perfect 10

[skim36]

It's all over the web, apparently some ps3's and 360's are freezing at certain points.  Not just any versions of the consoles, and not just one or the other, so fanboys, let it go.  Seems to be a software glitch with either the cache or internet.  Some reported disabling the internet and had it working fine.  Rockstar is looking into it.

[patrickl]

Well I saw a whole list of things that needed to be disabled to get rid of the hangs. Among which save games. I seriously doubt I'd like to play this game without saves. or maybe it was just autosaves.

:edit: Here is the PS3 workaround: Gamestop: Take-Two suggests PS3 GTAIV fix

[Dartful Dodger]

I played it this weekend.  Holy @#$%!!!

I'm going to have to wait until winter before I buy it, because in the winter it doesn't matter if I never leave the house.

[fjl]

No way I'm buying a PS3 or X-box 360 so I'm gonna wait till it comes out for the PC. Of course this means a year or more of waiting. Plus I'll have to upgrade my current computer system. 

[Dartful Dodger]

Spring is finally here, so I went to Target to buy some tennis balls for this weekend.  While at Target I saw they had GTA4 in stock.



...I only got 4 hours of sleep last night.

I probably won’t be using those tennis balls anytime soon either.

[patrickl]

I couldn't resist the urge when I passed a shelf of GTA IV games either.

Great game. Controls can be a bit annoying sometimes, but this is one overly complete game. Just driving around is like going on holiday in a foreign country. The TV shows are great too.

[patrickl]

I've been playing for a couple of days now. Haven't had much sleep

This is really an incredible game. The story is really well done. Better than many movies. This also makes the characters come alive and thus this ensures that you know who they are talking about. I tried playing Godfather, but I kept losing track of who was who.

The amount of detail in Liberty City is amazing. everytime I play I find something new.

The only thing I think it rally fails is in the controls. Controlling the character is almost random. Seriously infuriating now and then. When you end up in a firefight I'm often dead before I manage to regain control over the situation. It's mostly because of the narrow view angle. You basically only look forward. So you need to turn around a lot to see everyting around you. That just takes too much time and it's quite inconvenient. For instance, when I turn a corner in the car, I invariably run into a police car that's waiting around the corner.

I also wish I could add my own waypoints on the map. Where I find a cool car or a jump, or even were there is a clever allyway (for escaping the police) or something.

[AtomSmasher]

I've played about 20 hours or so of the game now and it really is a great game.  They refined and improved everything from the previous GTA games.  The cover button definately makes firefights a lot easier then previous games, but I do still die from time to time.  One of my favorite things about the game is that they actually recorded multiple dialog for most of the missions, so if you have to replay the mission, then you don't have to listen to the same thing over and over again.  I've never seen a game do that before.

Another nice thing they did is include a free month of live service with the game to make sure that everyone gets to play the multiplayer.  I probably never would of played the multiplayer if they didn't do that.

[patrickl]

When there is plenty time then indeed the cover button makes the missions pretty easy. Up to the point where I'd say it's almost ridiculous. You just pick them off one by one. On the other hand when you're in a bit more of a hurry, the dodgy controls and the lack of surround view come more into play.

To be honest, I've spent probably most of my time racing around and usually I end up in a firefight with the police and then you really need to be fast. I was talking more about those situations.

The controls with the IR sensor on the Wii were really a lot better than this joystick controlled stuff. In Medal of Honor Heroes 2 I could use the sniper rifle as easily as a regular gun. In GTA IV the sniper rifle is almost impossible to use (unless you are safely away on a roof picking off stationary targets). Without the autolock on enemies I find it about impossible to hit anyone. I don't know how people do this, but driving in the car and shooting things from the window I haven't really been able to hit much. Again on the Wii, in Driver Parallel Lines, one hand does the driving and the other the shooting with the IR sensor. Works great.

I have had to redo only a few missions, but I didn't notice the dialogue was different. I'm pretty sure it was pretty much the same. The only one I remember where it was slightly different was when I was chasing a drug dealer. (I redid that one several times because I kept running into the guy and/or forgot to kill someone somewhere) The only difference was that some lines were skipped. Notably the lines that were warning me not to stay to close (or something similar). I'm pretty sure the rest was identical.

Actually I find the dialogues pretty repetitive. In the restaurant around the corner of the original safehouse, the girl has about 3 lines that rotate. The strip club is even worse. The entire performance is identical. Also that annoying girl that keeps calling to go out. She says the exact same thing every time.

What bugs me most is the running into cars around the corner. Is there some trick to get round that? I've been trying to turn the camera before the turn, but that's just too messy.

Anyway, still a great game. Easily the best I ever played.

[AtomSmasher]

I wasn't saying you were wrong that the controls are a bit annoying when shooting, I was just saying its much improved over the previous versions of GTA.  Also, your preaching to the choir about the wiimote, I wouldn't of gotten very far if it wasn't for the autolock-on.  When shooting from the car, I generally wait for a straightaway before trying to shoot, otherwise I don't have a chance of hitting them. 

And I've also only had to redo a few missions, but the dialog was different the second time through on each one. 

To be honest I haven't spent much time in the strip club, I've only gone when required and then I skip through the lapdance so I don't have too stay long.  The graphics are pretty far from realistic, so I find it just boring to watch it.  I'm not too surprised they only have one or two routines though.

I'm not sure what you mean by running into cars around the corner, do you mean on foot or in the car?  If it's while driving, then I've found that I have to constantly adjust the camera to get the best view, which was the most annoying thing for me in the game, but I've gotten pretty good at it so it now doesn't bother me much anymore.

[patrickl]

And I've also only had to redo a few missions, but the dialog was different the second time through on each one. 

The only one I really did a lot of times (I think 4 or 5 times even) was the chase the drug dealer mission. Actually, I skipped through the cutscenes I only redid the annoying long car chase and those lines were pretty similar every time through. Next time I sit through a mission again, I'll watch the whole thing again.

To be honest I haven't spent much time in the strip club, I've only gone when required and then I skip through the lapdance so I don't have too stay long.  The graphics are pretty far from realistic, so I find it just boring to watch it.  I'm not too surprised they only have one or two routines though.

Yeah they keep wanting to go there. I have no idea why, because when we get there Roman sits in a chair and watches TV or something. I think you can leave right away.

I'm not sure what you mean by running into cars around the corner, do you mean on foot or in the car?  If it's while driving, then I've found that I have to constantly adjust the camera to get the best view, which was the most annoying thing for me in the game, but I've gotten pretty good at it so it now doesn't bother me much anymore.

Yeah I mean turning the corner with the car and then by the time I'm turned in I finally get to see the street. If anything is there I have hit it before it's even visible. I'm turning the camera too, but this is rather cumbersome. I was hoping there was a trick (setting) to get this done automatically or something. Actually, I'm using an SD 4:3 (still waiting for a new TV), maybe I lose some peripheral vision because of that too.

[AtomSmasher]

Haha, I just found out how to lock up the game.  I went to pick up a girlfriend, but my car was beat up, so I stole another one next to the pickup point.  The car I stole had a passenger and as soon as I stopped to pick up the girlfriend, the passenger kicked me out of the car.  As the girlfriend walked over to the car the game locked up.

[patrickl]

Ha, cool.

Luckily I never had any lock-ups yet. I haven't yet used the internet connection though.