Grand Theft Auto IV -- It might feature crime and prostitutes.

it's no 10/10 anyway. I gave up about halfway through, i'm sure i'll pick it up again at some point though.

is there only one place to buy clothes for like the first 1/4 of the game?!?! that is pissing me off more then anything

it's been a slow burner for me, but I'm now finally getting into the single player. I just unlocked Algonquin, which helps a ton.

I haven't unlocked Alderney yet, but it's not like I feel I'm missing anything. With GTA:SA, the different places were different and exciting. I remember getting to Las Venturas for the first time and just walking around looking at the lights.

But with GTA4, it's like, Whatever. I've opened up Jersey and can see more bricks and concrete. Oh, yay. There's a Honkers.

I gotta say that playing this has made me want to stay the fuck out of the NYC area...not so much because of the crime in the game 'cos I know it's a game, but because of how drab everything seems, with subway lines and overpasses everywhere.

guys maybe the missions suck but how can you not say that liberty city is beeeeaauutiful. ok there's no spectacular canyons or rock formations, but so much detail. the weather, the textures, the shadows.. it's alive, man.

it's so gray sometimes that I wonder if the color on my tv has broken. I guess that could be my shitty tv but I don't think so.

nah there are really gray days sometimes. and rain at night is the most depressing. but on a clear sunny day... i could just live there.

yeah i'm with ledge, it maybe lacking elements but its still vastly playable and just so beautiful to look at.

I think it gets greyer in the Dukes area than it does in say Algonquin.

yeah I just got into Algonquin and Star Junction is beautiful. Mind you, I'm complaining about game play: I'm playing and enjoying it more than ever. I just find driving through Bohan pretty grim, which is intended I'm sure but kinda turns me off a bit too.

er, make that I'm not complaining about game play

ah yes, when I said Dukes I meant Bohan, yes it's pretty grey even on the good days there.

Oh shit Carmen has dumped me! All because I shot a cop when we out on a date. So now I have no emergency health boost. At least I still have my Kiki - she sent me a text message with a photo of her arse.

okay name the movie that my brilliant action sequence was off : A car chase and I'm being chased by an FiB car. Suddenly I quickly spin my car around 180 and slammed into reverse whilst at the same time shooting through the windscreen of the FiB car.

(ok i didn't manage to quite pull it off, and i got killed but i know i've seen it in a film before)

Die Hard 3

How does this game compare to GTA:SA?

Here's my review of the story mode:

GTA 4 is really great, but also a huge disappointment. There are a lot of big improvements in terms of graphics, physics, etc., game dynamics, etc., and the Choose Your Own Adventure-style of plot development feels nice, even if it's obvious that the choices don't really affect anything important. And I think some of the characters have a more sophisticated arcs than those in previous games.

But the problem is that not of those things make the video game more fun. And some weird dissonance happens when Niko is being a gentleman in one scene and stabs a random stranger in the face in the next. It was easier to overlook with CJ and Vercetti because they were more cartoonish in their rendering.

In terms of driving and killing, all of those aspects are pretty solid. The lack of bicycles and airplanes and jetpacks is a pretty big bummer, and the boating is really underdeveloped.

Also, while I think IV has the best map of any of the games, you can't help but miss the open roads and country settings of the last game.

The radio stations are pretty boring, so I usually just play my own music off my portable hd.

Also: I miss the fat/thin/buff thing, the more-diverse clothing options, the katana, etc. The comedy shows suck. Going to the strip club makes me feel gross. The story is kinda boring and overserious. Many of the major characters are grating.

Also, the dudes who play multiplayer are more annoying than usual, but some of the modes are fun.

...

Meanwhile, San Andreas was just pure, unadulterated fun for me.

"not many of", rather

See, I liked GTA:SA's map better. Now, imagine if they had just used Los Santos as the setting and stretched it to the size of San Andreas, and that's what you get in Liberty City. I was still holding out that they'd come up with a GTA where you could drive across the country. I had an open mind when the decision came out that they were going to compress all that into one city, but damn. You don't feel like you're going anywhere new when a new part of the map opens up. I was all excited about opening up the Manhatten part after a mission and except for being able to jump off of the Empire State Building now and buying a tie, it's pretty much just like the first part of the game.

I'm still adjusting to the realness of the game too. Anyone who's criticized violence in video games before could actually become an advocate for GTA4. Violence has repercussions. When you shoot someone and they don't die, they crouch over and limp away. Sometimes, even a character who's officially "dead" will still stir on the ground and move, like he's entering his final death throes. You can shoot all the cops you want, but boy, they're not going to let you get away with it for too long. And it's still a bit disconcerting to be roaring through Bohan in a stolen sedan and hit a Jewish cleric across your hood.

(Has anyone noticed that you can't point-and-aim at a stripper? You can bring up the "rings" on any of the bouncers or patrons, but not the girl onstage. It was almost like the gamemakers saying to the player "What are you doing?")

Kingfish, my wife played GTA4 for a bit and then went right back into GTA:SA. SA has more to do, a goofier (and more fun) plot, graphics that are realistic but not so realistic that you expect to see at any minute a rolling baby carriage careening down some steps Battleship Potemkin style.

I never played San Andreas so I have no point of comparison. I played a little Vice City but it was on PC and with the mouse it was really hard. I think the story in GTA4 is great so far. Niko is a scumbag, as is everyone else you meet. I do a lot of driving around and that can get tiring, but I could take cabs or the subway instead. The radio stations are great: I'm loving The Journey in particular, which gives the game a Risky Business vibe.

still baffled that two of the clothing stores are the same brand

everyone otm mostly, especially PP about the strict cops and violence not being an easily accessible activity anymore.

i think the biggest damning is the severe lack of races, in a game called GTA you'd think car driving missions would be big on it's list.

Even side race missions are non existent here, like in SA you had the stadium races, the street races, the checkpoint races like the downhill mountain bike ones amongst the many many other hidden ones.

What do we get in GTA4? some really lame races, not even that many, which are so easy you wouldn't believe. And the prize for winning them? almost fuck all.

In comparison SA wipes the floor with it really, but there's still something beautiful about exploring this new Liberty City.

and plus on San Andreas PC version we get MTA which is quite easily the best multiplayer gta race mode ever, sorry but gtaiv multiplayer races are laaaame.

I would like the next game to be Vice City done in this new glorious graphics engine, and for them to pull their finger out with the gameplay.

I think a new Vice City would be great! I don't really care about NYC, but hate Florida (former resident) and would love to go wild down there.

The severe lack of races has always been one of GTA's high points! If you want em, you could always go get every other car game in the world.

(hence Vice City's worst feature = that sodding unbeatable race in the bank heist missions. And it's best feature = being able to hide a superfast car around the first corner and piss through it)

I'm kinda hitting a wall about 65% done, with all my open missions being slog-through-em-shoot-everybody efforts.

See, I liked GTA:SA's map better.

I really struggled to express this last night, as I was high as shit, but what I mean is that the map is the most sophisticated use of space of any of the games. The space has a lot of levels ... you can be on a bridge, then fall to road overlooking the docks, and then fall down to the docks, etc. There are lots of tunnels and underground areas. San Andreas was good at this as well but not as good... IV just packs more detail into the space, which is appropriate for a story about New York.

So it makes it that much more jarring that when you're in the space, there's nothing to do. Every storefront is boarded up or papered up with fake b.s. It looks good from afar but not up close.

I agree that the map for SA is more fun, and I guess that means it's better in the long-run, but I admire the creativity and compression that went into IV's map.

Vice City, by comparison, makes almost no use of height differences or underground spaces at all. GTA III was arguably a better map than VC in that respect.

The problem with GTA IV's races is that they're too easy. I didn't even come close to losing any of them, and I really had to battle to beat some of the races in SA and VC.

shit, i come on this thread and think people are talking about a different game than the one i've been playing. very few of the complaints here make much sense to me, other than the variety of missions (and races and other side missions) being a bit limited.

i'm fighting against the tide here and, as they say, trying teach a pig to sing wastes your time and annoys the pig so i am not going to even bother arguing my case, but for me this is clearly a better game than any in the series before.

people on this thread be crazier than the syrup on meat thread.

I found our you cant sleep with Kate, and more by looking up 'sleep with kate' on the internet. Bit of a spoiler.

Oh, and if you get in a relationship with one of the love match girls she can drop your wanted level by one.

Kiki will clear it, except when she won't.

I had to clear 3 stars last night and it was tough! but actually driving through Algonquin makes it easier because you can drive on long straightaways really fast, and then turn on a side street for the last step. I did the awesome "old hospital" mission last night, that's how I made it to 3 stars.

BTW, I'm signing into XBOX live this weekend with the free month that came with the game. How will I find an ILXor to go play darts with?

yeah the old hospital mission, that took me a while until I realized to run out of the hospital immediately instead of duck and cover and slowly moving out while fighting the police.

and uh, the darts game is beyond simple. its like tic tac toe

I'm cop bashing a lot lately, so I'm rarely with anything less than 3 stars. Losing them has become part of my gta life now.

yeah darts is pretty pointless. I'm loving pool now though, I regularly take Jacob out for a few frames. Him and Brucie are my fave buddies purely because their dialogue is amazing.

I've only got time for Jacob because he's the only one who has had my back out of nothing more than friendship. Everyone else gets a "yes" then a "sorry have to cancel".

One tip/bug I've just learned about is that if you're driving, take out the phone and highlight the camera option. When you press A to activate it, you instantly come to a dead halt.

What do I have to do to get Jacob to show me his stash of weapons?

Be friendly to him. When you get past 80% friendliness, an option appears on your phone under his number for "guns". Choose it and he'll tell you where to meet him.

Which is sometimes miles away, and the discount is hardly worth it (unless you're skint I guess). You may as well just buy weapons from the shops.

also, wasn't Brucie constantly bragging how he could give me lift in his chopper any time? I don't seem to be able to find this option on his phone profile, only the rather tedious sight seeing task.

I did enjoy Stevie's car finding missions tho, at least with these you were able to use your intelligence to some level. Missions annoy me when they involve some clever thinking, but then the game goes and tells you how to do it anyway !

You've got to be 85%+ with Brucie for the chopper. And it's rarely useful in a pinch, because you've got to get to the top of some nearby building, or a clear area. He never lands on the roof you're on.

I'm 100% with Brucie babe, must be a bug.

I still like hangin' out with Dwayne, such a fun guy. "My father died and you know what I felt? Nuthin'".

I loved hearing Brucie on a radio ad the other night, for his car service. At least I had some idea then where he gets all that cash!

Fuck yes, found my Comet and Super GT etc cars. You just have to keep trying Brucie's races, until your openents turn up in good cars.

Also you can rack up the good cars by driving at speed from one area to a safe house in another area. The one in the second island is great for this -- you turn up at the house and there's two or three of whatever you're driving there.

Though I've noticed that cars are disappearing from outside my houses, now I've four of them -- one of them is always empty when I get back to it a day or two later.

er, driving at speed in one