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

On the ps2? are you sure? how do you load to a checkpoint then?

I got to the firetruck. The last level was so long that, by the time I'd get to the firetruck, I would fail and then say "FUCK THIS GAME", and then automatically turn the PS2 off ... so I never discovered that the game had a checkpoint there. Oops.

Yeah SA had a couple of checkpointed missions, for sure on the last mission at least.

Vice City Stories also had a new checkpoint feature on the sub games (thank god) after every five levels, so if you got to level 6 on the Paramedic and then failed - it would restart you on level 5 the next time you got into an ambulance.

I like being able to save and get rid of all my wanted stars - would they still let you do that if you could just save anywhere? It seems like the game would be too easy. You can't put a tank in the pay and spray and normal cars don't spawn when you've got 5 or 6 stars, so I think I'd prefer the save points the way they work right now. Although they could place them in more convenient spots.

Jeff - find Katie in San Fierro (she's hanging round the country club with a blue arrow pointing at her). Once you start dating her, and you don't need to actually go on a date, you get to keep all your weapons when you die.

Having to hightail it to a save point with the cops after you is so much a part of the GTA experience I doubt they'd change it. I mean, I think that's the thing I associate MOST with playing GTA games. But there's got to be some compromise between losing your weapons every time you die and there being no penalty for death or getting arrested. Everybody just restarts every time they die. Maybe the replacement of Ammu-nation with the gun dealer is more of a move toward taking the weaponry you need for a mission and just carrying a handgun or something the rest of the time?

Vice City Stories also had a new checkpoint feature on the sub games (thank god) after every five levels, so if you got to level 6 on the Paramedic and then failed - it would restart you on level 5 the next time you got into an ambulance.

Man, this was such a big relief.

tell me about it, i think i did a backflip on the sofa when i discovered it.

I really don't want them to include a quick save, this would ruin a lot of the gameplay for me (stuff that's already been mentioned)

But there's got to be some compromise between losing your weapons every time you die and there being no penalty for death or getting arrested

I think dieing is punishment enough, especially if you were in the middle of a mission. Having said that, again VCS brought something new along - having to buy back your weapons after being killed/busted.

Fuck - the checkpoint on the final mission is good news - hopefully next time I try it I won't need to use it and will just cruise thru perfectly :)

V- for whatever reason, if I remember right (it was a long time ago), when I ran into Katie she wouldn't date me - I think she said I was too skinny!!!

She's the one in the driving lessons building or something? Yeah you have to get fat.

btw antexit, v - I agree that running from the cops and having to make it back to a safehouse or through some stars is an important and fun part of the game. the way I would implement quick save into the series, would be more the way they use it in half-life - if you use quick save it just saves everything about your game exactly where you are - so if you go back to that save, you're still in exactly the same (possibly) fucked-up/wanted situation - that way you could still have safe houses and all that to save at as well, that would knock off your stars and everything. the main thing a quick save feature would improve are those longer missions where you've done a ton of stuff right only to keep fucking up at the same (or nearly the same point) and having to go through a ton of (repetitive) stuff again. That's fun on a game with a really refined control scheme like super mario bros - but on a more dynamic game with kind of clunky controls, like gta, those repeated sections get to be a drag

Anyhow, I doubt they're changing anything about the system, but I think it would make the game more fun and playable - less repetitive and frustrating

Any chance tomorrow's trailer will list the new release date?

I would think so!

Two new screenshots btw:

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3763_gta_iv.jpg
http://media.gtanet.com/images/3764_gta_iv.jpg

The one in the driving school = Michelle, not Katie. Katie's usually hiding just behind a bush (and yeah, just eat something/go on a treadmill/find a sexier car if you're not good enough for her).

Oh, many more screenshots.

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3756_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3760_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3761_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3757_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3755_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3759_gta_iv.jpg

dudes i never found any of the missions in gta hard! the ones with the model planes in SA were frustrating as fuck, true. but in general my big criticism of the whole series is that most of the 'difficulty' is in completism -- it takes so fucking long dinking around getting all the secrets, but the actual story you can blast through in like 45 mins. harder missions plz!!

Some of the races were pretty hard.

i cant beat that dirtbike race in vcs right now!

gff pls to come round to mine and complete radio controlled planes mission for me thx

One mission I remember having a particularly hard time with was "Just Business" - an early one where you have to kill a bunch of mobsters inside a building, then outside a building, then (here's where I remember it getting tough) a really long motorcycle chase, where you had to do several things just right.

Also for some reason, the flying mission "N.O.E." where you have to stay below radar and drop off a package and then land back at the airstrip - actually caused me to give up on the game for about five months (until I recently picked it up again & did it on my second try).

Also was never able to do the zero mission shooting down those toy planes (ten or more tries) - luckily it's an optional mission...

But yeah - the hardest thing about the game is just the length. And all the new things you have to keep learning, like flying and landing the hydra only to have to use that knowledge on that one mission. Also when I finally got to the end of that one and was about to land, I panicked and hit the eject button instead of the landing gear down (doh - twice)...

It's too bad so many people give up on the Zero missions. The third Zero mission is one of my favorites in any GTA game. The second Zero mission is really fun too, but definitely the hardest mission in the game other than the final mission (sans checkpoint knowledge).

my trick for getting the races done -- and some of the flying missions iirc -- is to switch to 1st person view. it's a good idea in some of the missions where you have to drive a fast but fragile car, too.

also if i remember right: the last RC plane mission is kind of a crapshoot. you have to get the nearest one first and the furthest one last, and it's just kind of luck if they end up in open areas where you can shoot w/o other shit getting the way or turning around too much

Wow, do most people really just restart every time they die? I don't think I've ever done that. It's not like it takes that long to just go to Ammu-Nation and get new gear if you need it.

But it's expensive, and often you get stuff like rocket launchers, sniper rifles or powerful guns in the game way before they're available at Ammunation, and you don't want to lose them.

I just stock up on ammo/guns with the millions I earn at the $1mil blackjack tables. Otherwise I don't reset, only turn off. It's cheaper than throwing my controller at the tv set.

But do you reset your losses at the blackjack tables? Because THAT is cheap.

I AM CHEAP.

IF THEY PUT IT IN THE GAME IT'S NOT CHEAP.

Anything I can do to avoid some RPG-style, rote leveling up is well worth the scorn of a few gamers.

I thought it was cheap that before the last mission you had to take over a bunch of gang territory. That part was just a grind (I almost quit then).

Taking over gang territory was like my favorite part of that game.

Except for that 100 yards pwned by the Mexicans in east LS.

ooohhh... victory at last (what - four years in the making?). The Yellow Kid - thanks so much for your info about checkpoints - I doubt I would have gone back to it without that knowledge. Luckily I was able to get right up to that point again on the first try - though I did fail twice on the chase and once on the next section (I can't believe it was another one of those shoot the motorcycles and cars chasing you sections that I just mentioned hating earlier today - which I probably actually only failed the first time because over the noise of my shooting the firetruck I didn't quite hear / understand dude saying it was useless and to shoot the shit chasing us). My save is only at 61.5% so it looks like there is still I lot I could do if so inclined.

I'm ready for IV, but I guess I'm going to give III a try first, which I never played before.

III in my opinion had the greatest map, atmostphere, and level hardness.

Just be ready for the lack of swimming, camera rotation, climbing, flying vehicles and motorbikes.

You can't control the camera in III? I don't remember that. God that would drive me CRAZY now.

you can do the 'look behind' whilst on foot, or the look left, right, behind whilst in vehicle. But not the cool (and very handy) 360 rotate.

I definitely liked SA's map better. I spent a week in the Back O' Beyond once.

New trailer makes me kind of excited for the story on this one - it seems like it's going to be a little tighter, make a little more sense and possibly be a little more genuinely dramatic. The character animations on the other hand don't look to be advancing as much as the enviornments...

I'm liking the whole, New York, "welcome to America" vibe. If they make a 5 though, the should set it in Europe...

this is a great trailer, extremely similar looking to GTAIII. Which is absoloutely no bad thing.

That music is fantastic too.

Pause it where it shows two cops cars a police chopper, wow.

I should hope they let you supply your own soundtracks, it being the next gen and all.

Just started III - only a couple of missions in but the camera seems fine to me... actually walking around seems a little less clunky than with the camera in San Andreas for some reason - the way the camera shifts around as you're driving is a bit worse tho (awkward). What I really miss is not being able to pull up a full city map to plot your routes - just having the little radar bubble makes it a little harder to tell the best way around (maybe since it's a smaller city, as one progresses through the game it'll be easier to memorize one's way around?).

I still get a little weirded out by the echoes of the pedestrians' laughs and comments as they walk around. Still loved the game, tho'.

yeah the ambience of III is well eerie

It's definitely easier to memorize the map in III. I knew that thing inside and out, it was a little sad.

gff, thanks for the cam tip! i won the dirtbike race!

yeah that in-car camera view is ESSENTIAL for that City Slicker mission because the car is a complete bitch to drive at high speeds round corners.

New hands on previews and screenshots are up now on various sites...

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1844/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/p1/
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/847/847102p1.html
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=180050
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/grand_theft_auto_4/preview-734.html

Consensus seems to be 3-4 more months...

Three months max, they say. By the end of April. Nice to know it's not delayed any further.

Apparently - the game automatically saves after you complete each mission, and the missions also have save points during 'em - which if you fail the mission, you can automatically jump right back to via an onscreen prompt if you so desire. There's also still a safe house save system, for when you want to take a break, but say, haven't just completed a mission. Sounds like they have fixed the save system exactly like I was hoping!

Release date now set at April 29th, a long way away.

http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=289342

Isn't that the anniversary of the LA Riots? COINCIDENCE I THINKS NOT

and i'm still undecided on whether to get 360 or ps3 for this