Tbh, i'm not that impressed - GTA IV

Patricide

O is anyone else here annoyed by the camera angle when your driving aswell? It seems really low so that you can see your car fine, but not the street ahead, i find myself having to pan it up with the right analogue stick and keep it there....very annoying.

stevenmu

Try changing your view to one further back and higher ?

Jizzle

there is contrast settings in the game for the lighting. cornering is a skill u need to get used to and really depends on the car. controls again will come to u young padawan

Big Knox

neuromancer wrote: »

What do you mean, "annoying thread title", it says what it means.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions, i have been right about the graphics being crap, and many have agreed. Jumping to conclusions would say that I think the graphics are ****e, yet have not played the game, which is untrue.

Tbh, i do expect some bang for my buck. Not all games should be based soley on graphics, but come on, this is PS3/360 graphics, not Sega Megadrive.

Why have a high-end machine at all, if it's not delivering hi-def graphics?

Desent gameplay can be played on any console or pc......GTA IV should have both.

You really need to get a clue!! Im guessing your probably a COD4 fanboy who thinks the graphics are amazing and expect GTA4 to have that standard??

For gods sake man its a full blown city which works completly on randomness, which requires no loading time or prerendering. Have you any idea of the scale of that and how god damn good the graphics actually are considering this??

Games like COD4 look better yes but of course they will they are prerendered environments which work on a set course of action and all characters follow a set path!! Its a totally different ballgame, GTA4 is a living breathing self working city and the attention to detail is phenomenal as are the graphics taking the above into account!!

TherapyBoy

Wertz wrote: »

I have a question for those with display brightness issues....what type of TV are you playing on? Some HD LCDs, especially older and/or cheaper models have problems at the darker end of the colour scale, especially doing blacks and dark greys...on some sets, it can be impossible to distiguish several shades of dark grey and black from one another.
I've noticed some people saying that they have no problems are playing on CRT.
Anyone playing on plasma with problems?

Playing the game on 43" plasma and not seeing any of the brightness/colour scale problems. Aren't LCD's bad for showing greys/blacks anyways?, and show a fade after movement? HD LCD is a scam, bite the bullet and buy a plasma =]

Patricide

Tried all the views, its the angle of the camera really that irritates me, is there any way to keep it fixed in a different position rahter than just changing it to an alternate view?

penguinpoppers

With all the people saying that the graphics arent very good im getting confused. I think theyre great, is it that you guys arent running in HD or what?
Im VERY impressed with the game and think its defenitely one of the best games yet.

SoulRock

TBH myself now after playing for about 6 hours im Not that impressed im sad to say, the Drabness of it is terrible the horrible Blur effect and the Orangy hue are appalling.. everything is just too dark, i've tweeked my settings on both the Game and on my Display and its not Great,

Also the Camera is terrible when driving, It's to the left of the car and way to low, why cant we see more of the road as we drive? is it to stop you noticing popup etc in the distance?

The whole experience just seems lacking compared to Previous GTA's and in Particular San Andreas.
I was expecting more, a lot more in fact and for me it has'nt delivered..
The Music and Radio is fine, but not a patch on previous installments..

control wise there's a few issues and certain things dont work as they should, ie hailing a cab click bumper, Check, push y to get cab ride... hit and miss, 99% of the time i end up jacking the car??

also there's so much missing that made San Andreas a great experience, character developemnt etc

anyway kinda Pissed that its not better, i was expecting better but have a decent enough game, but defo not deserving of the 10/10 its been getting and defo not the best game Since Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time like a lot of sites have said..

i think the series has gone backwards and thats a massive shame
This is just my opinion and im sure there will be some who agree, and those who dont..
a major disappointing 7/10 for me (so far)

(i will finish the game and eat humble pie if something miraculous happens to make me Go Wow.. but so far no wow at all)

Smellyirishman

Just to point out to people asking for something more along the lines of San Andreas; that was the third showing for that generation. GTA IV required a new engine to be built and then content was added on top, with SA you pretty much had the engine that you needed so you had all the time you wanted to concentrate on filling it out with a much stuff as possible.

Plus, if you want new series innovation, multiplayer alone has been a great new feature that we've not seen with any great success in previous games. I won't be judging the game entirely until I get to the last island at least (still on the first).

Fony Tenton

SoulRock wrote: »

control wise there's a few issues and certain things dont work as they should, ie hailing a cab click bumper, Check, push y to get cab ride... hit and miss, 99% of the time i end up jacking the car??

Hold Y as to not jack the car,works everytime for me

Sean Quagmire

I personally love the game – all the gta’s had there flaws not just this one. Rockstar have been promoting and creating a buzz for this game for years now, Media and websites hyped it beyond measure so i am not surprised by people saying ‘its not what I expected or im not impressed’.

There are a few things that are a bit annoying but over it’s a whopper of a game! – stop bitchin’!!!:p

Phaetonman

Also the Camera is terrible when driving, It's to the left of the car and way to low

I thought I was going insane with the left hanging camera. I was thinking my controller was ****ed.

Wertz

Bizarre-Ink wrote: »

Playing the game on 43" plasma and not seeing any of the brightness/colour scale problems. Aren't LCD's bad for showing greys/blacks anyways?, and show a fade after movement? HD LCD is a scam, bite the bullet and buy a plasma =]

My copy (360 SE) arrived late yesterday evening and I stuck it on after the footie....and was summarily blown away. I'd compare it to the first time I stuck GTAIII on on the PS2. Ended up up till 3 this morning (with a safety course to attend at 8) with a mate, toking and swapping the controller.
Absolutely NO display issues (Panny pv70 plasma) with no need to tweak any optons either on console or TV...but with the LoD I can imagine those with smaller screens or a SD CRT would be having some issues.
The camera is nigglesome...I've gotten the hang of chasing myself around the corner with the right stick but it's not what it used to be and doesn't really serve a purpose having it as it is, except to increase difficulty and learning curve.
Driving/handling....for a while I was all "WTF? this sucks" but I got the fel for it after a while....it's all about feathering your throttle and brakes (those buttons are pressure sensitive and analog) and slowing down before the turn rather than in the middle of it. Not sampled nearly enough cars yet...but was on a chopper bike and that was hella fun (and not too hard).
Sound...yeah. Sound is very low, don't know why. Messed about with settings and nothing improved...the only thing I can think of is that it's optimised for digital surround through a dedicated amp. Give that a try over the w/e.
The radio and tunage are great as far as I'm concerned...current stuff, unknown stuff and classic stuff...enough not to be repetitive, the usual spoof ads and chat shows...I'd urge a lot of you to give it a chance, even the annoying russian stations....but the old hip hop and the electro stations are A1.
Characters and storyline are shaping up nicely...minigames are fun....drunk driving is a f*ckin' blast....I like the mobile phone, watching TV, the live shows....I only got about 6 hours play in (and half that was watching me mate play)...gonna have a proper bash over the long w/e.

As reagdrs people's thoughts on this compared to previous GTA titles....my favourite up till now was III...VC was good, but too small, and somewhat boring...SA; I loved the idea, the music, the setting, the feel....but the size of the map and the length of the missions made me loose interest before I reached the 3rd city....and having played IV now, I'll probably never pick up SA again.
Someone mentioned the Getaway above...it's funny, that's what came into my head when I was driving at first...but like I said above, when you get used to this way of driving it's better...

Last thing...I've not even had a gun yet lol, so can't comment on that aspect of the game, or cover, or shooting whilst driving...all that ahead...bring it on!
9.7/10 for me and that's on initial impressions...


[edit] Oh yeah, multiplayer....be a while before I even consider it. I can only imagine it's great craic, but GTA for me has always been about you versus the game....MP will add life to the game after the storyline is over.

Elem

I don't have any of these problems really, apart from the driving.. but like all games, practice makes perfect. You will get the hang of it. Turn up the brightness on your tv, no prob's. Game itself is just pure art.. beautiful. For those who are disapointed, what where you expecting exactly?

DarkJager

I found out last night that setting the contrast + brightness levels pretty much the same on both TV and in game does wonders for it. Everything looks a lot sharper and more colorful now - very impressive.

krudler

neuromancer wrote: »

What do you mean, "annoying thread title", it says what it means.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions, i have been right about the graphics being crap, and many have agreed. Jumping to conclusions would say that I think the graphics are ****e, yet have not played the game, which is untrue.

Tbh, i do expect some bang for my buck. Not all games should be based soley on graphics, but come on, this is PS3/360 graphics, not Sega Megadrive.

Why have a high-end machine at all, if it's not delivering hi-def graphics?

Desent gameplay can be played on any console or pc......GTA IV should have both.

now you're just taking the piss, have you actually seen the draw distance when you're flying a helicopter? and that the city NEVER has to load something when you go around it, the graphics are hi def it plays in 1080p, of course stuff like COD4 and Gears will look better they have fewer characters in pre-rendered environments, GTA is a revelation for how the graphics work rockstar have pulled off a miracle

Wertz

Crap graphics? lol

Beekay

Phaetonman wrote: »

I thought I was going insane with the left hanging camera. I was thinking my controller was ****ed.

I assume it hangs to the left because it's a left hand drive car

justbringit89

will changing the contrast even work for normal tvs.

Ciaran500

Why wouldn't it?

Gonzo

got the game today and played it on my hdtv (samsung), then later on on my friends standard def tv and for some reason the game looked better on the CRT standarddef tv, there was alot less flickering in the textures.

overexcitedaj

Patricide wrote: »

Tried all the views, its the angle of the camera really that irritates me, is there any way to keep it fixed in a different position rahter than just changing it to an alternate view?

at first i would have agreed but as time wore on and as I got into the game I wouldnt change a single thing. Thie game in my opinion is one of the greatest games ivre ever played. its sense of realism mixed with an arcade feel is perfect. fine the handling and camera angle was very strange at first but after a while it just has seemed to have clicked. Its a new generation of GTA just as GTA 3 was a new generation. Its different yes and it does take getting used to as the other previous PS2 titles were essentially the same.

ShaneU

Boggles me why they didn't include an in-car view, even though they added so much animation for when characters are in-car, they even physically gesture in-sync with their speech.

unklerosco

I take back what I said, this game is fan smegging tastic... I love it, getting drunk is so much fun.. Seeing how long u can drive before u destroy the car.

The TV in ur apartment is unreal.. I watched it for about 20 mins... Its bloody hillarious. The one with the lad talking about the fight had me in tears. The little details(of which there are hundreds) make this game... Starting to see why its getting rave reviews...

Best car so far, the BMW M3... dream to drive. I really like the car handling. Didn't take long to get used to it...

Ciaran500

Just about to start on the third island and I'm getting more and more conviced this is a 10/10 game. I'm starting to get attached to the characters really drawn in to the story.

Vegeta

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Just about to start on the third island and I'm getting more and more conviced this is a 10/10 game. I'm starting to get attached to the characters really drawn in to the story.

I have to say the things which initially annoyed me are doing so less and less as I play the game.

Put bluntly I thought the graphics were really poor. Frame rate issues, pop up everywhere (even in cut scenes which load), draw distance is ok but the level of detail at that distance is crap as its constantly out of focus. Shadows look grainy etc

Car handling while being more realistic than other GTA games is still very far from reality and a bit wrong. Have grown in skill as I've played so this is less of a problem.

Really getting into it now and I am not even noticing the above anymore

The one thing which is still causing me some frustration is the camera angle while driving. I don't even mind that it swings too slowly after turning left and right its the height of it. I have to constantly tilt the right analog stick when driving along so I can see any decent distance ahead of the car, this is very obvious when driving on the bridges. Drive up hill = blind if you don't use the right analog stick.

Looking forward to the weekend

RAIN

I gota sat i dont know what people are talking about with the driving,but my friend couldnt get over how easy and good i was at the driving when we were playing free play.. i dont know what it is but i love it ,just clicked with it rite away.The camera has never been an issue i just use right bumber to adjust if i need it,handbreak and foot break take me around corners smoothly. The only camera issues i had were with the helicopter ,when you swing around its hard to get the camera centred again.

7 hrs of free play yesterday.....it felt like we were playing world of warcraft or something 10 of us playing and messing trying to get six starts .7 Hrs and not one instance of lag.....i dont know how many times i heard people say they couldnt believe a game existed that let you do the stuff we were doing.

Basq

I don't find the driving as difficult now as I did when I first started.

Just takes practice.. it helps to brake slightly when turning corners (and not just driving at full speed using a handbrake). Same applies when dodging through traffic.

NotorietyH

Vegeta wrote: »

The one thing which is still causing me some frustration is the camera angle while driving. I don't even mind that it swings too slowly after turning left and right its the height of it. I have to constantly tilt the right analog stick when driving along so I can see any decent distance ahead of the car, this is very obvious when driving on the bridges. Drive up hill = blind if you don't use the right analog stick.

Looking forward to the weekend

Try playing Burnout Paradise without the in car view and you'll appreciate GTA's camera angle more.

In Burnout it looks like you're clinging on to the back bumper only barely able to see over the top of the roof. Clearly they really really want to show you how cool the crashes are in the game by making it happen constantly!

I also can't wait for this weekend to really get into the game proper. It's just getting better and better.

I was holding off on forming an opinion until I got more into the game because based on the other GTA, I've always found the GTA games slow-burners. They take a bit of getting into. I think the graphics are top-notch, especially considering the whole open-world/whole city aspect. I don't know what people were expecting to be disappointed by them.

K4t

The area where you start is very dark and boring to be honest.

But as you move up north and to other islands it get brighter. Weird

Anyway, I think it's very good.