Tbh, i'm not that impressed - GTA IV

Moojuice

I found San Andreas to be a bit of a mess, to much stupid pointless stuff and I found it really annoying having to travel large distances over the country side. I find the car handling to be great, realistic (well movie like anyway) turns and skids. If you want hyper realism in the cars, play a dedicated racer. There are far too many people moaning that it is not COD 4, get over it and just play COD 4 if thats what you want. I But GTA 4 is an immersive impressive and enjoyable game.

grimm2005

i had reservations to begin with, just didnt feel like GTA but now im really getting into it. i think its just the new engine and handling etc. (must remember we've been so used to the old one since gta3 came out 7 years ago)

Also, why are people comparing this to cod4? they arnt even in the same genre they both involve shooting but the similarities end there

Vegeta

NotorietyH wrote: »

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.

maybe less of these very obvious problems.

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

Yes the city is huge but it has had a negative impact on the visuals. Again I am completely over this and it no longer bothers me but they are real issues. Imagine a city that vast with none of the above problems.

atat23

I read this thread before I got it and was crapping myself about the darkness issues, one of my mates also mentioned it to me.
got the game last night and it was fine for me so either people's tvs have the setting messed up or they expect nikko to have eyes like a cat so he can see at night.

the handling and car physics took me a few hours to get used to but only because im use to power sliding around corners in GTA3, im almost there with GTA4 but there are odd times when I still go flying into the odd wall, this is to be expected with the new physics engine though the realism has gone to a new level so its bound to take a while to get used to, also crashing into something and flying out the window or flying off your bike and getting thrown like a rag doll and rolling down the road for about 300 yards never gets old for some reason, I spent the first hour of the game just crashing into stuff in an attempt to see this =D

people dont seem to like the radio but the radio like in all gtas will take some time to get used to, I personally didnt like the gta3 radio but it grew on me after a while, although I do love the radio talk shows in every gta, they are very funny

fitzer1982

Vegeta wrote: »

maybe less of these very obvious problems.



Yes the city is huge but it has had a negative impact on the visuals. Again I am completely over this and it no longer bothers me but they are real issues. Imagine a city that vast with none of the above problems.

I can understand some of the complaints but to be honest I would rather have it now then wait another year. San Andreas was the pinnacle of GTA3, the next games will only be better.

Off all companies I Rockstar are least likely to realise a buggy game! COD4 is great visually but as pointed out earlier the game is extremely linear an maybe a fifth if even the size of GTA!

NotorietyH

Vegeta wrote: »

Yes the city is huge but it has had a negative impact on the visuals. Again I am completely over this and it no longer bothers me but they are real issues. Imagine a city that vast with none of the above problems.

I can imagine a city that vast, I'm having trouble imaging a console capable of producing that city though.

In fairness these very same issues have been raised over every GTA game. I re-read a review of San Andreas the other day, and except for a few details, you could be reading a review of GTAIV. Not saying that GTAIV hasn't moved the series on, as that review mentioned all the new features etc in SA that have progressed the series even further, just as every review for GTAIV has done the same.

The graphics in GTA games have never been to the same level of other games, simply because of the scope etc. You're never going to have that level of detail in a GTA game, because on the next generation of consoles, rather than just making a city the size of liberty city, but with crystal clear, Call of Duty Eleventy-Five level of graphics, they're going to go for a bigger city with less clarity. Which frankly I prefer. I'd sacrifice graphics for gameplay, depth and scope any day of the week.

In my opinion, what they've achieved with the graphics in GTAIV are hugely impressive.

RAIN

I havent seen pop more then maybe 3 times since iv played and that was during multiplayer and it was while running thru grass(sone weeds and stuff spawned) another time was during a stunt the road went a bit wobbly. Thats about it. The game is a technical marvel it realy is. I think its deserves its 10/10 status.

Vegeta

NotorietyH wrote: »

I'd sacrifice graphics for gameplay, depth and scope any day of the week.

And I agree, I just wonder should they take a slightly different route. Everyone agrees that getting the graphics 100% spot on is not a priority in GTA games its the gameplay but yet they go for a more realistic look in a bigger city everytime. How about as the technology advances keep the look the same and make the city bigger which will prevent a lot of the things I have issues with.

Why have super dooper hi res textures when you cant load them/keep them in focus until they are about 100 meters away?

In my opinion, what they've achieved with the graphics in GTAIV are hugely impressive.

What they have achieved is impressive, I agree, but on their own the graphics themselves aint that hot in my opinion.

fitzer1982

Vegeta wrote: »

And I agree, I just wonder should they take a slightly different route. Everyone agrees that getting the graphics 100% spot on is not a priority in GTA games its the gameplay but yet they go for a more realistic look in a bigger city everytime. How about as the technology advances keep the look the same and make the city bigger which will prevent a lot of the things I have issues with.

Why have super dooper hi res textures when you cant load them/keep them in focus until they are about 100 meters away?



What they have achieved is impressive, I agree, but on their own the graphics themselves aint that hot in my opinion.

Rockstar have always pushed the limits of the consoles they produce on, so I can't see the graphics getting any better, fair enough COD 4 were great and gears of war but not too many others.

Sm0ke

Xtra vision Knocklyon had a few copies at 12:30, just got mine altho i did prebook yesterday, about 5-6 on shelf of gta 4 for 360 didnt see any ps3 ones, not to say they didnt have any

Jip

I'll start off by saying I'm not a huge fan of the GTA series, enjoyed GTA III, Vice City was good to begin with but then I just got bored and never went back to even try complete it and SA was just incredibly boring, imo. However a cheapo Tesco copy came my way so I went ahead and grabbed if, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered buying it for a while.
Only first played it yesterday evening after reading this thread and this is what I reckon.
Birghtness, didn't find this to much an issue on a 42inch LCD. I did brighten it up via the ingame otpions as I tend to have the t.v. brightness turned down anyway when watching it.

Car handing, didn't find this a problem at all, maybe because I'm not carrying over habits from the previous versions but it's actually fine. The camera angle is fine too as I automatically found myself using the right thumbstick to adjust it as I saw fit, for example moving it slightly to the right when I was approaching a turn I was taking to see around it etc.

Popups, I've come across this a few times, mainly when in a fast car at high speed and I come to a sudden halt, plants and trees just appear a second or two later.

I've only played it for about 2 hours but I reckon the mini games will get on my tits, couldn't be bothered bowling and all that crap or going to strip clubs although I'm sure it's all essential to the storyline.

I did manage to get 6 stars after a half hour though which I'm quite proud of, done a jump and landed on the train tracks which led me underground and eventually under the other island that's closed off. I didn't get out of any of the stations to see what they're like but eventually got back to the proper island before dying in a hail of bullets. Happy that you keep your weapons when you die though, already found petrol bombs and a shotgun after the first date 'mission'.

I'll give it another while to see if it sucks me into it but I'm already thinking I'll be playing Mario Kart or COD4 online this evening to relax.

nealmac

The soundtrack is my only disappointment.

dave80

set a waypoint on your map in the pause menu to one of the other islands you havent unlocked yet, then get in a taxi as a passenger and select the waypoint of the destenation, itll bring to the other island with a 5 star wanted level ha

vibe666

not a big fan of the soundtrack compared to the older games, but then that's probably due to not knowing a lot of the tunes as well as i knew the older ones, but there's my age showing again!

re: the darkness issues. this whole thing could have been fixed very quickly and easily before anyone started playing it, by having a little config screen with a dark patch of the map in a screen and the various screen settings there to tweak, ala Condemned 2 which also relies heavily on the correct darkness levels.

I've got the cheap 40" Tevion LCD and although it was very dark in the dark bits initially, and a nightmare once I'd hit something and busted my headlights, once I had tweaked my in-game brightness/contracts/saturation (left my telly ones alone) it was fine and i've not had any problems since.

car handling? pretty good imho as it's not supposed to be GT5 or Forza, and once you get used to the controls I've found it pretty good. i'm not saying that i don't end up facing the wrong way occasionally halfway round a corner, but sure that's happened to me a couple of times in real life too and for all the same reasons.

the thing that really gets me (in a good way) is all the tiny little details. the radio interference from text messages, people throwing rubbish out of car windows, everyone around you all doing things and going about thier business, but most of all above everything else is the combat. it's pretty cruddy till you get some guns and body armor, but as soon as you do the mission where you get to the gun shop, I highly recommend getting lots of guns and ammo and body armour (and then creating a savegame) beforew going out with no other plans than to seriously feck someone up!

if you're rally gonna go tony montana on the cops, I recommend somewhere like the bit in the middle of town on the hill with the marble arch lookalike monument.

stand in the middle of the road and wait for someone to start honking their horn at you and then just unload the sub-smg into the drivers seat and watch the mayhem ensue!

feel free to take some cover, but keep shooting at people and cops to get your wanted level up. try and keep out of the way of the choppers when they arrive, but don't waste ammo on them, you're not going to win that particular fight till you get the RPG.

just keep picking off uniformed cops till you get to 5 or 6 stars, then hop in a cop car and see how far you can get before swat make a mess of you.

cregser

I'm at the beginning of the game and although I'm not blown away I am getting that tingling childish excitement I always get when a GTA is out. To those comparing to COD4, you're forgetting one thing - COD has always been extremely scripted. A game can be made to look much better when scripted wheras GTA is a sandbox game were you're free to explore and find all the ugly parts of the game that the programmers tried to hide.

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.

You can use the left analog stick to do this aswell - much more intuitive and frees up a thumb.

RAIN wrote: »

The only camera issues i had were with the helicopter ,when you swing around its hard to get the camera centred again.

To centre the camera just click the R3 button on PS3. It gives you a reverse view when pressed and a centred view released. At least I think this works with the helicopter.

My favourite GTA was GTA3. Not only was it a leap for GTA, it was a huge leap for games and virtual reailty as a whole. Some people thought Mario64 in 3D was amazing but GTAIII really showed what 3D could be. R* say Vice City was a real-behind-the-scenes engineering achievment with a redesigned engine (Zzzz) which paved the way for the larger scope of SA. But I think both games lacked the character of GTA3. It opened our eyes so much that GTA4 still hasn't explored the full potential. But I've only really started the game...

brensplit

Im playing on a 60" LG plasma and it looks amazing.. had a go on a 40" LCD and the colours were not as good...

TheDoc

well ive been stuck into gta 4 now for the last couple of days. Overall i think its an amazing experience, a great game truley worth its great reviews.

Brightness : I actually laughed pretty loud when i read the complaints from people here, have we all lost common sense and ability to do things, or did like hundreds of "non gamers" just buy a console and gta, sounds like that, obviously just go to your colour screen and fiddle around, on the options menu, mine is perfectly fine and looks great.

The two dissapointments i have are online and the soundtrack. The soundtrack is cack, vice city was 80's, san andreas was rap/hiphop, but this game doesnt have a definition, and for some reason they have just thrown in loads of rap and hip****e. Reading the credits at the back, there isnt alot of bands youd call mainstream or recognised. I now turn off the radio when i drive its that annoying. Very dissapointing considering we have had such love for the radio in the previous 2 installments.

online, massive hype over it, first time , shoulda been brilliant. But unless its just me, its shockingly ****e. It reminds me f the horrible days of rainbow six. it is so laggy its unbearable, i get about 2 mins into a game then everyone is lagging with screams of " wtf omg this is ****" and the game cuts, and annoyingly takes ages to load you baCK INTO THE single player game. effort shoulda been made to have a multiplayer menu that doesnt take an eternity to load.

Now i assume the problem should get sorted in a while, but after the hapless crap online that was rainbow six 1 and 2, i dont expect lag issues to get fixed ( pes08 anyone)

its a major letdown cause online is lots of fun, but it feels rushed, no way to check your stats or rank, cant select game lobbies.

its a very dissapointing part of a good game

Smellyirishman

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

no way to check your stats or rank

Play game. Press start. Stats. Leaderboards. Ta-da.

Also, online has been nothing but silky smooth for me (OK, occasionally there is some sliding of cars of a delayed kill but for the most part it's been a joy)

Holsten

Only thing pissing me off is the ****ty camera angle while driving.

It was there in SA and I'm so annoyed it's back, stupid.. stupid!

penguinpoppers

I am still literally amazed that so many people think this game isnt living up to expectations.... I genuinely think its one of the best game ive ever played.
Driving is more realistic and granted it takes a while getting used to it but I have no problems with it now.have people considered that maybe theyre just not very good at it?
Take into account that almost every review of the game so far has given it 10/10 so far. Im guessing they know when they play a good game.
Im giving it a 9/10 without a doubt.

projectmayhem

penguinpoppers wrote: »

Driving is more realistic and granted it takes a while getting used to it but I have no problems with it now.have people considered that maybe theyre just not very good at it?

i think you hit on a big point. a friend of mines review was that the story was shallow (they all are!) and the driving was bad. in his words, "you can't belt around at ease"... but months ago r* came out to say that GTA would feel a lot more like midnight club in terms of driving style.

having said that, i haven't played yet. not at home at the moment. dying to get my hands on it. i feel a little dirty moderating the forum without actually playing through the game

Nick_oliveri

My only gripe is the shops. Theres feck all. It would be cool to be stuck on a mission and just head into town and buy a new mobile/drugs/cancer sticks/cans/joolery!

Bros123

projectmayhem wrote: »

i think you hit on a big point. a friend of mines review was that the story was shallow (they all are!) and the driving was bad. in his words, "you can't belt around at ease"... but months ago r* came out to say that GTA would feel a lot more like midnight club in terms of driving style.

having said that, i haven't played yet. not at home at the moment. dying to get my hands on it. i feel a little dirty moderating the forum without actually playing through the game

You mod the GTA forum and haven't played it yet????:eek:

robby^5

On a side note, 6,666 posts for project mayhem...

Riamfada

As far as the driving goes, the car handles like a real car . You cant just bang the handbreak or foot break and point the car to where you want to go. You have to use a mizture of both while spinning the wheel at the right time to corner correctly

Needs more shops

penguinpoppers

I never really thought about the lack of shops but now that you mention it that is onething that I dont like about the game.The clothes are seriously lacking.(lol that sounds gay)
On the other hand I rather it than the orgy of shops that san andreas had.

BlitzKrieg

been playing it since thursday alot.

No problem with lighting, camera hasnt been any problem either, but I tend to drive in first person when its something that needs full attention on the road, I hop back to 3rd person for drive bys only really.

The Driving is fine if you use first person imo, unlike prior gta's its a bit harder to judge your turns, but in First person its actually alot easier to guess when to turn and how much speed you really need to drop etc.

Aside from the driving, the combat is a big step up in gta standards, I like my AK it is very satisfying, as are the shotguns. Also dropping grenades out at people chasing you is a thrill esp when you time it just right and the car behind you flips.

The biggest improvement though I feel is the story. Prior GTA's (well the 3 playstation 2 ones anyway) had a horrible time keeping me interested beyond the initial plot points (in the case of San Andreas not even the initial plot held my interest) But Niko and his plot is alot better handled pacing wise and he's a bit more likable then prior characters.

Also this is the first 3D GTA I've played thats not on a playstation or PC and I have to say I find the 360 controller alot more comfortable for the combat and driving.


My disapointments I guess are the clothes shops suck for the most part, Its a really minor detail but I honestly have 3 of the 4 islands open but still only found 2 outfits I like and one of them I was wearing when I got off the boat. (the other is the grey suit/red shirt combo), alot of the clothes are actually horrible, ski jackets, golf jackets? wtf?

The dating/friends mechanic, can work at times, but other times when you are prowling through the mission and you start getting phonecalls its really bugging (also i really f*cking hate the 1st girlfriend, I will be hitting on the irish one the first chance I get) Its even worse when someone rings while you are being chased by cops and niko stops running...I usually get plowed by a police cruiser then...


Otherwise its the first 3d GTA to keep my attention for so long so thumbs up from me.

seanironmaiden

Balls to anyone complaining about a game this good. seriously.. I duno what sort of "masterpiece" people were expecting from this game which in my opinion is the best I've played in yeaaaars. For a game this huge and detailed, it's a bit much to expect "perfection", but as far as games go, it's pretty damn close. I really enjoyed playin it for the last 2 days and I cant feckin wait for college to be finished so I can really get stuck in.

Mr.Nice Guy

I just got it today and I really enjoy it so far. I do feel the handling is a bit awkward but I reckon over time I'll get used to it.

To be honest my only complaint is how hard it is to get a hooker in this game!

indough

not really sure what peoples gripes are with the soundtrack, the stations represent an eclectic mix of genres, all featuring the top names within those particular genres, for example dj premier has his own show, roy ayers, there's a marvin gaye song on there too... and i knew many of the songs as they came on...

the character development is far superior than in previous gta games