Graphically this game is unstoppable. Many times on missions I find myself stopping to just look around.
Definately not as fun as Vice City. That is still my favorite(characters, missions etc.) and actually I didn't expect that to change. You can't buy property in this game....what's up with that?
Beating people up is not fun anymore and quite slow going. I don't care that much except when a cop has you cornered, and you don't have a weapon handy.
Great game, but I don't understand how IGN rated this a perfect game when the 2 previous GTA title were even more fun to play.
Try this. When you want to do something with Roman(like darts, bowling) Pick up Roman with a motorcycle and hear his reaction to you about picking him up with a motorcycle. VERY FUNNY.
I LOVE the rainy day days. Just love driving around with the radio on driving around and seeing the city and people in the rain.
Also, I love walking around the city and looking to the left or right and seeing people in their windows shutting the blinds or turning the lights off/on.
I still think beating people up is fun. I just had fun beating up a Rabbi.
I spent a good few hours playing yesterday and I have to say that I am liking the game a little more, but it does seem to get very repetitious. I'll explain in a second.
The driving I have down pat. I can even drive responsibly while drunk. Nothing like following a cop car all the way back to Michelle's house. You even tap their car and you are arrested.
Speaking of Michelle....
Gone on two dates with her. The second date I took her to the bar thinking that I'd get her drunk and then take advantage. Turns out I was the one who got drunk instead.
Getting tired of constantly having to rescue Roman. The one mission I am stuck on is rescuing him from loan sharks in the park and then chasing their vehicle. I always lose their vehicle and I have to repeatedly play that mission over and over again in the midst of trying to score with Michelle. This is where it gets repetitious. All the city driving back and forth is about as tiring as driving in my own car all day.
Absolutely. Going to be a bit tough with the two separate platforms though. I played a little multiplayer the other day and it was kind of cool, though not as fun as COD4. Basically you run around in constantly changing locales finding guns, getting run over by other players, etc.
Yup, this is where I'm stuck, and will probably be stuck there forever. I'm just not coordinated enough to successfully round corners at the speed necessary to complete the mission.
This is typical for me with the GTA games, I get stuck early in the game, and just spend my time tooling around until one of my better coordinated friends unlocks the rest of the game and gives me a "saved game" file so I can enjoy the rest of the terrain.
So, I turned off the cell phone, jacked a motorcycle at the airport parking garage, and am just tooling around the city for now.
In "Vice City," I was never able to complete the mission where I had to enter the country club without weapons and kill the mobster on the golf course. Even with a cheat that allowed me to get in WITH weapons, his goons always surrounded my golf cart, and if I was lucky to make it past them, it was never in time to catch the boss.
In "San Andreas," I got stuck on an early "drive-by" mission, and was never able to see the entire game map until a friend's game save unlocked it for me.
I don't even remember where I got stuck in GTA3...
Has everyone ridden the subway? I think it's exceptionally well-done, except it seems you get charged based on the distance you travel, which kinda sucks when Niko only has about 30 bucks on him...
...and, Don, it's that sort of "stuck on play" that makes you migrate away from the game and go to another. If I can't beat it today I will probably just use GTA4 for online play. Much simpler.
They should have just let you bypass that mission yet penalize you as a result.
I would like that, but I think you and I (and maybe several others in this thread) are a bit older than the demographic that video games are "intended" for. Your average teenager usually has a lot more free time they can devote to this sort of game, and I think a feature like that would be too "tempting" to resist using too often, then they would start complaining that the game "sucked" or was "too easy."
I'd prefer if there were no "timed" or "chase" missions, but I guess it's the whole point of the game, isn't it? I think what I need is a "Sunday Drive Auto" game...
I could not beat the Roman in the park scene and what makes matters worse is that instead of just letting me repeat the game play in the park I have to keep going back to getting in the car and making the drive.
I am also disappointed there is no GAME SAVE at any point you wish to do so.
I understand your frustration. I am a huge GTA fan, and to be perfectly honest the missions(If I have to do one more "follow the car" mission, I'll scream) in IV are mostly boring. It's mind boggling that a game this beautiful is so average. If it doesn't pick up soon, I may just trade it in at Gamestop.
Not having the ability to save your game at any point is probably my #1 pet peeve about games in general (aside from the ones that DO let you do that, of course!). I can accept not being able to save in the middle of combat, but come on!
There's just no excuse at this point. If Oblivion lets you do it, then I don't see why ANY game couldn't.
How does one perform a "wheelie" on a motorcycle in this game? I realize you have to get the bike up to a certain speed but how do you lift the handlebars (i.e. which control on the controller do you pull, push, press or ??) I've looked at all the control diagrams and I can't seem to find out what the control sequence is for a wheelie.
The beginning of the game is a bit slow, which is why OXM gave it a 9.5 apparently. It supposed to get better as the game goes on... after Little Jacob.
Which is actually where I'm stuck. I have rescued Roman, popped Michelle many times and rescued Little Jacob. I have Little Jacob, Demitri on my phone as well as Faust (I think his name is).
The problem is when I bring up the map, nobody is listed there. I lost LIttle Jacob somehow, when he is supposed to be an arms supplier for me. I call everyone (except Michelle) and get an answering machine. I can's seem to hook up with anyone anymore (again, except Michelle) and therefore I don't seem to get missions anymore. Did I do something wrong? Do I need to start over? If anyone can lend assidtance, it would be much appreciated.
When you bring up names on the phone list, instead of calling them, highlight 'job' (works for Roman and LJ) and run some errands for them. Eventually, you should get another mission. Also may want to check your messages to make sure there's not an option for 'retry mission'.
The campaign does get stagnant at times, but is starting to get better. Even the life of the game seems to get more evolved as you carry on. Radio commercials, News alerts, passerby conversations, more cars available to jack.
As far as the car chase after saving Roman on the playground, it took me a few tries, but got it eventually. You don't have to ride the guys ass, just try to prevent him from getting too far out in front. Eventually he pulls over and tries to loose you by climbing some stairs into a warehouse. However, I must agree in that the 'chase' missions are frustrating and can eventually take the fun right out of things. Especially since like you guys, I don't have all of the time in the world to keep replaying them.
Not sure if you guys have tried the Cops N Crooks online game mode, but if you have enough buddies online with you, this can be very fun. One team is the cops, and one team are the crooks. The crooks have to make it to the escape way point, while the cops chase them and try to eliminate them. Hilarity often follows.
Did you complete the Vlad series of missions (culminating in him getting whacked)? I was running Little Jacob missions and Vlad missions concurrently for a while and I ran into the same problem that you did with LJ disappearing off the radar (literally!). I even tried to go back to some earlier saves to pinpoint where LJ hangs out on the map and then apply this to a later save but to no avail. LJ still was a phantom.
"Hung Out To Dry" was the Vlad mission that caused me a lot of problems because I kept losing the damn laundromat guy in the car chase. But it was a learning experience and eventually I cornered him and won the mission. Then the rest of the "Vlad" series of missions were rather straightforward and introduced some other concepts like train riding, ladder climbing, roof jumping and branched decision making (let live or let die). When Vlad finally met his maker and I progressed on to the Dmitri/Michael missions all of a sudden I got a message from Little Jacob so I guess he's ready to wheel and deal.
I agree with those who are tiring of the car chases, especially since us "older" types don't have the game reflexes that we had 30 years ago. Some closer "saves" would be handy - especially since GTA 4 doesn't offer easy/normal/difficult modes but a "one size fits all" approach. However, in defense of the car chases, etc. these are not meant to be sail through exercises but learning experiences. The challenge is actually some of the charm to me. And if you get frustrated and just want to "sandbox" explore all the islands you can always dial up all the cell phone cheat numbers to make you immortal, unlock all islands, etc. etc. You just forfeit the ability to accumulate Achievement points during any "God Mode" play - which is perfectly logical given the circumstances.
And for those of you who are bailing out on GTA4 because of being stymied - give it a chance. The world really begins to open up and there are some amazing missions, side missions, interactions, etc. to be enjoyed.
I just wish that someone would create a game with the scope, depth and interaction of GTA4 without all the "adult" themes so I could show my grandchildren. Right now I can fully understand why there is a "Mature" rating for GTA4 (anyone who doesn't really hasn't been paying attention) but the concept of the gameplay really should be available to those under 18 on an "official" level (not that I'm suggesting that a GTA4 for Kiddies be produced.)
This is obviously the largest selling entertainment product in the history of all entertainment industries (Movies, Books, etc.) for a reason. It Rocks! And a huge amount of resources went into its creation (someone said over $100 million). I wonder who will take up the challenge (and the gamble) to create a title using the same principles and gameplay with a more "mainstream" rating.
I am by no means a prude (and I'm enjoying the hell out of GTA4 as an adult) but I see a great untapped market at the moment. I guess the industry walks before it runs. (And yes, I realize that there are some tamer games out there with marvelous worlds - some even are graphically superior) but GTA4 has raised the bar exponentially in terms of an overall immersion. With falling prices for speedier processors I can't wait until the next improvement in gaming comes along.
I turned the "cell phone" off yesterday, jacked a motorcycle, and just went tooling around the area that's open to me. It's unreal how beautiful the game world is. I love the billboards, and don't think I've seen the same one twice.
I spotted a makeshift ramp at a construction site and made what I thought was a spectacular jump. I was absolutely sure I would be killed. There was slo-mo from four different angles, and jump was made from what appeared to be at least 500 feet. I landed PERFECTLY in traffic without damage to myself or the bike, and was silently applauding my success when I was "greeted" with the message "Not Good Enough." MAN, was I bummed...