Post by Dragonistic on Sept 18, 2008 13:50:16 GMT -5
Ok, time to get to work, first up...
[shadow=red,left,300]Grand Theft Auto IV[/shadow]
Arguable one of the most anticipated releases (if not THE) ever. There was alot riding on this game, so did it live up to the hype?
As always let's start with the details of what exactly you get for you're money. The normal GTA style of play, you're a criminal, and you have various tasks and jobs to do to achieve your characters personal goal of some sort. The usual are present, hired hits (various ways , car thefts, a fantastic bank robbery, racing, sabotaging etc. you get the idea. You notice the graphics immediately, not as smooth as other games but keep in mind how much bigger the scale is, and with little loading after the start up, you realise just how good they are.
Of course there's a story (we've moved on from the days of GTA3s nameless speechless baffoon), you play as Niko, a russian immigrant with a dark and shrouded past. Now i won't go spoiling it all for you, but in typical GTA style, you start at the bottom performing small tasks, collecting protection money etc. The story itself, I think is pretty wel written, no more 'gangsta' african american stereotypical families like San Andreas, yes russian mafia is stereotypical, but at least your character has some depth! You can relate to Niko, how he feels and so on, sure it's not Final Fantasy attachment where you spend 100s of hours building to the eventual climax with ending credits that make you wish it wasn't over, but hold on. I was watching the credits, and I wished there was more, it wasn't the shortest story, nor the longest, but I enjoyed it first time through. Some people claim the image is aimed largely at teens, I really don't understand this criticism when you look at SAs story!
The gameplay itself is pretty standard, it's not special, the shooting is relatively generic, but that and the cover system all work fine most of the time, and it's not these things that make a GTA game great. The driving, a large part of the game for me, I personally find to be leaps and bounds ahead of previous offerings, it actually feels like it takes some skill this time around. Some cars oversteer, some are twitchy, some have no ABS and will go straight if you brake to hard, it's no Gran Turismo or Forza but it gets the job done and although it is no SIM, it feels much more real then before.
Speaking of real, the entire city feels more real, Liberty City (made its first real appearance in GTA3) is very much like New York in many many ways, each area has it's own feel, ranging from the streets of Broker (much like Brooklyn) to the centre of the city, Algonquin. It's changed alot to GTA3, particularly the western most island which is much more developed, complete with prison and the cities powerplant. Sure it's not as huge as San Andreas, but it's less tedious to move around from place to place, you can grab a cab at any time and skip the journey, but take it from me you're shortening the game tenfold by doing that, drive to as many places as you can be bothered to, it'll help you learn the roads (and shortcuts ) much better. There's plenty to do around the city, but not all that much is new, you can play pool, go bowling, get drunk with a pal, head down to the strip club or make a good 'friend' with that girl on the street corner. I don't think it will have the same lifespan as SA in this respect but of course I havent mentioned something which more then makes up for this lack.
Online, the first official GTA online offering. Now there's two stories with the online mode and here's the first. You first go online, join a quick match and start playing. Many different modes on offer, TDM, DM as well as other more strategy involving modes such as car thefts (or team car thefts). If auto-aim has been turned on by the host, anyone can look like a good player, purists like myself, avoid auto-aim games like the plague (host your own game to avoid them if you can't find one without it), they're not a whole lot of fun and get boring quick. Most of the modes aren't all that much fun, TDM is just not on par with other games such as COD4, as are most modes, they feel dated and generic. The ranking system isn't very rewarding, all you get is new clothes, weapons are acquired 'on-site' as well as a pre-defined by the host standard weapon. There's a couple of co-op modes, i personally enjoy them much more then the normal modes even if they're not much variety in this department, its a nice thing to have.
So online gaming on GTA is not much good then? Wrong, oh so very wrong. Firstly for many of us here, the racing mode hasn't been mentioned, it's plenty of fun if you enjoy the driving. You can pick the car class (if hosting, otherwise its defined by the host) and your car, colour etc. The track aren't bad and the more purist racer can customise the traffic and pedestrians etc. to their liking. Then there's GTA wildcard, free mode. Play this in a public room, get ready for a deathmatch, no fun, no potential. But, and it's a big but, get some friends together, and suddenly this can become one of the best online experiences available. The city is your oyster, but you need the internet connection to cope with the destruction you might cause. It's never unbearable but if the host is lagging it can be blunted. You can turn police on, as well as weapons and so on, kit up and head on a rampage. Cruise the city with friends, make some speed runs down the highways, whatever you like. If you have the right people around you, this mediocre mode can turn into gaming heaven, good simple fun. The fun lasts as long as the groups imagination put simply.
I enjoyed the story mode, and the online has taken me away from Gran Turismo (shock horror to you guys here!) at least for a little while. Casual gamers will be right at home though, the more serious control wizards might not find as much enjoyment and will turn to their normal shooting/driving competitive games most of the time, but you still can't beat a good old rampage (like when we had 6 gunmen in a bus with 6 stars and no tyres left!).
There's not a whole lot left to say, because there's alot of things in the game and it could take forever to review every aspect. A good solid offering none the less, it's not perfect, but GTA fans should be right at home. The story is good, not great but good, missions are fun, free mode is great but the game misses a higher rating due to it's standard aiming mechanics, they simply aren't fun for modes like TDM.
92%
[shadow=red,left,300]Grand Theft Auto IV[/shadow]
Arguable one of the most anticipated releases (if not THE) ever. There was alot riding on this game, so did it live up to the hype?
As always let's start with the details of what exactly you get for you're money. The normal GTA style of play, you're a criminal, and you have various tasks and jobs to do to achieve your characters personal goal of some sort. The usual are present, hired hits (various ways , car thefts, a fantastic bank robbery, racing, sabotaging etc. you get the idea. You notice the graphics immediately, not as smooth as other games but keep in mind how much bigger the scale is, and with little loading after the start up, you realise just how good they are.
Of course there's a story (we've moved on from the days of GTA3s nameless speechless baffoon), you play as Niko, a russian immigrant with a dark and shrouded past. Now i won't go spoiling it all for you, but in typical GTA style, you start at the bottom performing small tasks, collecting protection money etc. The story itself, I think is pretty wel written, no more 'gangsta' african american stereotypical families like San Andreas, yes russian mafia is stereotypical, but at least your character has some depth! You can relate to Niko, how he feels and so on, sure it's not Final Fantasy attachment where you spend 100s of hours building to the eventual climax with ending credits that make you wish it wasn't over, but hold on. I was watching the credits, and I wished there was more, it wasn't the shortest story, nor the longest, but I enjoyed it first time through. Some people claim the image is aimed largely at teens, I really don't understand this criticism when you look at SAs story!
The gameplay itself is pretty standard, it's not special, the shooting is relatively generic, but that and the cover system all work fine most of the time, and it's not these things that make a GTA game great. The driving, a large part of the game for me, I personally find to be leaps and bounds ahead of previous offerings, it actually feels like it takes some skill this time around. Some cars oversteer, some are twitchy, some have no ABS and will go straight if you brake to hard, it's no Gran Turismo or Forza but it gets the job done and although it is no SIM, it feels much more real then before.
Speaking of real, the entire city feels more real, Liberty City (made its first real appearance in GTA3) is very much like New York in many many ways, each area has it's own feel, ranging from the streets of Broker (much like Brooklyn) to the centre of the city, Algonquin. It's changed alot to GTA3, particularly the western most island which is much more developed, complete with prison and the cities powerplant. Sure it's not as huge as San Andreas, but it's less tedious to move around from place to place, you can grab a cab at any time and skip the journey, but take it from me you're shortening the game tenfold by doing that, drive to as many places as you can be bothered to, it'll help you learn the roads (and shortcuts ) much better. There's plenty to do around the city, but not all that much is new, you can play pool, go bowling, get drunk with a pal, head down to the strip club or make a good 'friend' with that girl on the street corner. I don't think it will have the same lifespan as SA in this respect but of course I havent mentioned something which more then makes up for this lack.
Online, the first official GTA online offering. Now there's two stories with the online mode and here's the first. You first go online, join a quick match and start playing. Many different modes on offer, TDM, DM as well as other more strategy involving modes such as car thefts (or team car thefts). If auto-aim has been turned on by the host, anyone can look like a good player, purists like myself, avoid auto-aim games like the plague (host your own game to avoid them if you can't find one without it), they're not a whole lot of fun and get boring quick. Most of the modes aren't all that much fun, TDM is just not on par with other games such as COD4, as are most modes, they feel dated and generic. The ranking system isn't very rewarding, all you get is new clothes, weapons are acquired 'on-site' as well as a pre-defined by the host standard weapon. There's a couple of co-op modes, i personally enjoy them much more then the normal modes even if they're not much variety in this department, its a nice thing to have.
So online gaming on GTA is not much good then? Wrong, oh so very wrong. Firstly for many of us here, the racing mode hasn't been mentioned, it's plenty of fun if you enjoy the driving. You can pick the car class (if hosting, otherwise its defined by the host) and your car, colour etc. The track aren't bad and the more purist racer can customise the traffic and pedestrians etc. to their liking. Then there's GTA wildcard, free mode. Play this in a public room, get ready for a deathmatch, no fun, no potential. But, and it's a big but, get some friends together, and suddenly this can become one of the best online experiences available. The city is your oyster, but you need the internet connection to cope with the destruction you might cause. It's never unbearable but if the host is lagging it can be blunted. You can turn police on, as well as weapons and so on, kit up and head on a rampage. Cruise the city with friends, make some speed runs down the highways, whatever you like. If you have the right people around you, this mediocre mode can turn into gaming heaven, good simple fun. The fun lasts as long as the groups imagination put simply.
I enjoyed the story mode, and the online has taken me away from Gran Turismo (shock horror to you guys here!) at least for a little while. Casual gamers will be right at home though, the more serious control wizards might not find as much enjoyment and will turn to their normal shooting/driving competitive games most of the time, but you still can't beat a good old rampage (like when we had 6 gunmen in a bus with 6 stars and no tyres left!).
There's not a whole lot left to say, because there's alot of things in the game and it could take forever to review every aspect. A good solid offering none the less, it's not perfect, but GTA fans should be right at home. The story is good, not great but good, missions are fun, free mode is great but the game misses a higher rating due to it's standard aiming mechanics, they simply aren't fun for modes like TDM.
92%