GTAIV time-lapse video: 15 days in Liberty City Comments by Richard Leadbetter

That's fantastic

That is astonishing. A few little niggles, like why do all the houses have all their lights on at all times during the night? Does nobody sleep ever? At 1:14, howcome a girl is sitting on a bench playing on her phone for 6 hours straight? There are nowhere near enough pedestrians, but I know that's an unavoidable restriction of the hardware rather than a design problem. But that is so damn cool.

Now make one for Shenmue :)

Amazing video.

Every now and then I forget how much I love GTA, then I stick it on for 15 minutes and it all comes flooding back.Ace.

The reviewer of the Liberty City Stories disc would do well to read your piece Richard.
It seems he has forgotten what an incredible achievement this game is

I love the immersion of the city. Just taking it in is joy. The only sad thing is that there is not enough in the game compared to last time round to encourage exploration. I spent ages belting around Vice City looking for packages and rampages... I like the fact that the packages led to in game rewardage too.

For any sequel I would like to see an increase of periphery stuff to do like this but I'd like them to keep with the realism and immersion.

I actually reinstalled GTAIV not long ago, but really.. Except for the missions, what is there to do in the (admittedly remarkable) game world? I had so much fun just messing about in Vice City and San Andreas.. but in GTAIV there's just.. nothing. Of course, I could hunt for "flying rats", but seeing as there's no reward for finding 199 of them (only 200 count!) and I've only found like.. 12 so far, I'm not particularly eager.

Wish there was more races. And silly mini games. And character progression (as in San Andreas). And rewards for every 20 birds you shoot (as in Vice City's packages). And owning of property. And mountain climbing, base jumping, jetpacks, aeroplanes, challenges, rampages, shooting yards, truck driving, etc. Mooore!

B*gger the resolution and the frame rate - GTA IV is a mind boggling achievement in anyone's money. Nice video DF.

Reminds me I still haven't finished the damn thing yet...

I can't believe people have been complaining about the graphics of GTA4. Considering it goes all the way from a simulation of an entire city right down to cut scenes in small rooms with dirty coffee cups and the TV on.... it's an amazing achievement that noone else has really approached.

Who cares about screen tearing when there's such variety and depth.

Great Vid. I just dropped a comment over at the review of the Episodes of Liberty City stating how I never can get into GTA as much as I would like to. Watching this vid backs my feelings up exactly. I watch things like this and think - Wow thats so cool. Yet never really get into it when I play. I do still have it and wanna finish it. This may well get me to dust it off as I have time off work and have another go.

DF - How about a Yakuza version of a vid like this? Tokyo totally kicks ass in that and it would be great to see it stitched together like this one. :)

It is brilliant. The interaction between the people and the way they go about their business is first class. The graphics for the next GTA could do with a little work though, maybe then we can appreciate it even more

Impressive, next GTA though, I'd like to see a better control system. The climbing over stuff/running around in building stairwells/cover system needs some major attention, as does the aiming and collision detection.

Many times in GTAIV I've found myself clearly shooting out a window or from behind a wall at someone, but the bullets hit off scenery which is nowhere near where I'm aiming.

If the interactive movement in this game (climbing/getting over obstacles/interior sections/cover system) was a bit slicker I would have enjoyed GTA so much more.

Wow, fantastic video!

hypnotising

must.... buy... eurogamer iphone app....

They really created a living world. TOo bad the gameplay isn't quite as special.

this is the art hans was talking about.

Nice work.

A friend just pointed something out about the shadows.

They move toward almost directly toward and away from the object casting the shadow, which you would only see if you were very close to the equator.

If you were in the mid-US, you would see the shadows track around in a much wider circle.

/geek hour ends ;)

That was pretty awesome. I made a clip like this once but it was on a smaller scale and I used my video camera instead :P. This is a lot better lol.

I used to love GTA but nothing innovating, nothign that new to make me even finish it. I bought the game but I was wy more in the mood to complete a Fallout3 and all its expansions than GTAIV which just didnt .. capture me. And to think i have all the expansions for both games.

Anyhow, Im not saying GTAIV is a bad game. Just that its making the mistake that Tekken does since Saints Raw from episode 1 to 2 had way more extras and they were a very unexperienced on the genre. Right? :/

Anyways, I know when I have time ill end up finishing GTAIV as well with all the expansions. The video was alright.

Yep incredible game. I'll never forget the moment when I was in the park and stumbled into an NPC who was a Dutch tourist (could tell by the voice). Amazing detail. I beat her to death, of course.

Love it. I wish more people would use the tools that Rockstar gifted us with this game to make this sort of content.
When I created this video back when GTA IV launched, I expected similar content to flow, but it never really materialized.

Liberty City Beats

To get a clean frame, I turned off all HUD elements and used a specific bike (the dirt bike) in first person view. Because the front view includes the front wheel and mudguard in the frame, I had to click in and hold the stick to engage rear view, while simultaneously accelerating and moving the stick ( to move the camera). This would involve slow and steady shots that often exceeded 10 minutes of hand-cramping controller holding positions. The only shot not involving the bike is the ascending shot between the buildings using the helicopter.

This was all done on the Xbox 360 version which meant no glitches or free-view modes, everything had to be done with the game’s limitations.

Damn, I forgot how amazingly brilliant this game is! I might go back to it after MW2 and get the trophies.

I think GTA 4 is amazing. I've already finished the game twice and I totally loved it. I've spent ages messing around in Liberty City :D I even love driving around like you should according to the law haha. Waiting for red lights, hearing cars horn when someone crosses the street, hearing people talk to eachother. It's amazing really.

epic video! worth the effort

Really, really, really good. GTAIV and its DLC really is a defining achievement in game production. My favourite moment in any videogame was an impromptu game of cat-and-mouse in GTAIV online, with my mate in a 4x4 chasing me on a dirt bike through the city. Hilarious; and that the city has such life to it never ceases to amaze me.

@tyepo great video, hadn't seen it before, well done.

@richardleadbetter more of these please :) Superb video.

I think lots of gamers (myself included) got used to what games couldn't do. I have expectations of where the limitations of games are, where the invisible wall probably starts, how the damage will just be in the general area of the contact.

GTAIV does a million little things I've always wanted games to do, but they never did, so I end up assuming they're not there.
Until one day, when you randomly hear a grenade and go around the corner to investigate, you find a car with a quarter of it concaved into the rest, still drivable but with one wheel locked, screeching across the ground, wedged against the chassis.
Or a car door flying into the air after a broken fire hydrant forces it off, only to land and cause more trouble.