Grand Theft Auto IV Comments by Tom Bramwell

@penhalion

TFR re Acheivements mate - Sony will have to come up with something similar at some point.

Seriously, does any body have an inkling which version is better?

I've been stung by the PS3 a few times now, but it's it that I'm leaning towards

im moving house next week. screwed for cash...
... no GTA for me for at least a month past release.

/wrists.
/geek tears.

hehe.
(havent even been able to buy the new COD4 maps O.o )

@ actionfitz

Use fake money mate....its the future ;-)

@penhalion just out of curiosity - how would you rate the other games in the series? and whats a 10/10 for you? good not to have too high expectations of anything cause you are right there is so much hype around, but really for me everything i hear about gta4 makes it sound exceptional

and now, the PC version announcement please!

"I still feel rather "meh" about this game. The ridiculous review scores and piss poor gameplay of the previous installments did little to improve my confidence in big name hyped through the roof games."

Again with the negativity and presenting opinion as fact. I think that GTA has been shit ever since it went 3d but if the gameplay was so bad, it seriously wouldn't have such a fanbase.
As for review credibility, that's another discussion...

I'd go for the 360 version just for the DLC alone. But on top of that Live for the multiplayer - it just works better.

Why don't you just put the review out now? Just put the words Grand Theft Auto 4 at the top and 10/10 at the bottom. Ever since the game was announced there was always an air of inevitability about the score regardless of quality, and in the end, thats what annoys me about this series of games.

You keep all of your weapons after being killed?

Yay! :-)

HyperShadow

Shut up

''What will Microsoft do to let customers know that their version has exclusive content?''
One of the answers, it seems, is right in my fooking face when I load up Eurogamer.
I'm sure there will be an ad on TV soon with an equivilant in your face message.
Ohh, and I tried not to get suckered into the hype, I mean why should I? I hated every other GTA title, bored the crap out of me, but God damn I failed, I want this bloody one too.
Guess who wont be getting a week off for its release whilst they are still working in Game?

I got a woody from reading this article.

Can someone help illuminate my world somewhat with regard to the GTA series. I have absolutely no interest in the games whatsoever, am I missing out?

So we should expect a 10 then ?

It sounds amazing, such attention to detail and every complaint about the (great) previous games has been seemingly addressed.

A good story and atmosphere is all I need, bundle in a lot of fun and I'm good. 10/10. ;)

All this talk of getting thrown from your car, I hope you can still get in a massive truck and effectively plough through cars though!

I forgot how chuggy the old GTAs were, and all that pop up! Still, the quality of the game shone through it all really.

@paulf

In seriousness I don't think there is a 10/10 game out there. All games end up with flaws, whether that's because of technology limits or design decisions.

I rate San Andreas as a 7/10 simply because a lot of it felt like pointless trudging and some missions were ludicrously fiddly (toy helicopter bombing runs anyone!). Upon completing it I also couldn't figure out why the hero didn't simply shoot the bad cop two minutes into the game and get on with his life.

Vice city 6/10 for me as it was simply scarface without the set pieces. It also had a lot of bugs that reviewers simply forgot?!?!? to mention.

My idea of an 8/10 game is one that I will enjoy playing but, once the intial euphoria wears off I'll probably be struggling to find stuff to do in the game. You can only marvel at a taxi ride once or twice before you skip it out of sheer boredom. I've also never felt the need to play a GTA game after finishing the story missions. Somehow wondering around the city with no goal never appealed to me.

Johnny if you don't like it, you don't like it, simple as. You shouldn't need the game to be 'sold' to you.
Surely you're not like one of those guys that appeared on the Halo 3 comments sections a while back...
''Is it just me or is this series really overrated?''
''Is it just me or does Halo suck?''
''Is it just me, am I alone here, in this wildly original but negative opinion I have of this stupidly successful series of games?''

Hm... so more people think that this could just be a great game, instead of it being the holy grail of gaming.

Lets be honest, we all finished GTA3, and eventually finished Vice City, but never saw the end of San Andreas.
And we got really bored of the PSP outings.

I really hope the Houser boys can surprise me, but as some other people point out, most reviews are not to be trusted. Assassin's Creed got 9's and 10's all over the place. EG has got a good rep when it comes to reviews. I hope they strengthen their position with an honest GTA4 review.

And also: Too bad the Niko plot twist after 25% of the game has already leaked:
I can not believe you fell for that one, HA!

No word on the collectibles..? Vice City had the best with its hidden packages.. that you got rewarded for every tenth you found. In San Andreas you only got a reward if you found all 100 (!) of anything.. Which meant you could find 99 items and STILL not get shit for it. Needless to say, I never managed to get any rewards at all in that game..

Oh, and if you blow up a car, turn your back to it for two seconds and then look back at it again.. will the burning wreck still be there? That's annoyed me to no end in EVERY GTA so far; the inability of the game world to keep track of my mayhem for more than two seconds.

"you can use the emergency services number to request vehicular toys: a dispatcher sends a cruiser to your location [...] The police computer within allows you to search for individuals whose names you've been given, whether it's mission-specific or not."

Now that is a neat idea, consider my interest in the franchise rekindled.

For everyone feeling aggrieved about parts of the city being unlockable, I believe that multi has a 'free roam' mode where you can explore to your heart's content, without those pesky missions getting in the way.

oh yeah, I loved package hunting in Vice City... but never felt compelled to do it in San Andreas. Spent ages pootling about on a bike doing that. Plus marks for swimming being introduced to Vice City Stories, because nothing irritated me more than death after trying to do a stunt! Think I may have to polish off Crisis Core and bung GTA on the old PSP to make my little universe a Rockstar one.

I really cant see there being much if any difference between the 2 versions, do you think either company (sony or microsft) would allow their version to be inferior considering the amount of cash they both spent on this over the past few years.....

The best police chase I've ever had belongs and it pains me to say this need for speed hot pursuit 2. Regardless of what GTA does it will never beat driving a Mclaren F1 at 200+ mph while swerving to avoid a police helicopter droping spike strips then jumping over a police road block with 4 police Lamborghini murcielago cruisers in pursuit. Words don't even express how intense some of those police chases were.

about the frame rate: the clue is in the title of the game..? :-o

what....IV frames per second?.....

scan of first GTA review is here:

http://cid-3085454822782b0d.skydrive.liv...

sorry, not sure how to make hyperlink. not to spoil it or anything but it received a very very good score.

Some of the things you can do in the game sound awesome!! Like driving a car with 2 dead bodies in the back and if you hit something then the boot pops open. You then have to get out and close the boot before people notice. Classic!!

@lexx87

My apologies, I forgot the GTA series is above any criticism.

do I pre-order it for the PS3 or the X360?

That's the dilemma I'm in at the moment. X360 extra DLC. The PS3 doesn't sound like there's a Chinook taking off outside my living room window.

As I don't really give a crap about achievements, it'll most likely come down to comparitive performance, which historically has meant the 360 version.

In seriousness I don't think there is a 10/10 game out there. All games end up with flaws, whether that's because of technology limits or design decisions.

Penhalion: Nothing personal, but I think that's a remarkably pretentious and ultimately self-defeating standpoint. If nothing is a 10, why have a scale that goes up that far? Games should be measured against other games, with a 10 meaning a game is the pinnacle of its field, not measured against some unattainable 'perfection'. In my opinion, the fundamental flaw with the vast majority of games criticism is the overwhelming focus on what a game doesn't do rather than reviewing what it does do. Your 'there are no 10/10 games' stance seems to typify that.

I can see myself playing the PS3 and 360 version just to see which is better.

I do have the feeling, for obvious reasons, that the 360 version will run marginally better in some situations, like all multi platform games have.

For a game like this, its important you get the best out of the experience.

reckon youre gonna have to bring out 2 reviews for this one EG-one glowing 10/10 for the fanboys and a scathing 8/10 for the haters.

That way nobody can complain:)

"TFR re Acheivements mate - Sony will have to come up with something similar at some point."

As long as there's the option to not take part in the dick swinging I don't have problems with it.

I'm sure GTAIV will be home trophy compliant, if thats your bag

Fantastic read

Thanks

I have pre-ordered both versions. :-) It's only a tenner more than buying the 'special' version.

why would anybody need both versions?

\confused

@penhalion - you are obviously a very hard man to please, you didn't write the edge review of mario kart wii by any chance did you? ;)

on a different note it does surprise me the amount of people who seem to want this game (and others) to not be as good as it sounds - what does anyone gain from that, we are lucky enough to be in one of the best times for games in years - lets enjoy it while its here :)

Sounds great indeed!

@Benno - I think I will end up buying the game for the PS3 and Xbox 360 too although I pre-ordered it for the latter from GAME last July because I believed it would be the best version. However, as a multiformat gamer I'm curious about how it plays on other systems too and I've ended up buying all the previous 3D GTA games at least twice, first on the PS2 and then later on the Xbox or PC so I'm sure it'll be the same for GTA IV as well.

I thought San Andreas was the worst game in the series though: bigger isn't necessarily better if the dated engine running the game can't handle it and the environments just felt emptier and thus more lifeless. The story wasn't as involving or interesting, many of the missions were tedious and the music was mostly terrible except for one radio station. The only thing I really liked about it was the RPG like character building stuff, it was the only thing that felt new. Vice City remains by favourite game in the series though. I'm hoping that GTA IV is a return to form, at least it's running on an engine designed for the next-gen system not an eight year console!

Re: why would anybody need both versions?

Incase one really is better than the other. I'm a true PS3 fanboy, but also a GTA fanboy, and want the best possible experience!

"TFR re Acheivements mate - Sony will have to come up with something similar at some point."

Can't you unlock wallpaper or table lamps for your HOME apartment?

"Again with the negativity and presenting opinion as fact."

It's a fact that my opinion of the previous games is very poor. I liked the story and setting of Vice City but as a game it was crap. I didn't like anything about San Andreas. Initially I went along in the group think but at some point I noticed that I wasn't really having fun and that the interactive bits were all poorly executed.

The minigames were VERY undercooked in San Andreas. It seemed like Rockstar was getting in over their heads and they thought "more" of everything was better than quality. I'll be waiting for the full reviews myself.

I hope EG are able to give us some format comparison comments in their review, rather than waiting for another Face-Off.

I guess I'll get the 360 version on the assumption that the versions with either be technically equal, or the 360 will be slightly better.

Edit: there/their

"A light fog blurs the night air as street lamps hang cotton buds of fading light up and down sidewalks dense with rubbish bins, fire hydrants, glass-sheltered bus-stops, sign posts and the occasional coned-off sand-pile of roadworks."

Nice writing my good man.

Roll on the release so everyone can stop acting as effing shrill martyrs for the game.

I think people need to replay Vice City if they think the RPG aspects of it all was the only thing new in San Andreas. Just one tip to refresh your collective memories: swimming. Don't you remember how utterly frustrating it was to fall off a pier in Vice City and insta-die?! Or climbing?? You meet a fence that's 1 mm too high for you to jump and you'd have to go all the way around it!

Rose-coloured glasses and all that. Yeah, I loved Vice City too, but San Andreas really was better in almost all aspects.