Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer Comments by Dan Whitehead

Okay.

Yea, the races are all about causing mayham. As they said on the IGN podcast, 'if you win a race in GTA you lose at playing the game'.

Neil is a homo

Good. Just thinking that you hadn't covered GTA..

Oh and, anyone else not able to play online on their PS3? It just says it can't connect when I select Multiplayer on the phone.

Luckily I have the 360 version for MP.

Fantastic laugh on multiplayer, reminds me why I play games. As usual, Live integration is well implemented.

I have been playing quite a lot of this, its okay, but it doesn't have the longetivity of say COD4.

Cops and Crooks is the best one to play I think.

Not tried MP yet on this, probably cos I have the PS3 version - it wouldn't connect when I tried the one and only time. At least the one player version is proper bo though.

The description of the multiplayer alone makes it sound like they could've released the single player and the multiplayer as two different products*.

It almost sounds like you could have a GTA MMORPG.

(*Marketing people, this is not something to consider at all, don't even think it).

i tried online on PS3 last night but couldn't connect. can't wait to try it although will probably get through the single player a bit more first.

I have the 360 version my NAT is open and I can never connect. Doing my fuckin nut in. Had 2 games so far and wantt more. Anyone else having this problem or fixed it?

I might have missed it in the article, but there is also a race type called "Cannonball Run" where you all start on foot and have to run to the cars to start the race. That's my favourite other than cops & robbers.

I didn't experience any of this trouble at all with Live on the release day. I was in 12 player games most of the night with surprisingly little trouble other than disappearing cars.

Online theres very little vehicles even on high density. Can be annoying when you have ran so far on foot to get to a motorway, only to be stood there for ages waiting for a motor.

I was really disapointed about driving for 5 mins in a cops and robbers game to get to the helicopters and realising they dont spawn in that game mode. That kinda sucks, I think the cops should get a helicopter, would make for some good chases.

"It'd also be nice to be able to play some of the activities like pool, darts and drinking."

This. Also, as someone said on another forum, the ability to rob shops and do bank jobs. I want a Michael Mann-style 'HEAT" option for multiplayer.

For some reason the game screen stays focused on where I died (or where the mission ended) rather than take me back to the lobby. I call it a bug.
Has happened on Bomb Da Base and Hangmans Noose as they're the only ones I've played so far (on private games with some mates).

Other than that, the multiplayer is good. Just it's annoying when I have to leave and then wait for another invite to play again.

It is a riot!
So much fun just free roaming with buddies.

I still can't get into a fecking game.

It's daft you can't send messages to people using your phone on the PS3 version, after Burnout I was kinda expecting in game friends list functionality from such a huge title. It's a bugger of job getting people partied up. You can't even join a friends party without an invite or see that they're in a room. Feels ill thought out.

I've been able to connect to the PSN MP at least three times yesterday and once on Tues. It is exceptionally frustrating including being thrown back into SP when you invariably lose a connection. This is probably due to the demand on the servers so hopefully it will get better. The MP when I played, however, was fuck-tastic. Especially when your enemy use cover.

I also had a right nightmare trying to get online last night (PS3). When I finally got on, I kept getting disconnected in the lobby.

playing around in free mode is fun

me and a few friends trying to jump from a chopper onto the top of the statue of happiness, eventually made it with only a few casualties

I have the 360 version my NAT is open and I can never connect. Doing my fuckin nut in. Had 2 games so far and wantt more. Anyone else having this problem or fixed it?

This is exactly what happened to me pretty much all Tuesday night. The next morning I could connect every time, and I haven't had any trouble since. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the NAT setting, since mine is open as well. The EG 360, which Tom was using, was behind a strict NAT setting and he had no problems connecting or even hosting games.

I love how you can use your phone to ring up the other team. I can splatter my mate in cops and robbers and then phone him to rub it in. Really well thought out.

@Ranger101

allready in the works mate :)
have a look for 'APB' by Realtime Worlds - the studio run by the guy who created GTA, Dave Jones.
its basically a GTA MMO, have heard from insiders that they can have about 100 people running around at once, with loads of character customisation - you can even design the patterns on your t-shirts :D

Gameplay notes on APB (From the source of all sources, Wikipedia):

"For example, several Gang players may rob a convenience store within the game; the game will then seek out one or more Law Enforcement players of equivalent skills and other criteria, and will issue an all-points bulletin for them to stop the robbery"

That sounds like LA Takedown/Heat to me.

PS3 online worked briefly yesterday, can't get online at all today

Yes - incomplete online modes.

The whole industry needs to wake up and fix this shit.

I expect it'll be M$ that do it with a revamp of live eventually.

I am still annoyed that the 'invert' control doesn't apply once you are locked on using auto-aim - i.e. if you play with X-axis inverted in order to shoot their head you have to push up, which if you play inverted is just rubbish!

ive had no problems with live
40 bucks a year seems pretty sweet to me!

@ Skooch:

Erm, X-Axis is the horizontal plane, is it not?

Do you not mean the Y-Axis (vertical plane)?

Had a blast on this last night. I can't remember laughing out loud as much at a game in a long time. Running your freinds down online is all sorts of cool.

PS3 online is still shit then lol!

quick question will a pal gta 4 game work the multiplayer game on a us 80gb machine in the uk cheers anyone.

I play with inverted Y axis and it controls perfectly.

???

No, it'll be shit (PS3 version).

/joke

racing ice cream vans armed with ak47's for the ultimate win :)

One of the main reasons I was looking forward to this game was down to multiplayer. Have since found SP to be a lot better than expected though... I digress.

The multiplayer works perfectly for me, not experience any real lag or major problems. However, MP modes seem a bit tacked on and I cannot help but think they could (should for a game of this size and status?) done a lot more.

MP is organised and handled a lot better in many other games. Live saves the day though, I can live with it )) Is the PS3 one still not able to connect? wtf is going on with that! I'd be really p1ssed off.

Yep, PS3 still down.

Nice going Sony. Forcing us to play the singleplayer.
I want diversion, since the singleplayer missions are all kinda boring.

@balsaboy72: yep - will be fine. I played multiplayer with my PAL game on my Japanese machine this morning

Jumped on to play Tuesday evening witha few mates, one fella in particuar hunted me down and snuck up behind me as I got out of my vehicle. I could only run towards him because of the door being solid and open, so I soaked up the bullets and gently dropped a grenade to th floor at the last moment before perishing. Cue him getting into my car, closing the door and exploding feet into the air just as he made to drive off. And thus, I fell in love with the multiplayer. Feel-good gaming a its best, you always have an option if you prepare well.

Had a ridculous amount of fun on this last night, one of the best online games I've played.

"... so I soaked up the bullets and gently dropped a grenade to th floor at the last moment before perishing..."

So I guess that "Remove martyrdom" thread I saw in a GTA4 forum wasn't just poking fun at a typical CoD4 complaint? :p

Still no PS3 multiplayer for me today :(

I played briefly on Tuesday before the evening rush kicked in, seemed good but got booted after 10 minutes. So I'll have to see yet!

Not had a single problem on the 360 Live service.

By 12.10 AM - me an four mates were on - playing together - in party mode.

Like gleeful tourists marveling at the games majesty - plotting way off into the distance.

Finding a helicopter - getting all mates on board site-seeing.

Imagine our excitement at finding the airport with 3 helicopters all machine gun firing. Que - one mate in a Weasel News type chopper while the other three chase him down gunship style.

So many things to do (like being first to drive to the top of the Screamer, or nudging your mate who has just managed to land on top of a very difficult roof "Look what I've landed on!" "Oh Yeah" - dives down knocking helicopter off - "So how you going to get down off the top of there?" lol - then trying to chop him up with the rotors before he hits the deck).

Pillion - stunt jumps - jumping over the entire NorthWestern river/gap bouncing on to the road etc etc.

The front end feels very clumsy - use of the mobile may help keeping immersion up in single player but it seems very drawn out in creating mult-iplayer games.

Returning to single player is such a drag when one person drops out

But what is an even bigger drag - is when when American douche bag - is laughing saying he will not tick ready and everyone is sat waiting for him.

Hopefully (now we have the joys of patching;) Rockstar can iron this out before everyone gets too pissed off to keep trying it.

Mind you - there one good thing about experiencing it's short comings and problems - it means you playing online.

The question - "Which is the best version?" is very to easy to answer at the moment - it's the 360 as it's the only one that works as it should!

I don't normally enter into the whole console wars thing... but I'm sorry. If Sony can't get their act together and get their service working when a *major* game comes out, one they have in the past had exclusive rights over, then that really is incredibly poor.

They surely knew GTA4 would attract a lot of traffic onto PSN so they really should have planned ahead.

Let's not forget Live went down around the time Halo 3 came out, but that was literally only for about 2 hours, then it was up and running again.

Get your act together Sony before you have another joke of a product on your hands; the PS3.

Yeah people assume its the PSN when its the Rockstar server.

Actually, it's the Gamespy servers that Sony force Rockstar to use, therefore it is Sony's fault! :oP

Edit: I guess you get what you pay for: Pay nothing, get nothing, haha!

I have to say, after playing multiplayer some more tonight (erm, last night and this morning) as Host that its bloody rubbish options/interface and systems for setup piss me and my mates off no end. It really is ugly trying to understand what the game mode is before starting (I know you can turn it on etc), change game types when you are all in the lobby (dont know how many people are required for the game when in lobby from what I can see, just when starting a NEW game on the phone). Gah, painful.

In game its a bit stupid at times too. Playing canonball run, setting waypoints etc, its easier for me to see where I'm going (24inch monitor few feet from my face) but mates playing on tv's or further away in general struggle to see where the F they are going. Bring up the map to set waypoints and you cannot be entirely sure of where you are meant to be going until you've played a few times. The Finish line for races, jesus! Can they not make the icons flash or something! Gah, really annoying.

Once in-game though, it's all quite sweet. Just get someone to rework the interface please R*

Thanks ))

Have only had a 'cannot connect' error once whilst play mp on the ps3 and that time i exited game, restarted, and it worked fine. Only other time i couldn't get connected (tuesday afternoon) i just started my own game and it was fine too. Don't know what the problem is but lots seem to be getting it. Could it be isp throttling?

I suspect bandwidth throttling would cause lag rather than failed connections. An inability to keep and maintain the connection on this scale usually indicates an overload at the server end.

i just want to say, that first line is misleading - "GTA IV adds many elements to the established series that fans have been clamouring for, such as a better combat system, cars that don't vanish if you leave them for two minutes..."

sorry but they DO! this has happened many times to me. one time i was wrecking a car to try to blow it up (which is so much harder in this game), black smoke was coming out and the car wouldn't start. so i went about 50 meters away to get another car to hit into it and when i got back it had vanished. as if anyone would have stole it, it doesn't even start!

and a few other time i've found sweet new rides and left them in the street, walked about 50 meters and when i got back they were gone. it's a really really shit bug.