Post your first impressions!

PvtRyan said:
PS: I got a hold of a gun somehow (no clue how, I jacked a cab and got a gun*) and I shot at a one cop and before I knew it, I had 6 stars. Now I know the wanted system is completely different, but I got choppers sent after my ass, as well as FBI with assault rifles. Is this because it's still early in the game and I shouldn't be doing this, or is the game always this harsh?
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In the beginning of the game, if you try to cross the bridges to other islands, or leave your starting island at all really, you get an automatic six stars for being a "terrorist". The bridges are closed at the start due to terrorist threats and alerts :p
 
After getting home with the game last night and playing for a couple of hours, I was having fun but I wasn't amazed. I figured I just had to put some more time in, or maybe GTA IV wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Today when I got home I planned on playing for maybe an hour or two... Suffice to say, 6-8 hours later, I was most definitely having fun :D

I can't believe how involved I feel in the story, and how immersed I feel in the world. It takes some time for all of the tiny details in the gameworld to start showing themselves, but once they do, boy is it great. I love all of the characters too, they have such great personalities. I was pretty surprised when I was upset after my girlfriend was killed (I hated the dating/girlfriend function in San Andreas), and when I started prioritizing who I did missions for based on who I liked the best, and had the best repertoire with.
 
I got the game earlier today along with a Hanns-G 19' Widescreen LCD.I've been playing around with resolutions and color settings etc. for most of the day.This heavy blur that surrounds the world is very distracting and i can't seem to get past it.I was very much caught up in the hype and now i am starting to get worried.
 
Got the game earlier today. Hopped on singleplayer, and before I could even get off the damn boat, I had people inviting me to join live. I decided to wait until I was able to get to a point to save before I did. Heh.

Anyways. My impressions.

The game is amazing! The combat feels great, but I'm still getting used to the cover system.

The driving feels fantastic and almost right from the get go I was driving pretty well(a little more carelessly in multiplayer though). I will only get better at it. Driving while shooting is quite difficult, but it's a fun challenge! Especially when your opponents are intelligent in live.

The story so far is fantastic. I'm a few missions in on various characters, and I think the dialogue is fantastic, and will undoubtedly get better for me. I really feel emotions for all these characters, rather than the hollow reactions I had in GTA games past.

The graphics are... well, they're great, but right off the bat and still I'm really unusued to the blurriness of distant objects and even not so distant objects. Playing on my monitor and I'm having a real trouble getting used to this blur filter they have on there. Wish it could be disabled. It didn't help matters that I was mentally and physically fried once I started playing the game, so the blurriness makes it extra hard to see and keep my eyes open. Hehe. It's also hard for me to see things at night.. but I guess that's to be expected. Being able to angle the headlights up a setting and make it shine more on things helps a lot.

Online play is FANTASTIC!! I didn't get to play a ton of modes, but played various ones, and my experiences thus far are positive. When I played with some hl2.net people we didn't really... get much done. It'll take time to get into the rhythm of organizing games and get them going fast and constantly without a lot of unintentional dicking around.

Free roam is godly... Oh man so much fun is going to be had there, playing cooperatively with you guys fighting cops and building and destroying relationships on the fly for various reasons.

Can't wait to wake up and play some more tomorrow... which I will be doing for hours and hours, probably mostly multiplayer. I won't be on my computer for nearly all day probably, but will periodically log into the forums via my brothers PC and update Xbox and PSN gamertags and IDs as I can.

Sorry for the shitty writeup. I am very tired.

Oh and my most laughingly enjoyable experience so far was having one of the hl2.net guys fly me up to the top of the empire state building, and I bailed out near the top. I tried to leap off it, falling down a few stories and unexpectedly hitting my head on a wider level(since it is narrower at the top and wider as you go down). Most of my body was clear, but my head smacked into it and for the rest of the quick trip to the street below, my guy was tumbling frantically with a rifle in hand. Very enjoyable!

Euphoria owns!
 
Well I can honestly say I don't care for the new wanted level system. Killing a lone cop gains you 3 stars no matter what.

The repeat after repeat after repeat of failed missions is still in there, no checkpoint saves for restarts or anything.

One thing just made me put the game off in an absolute rage, I'd just finished a mission for little Jacob when I get a phone call. During the phone call, some random person started shooting me so I had to hang up and take him out. All of this happening in an apartment building in which I'd just finished ventilating 3 people I assumed that one more wouldn't hurt. I got an instant star. No big deal I thought. Just then a cop shows up out of absolutely nowhere. Since I was cornered I took him down. 3 stars, **** this shit, switched off.

*sigh*
 
The new wanted system is awesome, really. It's now actually based on your skill of driving and evasion. I just got rid of a 3 star wanted on FOOT, by staying out of sight and running my ass off with all these choppers flying around me.
 
At first glance I basically came in my pants but was so impressed I forgot to clean it up. The visuals were outstanding and euphoria is unreal. I have only done a few missions so far as me and my friend basically just ran around and killed people. The first time you are in a situation where cops are gunning for you is priceless. You run to the nearest car, hot wire it (in the meantime having bullets fly through your windshield or smash into the side of the car).

Free roam....IM NOT WORTHY!!!! Unbelievable...I may of spent over 3 hours with a buddy of mine taking turns flying to the tallest building and watching him dive off of it, eventually trying to land on a car.

Only issue I have is the game likes to freeze at loading screens. Other than that, GOLD

We need to get another game going tonight!
 
This is my first time playing any of the GTAs on a console. I've been a PC only GTA'er up to this point. Driving is infinitely better/easier on a console while on-foot is tougher than the ol' mouse and keyboard I'm used to. I'm guessing it's only tougher right now because I've used the sixaxis for a grand total of about a day. I'm getting better but it's going to take some time.

I've made it to Manny's second mission out on Bohan island and the missions have been great so far. A nice mix of things to do and a nice mix of difficulty. I don't bother myself with the girlfriend stuff or the maintaining of friendships outside of missions. The game looks and sounds great and I haven't had a single technical problem like locking up yet.

I really like the new wanted system. So far I've found it easy to evade 3 stars or less. I don't think the cops have ever gotten me at 3 stars or less yet. Anything more than that is TOUGH though. I can't wait until I open up the big center island. When I get that, I'll probably ease off the missions for a bit and spend more time sandboxing and looking for hidden items and weapons. I haven't found any hidden items yet but did find the better smg on a rooftop. I found a vacant cop car in an out of the way alley which was a huge find. I found a Banshee too, but my dumb self didn't write down where, and I haven't been able to find it since.

This game has been exactly what I hoped for. Can't wait until I can get back to playing.
 
I managed to unlock the second island today, and Star Junction looks amazing. There's actually a hell of a lot more traffic around than I'd thought there'd be too. I've just bought a suit as well, but I can't seem to find anywhere that sells shoes? Smart suit + brown boots = fail.

So how far has everyone got? I'm at 24% so far, a total of 11 hours played (in 2 days! :eek:)
 
Jimmeh said:
I managed to unlock the second island today, and Star Junction looks amazing. There's actually a hell of a lot more traffic around than I'd thought there'd be too. I've just bought a suit as well, but I can't seem to find anywhere that sells shoes? Smart suit + brown boots = fail.

So how far has everyone got? I'm at 24% so far, a total of 11 hours played (in 2 days! :eek:)
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All the shops sell shoes. Just look at each wall and you should be able to spot the shoe displays.
 
Jimmeh said:
I managed to unlock the second island today, and Star Junction looks amazing. There's actually a hell of a lot more traffic around than I'd thought there'd be too. I've just bought a suit as well, but I can't seem to find anywhere that sells shoes? Smart suit + brown boots = fail.

So how far has everyone got? I'm at 24% so far, a total of 11 hours played (in 2 days! :eek:)
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Bah, I'm sick of my peasant clothes.

Hopefully I unlock the second island today :D
 
Cormeh said:
Well I can honestly say I don't care for the new wanted level system. Killing a lone cop gains you 3 stars no matter what.

The repeat after repeat after repeat of failed missions is still in there, no checkpoint saves for restarts or anything.

One thing just made me put the game off in an absolute rage, I'd just finished a mission for little Jacob when I get a phone call. During the phone call, some random person started shooting me so I had to hang up and take him out. All of this happening in an apartment building in which I'd just finished ventilating 3 people I assumed that one more wouldn't hurt. I got an instant star. No big deal I thought. Just then a cop shows up out of absolutely nowhere. Since I was cornered I took him down. 3 stars, **** this shit, switched off.

*sigh*
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Learn to patience? If it's only one or two cops, just cap them in the leg and run. 3 stars is annoying but pretty avoidable as long as you don't do anything rash.

The more I play this game the more I learn to love the little touches. Just now I'm on a mission for Faustin and Roman calls me up for some drinks. No worries, I figure Niko will just blow him off with a canned message. Instead he goes into a lengthier-than-usual dialogue about the particular mission he's on and why drinking would be a bad idea at that particular moment in time. All this while I'm making my way slowly across a long and traffic packed bridge, the perfect distraction.

Is it scripted? Definitely. Do I care? No. This is why GTA IV succeeds as an open-world game, it's not just "hand the player a vague objective and a waypoint and leave him to his devices." It actually tosses you a bone every once in a while, makes things a little more entertaining, a little livelier. It's a where linear meets non-linear for a "warm coffee" (via lovemeet.net!).

The other thing that really helps to give it some depth is the way things are constantly referenced and cross-referenced. You'll hear about America's Next Top Hooker on the radio, spot a billboard for it on the side of a building, then spot it yet again on the top of a cab (haven't actually caught it on TV yet). You can visit the site where Brucie gets his roids. Roman mentions a certain blog in a cutscene that I'd actually had the (dis)pleasure of viewing beforehand.

Also (spoiler if you haven't met Faustin) -

I took Roman to the bar across from your safehouse where Vlad always hung out, before you kill him that is. As you're walking in he says something like "let's drink to the late Vladimir!" Lol.

Edit - Too true, Fox. I'm getting kinda sick of Michelle "remembering" my outfit. :p
 
I love this game more than any other game I've bought for my 360.

That is all.
 
Loke said:
What does not compute in your little brain?
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Your, uh, comparison. How the hell does anything displayed on screen compare with what was displayed on screen in Vice City, or ANY next-gen title at all?


Anyway, this is the best game on Earth and in history thus far. Oh, and is anyone else laughing really hard whenever Brucie makes an appearance? He's like the ultimate dude-bro. His dialog is so perfect, you kill some people and he's like "GOD BRO Holy F-CK I am SO PUMPED That was the SH-T. MAN I GOTTA GO PUMP SOME F-CKING IRON DUDE I FEEL JACKED!"
 
Glo-Boy said:
Your, uh, comparison. How the hell does anything displayed on screen compare with what was displayed on screen in Vice City, or ANY next-gen title at all?


Anyway, this is the best game on Earth and in history thus far. Oh, and is anyone else laughing really hard whenever Brucie makes an appearance? He's like the ultimate dude-bro. His dialog is so perfect, you kill some people and he's like "GOD BRO Holy F-CK I am SO PUMPED That was the SH-T. MAN I GOTTA GO PUMP SOME F-CKING IRON DUDE I FEEL JACKED!"
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Yeah, Brucie is my fave so far, hes just so over the top that he cracks me up for being so psycho.
 
THe most annoying character to me is deff. Manny. Make you just want to shoot him. "The streets man! I'm ghetto!"
 
Glo-Boy said:
How the hell does anything displayed on screen compare with what was displayed on screen in Vice City, or ANY next-gen title at all?
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Uh? I'm comparing in the sense that the previous GTA games ran on the PS2 in the framerate department, not a PS3 game versus a PS2 game. Apparently I wasn't "clear" enough. -_-
 
I don't even notice a bad framerate in the game. And if there is one, it doesn't impact my gameplay. Not even during heavy multiplayer matches with all sorts of chaos going on.
 
Raziaar said:
I don't even notice a bad framerate in the game. And if there is one, it doesn't impact my gameplay. Not even during heavy multiplayer matches with all sorts of chaos going on.
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It happens occasionally to me, but usually only when theres a good amount of police in a small area in multiplayer
 
Raziaar said:
I don't even notice a bad framerate in the game.
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You're sure? You can even notice it easily most of the time in desolated areas or even in cut scenes with less than two characters on screen. However it's most noticeable when you're driving fast on a road with a dozen of cars in front of you, the added blur even worsen it IMO.

I agree with that it doesn't affect the gameplay by much though, I mean you can still play it and have a good time. It's just that I'm really nitpicky when it comes to framerate in games and especially those being on consoles.
 
can't really complain though, its not bad enough to make a stink over but not good enough to pass as a selling point
 
picked it up yesterday, played about 30 minutes ..wont be able to play it till sunday or monday at the earliest ;(

seems good from what little I did see ..it's lost some of it's cartoonishness as well my first impression is that it's a lot more realitic and less playground sandboxish
 
Loke said:
I agree with that it doesn't affect the gameplay by much though, I mean you can still play it and have a good time. It's just that I'm really nitpicky when it comes to framerate in games and especially those being on consoles.
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I'm suuuuper nitpicky when it comes to framerate in games.

I don't notice it while playing.
 
CptStern said:
picked it up yesterday, played about 30 minutes ..wont be able to play it till sunday or monday at the earliest ;(

seems good from what little I did see ..it's lost some of it's cartoonishness as well my first impression is that it's a lot more realitic and less playground sandboxish
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It still is very sandboxish. That's what makes GTA games great. But the game is also a lot more serious and fleshed out, and I love it. Also, when I play multiplayer and singleplayer, I have an entirely different mindset. When I'm in singleplayer I am more humbled and serious about the city around me, but when I play multiplayer, the city is entirely my bitch.

EDIT: FFS. Okay first I edit my original post... and the damn messages doesn't get applied for some reason. Then I try to edit it again, and I realized I've double posted.

ARGH I'm getting pissed off thinking I'm editing my post and not realizing I'm making a new post. I swear to god I'm clicking on that damn edit button and in advanced mode.
 
Not exactly first impressions but this doesn't really fit anywhere else...

Anyone else think that Algonquin is a little soulless compared to Broker/Dukes/Bohan? It was probably their intention to give it that kind of feel, but I'm really not as taken with it as with the first few areas. I really loved the winding mess of streets in Broker and the way they actually had some of that "verticality" they kept going on about, and that it was so wonderfully layered with different types of architecture. Algonquin, for the most part, is just straight, flat, uniform streets in between vapid skyscrapers. It feels like old GTA where the other areas felt like a step forward in design.

That said, it's still brimming with those little details that make the game so great, but in terms of layout it seems a bit uninspired (or maybe too inspired in this case). I guess I just find it's not as fun to drive around in.

Also, Ricky Gervais...

What a ****ing mistake. I actually liked his stand-up, but he's so hopelessly out of place here that it's kind of embarrasing. His model is totally lifeless and mostly fails to convey the physical humour that punctuates his act, and whatever's left of that is killed by the awful canned laughter (watching the audience slap their knees over something that was barely a joke is cringe-worthy). Beyond all that, the kind of humour he's using falls flat on it's face in a medium like this because it's story-based, his act is about telling a tale rather than telling a joke. A gag-based comic would have been a much better fit. Also, needless to say, but what the **** does Ricky Gervais have to do with New York?

First thing in the game I'm really dissapointed with.
 
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