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Looks like Dec 06 OPM is out with the first GTA LCS review.

M

Mrbob

Member
Found this on the IGN Boards. Don't have the mag myself but I don't know why the person would go through all this trouble to lie! Review is in!

4.5/5

Verdict: It's a full on GTA experience, only portable.

just got the magazine in the mail a couple minutes ago.

Review begins on page 134

They redesigned the aiming so you use tap down on the d pad and hold down the L button. Missions are 15 minutes or so in length to fit the playing tendencies that the PSP is geared for.


Usual graphical hiccups that the series has, but the only thing they really harped on was a blurb on the battery life They said they were getting 2 hours 31 minutes on full brightness and sound turned up but wifi off. With the wifi, they were getting just under 2 hours. Luckily, load times are minimal.
Click to expand...

More review scores:

Ps2

Socom 3 5/5
Star Wars: BattleFront 2 4.5/5
Ultimate Spiderman 3.5/5
Ratchet: Deadlocked 4/5
Blitz 4/5
SSX on tour 4/5
Dragon Quest 8 4.5/5
Suikoden Tactics 3/5
Romancing Saga 2.5/5
Jak X 4.5/5
LA Rush 3/5
X-Men
Legends 2 4.5/5
TMNT 3 2/5
sims 2 3.5/5
Castlevania: Curse 3.5/5
Karaoke Revolution Party 3.5/5
Resident Evil 4 5/5 (GOTM)
Trapt 3/5
Conflict: Global Terror 3/5
Without Warning 2.5/5
Capcom Classics 3.5/5
Midway Treasures 3 3.5/5
World Series of Poker 1/5


PSP

GTA:LCS 4.5/5
Virtua Tennis 4/5
NBA Live 05 3/5
World Series of Poker 1.5/5
Ghost in the Shell 3.5/5
Click to expand...

Discuss. :)
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
If I'm playing the Wi Fi Modes, my system is going to be plugged in. So, not much a problem for me.

Next weekend, I gets me some more GTA! I'm still having a hard time grasping that a full-on GTA has been made for a handheld.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
GTA may not be a bad game trollers denied now. :/

Demos on the disc

King Kong
Jak X
Ratchet: Deadlocked
NFS: MW
DQVII
Chronicles of Narnia
Total Overdose
Karaoke Revolution Party
DDR Extreme 2
Shining Force Neo
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
 
P

pdk27

Member
Goreomedy said:
If I'm playing the Wi Fi Modes, my system is going to be plugged in. So, not much a problem for me.

Next weekend, I gets me some more GTA! I'm still having a hard time grasping that a full-on GTA has been made for a handheld.
Click to expand...

You can't charge while using Wi-Fi on the PSP.
 
S

SpiffyG

Member
I guess we aren't going to see insane high 9 scores. But mostly low 9's. That's still really good though. The battery life seems like a little bitty issue...
 
M

Mrbob

Member
pdk27 said:
You can't charge while using Wi-Fi on the PSP.
Click to expand...


You can still play your PSP in Wi-Fi mode with it plugged in.

And it does charge. Slowly. I played Untold Legends local wifi with a friend and when his battery got low he plugged his system into the wall and the battery was a little more charged after the gaming session was over.
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
pdk27 said:
You can't charge while using Wi-Fi on the PSP.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? I've played Twisted Metal Head On while charging. Even browsed the internet. It wasn't getting any juice then?
 
G

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
Mrbob said:
You can still play your PSP in Wi-Fi mode with it plugged in.

And it does charge. Slowly. I played Untold Legends local wifi with a friend and when his battery got low he plugged his system into the wall and the battery was a little more charged after the gaming session was over.
Click to expand...


I thought so. The charge has never been outpaced by the drain on my system if it is plugged in.
 
P

pdk27

Member
Goreomedy said:
What are you talking about? I've played Twisted Metal Head On while charging. Even browsed the internet. It wasn't getting any juice then?
Click to expand...

I assume it isn't charging because the light changes from orange (charging) to green (not-charging) when the wi-fi is in use.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
They said full brightness and sound turned all the way up when they played, I usually handle the lowest brightness setting and around medium sound level, anyone fiqure how that would do?
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Sapienshomo said:
Gits psp half way decent???

not according to others...
Click to expand...
It's certainly not a game to spend $250/$300 over, but it's not all that bad, especially for series fans.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Mrbob said:
GTA may not be a bad game trollers denied now. :/

Demos on the disc

King Kong
Jak X
Ratchet: Deadlocked
NFS: MW
DQVII
Chronicles of Narnia
Total Overdose
Karaoke Revolution Party
DDR Extreme 2
Shining Force Neo
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Click to expand...

Is DQVII supposed to be DQVIII? If not, that's pretty funny.

Anyway, that's an awesome demo disc. Especially excited to try out Neo and King Kong.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
HomerSimpson-Man said:
They said full brightness and sound turned all the way up when they played, I usually handle the lowest brightness setting and around medium sound level, anyone fiqure how that would do?
Click to expand...

Rockstar figured 4 hours and looking at OPMs stats 4 hours should be doable on medium settings.

If you are going to use high brightness you might as well just plug your psp in and use the 4th brightness setting anyway....

BuddyC said:
It's certainly not a game to spend $250/$300 over, but it's not all that bad, especially for series fans.
Click to expand...

That's not your call. If we are going by review scores Nintendogs averages 7s and 8s. A couple 7.9s didn't stop Mario Kart DD from selling over 2 million copies either. GTA already faring much better in reviews.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
Mrbob said:
Rockstar figured 4 hours and looking at OPMs stats 4 hours should be doable on medium settings.

If you are going to use high brightness you might as well just plug your psp in and use the 4th brightness setting anyway....



That's not your call.
Click to expand...

Well 4 hours?! I'm good to go!
 
K

koam

Member
Missions are 15 minutes or so in length to fit the playing tendencies that the PSP is geared for. [...] They said they were getting 2 hours 31 minutes on full brightness and sound turned up but wifi off.
Click to expand...

Playing tendencies is right :)
 
P

pdk27

Member
Kung Fu Jedi said:
You're really looking for something bad to say when you come up with something like this. :lol
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to bash anything. I've had GTA pre-ordered since I got the PSP at launch. It just irks me about the PSP that I can't surf the web when my battery is almost dead and expect it to be fully charged when I'm done.
 
K

Kung Fu Jedi

Member
pdk27 said:
I'm not trying to bash anything. I've had GTA pre-ordered since I got the PSP at launch. It just irks me about the PSP that I can't surf the web when my battery is almost dead and expect it to be fully charged when I'm done.
Click to expand...

Mine charges more slowly when I'm using it, but it still charges. But then again, I have it plugged in most of the time so it charges quickly anyway. But to make a comment like that it just seems like you are looking for something to bash. I mean, you can play it while it's plugged in and wi-fi is on. And the battery doesn't actually go down. You'll find there are very few electronic devices with a battery in that actually charge quickly while you're using it. The PSP is no different.
 
P

pdk27

Member
Kung Fu Jedi said:
But to make a comment like that it just seems like you are looking for something to bash.
Click to expand...

My bad. Next time I won't try an make a quick comment while playing Burnout Revenge.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Mrbob said:
That's not your call. If we are going by review scores Nintendogs averages 7s and 8s. A couple 7.9s didn't stop Mario Kart DD from selling over 2 million copies either. GTA already faring much better in reviews.
Click to expand...
...but I was talking about Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex?
 
S

Snaku

Banned
A shame that after three tries Iga is still incapable of making anything more than a servicable 3D action/adventure game. Time for him to give it up.
 
E

elostyle

Never forget! I'm Dumb!
OPM stands for official playstation magazine, right? If so then anything but 5 out of 5 does raise at least a tiny little flag in my book hm..... can't wait for more reviews.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
elostyle said:
OPM stands for official playstation magazine, right? If so then anything but 5 out of 5 does raise at least a tiny little flag in my book hm..... can't wait for more reviews.
Click to expand...

Well it depends how far you are willing to look into that. They gave Sony's SOTC a 4.5 and gave 2004 game of the year to a multiplatform(Burnout 3) title instead of MGS3.
 
K

Kabuki Quantum Lover

Member
elostyle said:
OPM stands for official playstation magazine, right? If so then anything but 5 out of 5 does raise at least a tiny little flag in my book hm..... can't wait for more reviews.
Click to expand...

Wasn't that the score Shadow of the Colossus got?
 
E

elostyle

Never forget! I'm Dumb!
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Well it depends how far you are willing to look into that. They gave Sony's SOTC a 4.5 and gave 2004 game of the year to a multiplatform(Burnout 3) title instead of MGS3.
Click to expand...
Alright, nevermind. All is good again :)
 
B

black_13

Banned
More of the review...
Typed up by gorrillazfan at the official OPM board.
Like all the GTAs before it, LCS has a lot of problems. Some of them are caused by the PSP, and some are the same damn ones that people have been waiting years for Rockstar to fix. Since the game relies so heavy on running and shooting, you'd think that it would be polished to perfection, but it isnt, and the driving mechanic is the same thing we got in GTA3 and Vice City.

You can now fine-tune your aiming by tapping down on the D-pad and then holding in the L button. But even so, its the type of feature you'll forget it there, because its unessential. Many missions require you to wonder into a crowded area and pick off specific targets while everyone around you opens fire, but you can tap R to lock on to a target.

You often have to be quick, because you'll either struggle with aiming or you'll use all your ammo wiping everything out. As a value proposition, nothing comes close to this on the PSP. It is a gigantic game and will likely take you 40-50 hours to complete and even then, there are 33 other "games" inside it, that could take 5-10 more hours.

There's the firefighter, vigilante, and taxi missions; there's also package collecting, delivery missions, races, and shoot-outs; and on top of all that, there's this whole multiplayer thing. The 7 modes borrow ideas from the tried and true multiplayer school of design, but the difference is in the way they use the whole environment and cause the player to learn the map.

If however, your not really a multiplayer person, then there a few modes that will be fine for just you. The deathmatch and marked-for-death style modes do 2 players, but the full effect comes from 6. There's a capture the flag mode which has you stealing limos, and finally a "wedding list", which is a free-for-all scramble to take cars and drive them to designated shipping crates.

As you can probably tell, LCS has plenty to distract you from the main story, but as we've come to expect from Rockstar, that core experience is extremely well written (although its subtly but spectaculary and hilariously puerile, especially when it comes to character names) and well paced. It's slow to start but things start to pick up around the 5th hour when it reveals to be a complex story and a more political one than we're used to.

The ways of the different criminal organizations and the way they want the city run, really make for an interesting tale, especially around the 10th hour when you start to put yourself into the mayoral race. Missions are shorter than on the PS2, and arent the lengthy stuff we saw in San Andreas. It's usually no more than 1 step, such as kill this guy, and there are only a few 2 or 3 steps, which are like follow this guy and blow this up. The result is a more user friendly game that is good for killing 10-15 minutes.

Initially, Toni Cipriani isnt as good a character as CJ from SA, but as the story unfolds, you learn to appreciate his more cliched Mafia stuff and some of the way he handles characters are straight out of The Sopranos; but as you explore his loyalties and watch the relationship with his mother unfold in a bizarre series of events, you learn to sympathize with him. In the end though, he is just like CJ, because you develop a bond with him.

The load times in LCS are quite impressive. The city loads quickly and never stops to load, and the only time you're out of the action is in cutscenes, and even they are transitioned quickly. Plenty of music is pulled from the disc, and the whole game has a lot of speech. But all this comes at a considerable cost. Playing non-stop, and at full brightness, with Wi-Fi off, we were only able to get 2 hours and 30 minutes of playtime. But with Wi-Fi on, we were not even able to get 2 hours.

This game should be commended as should Rockstar, when other game makers are pushing ports and other stuff of their mega franchises, this game is worthy of being called a full-on sequel and is comparable to GTA3. Reviewed by John Davison.
Click to expand...
 
W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
sounds good but im worried about battery life. i hope opm was using some kind of retarded battery or something
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
Wario64 said:
sounds good but im worried about battery life. i hope opm was using some kind of retarded battery or something
Click to expand...

Well it's at full brightness at one thing and that kills a battery faster. Same goes for sound volume.
 
W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Well it's at full brightness at one thing and that kills a battery faster. Same goes for sound volume.
Click to expand...

i didnt think full brightness/sound decreases it by a hour (rockstar claims 4+ hour battery life)

it shouldn't be a problem considering my psp playing habits, but under 3 hours kinda sucks
 
I

imastalker co.

Banned
dancing-dante-tvad.gif


where'd that footage come from? did i miss out on some new TGS trailer?
 
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