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[bonesmccoy]

It's the only GTA game I've ever finished twice. The second time I wisely skipped the 'optional' cell phone calls - except for Jacob's - and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I can see how driving might be annoying, a lot of the enjoyment comes from using specific cars I think. But let's not forget the absolute grind it was in SA and VC to get from A to B if you had a long way to go. There were some missions in SA that actually forced you to drive from Los Santos to San Fernando. Gah, it was awful.

 

[Dead Man]

It's the only GTA game I've ever finished twice. The second time I wisely skipped the 'optional' cell phone calls - except for Jacob's - and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I can see how driving might be annoying, a lot of the enjoyment comes from using specific cars I think. But let's not forget the absolute grind it was in SA and VC to get from A to B if you had a long way to go. There were some missions in SA that actually forced you to drive from Los Santos to San Fernando. Gah, it was awful.

I loved the long driving missions. I'd grab a bike and blast down the highway.

Edit: I didn't love that mission where you had to the tail the guy over half the map though. Too slow.

 

[Razorskin]

People who say the driving is shit are just really bad at it, it was near perfect.

 

[Loxley]

I'm hoping beyond hope they include a first-person option in GTAV (even though I know they won't), because that first-person mod for the PC shows just how goddamn immersive Liberty City can be from that perspective.

People who say the driving is shit are just really bad at it, it was near perfect.

Pretty much. It had, at most, a small learning curve, but some people act like it was impossible to drive in a straight line :lol The cars felt like they had a real weight.

Overall though, I think too many of GTA IV's haters use the overzealous reviews (particulraly IGN's) as an excuse to shit on the game itself. "LOLZ it duzn't have a oscar-wrthy story". I don't think anyone who played the game and enjoyed it thinks the story was anywhere near "Oscar worthy" or even anything mind-blowing or amazing, but Rockstar put a shitload of effort into telling the story they wanted to tell, even if (by the end of the game) Nico essentially was no different or less-psychotic than any other GTA protagonist. Still, it's the characters and rarely ever the over-arching story that shine in Rockstar titles, with RDR maybe being the exception to that rule.

One common criticism of GTA IV that I do agree with was the mediocre targeting mechanics. RDR improved on that a lot, they didn't fix it 100%, but it was still an improvement.

 

[BigDug13]

I always wanted to play this and use the "first person mode" mod to actually feel like a part of the city. I never could work it out with the fact that I had to have an older version of the game to do it and my copy was too new.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

The game is just okay and nothing more, the physics are horrible, the story is awful and lastly the gameplay is just an endless repetition of "go here, kill this person" or "drive this car all this way".
That said the game can at times look great and it certainly is one detailed gameworld.

I concur. I think what I hated most was the fact that first 5 hours of the game was a giant tutorial.

 

[dejan]

I loooved the driving in GTA IV. A good chunk of my play time was just me driving through the city (preferably at night), listening to the music and enjoying the scenery.

 

[saladine1]

I actually liked the idea of the realism approach that GTA4 offered.
Having said that though, for the first time in a GTA game, I felt so bored, so quickly.
I mean, I understand what the Houser's were trying to do. I understand that a formula should be changed once in while to keep things fresh. But sacrificing the core elements of that particular formula will indeed turn it sour.
By that I mean good old fashioned fun, good old fashioned laughs, good old fashioned " Did you see that fucker wearing that chicken suit fly off the bridge after I rammed him with my ice cream truck that doubles as a front for selling Columbian Coca?".
Like I said, I liked the idea of 'GTA: Realistic' but mang, realistic doesn't have to mean boring. Real life can be fun trust me, I live in the world and I haz me some fun yo.

Anyway, a lot people keep saying that GTAV should have the zany elements of San Andreas or Vice city and I agree, but it doesn't mean it has to be TOTALLY wacky. I say infuse realism and zany together and you should get a far more enjoyable game than the previous attempt.

 

[WJD]

I loooved the driving in GTA IV. A good chunk of my play time was just me driving through the city (preferably at night), listening to the music and enjoying the scenery.

This.

One of the defining moments for me was after some midnight drug deal mission, I hopped in a car, tearing away from the police and the One Vision by Queen comes onto the radio. I couldn't help but sit back and smile at how awesome it was.

 

[Horns]

Gah! All this GTA talk, I went and bought Liberty City Stories from Amazon for $7.50 today. Alright played through both twice, just not on my PC. <3 GTA IV

 

[zsswimmer]

The only thing I really enjoyed about it was the online racing modes. Couldn't even finish the main story because I was so uninterested in it.

 

[d1rtn4p]

I love me some Saints Row, but this game was just on another level of awesome. I love how they went for the realistic approach, as so many games go for the hokey approach. I would be happy if they just released a new GTA4 like game every couple of years...

 

[squicken]

I've never understood the love Gay Tony gets. It was so poorly written. The characters were terrible, and the missions were the worst of the 3 games. The only thing it had was more diversion stuff.

 

[kamspy]

Easily game of the generation on PC.


The console port is a travesty. It's really a poor representation of the game.

It's not only "teh shiny gfx!". framerate has a huge impact on how the game plays/feels.

Euphoria + R* polish = a great time.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I've never understood the love Gay Tony gets. It was so poorly written. The characters were terrible, and the missions were the worst of the 3 games. The only thing it had was more diversion stuff.

I remember finding the story fun. It'll be interesting to go back to it

 

[Striker]

Driving was really the only thing I liked about it.

I despise the sticky-cover system and the aiming still blows. Even worse they allowed that for online. I mean, really? The single player I never finished and never felt really involved in the story, either. The lack of side missions is also a big fault.

 

[DarthWoo]

I just bought it on the Steam sale a couple days ago, and now I'm in the for the long haul of downloading nearly 16GB (for just IV itself, then another 16GB+ whenever I download the episodes) over 768kB/s DSL. Did they ever improve PC performance? I remember back when it first came out people seemed to be having problems with rigs that sounded pretty much like what I've got now.

 

[Mr_Brit]

I just bought it on the Steam sale a couple days ago, and now I'm in the for the long haul of downloading nearly 16GB (for just IV itself, then another 16GB+ whenever I download the episodes) over 768kB/s DSL. Did they ever improve PC performance? I remember back when it first came out people seemed to be having problems with rigs that sounded pretty much like what I've got now.

There's nothing wrong with GTA IV just like there's nothing wrong with Crysis. The difference between those two games and all other PC games is that the developers chose to include ridiculously high quality graphics and assets so that the games would still look good in several years time. Most idiotic PC gamers who are used to getting 1080p/8xAA/60FPS mistook this for poor optimisation. This is where the GTA IV/Crysis are badly optimised myths came from, misinformed/idiotic PC gamers talking crap about things they barely understand.

 

[Kayhan]

There's nothing wrong with GTA IV just like there's nothing wrong with Crysis. The difference between those two games and all other PC games is that the developers chose to include ridiculously high quality graphics and assets so that the games would still look good in several years time. Most idiotic PC gamers who are used to getting 1080p/8xAA/60FPS mistook this for poor optimisation. This is where the GTA IV/Crysis are badly optimised myths came from, misinformed/idiotic PC gamers talking crap about things they barely understand.

This is very true. When you unchain GTA IV and Crysis they still to this day look like games from 2014 to me.

 

[DarthWoo]

Good to know. I never really had many problems with Crysis myself, outside of some odd memory leak-like glitch that caused everything to slow down horribly if I played for more than 45 minutes at a time. Exiting and restarting worked every time. Just another 11.5GB to go! :/

 

[Windom Earle]

Vanilla GTAIV has not aged very well. Nostalgia makes me come back to it from time to time though. Gay Tony shows what GTAIV should have been to begin with.

 

[The Antitype]

One of my favorite games of this generation. I loved that Rockstar scaled back on the silly stuff and tried to make a more serious experience. Loved the core storyline, and ADORED Lost and the Damned. LATD is probably my favorite gaming experience of this generation.

But they were smart to bring back some of the silliness in Gay Tony for those that missed it.

 

[Papercuts]

It means the story/mission structures in these games have always sucked. But if you want mindless destruction and a deviant-simulator, it's great fun. The physics, driving, great detail of world, and cop structure (all of which are vastly superior to the previous games) means I can easily play for a couple hours without accomplishing a single thing and have lots of fun (and more than a couple LOL moments). It's a fantastic sandbox for just being bad. The gameplay aspects are the things I care about. Now if people found the missions interesting in previous games, that's fine. But IMO they're horrible. So I care about the core elements of the sandbox. The core elements are vastly superior IMO.

The thing is, the core elements of the sandbox should be far more game reaching. The missions themselves were completely at end with the sandbox nature, instead opting for constant linear style missions with no diversion or outside interaction from the player. This is a HUGE departure from the old games where you could always fuck with the missions ahead of time, leave cars blocking roads and see it stay, get out of the car and pop their tires to screw them up immediately, etc. The shooting in the old games were typically in sprawling outdoor areas, so you could usually use cars to drive in and blow them up, IV made them typically inside and you followed a normal shooting path. When the game was NOTHING but shooting and chases, it got fucking old. The scripted chases especially.

The single most disappointing gaming moment for me in the last few years was me getting out of my car and sniping the tires of the car I was chasing. Lo' and behold when I was now chasing a car shooting sparks going at the exact same speed and angle. The old GTAs very rarely did things like that, as opposed to GTAIV that always did stuff like this.

 

[TacticalFox88]

People who say the driving is shit are just really bad at it, it was near perfect.

...Is this a joke? If I was playing Gran Turismo then they would've been OK, but no I'm play GTA for fucks sake, not a goddamn car simulator.

 

[bluedeviltron]

PSA: Don't be a fucking idiot. Buy GTAIV Complete for $10 on Steam.

 

[Massa]

...Is this a joke? If I was playing Gran Turismo then they would've been OK, but no I'm play GTA for fucks sake, not a goddamn car simulator.

The game is much easier to drive than GT. It's also more fun and rewarding than previous GTA's, I really liked it.

 

[Papercuts]

I actually really liked the driving, even though I was wondering why they changed it so much when I started the game. I did not like flying out of the fucking windshield.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

I truly loved GTAIV in 2008 and 2009. The DLC was amazing, and the city was tremendous.

Since then though, Red Dead Redemption has released, and did everything you can compare even better. The controls, the random events, the characters, the day/night cycle, the weather, the framerate, multiplayer, etc. So though I still really like GTAIV, it's hard for me to go back to it now, the controls are the worst part. I tried recently, and I just can't get back into the heavy, unresponsive character controls, the HORRIBLE weapon switching, and the awkward cover/shooting controls.

GTA5 better take what RDR has done and expand from there.

 

[state_vector_collapse]

Started off thinking it was pretty poor after the wonderous San Andreas. But once I got out and about in the city more, and saw the amazing detail, I was hooked.

I've just started my fourth playthrough of it(360 version) and I never tire of exploring the city and even now see little bits and pieces that I hadn't noticed before.

That is where RDR falls down in comparison for me. That game might have nicer textures, better lighting, and possibly run at a higher resolution? -but it's just a big open world with the odd little town here and there. You never knew what might be around the next corner in GTA IV.

I just hope for the next game that they could implement seasonal weather. After Playing Mafia 2, I'd love to drive around Liberty City in the snow (yeah I know you can get a pc mod).

I do wish though, that they had added buses. For some reason it always annoyed me that there were bus stops, and people would sit at them, but no buses would ever pass by.

Oh I agree with those who say the driving is great. The cars have weight and you need to "drive" them rather than just chuck them around corners and watch them stick to the road like glue. It adds to the tension when in a chase -just like it should.

 

[Razorskin]

...Is this a joke? If I was playing Gran Turismo then they would've been OK, but no I'm play GTA for fucks sake, not a goddamn car simulator.

I guess you want hummers to handle like race cars and be able to mow down as many pedestrians as possible. :lol

 

[rvy]

Loved it. Really loved it. I played all the previous games and had tons of fun, but always bitched at the lack of realism in them, GTA IV is right up my alley. If I want mindless fun, I'll just play Crackdown.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Started off thinking it was pretty poor after the wonderous San Andreas. But once I got out and about in the city more, and saw the amazing detail, I was hooked.

I've just started my fourth playthrough of it(360 version) and I never tire of exploring the city and even now see little bits and pieces that I hadn't noticed before.

That is where RDR falls down in comparison for me. That game might have nicer textures, better lighting, and possibly run at a higher resolution? -but it's just a big open world with the odd little town here and there. You never knew what might be around the next corner in GTA IV.

I just hope for the next game that they could implement seasonal weather. After Playing Mafia 2, I'd love to drive around Liberty City in the snow (yeah I know you can get a pc mod).

I do wish though, that they had added buses. For some reason it always annoyed me that there were bus stops, and people would sit at them, but no buses would ever pass by.

Oh I agree with those who say the driving is great. The cars have weight and you need to "drive" them rather than just chuck them around corners and watch them stick to the road like glue. It adds to the tension when in a chase -just like it should.

First, if you're going into RDR looking for the same dense urban experience as GTAIV, you're going in with the wrong mindset. RDR is all about creating an authentic western landscape, and being a bit barren and having a feeling of isolation is a big part of that. Both game worlds are on the same level IMO.

Secondly, I truly also wish there were seasonal weather patterns, and even U.S. holiday changes implemented into the game. It would've added a layer of authenticity, and replay value that would keep you coming back a year + later to see how the city has changed. I've wanted something like that ever since Animal Crossing came out on the Gamecube.

And about the buses: Weren't they in San Andreas? I remember being about to steal buses, and actually CONTINUE the route, and pick people up/drop people off at the bus stops. You could also do the same with the trains.

 

[Mutagenic]

I enjoyed the driving physics, but it was the camera I couldn't stand. When you turn, it takes far too long for the camera to swing around and self-correct. When racing down a hill, I could never see what was lying in wait on the road below. Sure, you can manually control the camera, but I'd rather the game handle that intelligently. The on-foot camera is awful as well. The camera should operate with the right stick/mouse, not automatically swivel whenever I turn or move.

 

[bluedeviltron]

The handling has never been overly arcadey in a post III GTA game, it's just that it's infinitely better and more sophisticated in GTAIV.

A lot of people seem to confuse San Andreas with Saints Row, which featured non-existent car physics.

 

[Red Blaster]

Really the only redeeming thing about the game is the technological horsepower behind it. I look forward to trying the mods once I get a new PC. Still can't believe how terrible the story and mission design was in the game.

 

[Papercuts]

And about the buses: Weren't they in San Andreas? I remember being about to steal buses, and actually CONTINUE the route, and pick people up/drop people off at the bus stops. You could also do the same with the trains.

They were fairly rare, but yup.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

One thing that makes this game billion times less of a chore is using taxi rides often, especially to get to places you need to go repeatedly (safehouses, mission locations, dates...)

 

[X26]

Great game, will replay it once I finisht he episodes which I recently just got

The amount of hate it gets is hilarious, everything from its story (while far from"oscar quality", it is leagues beyond what you see in virtually every game and its paper thin plots and character development to the driving (perfect balance of arcade and sim, so much more satisfying than in any other GTA)

What is worth complaining about is the sluggish on foot controls and the lack of things to do outside missions, everything else is so overblown and typically from the same crowd who hates on games like CoD, Madden and whatever else is popular

 

[Kayhan]

From the Screenshot thread (not mine)

 

[Kayhan]

Is GTA IV the most divisive GTA game?

It sure seems that way to me. Always in these threads we see both massive outpouring of love and a torrent of the usual hate :lol

 

[state_vector_collapse]

First, if you're going into RDR looking for the same dense urban experience as GTAIV, you're going in with the wrong mindset. RDR is all about creating an authentic western landscape, and being a bit barren and having a feeling of isolation is a big part of that.

Don't get me wrong - I finished RDR and thoroughly enjoyed it. But while doing the missions I felt I had seen all the gameworld had to offer. With GTA IV I knew that my second playthrough I'd probably take different routes on the way to missions and see new sights.

That sense of exploration isn't something I think I'd get playing RDR more than once. Each to their own of course, but I just find Liberty city a more interesting place to just hang out in.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

So I've just powered my way through The Lost and the Damned in one sitting.

Sticking just with the main story it took me a little shy of six hours all in all. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a hefty addition to the game for what was a mere £10 on XBL and now half of that on the Steam sale. It also has no lulls whatsoever, you're thrown in to this situation and shit just keeps hitting the fan until you come to a resolution. You only work for 3/4 people, compared to the dozen or so in a "full" GTA game and because of this everything feels a lot more connected. 6-8 hours is definitely the sweet point for a GTA story (if not most video game stories).

When I played it originally there was a fairly big gap between the time I finished the game and the DLC came out, so I couldn't remember the finer points of the narrative. Now, playing them back-to-back, I really appreciate how much work Rockstar put in to making it a Pulp Fiction-esque experience that really ties in with Niko's adventure. It's not just the obvious mission overlaps, but the characters referencing each other in a completely natural way that doesn't stand out as odd at all. It only adds to the impression that Liberty City is a place that is full of scumbags who all know each other or are dragged in to the same shit.

In that regard, I also feel that Johnny is a much more consistent character in some ways. He's a bad ass biker that has been kicking ass and taking names his entire life. Rockstar tried to force a bit too much morality in him, which is a repeat of the mistake they did with Niko, which stands out as conflicting to the missions on a few occasions. Most noticably the last one where you slaughter approximately seventy gazillion police officers. Overall, however, he seems like a bloke who just wants to prevent his gang from completely imploding and is only affectionate towards those that he likes. The disconnect is still there, but it's lessened.

The last thing I like about it is how the game makes use of locations that you weren't taken to in the missions of the main game. The last island is not only home to your club house, but also where most of the big sequences take place. Because of this it felt fresh and is proof for me that Rockstar can continue to expand Liberty City just by focusing on different areas and placing unique missions there.

This is perhaps my favourite DLC ever.

Tomorrow is Gay Tony, and then the long wait for the next GTA...

 

[1-D_FTW]

If you haven't bought Mafia 2, I'd definitely recommend (especially with the UK price on Steam right now). The story taken in its totality is very good. Just an interesting arc that you really appreciate when you finish.

 

[Lard]

I like the controls for shooting alot, but goddamn, the new controls for driving suck on the PS3.

Had to go back to classic just to be able to finish a mission.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I've never understood the love Gay Tony gets. It was so poorly written. The characters were terrible, and the missions were the worst of the 3 games. The only thing it had was more diversion stuff.

As far as I'm concerned the story was the best, or at least most focused and therefore most affecting, of the set.

 

[Yasae]

There are people who actually enjoyed the driving in this game? How? What?

You must really hate driving in real life, because, well.. That's pretty much what it's like. Maybe a little exaggerated on the physics side. Lots of car deformation and detail, the best crashes gaming has EVER seen in all existence. It somehow outdoes all the Burnout games combined in this regard.

Analog triggers really helped with acceleration and braking finesse, too. Those were very understated improvements.

Only on GAF could people criticize cars for handling like... Cars.

 

[Kritz]

I've spent 40 hours playing the PC version of GTA, and about 3 of that on actual missions. I can easily say that GTA4 is an absolutely amazing world up until the moment you start to play the story. GOD. The missions are fucking terrible. From scripted invincibility to so many different unwarned fail states to the lack of checkpointing to the lack of creativity the player is given in solving problems to the awfully hypocritical characters to the uninspired mission design to the fucking everything else they attempted to make inside of such a great setting.

I should mention I played the game almost to completion on the 360 until I finally snapped.

So, why the 40 hours? Because, first person mod + ENB mod makes for one shittingly immersive experience. Even if the car interiors were absolutely terrible, and even modded, there are so many shitty sub-par textures on characters and the environment. And unmodded the guns feel so completely weak, and consistently I find myself shooting people in the head with the shotgun only to have them fall down, get back up, and start shooting at me some more. I've been fiddling around with weapon damage to try and get that problem sorted, but it still seems a little off.

Also, the driving is alright. I see what they're going for, but it's kinda not that fun. Well, it's not that fun when you have to chase a scripted car that drives perfectly, and trying to match it usually results in you slamming into a wall.

I will say that The Lost and Damned expansion is the greatest GTA game ever made. It's almost perfect. They righted so many wrongs with the GTA series in that expansion, it totally makes up for GTA4's terrible story.

... and Gay Tony was alright up until someone forgot to make Helicopters work with a mouse and keyboard.

 

[Fallout-NL]

What mods should I use with GTAIV?

 

[Dead Man]

You must really hate driving in real life, because, well.. That's pretty much what it's like. Maybe a little exaggerated on the physics side. Lots of car deformation and detail, the best crashes gaming has EVER seen in all existence. It somehow outdoes all the Burnout games combined in this regard.

Analog triggers really helped with acceleration and braking finesse, too. Those were very understated improvements.

Only on GAF could people criticize cars for handling like... Cars.

My busted up Subaru ute handles better than any car in GTA4. It was terrible. The cars wallowed like pigs, stopped like a fat lady at a buffet, and sounded like a wet fart. The collision physics were awesome though, you are right. As I've said before, I could drive just fine in the game, it just was not fun OR realistic.

 

[Death Dealer]

People who say the driving is shit are just really bad at it, it was near perfect.

THIS a thousand times over. I wanted to say that in the other GTA 5 wishlist thread, but didn't want to sound like an asshole.

One of the things I really marveled at in GTA 4 was the city itself. Yeah the missions were a step back, but the actual city layout and the work that went into it. It was such a masterpiece. Every borough had its own vibe. And damn was it huge !

I swear, even after I'd beat the game, and just caused havok with the cops, I'd still find alleys and little areas of the gameworld I'd never explored before. Whereas even with SA, it seemed like by the end of the game, I had the entire thing memorized.