Looks fun. I can't wait to pick it up. I will probably be getting the Xbox 360 version. PS3 doesn't seem to offer any upsides over the 360 version, though I recently picked up the new Dualshock 3 controller so maybe I will try it on the PS3 to see how it feels.

Yeah write up how it is, I'm curious. I'm not a huge fan of the series personally, other than I like any game that makes so many people so upset. But I've only played 2 in the series (original and SA)

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I never played the originals but picked up Vice City, and San Andreas and dug them. I love the sardonic humor and think that GTA:IV looks more intriguing in terms of story and gameplay. Who knows though. I'll post some more thoughts after the game comes out on the 29th.

I'm still being sucked into CoD 4 lol...snipah.

I beat CoD4 like a month after I picked it up and traded it in for Super Mario Galaxy IIRC. I am not a huge fan of Xbox Live but I think GTA: IV has some nice online game-types so who knows, it should be fun. I think Xbox Live has the exclusive episodic content, so that's another pro for it.

Hehe I'm talking online CoD4. I beat the solo game in like...a sitting. The online portion kicks all sorts of ass..when you can actually party with friends and not have it repeatedly boot you.

I pre-ordered GTA IV for the PS3 from Amazon (had a $50 credit for purchasing an HD DVD Player) so I am supposed to receive it on May 1. As someone who rarely ever finds time to actually play console games, I'm actually looking forward to this one.

That pretty much echoes my feelings to the T. I'm looking forward to squeezing in 30 minutes before work and 20 minutes after work before school, reminds me of the feeling I had about Bioshock, Gears of War, etc. I hope it's as fun of a game as it appears to be. =)

I might be in the minority, but I personally never found any of the GTA games to be short term gaming sessions- as in, play for 20-30 minutes and then set it down and do something else. A Madden football game, sure. Any FPS shooter out there, yep. But GTA always seemed to play like a RPG for me- need to allocate at least 90 minutes to the game to feel like I accomplished something during that time. Almost like an Everquest session...

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i guess thats why it took me 2 months to beat bioshock and gears of war....

Eh, for me the fun in GTA3 was the sandbox style gameplay. I don't think I even delved into 10 percent of the single player portion, seemed like the usual boring linear storyline. Amassing massive amounts of weapons and ammunition and then seeing how long I could live against the police was the most fun I'd had in ages in a videogame. Running away was fun too with a fast car, those cops were darned quick =)

That kind of stuff was definitely doable in 20-30 min sessions.

I also have a tendency to just hit my Xbox button the controller and walk away for periods of time, leaving the consoles on all day and night... so, anything is possible but I have a feeling GTA IV will have it's hooks in me -- not to mention the semester ends around the same time AND my birthday is May 1st... lots of relaxation time around then.

wtb cheap ass 360 that isn't banz0r3d

I'm staying fuck it an buying a PS3 and GTA4 next month after the initial hype has calmed down a bit.

I love the GTA series simply for the sheer hours of fun running around the city and doing numerous things completely not involved with the Main Story. In San Andreas I ran around to all stores to change your appearance then went to all the fast food joints and ate for hours, by the end my CJ was big and fat with a pink mohawk wearing mostly cowboy clothes...it was hidious.

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here we go! i guess places are doing a midnight opening. ah, to be a dummy with no commitments during the morning / day. =(

thx to school, work, and finals -- i won't likely be picking it up until thursday. lame!

Like Neesha I recently ordered this for PS3. Was a tough decision between 360 and PS3 version but I never turn on my damn PS3 so I decided to buy that version instead. Picked up a Dualshock 3 as well since apparently they feel a bit more solid and have rumble. Looking forward to pretty much doing what Venen said and just turning it on and causing some chaos now and then. I'll take a stab at the story but I'll probably just run around killing people. Then of course I'll just run out of the house with a handgun and start busting caps at the local mall just for fun. You know, angry gamers and all that.

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Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

This game is good. Leaps and bounds better than Vice City.

Driving feels much more precise and improved over San Andreas. Left/Right triggers are your accelerate/brake, but can be changed in options. It just feels more fluid to me, like tearing ass down the street going 110 actually is dangerous.

The acting doesn't sound forced like CJ and all the gangsta shit either. LETS GO DOODS GROVE STREET FOR LIFE YOU DOWN? Hated that garbage.

I honestly had not kept up with this one like I did SA and I think i'm enjoying it more. The map is HUGE. Not sure of a comparison scale, and the street design feels and flows better than previous games also. Appears to be no loading for any of the shops now. Even swapping clothes was faster compared to SA.

I am about 7 missions in or so. Like the story and characters so far. First love interest bitch is a bit off. Who wears a buisness suit to go bowling in? She needs russian wang in the ass fo sho'.

An option in your cellphone to turn the story off so shit doesn't pass you buy if you want to sandbox it up a bit.

I don't recognize much on the radio stations tho. But that doesn't bother me.

Also....multiplayer. Downloadable content. The gods listen.


10 miggents.

Awesome!! I can't wait to pick it up, things been crazy but I'm planning on grabbing it Thursday!

yeah i'm loving this game too more than the previous ones, except maybe vice, but that one suffered from horrible acting and writing. the analog triggers for 360 actually make driving a skill than the usual 5mph or 120mph, braking is a welcome challenge, as you can't use the handbrake at 100+ to make a 90 degree turn like before, so driving now requires choices to be made. also nice is when you run into the back of a car at full speed, you'll usually go flying through the windshield for a hundred feet and lose most of your health.

i also enjoy whatever changes were made to the shooting engine, as the old ones pretty much required you to use a rapid-fire weapon to hit anything - the pistol is the more accurate and useful weapon.

plus the story's cooler than the archetypical crap you saw in the previous games, it's more original and enhanced by better (if not more broadly drawn) characters.

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Police chases remind me a lot of Scarface, with the aggressive behavior of San Andreas cops thrown in. You get a circle over your minimap that flashes when you hit wanted level and expends outward to take up a wider area the more your presence is known. Emphasis is on eluding the cops this time, not outrunning them. Altho the best way I have found so far to get away from the fuzz is to hit one of the ramps placed for the super jump stunts for a supreme comedy getaway.

They really went nuts with the slo'mo this time around. It's great. Second the hand break comment also. I was tearing down the road in a hot ride and hit the corners and slammed on the handbreak and ended up flipping at least 5 times.

Again I'll mention the story. It's pretty top shelf. I actually give a damn about these characters and expect a huge plot twist soon. No specific reason other than it would be impossible to keep the story going the way it is for the entire game. All i've really done so far is get acquainted with several mission contacts, just like any other GTA game.

most other gta games and clones i'd always rev it up to max speed, then if i had to turn, handbrake that shit to the max. so it doesnt work in iv then, yah? i hope not. i kind of liked "Mafia" where you'd get pulled over if you exceeded the speed limit, etc.

Awesome about the storyline. I was hoping there'd be some attachment to the characters w/ this game. Rad! =) GTA:VC and GTA:SA were ok but there were real no end-game solutions. It ended one way or another. GTA: LCS and GTA: LCS dont have much to do w/ the protagonist, so hopefully GTA: IV builds on some "decision making" (which apparently does, reviews i've read say there're consequences for not answering cell phone calls, etc.)

Hehe, I guess their entire network of pvp servers crashed hardcore yesterday from all the people logging in.

I've got the box sitting on my counter, unopened. Looking forward to playing it hehe.

It's pretty great. Controls seem a little sluggish from my 90 minutes of playing last night, but that's a pretty minor complaint.

I am still waiting for UPS.

Turns out I don't have class tonight so I will be picking up a copy on the way home from work. Rad!

Tubular dude!

Bossa Nova!! *glances around...shrugs*
Chevy Nova?

I prefer Cowabunga...



I made a funny!

This game has so much character. Wow, what a deep game. I'm not very far in at all, just past picking up Roman from the hospital because I chose to go on a date w/ Michelle. Har har.

Make sure you watch TV in your apartment. My one complaint so far is that the text on the cell phone is very hard to read. Is there a way to change the colors/background (PS3 version)?

I have a hard time reading the text on the PS3 too. I only have a 4:3 1080i TV that's 32" so all of the widescreen games get smushed in on the sides or they stretch too far offscreen. Do you know if there's any way to fix that? I tried setting output to 720P but it's still all hard to read, and yeah the contrast on the phone is bad. It's like Black on Grey, not cool! =(

You can buy different backgrounds and ringtones for your phone later. Might help, might not.

I thought I also read the game doesn't play in 1080i but I dont know shit about that.

you may be right the box says 720p or 1080p but the pS3 gives you options of "supported tv" resolutions, so my tv can do 480i-1080i (including 480p, 720p) so it will automatically set it to whatever game resolution my tv can handle, i'm assuming 720p. however, i think the problem is that you can't adjust the aspect ratio over hdmi for 720p (or any hd resolution)

i can't check into it fully at work so i was wondering if someone else had any experiences.. i'm buying a new 16:9 tv but the game is hard to play so i'm considering hooking it up to my 22" 16:9 computer monitor just so i can see better.

i'll look into the cellphone backgrounds thing when i get off work. thx.

My PS3 actually plays in 720p since 1080i doesn't come in as good for some reason, and I still have the same trouble. I don't know if this matters anyway, because I read that the game actually plays in 680p or something. There's a website where dudes spend their time counting the pixels or whatever.

i am no fanboy for ps or xbox and i gotta say they both look damn good and despite the pixel differences i think the ps3 version looks amazing

I was worried about the resolution after reading some threads the past 2 days, but I finally got my ps3 copy today and the game looks great. It was dark at first but after upping the brightness/contrast in game it looks good. I can't believe the attention to detail they put in this game. So far it seems like epic win and I've only played it about an hour so far. Really loving the dialogue, it doesn't seem forced and the characters actually seem to have some depth to them.

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Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

i had to do this too, because i could hardly see when going out into the hall of the first safehouse..

i have my 360 set to run in 1080i - do i have to set that up for individual games as well, or should they all be like that? it's a smaller tv (26") so there isn't much noticeable difference between the resolutions, but the xbox dashboard looks pretty hot!

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How do I customize my avatar for multiplayer? I'm a chick right now and don't know how to change it.

Dunno. =(

I'm just on the 3rd of 4th mission... things been busy this week but luckily tonight I will be able to play it for a good chunk of time after goin out w/ the boys for a few drinks.

I just did the Bull in a China Shop mission for Vlad...

Try out Multiplayer and see if you default as a chick (maybe it's a n00b setting until you get a ranking).

Never mind, on the cell phone, there's a "Player Mode" under the Multiplayer option.

For Packie's Three Leaf Clover mission, get all the health you can. Cheat if you gotta. It's like 20 minutes long and you're fighting just about the whole time. Nothing like driving into a roadblock on the last phase and flying through the windshield to your doom.

Also that mission is awesome.

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If you get 3 dances in a row from the same stripper, a 2nd stripper joins the party! CARTOON STRIPPERS WOOT!

Thanks for the tip Neesha.

The thing that brings me the most joy is when I carjack someone and they try to hang onto the door.. So I drag them down the road, with the door ajar, and them flapping in the wind.

then I slam the side of my car into another car and it takes the door and the dude with it.

i haven't been able to play much this last week due to finals at school but i only have one left after i write a paper due today, so hopefully i can get in some quality time tomorrow after work / school.

niko, i miss you! i want another island open.. i'm still on broker or the original one... ;(

I always make sure and blast the dudes standing on the sidewalks preaching. That always makes me smile.

This worth picking up at full price? Never owned a GTA before, (though I have played a couple of clones, namely Saints Row and the demo for Crackdown). Played San Andreas with a bud of mine for awhile, but couldn't get into it as much as I did Saints Row, for whatever reason. All the reviews I have read paint this as the best game since Zelda: OoT. But I trust Lanys more than I trust IGN.

Absolutely worth every single penny. Replayability is key, because the game is decision based and there are "reputations" to be earned w/ the people you meet in the game. That, in addition to 16 multiplayer modes means that it will almost be literally endless fun for some time to come.

I can't decide if I like this or not lol. I like a game with a lot of "do whatever you want" in it, but at the same time I like a little direction. I spend more time driving around bored and seeing what kind of mayhem I can cause than I do actually progressing in the game.

Also, sometimes I'll magically have weapons...other times I'll just have my fists, even when I've not picked anything up. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I'm also seeing a lot of color smearing on characters and texture fuckups. The singer in the cabaret lounge looked like she had fishnet stocking pattern all over her face and neck, and I've seen like glowing "auras" coming off folks clothing and whatnot.

CoD4 looks fine, as I thought it might be my pS3 acting up and checked.

The game has direction... anytime a mission is open the people who will give it to you have their name highlighted on the map, or will call you. You can always call anyone as well, to get the side-quests etc.

As far as the weapons... are you sure you're not going to the hospital or getting picked up by the cops? They take'em... regardless you can always visit the gun shops and buy more.

As for the graphics glitching... I haven't noticed.

Gunshops you say?
*rubs hands*

Do enough missions for Little Jacob and he'll let you call him and buy guns out of the trunk of his car for less than half the gunshop prices.

The GPS is your friend, especially at night when you can wiz past roads and not realize it. You can mark waypoints and it will show you where to go.

Go ahead and do the story up to 25% or so, that's where I'm at now. It opens up more stuff to do, and if you go to the industrial area in the south eastern side of Bohan there's an AK up on top of a big ass ladder.

There's also this I heard about... http://grandtheftauto.ign.com/maps/1/Liberty-City-Map it has spoilers from what I heard but I haven't really looked at it, but it's supposed to show you where most anything is.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

Yeah I JUST figured out setting the gps manually. That's helped in a big way. Was a giant pain in the ass to constantly be hitting the pause button to make sure I wasn't slipping past sideroads.

I keep missing appointments with Roman because in the meantime I get bored and ram cars, pedestrians or just get out and kick some ass.....usually getting killed or arrested in the process.

Stole a motorscooter last night and was "Vreeeeeeeing" all over the place. Went past the roadblock using the train tracks....and it immediately puts you into full blown FBI mode lol

I don't think I could have done as much in this game if I didn't learn the GPS off the start of the game.

It's plenty well doable, just annoying.

Heh Larreth, try going to the airport and cruising around, I instantly got 4 stars and some damn how managed to evade it and get an achievement for it, but then I drove back onto the runway and got jumped again, lol.

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Marauder Harabakc Goat

I shot a cop and got 3 star warning. I've tried swimming to a couple other islands and that's immediately a 6 star.

I'm only 13% through the game... lame! I'm playing while watchin these Primary results though. =D

As for the glitching, it seems to only be in cinematics, like when the woman in the club is singing. She had a what appeared to be fishnet stockings on, and the pattern went halfway up her face.

The other glitching I'm seeing could very well be visual settings. When I do the sixaxis tutorial and it gets to the boat scene there is like this glowing aura around the whole thing. Same applies when I see a leaf falling and the sun is on it. Also noticed that the women with blond hair can get a big glow on their heads if the sun is shining on it. It's like oversaturation or something.

A couple of things, in no particular order.

If you keep losing your guns, it is probably because you are getting arrested. When you get arrested, you lose your weapons and cash. When you die, you just lose a little cash. So given the choice, always choose death over getting busted by the po po. Even if that means a glorious suicide.

Also, keep in mind that if you are not very far into the game, you may not have opened up the gunshop yet. There's a mission where you get to go to the shop and get a free gun (a small Uzi).

I haven't seen any of the graphics glitches you are talking about. The only ones I have really noticed are slight hiccups when watching a cutscene. Like the corner of a picture frame or a door will sort of blink. It has only happened a few times, though, and isn't anything that screws up the game, it's just "noticable". Maybe you can try playing at different settings. Do you have a HD TV? If not, there's an option to remove flicker or something, I believe. Maybe that will help.

Finally, as mentioned, the game does have direction if you choose to simply go that route. Pull up your map and any time you see a letter representing a person's name means you can just drive to that person (or take a cab) and he/she will give you a mission. You can also call people on your cell and they will give you missions, or you can just go out with that person (drinking, pool, darts, etc). You'll eventually open up the internet cafe as well (called Tw@) and from there, you will get emails to steal cars, you can set up dates, and more.

How do you pick stuff up? Also, how do you hail a taxi?