Diary: Entry #1, 
Reviews: Metacritic | Game Rankings
Reference: GameFAQ |
Developer: EA DICE, Engine: Frostbite
Status: Finished “Welcome to Bad Company” (the intro level)

Pros: Boat load of shooter fun – Immersive – Humorous – Destructible environment – Terrific death/penalty system – Save points therefore a non-issue – Very good graphics/character models – Difficulty Level is just right – Amusing squad – PC can jump

Cons: Fighting with camera while driving – No coop – No customizable controls – Daft syringe/help system – No prone position

Introduction

In Battlefield: Bad Company (“BBC”) you play Private Preston Marlowe, of “B”ad Company, a band of misfits in the 222nd army battalion of the U.S. army -currently fighting the Russian Federation.

Somehow BBC had escaped my radar until I read Paul Thurrott’s review here. Our tastes in gaming are almost identical. So on his recommendation, I decided to try it.

Other than a few hours here and there, I’ve never played a Battlefield franchise game before. So I’m new to this franchise and, so far, I’m really enjoying it! Much,  more so than MGS 4.

Initial Impressions – The Good Stuff

Fun From the Start: From the amusing jazzy-organ playing opening credits/main menu this game felt like was going to be something different.

Immersive: As with other leading shooter, the ambiance, 5.1 sound, terrific graphics and, in this case, almost instant death if hit, give this game a terrific immersive (feeling like you are really there) quality that is still too rare.

Destructible Environment: The much touted destructible environment is definitely fun! But it is odd that you can’t totally destroy a building. You can knock out most of its walls but try as you might its support pillars will not blow up. So you can not, for example, topple over a two story house – even though you can knock out every one of its walls. Kinda lame.

Character Animations/Graphics: Character animations are as good as they get, and dare I say it, possibly better than those in MGS 4, (except for Solid-Snake himself). The overall graphics are also terrific

Sandbox Fun: From the get-go I was able to wander much further afield than similar games without artificial barriers or invisible walls holding me back. The map makes it clear where you can and cannot go. It doesn’t feel restricting like so many other shooters.

White Men Can Jump: As trivial as this may sound, it bothers me when the playable characters in games like Gears of War and MGS 4 can’t jump over even the smallest of barriers. I know Cliffy B wants to avoid the constant bunny-hopping witnessed in the Halo series. But being unable to jump makes the game unrealistic. I’m happy to report that Private Marlowe can jump.

The Not-So-Good

Fighting the Camera: What is it with games that insist on fighting you for the camera? One of my chief criticisms of GTA IV was that when you are driving, the camera is always pulling back towards the center. The same is true in BBC. So far this is my only real criticism of the game.  We are supposed to be looking for gold and collectable’s but the game keeps fighting me as I look around while driving.  It’s not only annoying but it makes me nauseous. The same problem inexplicably occurs on the in-game map. As I scan around the map, it keeps pulling the overhead camera back to the center. Grrr.

No Coop: Every modern 360 shooter should employ a co-op level, and ideally over Xbox Live. There is no co-op of any kind in this game – either local or online. That is a disappointment. But this is the first Battlefield game that’s ever had a single player campaign. So I can’t complain that loudly.

Daft Health System: Three is an unlimited supply of health. Simply jam a syringe in Marlowe’s gut and you are back to full health. I’d much prefer slightly less accurate enemies and a more realistic health system followed by death.

No Lying  Prone: You can stand and crouch but you can’t lie prone. This is the first military shooter (outside of Halo) that I can recall that doesn’t allow the player to lie prone. It’s a bit hard to get used to.

No Customized Controls: If given a chance, I prefer to set up a game with Halo-esque controls. There is no way to customize the controls. That said, I had few problems using EA’s default control scheme. 

A New Take on Save Points and Death

As readers of my MGS 4 Diaries will already know, I hate the tried-and-true game extending game mechanic that most every game employs – that of forcing you rto replay lengthy portions of the game that you already completed when you die. This is especially annoying when a game has either poor auto-save points or does not let you save the game where you choose.

BBC completely eliminates this problem. It makes save points irrelevant because there isn’t really any penalty to dying other than that sinking feeling of defeat you get when you are killed. I like this a lot! I’ve always railed against games that force me to replay parts of a game I already finished. EA may have the perfect solution with this approach.

Thoughts on Difficulty

Some reviewers have complained that the enemy AI’s shooting is too accurate, making the game too difficult. They have also surmised that EA chose not to penalize the player on death owing to it’s inability to properly balance the game.

I have to disagree. In a real war, enemies are accurate and do shoot to kill. If real soldiers took the tactics that the average video gamer takes, they would die pretty quickly.  I like this realism. I like the difficulty when combined with a forgiving approach to death.

I HATE being killed and do anything I can to avoid it. I don’t need the game to penalize me any further. Indeed, providing achievement points for surviving a level without being killed is even more of an  incentive for me to play tactically and stealthily than forcing me to replay long stretches of a game on death.

I am going to caveat my my next statement by noting that I only just started the game and my opinion may change. But so far, I consider this easy-to-be-killed/little-penalty-on-death approach to be superb! I wish more (heck all) games would emulate it. Kudos to EA for trying a novel death/revival construct!

Mowing Down Trees

I noticed that there was an achievement for mowing down trees. So, I spent a good deal of time shooting them for awhile. I understand why the achievement exists. It makes you realize that if trees are obstructing your view of the enemy, you can just shoot them down to get a clear shot.

Xbox 360 Version

I originally set out to rent this game but my local rental shop, Rogers, only had the PS3 version. While I own a PS3, if a game is cross-platform, I choose the 360 for achievements points and for the superior online gaming experience inherent in the 360 platform. Ultimately I purchased it.

Opening Credits

It all started with The Chronicles of Riddick – the first game I recall employing interactive opening cut scenes and Hollywood-style opening credits. Then came GRAW 1 & 2, CoD 4, GTA IV, MGS 4, and now BBC, all bearing compelling/interactive opening credits. I like this trend.

Aim Assist

WARNING: Aim assist is turned on by default – a disturbing trend over the last year or so. Any self-respecting shooter fan will need to turn that off  before starting (Options/GamePlay/Aim Assist).

MGS 4 Diary: Entry #1, Entry #2, Abandoned!
MGS4 Reviews: Metacritic | GameRankings.com
Reference: GameFAQ Walkthrus |

As beautiful and cutting-edge as MGS4 is, after making it past the laughing Octopus stage in the second act, I abandoned the game, at least for now. This surprises even me. I have been waiting for years to play this game, but the lack of a decent checkpoint system and endless cut scenes turned me off.

Poorly Implemented Checkpoints

You cannot save the game when you want and it’s checkpoints are few and far between. Adult gamers do not have endless hours, nor the desire, to replay extremely long portions of even a great game over and over.

When I play stealth games I want to be stealthy and play it right. This means taking my time, exploring every nook and cranny. Being sneaky. But when I sneak around for 30 minutes, successfully execute difficult manoeuvres and then die, I do not want to play through the whole 30 minutes again. No game should ever force a gamer to replay more than 5 or so minutes. Period.

Yes, I could have cheated and run through sections with abandon, gunned down everyone until killed, thereby learning where all the baddies are and what their tricks are, to avoid them on the next play through. But I refuse to do that. That’s gaming the game and not playing the game. It takes all the fun out of it.

Stealth games, by definition, are designed to be played thoughtfully and slowly. The player should have a realistic chance of beating a level if they play that way. But, when they die, as they will, they shouldn’t be forced to replay the last thirty minutes or an hour to get back to where they were.

Ration Pack Frustration

Prior to the  point where I abandoned the game, I had gotten so angry at the game’s checkpoint system that I uncharacteristically gunned through a couple of difficult parts without concern for my ration pack inventory – thinking/hoping they’d be as abundant later as they had been to that point (they aren’t).

It was unfortunate that I survived. Because from that point on I had only one ration pack, and no way of replenishing them, I kept dying. This compounded my checkpoint frustration to the point where I had enough.

Riddle me this. How is it that I can order up rockets, grenades, and an endless arsenal of weapons at any time and they are instantly delivered, yet I can’t order a ration pack, or any health related materials at ANY time from any where?  Grrrr!

Of Cut Scenes & Blue-ray Abuse

I understand that Kojima is a cinematic master. But wholly cow, I have never seen anything like the length of these cut scenes. People are not joking when they say there are several feature films worth of cut scenes in this game. I had a love-hate relationship with the endless cut scenes.

They are beautiful – truly. They push envelops and raise the bar (to mix my metaphors). But I’m not a fan of the series. I don’t understand the back story. And, as I understand it, even fans of the series don’t really know what  is going on in this, or any other MGS, game. I don’t like skipping cut scenes because I want to understand the story. But I also don’t want a mini-movie for every cut scene. Kojima seems exceedingly self-indulgent in this excessive use of cutscenes.

MGS4 presents a good argument for why the expansive amount of storage space on blu-ray disks is a bad thing. Perhaps he could have created a system where shorter versions of the cut scenes are shown on the first time through with optional director’s cut versions for the second play through – or bundled with the game on a second disk. Net-net, they turned me off.

Back to the Rental Store

I rented MGS 4 and held it two days beyond my limit. I wasn’t eager to resume play anyway. Wimbledon will consume my free-time for the next two weeks anyway. So back it went.

Odds are less than 50/50 that I’ll rent it again. I may pick it up in the bargain bin one day. But I’d much prefer to take up GTA IV where I left off than go back to this one any time soon.

MGS 4 Diary: Entry #1, Entry #2, Abandoned!
MGS4 Reviews: Metacritic | GameRankings.com
Reference: GameFAQ Walkthrus |

Progress: I made it to Act 1 – Crescent Meridian (7th of 8 parts to Act 1)

What a difference a day makes. Discovering that Weapons/Items need to be equipped before they appear was important! (See Update in Diary Entry #1). You’d think the game or manual would have mentioned that somewhere up front!

Visuals

I can’t say enough for the visual and cinematic feel of MGS4. The particle effects, fabrics, lighting, character models, rich and detailed environments, the camo suite, the Dolby surround sound audio. This is a visual and audible masterpiece.

Love the Bright Sunny Arab World

Stealth games are usually too dark (can you say “Splinter Cell”). Heck, too many video games are too dark. One of the reasons I love the GRAW series so much is because they are mostly set outdoors in the bright sunlight. I wish more games were set in the sunlight.

How Do You Tell the Difference Between MPCs and Militia?

If you kill militia, by accident or not, they’ll turn on you. So it’s important to either avoid them and PMC’s in all battles with stealth or determine which of the factions is militia and which is PMC and then side with the militia (you can side with the PMC but they’ll still shoot you).

So that’s been my big question/challenge today?  Previously, the only way I could tell was to use the solid eye and zoom in close to read the character’s names (militia’s are named ‘militia”). I had thought there was going to be a colouring difference (ie: the text and symbols) but there is none – at least initially.

I have noticed that when some militia get to know you, their icon box beside their name turns a different colour and their name turns blue (from orange). It’s hard to see that from a distance and it isn’t the case for all militia. And the names of the PMCs always seem to be blue. Aside from the few militias whose icons turn green (or some other colour) once they know you, most militias still are indistinguishable from PMCs. I couldn’t find a way to force them to get to know you (like standing beside them).

To make things worse, your threat meter shows them as a threat – even when they are not shooting at you.

I’m hoping there is an easier way, or at least I’m hoping I start to learn the uniform distinctions because I’ve killed militia several times now by accident with the result being, I’m their next target.

By the end of Day 2, I was pretty good at distinguishing between the two. It’s a pain, but doable.

Too Long Between Save Points

As always, this is a pet peeve. But this time not so much because I’m getting killed over and over and can’t make it to a checkpoint. Rather, I don’t necessarily have an hour to kill between checkpoints.

Checkpoints

Only at the very end of my 2nd day of play did I notice that on the bottom left, just above equipped item icon, it says “Checkpoint” when you’ve reached a checkpoint. The letters are small and it goes by quick. But at least I found a way of knowing if I reached a checkpoint.

More Tips

No Need to Rush: This is stealth game. Twice now I acted on Otacon’s instructions to hurry up and get to the rendez-vous point only to get killed. There is never a need to rush (at least not so far).

Rotate Between  Solid Eye & Rations: I originally intended, whenever possible, to keep the Solid Eye equipped until I realized it ran out of batteries and needed recharging. So, my strategy so far is to flip between Solid Eye (to find things easily) and rations (for instant health recovery during battles).  In any case, if I’m about to do battle, I put on rations to protect myself – regardless of whether the solid-eye needs charging. I also switch to anything other than solid eye any time I have to leave the game for a moment. Might as well let it recharge while you are away.

Salvage Bodies Quickly: If you let dead bodies lie, they will disappear along with salvageable goodies. Get’m while their still warm.

Briefing Screens are Useful: The ‘briefing screen” (available if you click the “Start” menu while playing) doesn’t provide you with mission briefs as you’d expect. It provides more of a ‘codec’ type environment where the basic game mechanics are explained really nicely. It’s definitely worth a look through.

More Nits

Dead Body Shake Downs: This whole mechanic of having to pick up a dead body and drop it in order to find goodies is a bit annoying. I’d rather the game just let me go over and press a button to search.

What’s Up with the “Codec”?: As I mentioned above the ‘Briefing” screens provide what I’d expect in a Codec and all I can get from the “Codec” screen is the last set of mission instructions from Otac0n. Is that all that its supposed to do? I think they have the “codec” and “briefing” menu items mixed up.

Endless Enemy Spawning: This is starting to feel like Call of Duty 2 when the enemy spawns endlessly when you are not advancing. This is the case in the latter parts of he first mission. I hate that. This is supposed to be stealth. Endless spawning forces you to proceed even when it isn’t safe.

Meryl and Beyond

I just met Meryl and her team. Too much poop-humour for my tastes. But she sure is pretty. But what’s up with her stiff hair. Goes to show that even in an advanced game like this, they still have a tough time getting hair right.

<<  Read Diary Entry #1

MGS 4 Diary: Entry #1, Entry #2, Abandoned!
MGS4 Reviews: Metacritic | GameRankings.com
Reference: GameFAQ Walkthrus |

Progress: I made it to Act 1 – Urban Ruins  (4th of 8 parts to Act 1)

This is the first video game I’ve played since slicing open my left index finger on May 15. I had to abandon my GTA game play and diary to let my finger heal. It isn’t fully back to normal again (still can’t feel anything above the knuckle on my left index finger) but I couldn’t wait to give MGS4 a try.

I wrote this first diary entry mostly in real time as I played through the initial scenes of the game.

My Limited MGS Experience

The only prior experience I’ve had with the Metal Gear Solid franchise is when I played a couple levels of MGS 2: Substance on the original Xbox. What I recollect from that experience was that the cut scenes were spectacular and the game was, to me, unplayable. It had a clumsy over-head camera mechanic. There was a handicapped first person view that only allowed you to look around when you were stopped. You couldn’t shoot or move in that view. After a couple levels I gave up in frustration.

From everything I’ve heard about MGS4 (and I’ve heard, read and watched a lot over the years) it has been revamped into a thoroughly modern stealth, shooter.  I guess we’ll see.

So here we go.

Opening Cut Scene, Err,What The?

I know the MGS series is known to be quirky, but what the heck was up with that first scene. I won’t ’spoil’ it but I guarantee you, you’d never expect that from this game! When I restarted the game (see below) I got a totally different opening, err, advertisement/documentary, that had absolutely nothing to do with the game as far as I could tell. Odd, really odd!

[Update: I now understand that these are in-game  advertisements to join the Paramilitary Corporations “PMCs”). Part of the game’s ‘war economy” fiction. They are slick.]

RTFM! – I Read the Manual – Well at Least the First Few Pages

I initially did exactly what I was warned not to do. I tried playing the game without consulting the manual. After enjoying the opening bits, I was lost in the Prologue. I couldn’t get Snake to pick up a weapon (or so I thought – see below). So I turned to the manual. Page 7 of the manual ’suggests’ completing the “Virtual Range” and the “Mission Briefing” before attempting to play the game. So I did.

If this is the suggested approach, one wonders why the on-screen menu doesn’t guide you in that direction? And why would they not insert the first mission briefing into the game automatically. Or do they? Grrr…

Virtual Range

The virtual range is similar to the virtual training screen in Assassin’s Creed. I did figure out a few  basics but what I learned from it was that I really wasn’t doing anything wrong. Either there was a glitch in my game (see below) or the game just wants you to be confused during the Prologue.

[Update: I also realized on day 2 that the Virtual Range can be used to practice Close Quarters Combat (“CQC”). An important skill. Why the Virtual Range doesn’t tell you that or suggest things you can/should try I don’t know. It just provides a virtual reality world for you to play in with on explanation of why or how.]

First Mission Briefing

Bring along a bowl of popcorn because the first mission briefing is about 10 minutes long. Part way through the mission briefing a CNN-style scroller comes up under the mission briefing describing what the controls do (pretty much what the manual tells you if you read it). That got me off to a decent good re-start.

Back Into the Game I Go

The first thing I noticed when playing was the outstanding graphics and sound. This is definitely a game best played on an HD system with Dolby surround sound. The visual and sound quality are even better than those in Naughty Dog’s Drake’s Fortune – the reigning king of quality on the PS3.

Snake (played by David Hayter) sounds like Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.

Missing Items and Weapons – Glitch or Game Design?

[Update: I'm leaving this “Glitch or Game Design” section in because others may experience the same "glitches"  - Ha! .  Turns out there's no glitch. There's an entire item and weapon inventory system (Press "Start" then select Weapons or Items as necessary) where you swap items/weapons in and out) that I wasn't aware of for the first several hours of the game. Everything I had picked up, but was unable to use/find, was right there in that inventory waiting for me to use. Ugh!]

Can’t Pick Up Weapons in Prologue: The first time I was able to control Snake I couldn’t pick up a gun. The game graphics looked like he picked up a gun but the gun did not appear in my inventory. Snake was holding his arms as if he had a rifle in his hands but there was none. This is why I stopped the game and turned to the manual. After restarting the game the same thing happened. I got through this part without guns anyway. I gather this was what was intended. I hope it wasn’t a bug.

Picked-up Items Not in Inventory: During the  first level of the game as I shook-down NPCs I picked up (or thought I did) many grenades and different gun types that never appeared in my inventory. At one point I picked up a rocket launcher that I really could have used but it wasn’t available in my inventory.

Possible Reason: The game suggests that enemy weapons (ID guns) are locked and can’t be used (at least not without a code or key). Perhaps that applies to grenades as well. I thought it only applied to the PMC weapons and not weapons from fellow militia-men.  If this is the case it took me quite awhile to figure out.

Cinematics/Quality of Visuals

But holy Bazooka, the in-game cinematography, is almost CGI quality. Very, very well done. For the first mission you transition between controlling snake and the game controlling Snake several times. It’s a bit disconcerting to have the game wrest control from you if you don’t move along as they want, but it was a terrific show to watch the first time through.

Act 1 – Liquid Sun

Now I’m more confused, it looked like the mission briefing I accessed above was supposed to be inserted between the end of the Prologue and the beginning of the first mission. I saw the sunny-side-up eggs again but not the rest of the briefing. I have no idea if I’m doing this right.

1 Hour Before Game Play Begins

I’m now about 1 hour in, I’ve watched a whole lot and controlled Snake for only about 3 minutes. Let the games begin.

Stealth

The game encourages and rewards stealth. I’m naturally a stealthy player. So I’m liking the first level a lot so far.

Militia-Men Firing At Me

I thought that if you worked with the militia-men they won’t kill you. So far they are all shooting at me all the time. I don’t recall ever killing one of them. But then again I’m not 100% sure. I never shot at the guys with blue letters. [Update: Turns out both sides have blue letter names, See Diary Entry #2]

Hints and Tips

Press X and L1 During Cut Scenes: Every once and awhile during a cut-scene you’ll see an orange X in the top right or an L1 in the top left of the screen. Press the indicated button when you see it to get some sort of hidden image (probably images from prior MGS games) similar to how Cortana kept interrupting us during the Halo 3 campaign. I don’t really know the purpose. It seems interesting. I missed this for the first bit.

Read the Manual (see above): As lame as this sounds, it REALLY helps for the first few levels of the game. The game itself doesn’t teach you much. You might be a bit surprised at what that ‘threat ring’ is about. It’s not what I thought it was. See page 19 of the manual.

Nits, Complaints, Rants

Clumsy/Sluggish Close-Up Gun Fights: I’m a bit worried about this. I’ve played too many Splinter Cell games with the same problems. When you trip the alarm and the troops are shooting at you from all directions, Snake is hardly like Master Chief. He turns and moves way to sluggishly in close in combat. I’m taking hits from all directions with little agility to properly respond. This leads to a bit of a farce. I survived this because I’ve collected 7 ration kits that automatically regenerate my health and keep me alive through what should have been death many times over. But I just keep whirling about shooting until they are all dead and nobody else comes. I suppose auto-aim would make this less an issue but I refuse to use auto-aim.  The shine is off the apple already.

No User Selectable Save Points: This is always an issue for me. The game chooses when it will save. I haven’t played enough yet to assess whether there are enough save points. If they are too few and far between, that’ll be a game killer for me, as it always is.

Hurry-Up & Wait: Why must the game stop every time during the load process to remind me not to switch off the PS3 system when the game is saving? One or two reminders should be enough. Argh!!!

Press Start to Continue: This frustrated me in Resistance and is frustrating me again in MGS4. Every time a new level loads it asks you to press “Start” to start. Well, damn it, I wouldn’t have asked it to load the next level if I didn’t want it to start now would I?  Argh. Another PS3 convention that angers me.

Inversion Aversion: I play all games with the Y access inverted. In most games, the option screens asked you once if you want the Y axis inverted. In the MGS4 options screen there are three, count’m three, options that have to be set to invert the Y access. And even after you’ve set all possible options to inverted, there is no way to invert the controls that manipulate the in-game map. Grrr!

Note to Sony: On the 360, there is a global inversion option that can be set which all games use. Once set, the player need NEVER fuss with inversion options again – in any 360 game. Sony, please implement this feature on your console soon.

No Jumping: Once again, Halo has spoiled me. I don’t like it when games don’t allow you to jump up onto things that any normal human could jump on.

Initial Conclusions:

Despite some frustrations (the close-up gun fighting being the worst) this game is shaping up to be possibly better than the very good Resistance Fall of Man. I like stealth games a lot. Or at least the idea of them. Despite all of Ubisoft’s attempts, they never got it right in the Splinter Cell franchise. Based on what I’ve experienced so far, I’m cautiously optimistic that MGS4 will be a good game. The graphics, cinematics and sound are certainly best in class.

GTA IV Diary

Key Stats: 43.45% done |  55 missions passed | 66 missions failed | $323,224 in cash | 37:47 Playing Time | 3rd & 4th safehouse

It’s been a week since Diary Entry #3. My objective was to get to the point where all of Liberty City was unlocked before making this entry. It was harder and took much longer to get to that point than I thought it would.

Despite being frustrated with GTA IV’s save system (see below), I’m still enjoying the game. I suspect I won’t post diary entry #5 until I complete the campaign.

Helicopter Fun!

Soon after the last entry, I was surprised to discover that you can park (and then save) the helicopter within the yellow lines outside the various safehouses. It’s not easy to land close to buildings without destroying the helicopter but its possible, as these pictures demonstrate (click on them for larger view):

I was able to fly to Michelle’s house, land there and take her out on a helicopter date – a personal flight over Manhattan (see picture below).

She didn’t seem particularly impressed but it worked. No comments on the clothes or car this time. That was worth it in itself.

Helicopter Tips:

Tip 1 – Landing at Michelle’s House: In order to land at Michelle’s house and successfully take Michelle on a helicopter date you must land the helicopter exactly on the yellow chevron (arrows) in front of her house. If you land a few feet away and walk to the chevron, the helicopter disappears after Michelle leaves the house.

Note: This was not the case when I took the helicopter on some later missions that required cut scene triggers by crossing the yellow chevron. Landing within a few hundred feet of the chevrons sufficed in most cases.

Tip 2 – Helicopter Bumper Buttons: When I got to the part of the game where you fly a helicopter as part of a mission for the first time, the game provides on-screen instructions on how to fly. These instructions do not appear if you jack a helicopter earlier in the game.  Use the left and right bumper buttons to steer  the helicopter.  I didn’t figure that out on my own.  I had flown the helicopter around for hours (including landing in front of safehouses and Michelle’s house) without that knowledge. Using the bumper buttons make it much easier to fly.

Tip 3: Using Helicopters for Missions: There are several tough missions where you have to first: 1) travel from a safehouse to place x to get instructions or pick someone up, and then 2) drive from place x to the mission location y. Those two steps can sometimes take 5 or more minutes in a car or by taxi. That’s fine if you have to play the mission just once. But due to the infuriating save system (see rant below), if you fail a mission, you have to travel to x and y over and over.  I now make a point of saving a helicopter outside my safehouse before attempting these missions. If I fail the mission I reload from the last save point and try again with the helicopter as my primary mode of transportation. It cuts down on this redundant travel time dramatically. I highly recommend this strategy.

Three Ricky Gervais Sitings

I finally got to watch the motion-captured Ricky Gervais’ comedy skit. I recently started watching the Extras TV series.  It was a treat to see him in the game.

His skit was reasonably funny. I had a good laugh at his final punch line.  He appeared in another comedy skit when I watched TV in the Algonquin safehouse. And later, as I was riding in a taxi, I heard him being interviewed on one of the talk radio shows. All three comedy bits were different.

Unprecedented Attention to Detail

The game continues to delight with its attention to detail. To evade a 4 star chase I chose to run down into a subway and run through the subway tunnels under Algonquin. Halfway down one of the lines I came across a group of homeless people who had set up their home their. Fires were roaring in oil drums. What are the odds most GTA players will ever walk through the subway tunnels on foot to discover this? Impressive!

I like to explore nooks and crannies. As with many games, treasures (in this case usually weapons) can often be found off the beaten path. No matter where I go there is always something happening. Joggers are running in parks. Boaters are boating on the rivers. People are fishing on the shore. People are barbecuing in a park. Prostitutes and thugs are out at night. Peole use umbrellas and wear rain gear in the rain. No matter where I find myself in this large city there are always humans engaged in location, weather and time of day appropriate activities. I don’t recall ever seeing the same scenario being played out in two different places.

Thunder & Lightening Storm

I quite enjoyed the changing weather conditions in the game. The thunder and lightening storm I recently experienced was the best yet. I was on a sniper mission in upper Algonquin, scoping out locations for the shot and an Armageddon-style thunder, lightening and rain storm was raging around me. My controller shook when the thunder cracked. Wow! I don’t know if the game queues that storm for that mission or if it was random chance. But it was terrific atmosphere for a cold-hearted sniping mission. This is the kind of thing that sets GTA IV above the rest.

Achievement Action

“Full Exploration” (20 points) This achievement was a lllooonnngggg  time  in coming. At 43.45% game progress, I finally unlocked the entire city. There is a very tough mission immediately before this is achieved.

“Under the Radar” (40 points) To get this achievement you need to fly the helicopter under each of the 14 GTA bridges. I attempted it immediately after gaining access to (jacking) a helicopter over a week ago.  Unfortunately you can only fly under 9 of the 15 bridges when Alderny (New Jersey) Island is still locked. If you attempt to fly under those bridges before unlocking it, you’ll be chased by other helicopters and shot out of the air.  Flying under the remaining 5 bridges was the first thing I did after achieving Full Exploration.

“Sightseer” (5 points) OK, I was mislead on this one. I read somewhere that in order to get this achievement you must take a helitour from each of the six landing circles at the heliport. I was able to take off from 5 of the 6 landing circles very early on. But no matter how many times I went back, there was never a helicopter on the sixth landing circle (the one at the bottom of the ‘T’ shaped landing area). I had assumed that I needed to achieve/unlock the “Full Exploration” achievement before a helicopter would land there. Alas, even after reaching that achievement a helicopter never landed there.  So, I thought, perhaps I needed to take all the tours again before a helicopter would land there. So, I started them all again and that, my 6th helitour,, I got the “Sightseer” achievement. I never did take a t0ur that started from that last circle. So, I’m guessing that all you need to do for this achievement is to take 6 helitours and nothing more.

“King of QUB3D” (15 points) This little arcade game is available in the pool hall by Little Jacob’s haunt, in the Triangle Club and other bars. It’s a tumbling 3D, Tetris-like game. Beat the high score (which I did on my fourth attempt) and you get the achievement. It takes a game or two to figure out. After mastering the mechanic, the key to the game is noticing that the next two cubes are previewed on the top of the screen as you are working with the current two cubes. Factor in the next two cubes as you are dealing with the current two cubes and you’ll have it. It’s easy and surprisingly fun.

“One Man Army” (40 points) I forgot to mention this in Diary Entry #1, but I got this achievement on the first day by following the “One Man Army” achievement technique (cough, ‘cheat’, cough) described in Gamespy’s GTA IV Achievement Guide.

No More Stranger (5 points): I found my second and third ‘blue men’ icons on the map and dealt with them. Based on the number of points, I’m still guessing there are 5 of these in the game. So far I found two of them in Hove Beach and another near Packie’s home in Dukes. I have not figured out any way to hunt them down. They appear on the map when they appear – seemingly randomly. This achievement is still a conundrum for me.

Triggering 4 and 6 Star Chases:

You’ll need to trigger a 6 star and a 4 star chase in order to get the “One Man Army” and  “Walk Free” achievements respectively (though a 4 star level occurs as part of the Three Leaf Clover mission).  To trigger a 6 star chase, try to cross any bridge blocked off by the police. 4 star chases can be triggered by going out on the tarmac (runways) at the Francis International Airport, or by driving into the front entrance of the United Nations building.

Music / Radio Stations

Two things struck me about the radio stations:

1. Quality Dependant on Car: Early in the game when you listen to the radio in average cars you get an average sounding radio. But as you acquire higher end cars, the quality of the radio increases and takes full advantage your home theatre stereo/surround sound system. The sound quality is far superior when driving around in a BMW, Porsche or Ferrari, for instance.
2. New Songs as Game Progress?: I don’t know if its me, or if GTA IV deliberately holds back songs/radio stations/talk radio for play later in the game to change things up. At this point in my play, the radio stations seem to be playing different songs from earlier in the game. I particularly enjoy the jazz and classic rock stations, but most of the 200 songs in the game are enjoyable.

Police Escape Tips

You will spend a lot of time evading chasing police in this game. Often times they are started innocently – by just bumping a police car for example. Escaping efficiently is a key game skill.

Pay & Spray: If you are close to a pay & spray, head into the garage as soon as you can. Be sure no cop sees you going in the garage. If there is a cop on your tail, circle the block and come back before entering the garage. If successful, the chase will be history. You might want to plot a course to the nearest pay & spray on you map as soon as a chase begins to make it easier to find – or scope them out in advance.

Edge of the Radar: When evading police, the objective, of course, is to run/drive outside the blue radar area and stay there. As soon as you get outside the blue radar, STOP. If you stop, and no cop is in your immediate vicinity its unlikely another police officer will see you.  But if you keep moving you’ll likely bump into another  police car – expanding the blue radar around you again. It sounds silly, but it works. Racing just past the edge of the blue radar and stopping is the most effective way to end average 1 and 2 star police chases.

Watch The Backup Vehicles: Normally there is only one police car chasing you at first. The radar will show you where other backup police cars are.  As you head to the edge of the blue radar, avoid driving to the edge where a backup vehicle is closing in. Makes common sense  but I didn’t pick up on that until recently. My approach is to drive out of the radar in the direction where there are no backup police cars coming in.

Let Cops Get out of their Car Before  You Run: When a chase begins, you can stop your car and watch the police get out of their car and walk to yours. Just as they reach you – speed away. It takes time for the police to get back in their car and, alas, it takes much less time/energy to get away.

Prompt a Mission: If you prompt a cut scene for the next mission while being chased, the police chase ends. It doesn’t matter if there are 20 cops chasing you down, if you can get to a yellow chevron and trip the next mission, date with Michelle or whatever, the police chase ends.

Walking Bridges: The police will not chase you over walking bridges. Both the Broker Bridge and Algonquin Bridges have walking bridges between the lanes. If you can get on to the walking bridge you are safe.  You may have to walk across the bridge to get outside of the blue radar but you’ll eventually be safe. You can also ride motorcycles across the foot bridges and the police won’t chase you.

More Tips

Always Keep a Turismo (Ferrari F40.): The best car I’ve found in the game so far is the  Turismo – which is pretty much a Ferrari F40. It is always available for hijacking beside Vlad’s house. This car is the fastest, handles the best and is virtually indestructible (relatively speaking). I recommend jacking it (repeatedly) and keeping at least one at each safehouse parking spot. You can jack one, park it and then take a cab back to Vlad’s house to jack another. Notice the pictures above. I have a Turismo parked with my helicopter at both safehouses.

Avoid Shooting While Chasing: You can shoot your opponents while chasing them. In my experience, this is usually a bad idea. Whenever I did, this resulted in the police joining the chase and taking me out (while doing nothing to stop the car I was chasing). Assuming you have the Turismo, you should be able to keep up with virtually any fleeing vehicle. Sooner or later the other car crashes or stops and you can take out your prey by shooting them or driving over them at that point.

Using Police Cars as Your Ride: If you steal a police car you can use it as your main car for as long as you like. You can save it at your safehouse like any other car. Using it as a get-around vehicle has its advantages. You don’t have to pay tolls. Other police cars don’t chase you. You can turn on the siren and other cars will try to get out of the way. Not sexy – but it has its benefits.

Press A to Avoid Arrest: If you are being arrested, press A (X on the PS3) to escape. It took me to 39% of the way through the game to notice that this was an option. As I mentioned in a prior post, its better to escape the police and die in the trying than to be arrested and loose all your costly guns.

Auto Aiming: Let me be clear – using auto-aiming is for newbs and whusses! I hate it. It’s a pity Rockstar sets auto-aiming on by default. But if you get to a particularly difficult mission, using auto-aiming turns a difficult mission into a cake-walk. I only used this approach once in the game so far. While this cheapens the game somewhat, I feel justified given the ridiculous save system. If I could save where and when I wanted, I’d never use it.

“Don’t Completely Empty a Weapon” Here’s why. If you are in a fight and use all the ammo in a given weapon, Nicko throws the gun away. He never retains a gun with zero ammo. I really like the automatic rifle. But if I use all the ammo in a fight, the next time I go to buy ammo I also have to buy the gun, again, for $3,000.  I’ve repurchased the same gun at least 5 times because I emptied the ammo.  Leave 1 bullet in the chamber and the next time you go ammo shopping, you’ll still have your gun. Easy to say – very hard to remember this in the middle of a fight.

More Escort Missions

Jeese!  There was an  ‘escort mission’ early on with Little Jacob and two more so far with Packie – including the difficult Three Leaf Clover mission ….. Grrr!!! Escort missions should be banned.

The Save System is REALLY Starting to Anger Me

I described this problem in diary Entry #1, so there’s no need to go on about it at length. This is really putting a blemish on this otherwise terrific game.  Here’s how the inability to save is lessening the experience for me.

I genuinely enjoy driving around Liberty City. But when forced to replay a mission over and over (and thereby forced to drive multi-legged journey’s over and over) because I can’t save where I want, the joy is considerably lessened. I’d even be fine if Rockstar left out the ability to save during the fighting sequence of a mission.  But, by the Gods in the Heavens, stop forcing me to drive for long periods of time, to first get the mission instructions and then to drive to the mission only to die in the fight and do it all over again. Rockstar, this is REALLY starting to anger me. Adult gamers don’t want to replay more than a few minutes after a loss.  There is no need to use this out-dated contrivance to make the game last longer. The game is plenty long. Let us save where we want – or for the love of God create a save point immediately before a battle so I don’t have to drive for 5 or 10 minutes just to get back to the fight every time I fail!

I wanted to give GTA IV a 5 out of 5. But when I write my final review this infuriating save system will single-handedly result in my giving it no more than a 4 out of 5.

<<  Read Diary Entry #3

Day 5 | 29.14% done | 36 missions completed | 25:10 hours played.

Bridges Crossed – Flights Taken

Shortly after Diary Entry #2, I made it to Manhattan (err, Algonquin). The first thing I did was purchase a new outfit. Then I headed over to the helipad for a helicopter ride over Liberty City. Take a look at Nicko posing in his new gangsta suit in front of the helicopter (click for larger image).

The ride was fun, we flew up and down the length of Manhattan, over Times Square, Central Park, the Trump Tower, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.

But flying the helicopter myself was much more fun. I ‘accidentally’ jacked the helicopter for my second flight – then proceeded to dump the helicopter into the Hudson!  It’s much harder to fly than I thought it would be. Here’s me flying past the Statute of Liberty (Statue of Happiness).

They say it is modelled after Hillary Clinton. I didn’t get close enough to tell (maybe next time). I tried to get a look at Ground Zero but couldn’t see anything there, not even a memorial.

Tip: Take a cab or a junker to the helipad because when you return, your ride will be stolen. I lost my Porsche that way.

Today’s Achievements

“Wheelie Rider” (30 points) I spent more time on this achievement than any other so far. After attempting it probably 50 times on Liberty City streets (and breaking many bones), I took the advice of others and tried my luck on the Francis International Airport tarmac. I got it on my second try. Whoop, whoop!

Tip: Not all bike’s can do wheelies. None of the Harley’s can and the Hell’s Fury bike can’t. Find one that looks like an off road dirt bike to be certain. Or at least be sure you can pop a wheelie (pulling back on the left analogue stick at speed) on the city streets before taking the time to get to the airport.

“Walk Free” (50 points) After several tries I got Walk Free. This involves escaping a four star police hunt. I triggered the four star alert by driving onto the tarmac at Francis International. I escaped by driving in one of those huge square airport trucks to the base of the Algonquin Bridge (at Creek St.) and then simply walked across the foot-bridge. I suggest scoping out the foot-bridge first so you know where you are going.

“Under the Radar” (40 points) To get this achievement you need to fly the helicopter under each of the 14 GTA bridges. I attempted it immediately after gaining access to the helicopter.  Unfortunately you can only fly under 9 of the 15 bridges when Alderny Island (New Jersey) is still locked. If you attempt to fly under the Alderny Island bridges before unlocking it, you’ll be chased by other helicopters and shot out of the air.

Tip: When flying under bridges to achieve “Under the Radar”, if you access the map (start button) at the moment you are notified that you successfully flew  under the bridge, the map shows trophy icons over the bridges you have yet to fly under. Check the map quickly because the icons will disappear. I was hoping this sort of ‘icon’ help would be available after receiving similar stunt jump/pigeon kill success messages (showing where the outstanding jumps/pigeons are). They aren’t.

“Sightseer” (5 points) I tried to get this achievement but was unsuccessful (so far). To get it you must take six helicopter rides starting at each of the six landing circles. I was able to take just 4 of the 6 possible rides (no helicopters appeared at the other two circles). My guess is the other two won’t become available before Alderny Island (New Jersey) is unlocked.

Nicko Visits Times Square

Hidden Armour in Bohan

Maintaining health and wearing a Kevlar vest is key to survival in GTA. There are armour packs scattered around the city. I found one near the 2nd safe house on Bohan in the loading area just below the ‘L’ intersection at Attica and Folsom Way. Click on picture to see.

It’s the gift that keeps giving. When your armour is depleted, just go back for a free replenishment at any time.

[May 13, 2008 Update: A map of all hidden armour can be found here at Wiki Cheats.]

Ricky Gervais Sighting

I took Michelle to the comedy club on Algonquin (Manhattan) hoping to get to see the Ricky Gervais act. Another comedian was on that night. But, there was a poster of him outside the comedy club so I expect the next time I visit he’ll be headlining.

Saving Cars (& helicopters)

I figured out how to park/save cars. To have two shiny new sports cars waiting for me each morning just park them in the yellow lines outside the safe-house before you save. Note that if you use them on a mission and don’t bring them back, they won’t magically return the next morning as I had hoped. My technic:

1. If I’m going on a mission where I won’t be returning with my car, I jack a car and keep mine at home.
2. If I find a nicer car while out and about, I ditch the old car and bring the new one home and save.

Tip 1: While you can squeeze a motorcycle or two in between two parked cars, you can’t save that way. In preparation for my Wheelie Rider achievement, I  tried squeezing 2 motorcycles between my parked Porsche and Ferrari. I lost both cars. Bottom Line: Only the last two vehicles will be saved per parking slot.

Tip 2: So far I’ve found no place to park a helicopter outside the hideout. Hey, it was worth a try. [Update: See Diary Entry #4 - I was able to park the helicopter outside safe houses after all.]

Tip 3: I read somewhere that you can keep 2 cars at EACH safe house. Whatever vehicles are parked at any safe house will save when you save. I haven’t verified this and really don’t see the point. I haven’t gone back to the 1st safe house after finding the second. Not yet anyway.

Free Pay & Spray

The saving process does not save the state of damage inflicted on your vehicles. If you want free auto repairs, park a banged up vehicle outside your hideout, save the game then either reload the save you just made or turn off the Xbox. The the next time you load/play the game, your vehicle will be restored back to new.

Tip: Note, just saving alone won’t fix the car, you must save, then reload your last save.

You May Need an XBox Live Account to Play??

I took the game over to my buddy Don’s house on Saturday. His XBLive account had expired. The game would not allow him to auto save or manually save his mission without being connected to  Xbox Live.  What’s up with that? How do people without XBox Live accounts play this game on the 360?

[Update: We created a new Xbox Account not associated with an Xbox Live account and played through that account and everything saved just fine. Thanks RandomRage.]

Oh my God! He Killed Kenny (the Preacher)

A persistent and obnoxious preacher awaits you outside of hideout 2. At first I ignored him. Later I punched him hoping he’d go away. After awhile I couldn’t take it any more so I walked up behind him and put a bullet in his head. God seems to like him because he is constantly resurrected. So, I’ve now taken to coming up with creative ways of killing him every time I pass by. So far, I’ve killed him with every weapon, squished him between cars, run him down with a motorcycle, threw a grenade at him, pushed a police car over him and shot him with a sniper from way down the block. He’s the only civilian in the game I don’t feel guilty killing. It’s kinda fun.

<<  Read Diary Entry #2 Read Diary Entry #4  >>

GTA IV Diary: Entry #1, Entry #2, Entry #3, Entry #4

I’ve finished day 4 of my Grand Theft Auto IV adventure. I spent most of my game play achievement hunting so I’m only 25.06% of the way done – and still not off the first two islands. I suspect I’m very close.

Achievements

Day 4’s achievement hunting yielded mixed results:

It’ll Cost Ya: Take a cab over a bridge and don’t skip ahead while riding. Time consuming, but easy.

One Hundred and Eighty (aka Darts): Probably the easiest achievement points (outside the plot-line achievements). Triple a 20 three times and you’ve got it.

No More Stranger: I found my first ‘blue man’ icon on the map and found him. I have no idea how many of these guys I have to find for this achievement. I haven’t found any other in hours of play.

Wheelie Rider: Argh… I’ve been trying to get the ‘Wheelie Rider’ achievement from the beginning and I keep falling off. Man that’s hard.

Tip 1: don’t try this one when in the middle of a mission. You’ll likely die and have to start the mission over again.

Tip 2: I hear doing wheelies on the airport runway is the way to go.

Pool Shark: I beat Little J (and earned 10 points) on the first try. Actually, he was about to win but sunk the black-ball giving me a victory by default.

Gobble Gobble: Forget this one. Bowling three strikes in a row is way too much work for 10 points.

‘Courier Service’ & ‘Order Fulfilled’: OK, I thought these would be much easier than they are. The first involves 10 drug delivery missions, the second – 10 car stealing missions. All involve extensive travelling.  They are doable – just very time consuming. And, some are tricky. I’ve done 3 of each so far. I think I’ll wait to the end of the game and come back latter.

As a reminder, GTA IV Achievement Point details can be found here.

Driving

The driving mechanic in GTA IV has improved over prior GTA games. I am horrible at car simulation games like Forza 2, Gran Turismo or Project Gotham. I spend most of the time bumping off walls in those games.  GTA IV is much closer to the arcady feel of Burnout Paradise. There are a vast array of vehicles to drive, each with their own peculiarities. They drive as I imagine their real world counterparts would.

Sh|t Happens:

Unexpected and thoroughly entertaining stuff happens throughout the game:

• Bike Flying: One minute I’m zooming along on a Harley, the next I’m being hurled a thousand feet through the air because I hit a curb.
• Jamaican Bump: I met up with Little Jacob and accidentally bumped his car as I was stopping. He cursed a mean streak (in unintelligible Jamaican), got in his car and drove away.  He wouldn’t meet again for quite some time.
• Gas Pump Lift Off: Driving along, I mistakenly careened off the road, hit a gas pump I hadn’t notice and my car blew straight up in the air a couple hundred feet – killing me and Brucie in a flash.
• A Smashing Victory: I was trying to win my first car race for the third time. I was way out in front but got spun around just before the end. As I was struggling to reorient the car, the second place car slammed into me, spun my car forward, pointing me to the finish line and then bounced off the side of the road. I won!
• Darting to Death: On the way to play a game of Darts with Roman I was in yet another police chase. While happily speeding down the highway a police car rammed us from the side. The car started on fire. Before we could get out the car blew up and sent Roman and Nicko shooting up in flames like fourth of July fireworks – in firey slow-mo glory. Well done Rockstar.

Ricky Gervais

Word is that Ricky Gervais appears in a 3 minute motion-captured comedy skit somewhere in GTA IV. I haven’t found it yet. I’ll see if I can snap a picture whenever I find it.

Brucie

So far Brucie is my favourite character. Every time  I see him, he makes me laugh. What a terrific steroid-driven character.

Michelle

I’m growing very tired of ‘dating’ Michelle, listening to her complaints when we don’t date and banal comments on my clothes and vehicles. Near as I can tell dating doesn’t advance the story. What woman would be so happy about going to a burger joint? It would have been really nice if she had become an integral part of the drama as was the case with Nathan and Elena in Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. Who’d-a-thunk I’d get tired of just sex!   I may stay celibate for the remainder of the game.

Street Sweeper

[Spoiler Alert - skip to the next section if you don't want a mission partially spoiled]

There is a mission called ’street sweeper’ that I kept trying and failing. The bad guys kept getting in their car and driving away. After several times I noticed that a garbage truck drives by in the mission (could the mission title have been a clue?). Quite by accident, I jacked the garbage truck to drive to the fight. When I got there I realized that if I parked it in front of the garage door of the vehicle about to flee, it can’t get away. The upshot … the bad buys were pinned in the car and I took them out easily.

How Did they Fit this on One DVD?

This is the ‘biggest’ game I’ve ever played. Crackdown was similar in scope but did not have all the intricate details that Liberty City has. There are:

• a great many cut-scenes (51 so far)
• over 600 voice actors
• a dozen or so radio stations with hundreds of songs and hours of talk-radio
• another dozen or so TV channels, and
• and relatively deep websites at the Internet cafe (Weasel News is a play on Fox News).

As my friend Davis Freeberg opined, imagine how big the city could be if it was on a blu-ray disk? Given that the PS3 has blu-ray built in, I was half expecting the 360 version to appear on multiple disks. But, somehow they crammed it all onto one. Amazing.

Cheats

I found a cheats page here. I’m not using it. I found it looking for tips on how to get three strikes in bowling (Gobble Gobble). Suffice it to say, the cheat for Gobble Gobble didn’t work for me (and doesn’t make sense).

More Tips

Body Armour: Once you find it in the game, and figure out how to consistently find it again (I don’t want to add a spoiler here),  use it. It’s worth the replenishment hassle.

Ambulance Health: If you commandeer an ambulance, you get your health restored. Makes sense. They act as mobile health packs scattered around the board – as do hot-dog stands, restaurants, soda machines, Michelle after a date and so on.

Better to Die than be Arrested: Why? Because the cops take all your guns and ammo. The hospitals just charge a fee to revive you. You can purchase new guns and ammo but that takes a lot of time effort and money. So, if the cops are chasing you, better to let them kill you before letting them capture you.

<<  Read Diary Entry #1 Read Diary Entry #3  >>

GTA IV Diary: Entry #1, Entry #2, Entry #3, Entry #4

It’s day 3 of my Grand Theft Auto IV adventure. Given the sheer size of this game and the fact that I may not be finished for a week or two,Chad Sapieha’s daily GTA IV Diary inspired me to write diary posts as I work my way through. I will write a detailed review when finished.

Wow!

I came in to GTA IV expecting to hate it as much as I did the earlier games in the series. Despite my reluctance, the staggeringly high review scores (see Meta Critic and Game Rankings) made it worth taking a look. The reviews got me to the party. The ‘atmosphere’, the scope, the beauty of the city, the cinematic feel and the well written story kept me coming back. Now despite some frustrations, I’m hooked.

Thanks for the May 6 netfiler, tax extension Revenue Canada! Otherwise I’d have had no free-time to play this over the last few days.

Initial Impressions!

Scope & Style: I was drawn in from the beginning with GTA IV’s engaging, Chronicle of Riddick-like interactive opening credits. The massive sand-box magnitude of the game is similar to Crackdown and Assassin’s Creed. The writing is good, very good. On par with Naughty-Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. But, not on par with The Godfather as some reviewers claim.

City Alive: You’ll notice almost immediately that this game is alive unlike almost any other game you’ve played. People are walking, jogging and driving around this huge city (see interactive ‘hood’ map), obeying traffic lights, conversing and going about their business  in a convincing manner (well, if you don’t look too closely). Neighbourhoods have their own distinctive feel. I feel, more than in any other game, that I’m moving around in a real city.

PS3 vs. 360: As always, there is controversy (see here and here) as to whether the game is better on the PS3 or 360.  The game is selling more on 360s than on the PS3 (see here). Near as I can tell from the rare rational discussion on the topic and my viewing of the side-by-side comparisons (see GameTrailers, 1Up.com, videogamer.com), its a draw. I have both consoles. As usual, I purchased the 360 version for three reasons: (i) I want the achievement points; (ii) XBox Live’s online multiplayer experience is always better than the PS3’s; and (iii) there will be future downloadable content for the 360 that won’t be available for the PS3.

Graphics: The graphics are great, but not on par with, say, Burnout Paradise. This is understandable give the massive city and it’s many moving parts. Given the scope of the game, the graphics are fantastic. I’m happy Rockstar took the time to get it right.

Atmosphere: The time of day and weather is constantly changing. Again, adding real atmosphere to the game. Shadows are cast and the city’s hue and texture change with the weather and the time of day. My only quibble on this point is there is way too much night. I wish there was an easy way to just advance the game to the next morning.

Subway: Terrific. I’ve used subway’s in other games (The Darkness for example). But this is the first time a subway seems so real. In other games, you enter a subway, the door closes and then the game advances to the next stop. In GTA you take the ride. When the subway is above ground you hover above the moving train and watch the subway wind its way through the city as you are travelling. I don’t know what happens when the subway goes underground yet because, so far, the game won’t let me take the subway underground.

Early Bridge & Island Restrictions: I’m 21.06% of the way through the game (the game tracks a large number of stats) and still not off the initial two islands. Assassin’s Creed kept you from advancing to new parts of cities by the artifice of repressed memories not-yet unlocked. In GTA IV the bridges are closed early in the game due to a terrorist threat. OK, sort of plausible. That didn’t keep me from trying though. If you want instant death, try to cross those police lines. I successfully found my way into a subway tunnel leading under the river to a verboten island. Alas, I was swarmed by a swat team at the first subway stop on the other side of the river. Suffice it to say, you aren’t going to be visiting the other islands until the game wants you to.

Violence Generally: Yupp, this is a violent and very explicit game. This one is not for the kiddies. But so far I haven’t had to kill anyone that wasn’t a ‘bad guy’. Err, well, you will accidentally kill hundreds of innocents just by driving around. You feel guilty at first but you’ll get over it.

Violence Against Prostitutes: The series has been criticized for its violence against prostitutes (rightly so in my opinion). Early on I wanted to test that so I picked a fight with a prostitute. I’m happy to report that in that instance, Rockstar’s prostitute was a better fighter than my character. She was whupping him so badly that I ran away with my tail between my legs! Quite unexpected and impressive. Than you Rockstar.

Achievements: I was quite amused at one of the early achievements ‘warm coffee’ – a play on GTA’s hot-coffee controversy. A complete list of achievements can be found at Will Tuttle’s Achievement Guide at Gamespy.

Paper Map: The game comes with a large paper city and subway map in the box. I’ve seen these in other games. They are mostly just gimmicks. But, in GTA IV I frequently turned to the paper map to figure things out. It is actually useful.

Early Tips

What Am I Supposed to Do?: As I’m relatively new to the GTA franchise I didn’t know what to do for the first few hours. Orders will come in on the cell phone from time to time but often you are left to roam free.  If you want to advance the plot, open the map, find a friend, boss, cousin etc. currently highlighted on the map and go there.  Otherwise the plot won’t advance. That took me a few hours to realize.

Learning the City: This place is huge (see interactive ‘hood’ map). You don’t need to learn the city to play. You can set the game up so it constantly tells/shows you the route (GPS style) to your next destination. I shut that off. For me, learning the city and driving around as if it was a real place was part of the fun.

Teleporation by Taxi: When you really want to get somewhere fast, hail a cab. For a ‘fee’ you can skip directly to the destination at the press of a button.

Saving Cars: Driving your first Harley, Ferrari or Porsche is very satisfying. Learn how to store your cars early (click here). The good one’s don’t come around often – at least not early in the game. So far I’m not very good at saving them. Yes, I can save them overnight, but often when you go out on a mission you don’t come back with the same vehicle. Unfortunately, at least 21% of the way into the game, there is no way to permanently save a car. But, I did find a rich neighbourhood where I am always able to jack a high-end ride!

Police Don’t Stop you for Traffic Violations: No matter how erratically you drive, no matter how many stoplights you drive through, no matter how many pedestrian’s you run down, the police won’t stop you. Just don’t accidentally bump into them or rip someone out of their car directly in front of them. They’ll generally leave you alone if you leave them alone.

Quibbles

As with many other video games (see my general discussion here), GTA IV suffers from some tried-and true gaming deficiencies.

Saving – Replaying Over and Over: My biggest quibble with the game so far, and a criticism that applies to too many video games, revolves around the save system. While you can save the game (trundling home from wherever you are) when not involved in a mission (of which there are many), you cannot save at will. The net result, you not only find yourself playing through a mission multiple times, but you must replay THE ENTIRE MISSION over and over if you fail. For example. If you are sent on a cross-town mission that leads to a battle, and you are killed (and you will be killed – frequently), you are revived back on the other side of town where it all began and you must navigate (usually for several minutes) your way back before you can take-up the fight anew. And, in too many cases, you finish a long battle, someone breaks free and you have to chase him down. If you loose him, you must start back across town, again, fight the fight you just won, again, and then do the chase again. This resulted in my having to replay missions way too many frustrating times. So much so that I almost tossed the game early on. Argh! It is time to put this gaming convention to rest. Developers, let us save the damn game wherever we choose!

Camera: As with too many other games (Resident Evil is the worst offender), I find myself fighting with the camera as it is constantly pulling the camera back to the centre when I’m looking around. Not only is this frustrating, but it makes me nauseous. Game Developers, give us an auto centring on/off option or take away camera control altogether (God of War II, for example, was terrific with zero camera control)!

Escort Mission: Yes, there is at least one escort missions. Have I mentioned I hate escort missions. You almost always die because of the idiotic, uncontrollable activities of the NPC you are protecting. Grr!

Moving On…

I have yet to try the online multi-player modes. And I’ll be going for a lot of achievement points. I’m most looking forward to the other islands opening up and taking a helicopter tour of the city.  I’ll touch on these points and whatever else strikes my fancy in my next diary entry.

GTA Resources

• Gamespy’s GTA IV Achievement Guide
• GameFAQ’s GTA IV Walkthrus
• IGN’s Interactive GTA IV Hood Map
• Game Theory’s GTA IV podcast
• Meta Critic GTA IV Reviews
• Game Rankings GTA IV Reviews
• (Comparison Videos: GameTrailers, 1Up.com, videogamer.com)

Read Diary Entry #2  >>