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  >>