The old GTAIV thread that should be locked

bruin

Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Release date: 4/29 "worldwide"
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Take-Two Interactive

I wanna see some screenshots

If you want to see more, including high-res screens, this is the best place to go.

Screw screenshots, I wanna see it in motion

Trailer 1: "Things Will Be Different"

SD | HD

Trailer 2: "Looking For That Special Someone"

SD | HD

Trailer 3: "Move Up, Ladies"

SD | HD

Trailer 4" "Good Lord, What Are You Doing? aka "Everyone's a Rat"

SD | HD

So how does it play?

Press was shown a 90-minute demo recently. Here are the reactions:

MTV News
CVW
IGN
Gamesradar
Kikizo
TeamXbox

Combat has changed from previous 3D GTA games, and now has a Gears of War-like cover system, and Crackdown-like lock-on/free aiming hybrid targeting.

Stephen Totilo wrote:

New systems are fine, but the thing that "GTA" gamers hammer the series for is an often-unreliable targeting system. "GTA" games require lots of shooting but seldom provide controls that win any cheers. The system has been overhauled for "GTA IV." Using the Xbox 360 controller, the Rockstar rep playing the game showed that during a shootout, the player can pull the 360's left-analog trigger for a zoomed-in "free-aim" mode. That puts Niko to the left of the screen with his gun pointed at his enemies, à la "Resident Evil 4" and "Gears of War." Pulling the left trigger all the way locks the gun's sights on the nearest enemy. During a lock-on, the controller's right thumb stick can be used to target legs, torso or head. Flicking the stick left or right switches targets. Pushing the right stick directly into the controller allows for an even more zoomed-in perspective. None of this is new to games, but like the new one-button "Gears of War"-style cover system "GTA IV" has, it is a sign that Rockstar is learning from the proven control schemes of other games to remedy some longstanding issues. (The reps were proud of a blind-fire option that enabled Niko to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a bunch of shady dockworkers while still keeping cover behind a wall.)

GTAIV takes place in a redesigned Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories). Four boroughs of NYC are represented, as is New Jersey. "Broker" is Brooklyn, Queens is "Dukes", the Bronx is "Bohan", Manhattan is "Algonquin", and New Jersey is "Alderney."

I'm getting kinda lazy and this is a taking a while so here's a (LONG) list of features from the NeoGAF OP:

- The location will be Liberty City, a completely retooled and more realistic version of Liberty than what we've seen in the past (GTA1, GTA3, LCS, GTA advance).

- There will be five buroughs: Dukes (Queens), Bohan (the Bronx), Algonquin (Manhattan), Broker (Brooklyn), and Alderney (New Jersey). It has been confirmed you start the game out in Broker. No, Staten Island will not be present because R* feels the area is boring.

- The game will be much harder than past entries. The days where you walk up to any car and jack it are over, as are the days where you simply have to run to a pay and spray to get the heat off of you.

- While the game is not as big as San Andreas, it has more detail and R* is going for less wasted space.

- The police system has been entirely retooled. You will not instantly become wanted whenever you commit a crime now, even in public. If there are no cops around, and someone sees you, they will have to notify the police. It sounds extremely similar to The Warriors, it sounds like. When and if you commit a crime in public and the police are notified, a circular search area will appear on your radar. The fuzz will go on high alert. If you are outside of this area the cops will not be able to find you unless you commit another crime. If you are spotted in the circular area, the police will follow you to that location. Thus, if you are sneaky, they will not know where you are.

- You can trick police to get rid of wanted level. Since there's no Pay and Spray you must use other ways to get rid of wanted level: changing your clothes (especially if they are bloody); switching cars to confuse the police; running into someone's house, out the back, and on to their fire escape, among other things.

- Many interiors are fully decorated and have been given a much bigger emphasis and importance.

- While the game does not have planes, it does have helicopters.

- Some cars are locked, so you will need to strategize escape routes more thoroughly this time. In order to unlock locked vehicles, breaking the window is necessary, as is hot wiring the car. Obviously, under a chase this will make things more hectic.

- Targeting system has been retooled. It has a Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War like targeting system, which is perfect for GTA, to be honest.

- Niko has a cell phone, which is essentially the start screen. With the cell phone, you can call any number that's in the game, including mission leads, and various characters so you can learn more about them.

- Car trunks are now usable. Supposedly you can put bodies and weapons into car trunks.

- Missions are far more dynamic now and have a different structure. Many missions start at specific times now, similarly to Shenmue. If a train leaves at 10:00 am and you arrive at 10:01 am, you fail the mission. Missions also happen on specific days. If it's Monday, sometimes you will have a mission that starts on Wednesday. You can obviously do other missions in between or come up with a plan. Rockstar wants to blur the difference between story missions and non story based missions. I do not know what this means.

- Missions have been completely retooled. Now, you do not have a giant arrow over someone's head if they are your target. Let's say you have to kill a target, but he's surrounded by a group of people. You do not know who is who. You can handle this in multiple ways. You can find out his phone number, call him up, see if he responds, and kill him; or you can simply go up to the entire group and kill all of them. The choice is up to you. Of course, if you do the latter choice, your boss may be pissed off...

- Depending on how well and what you do during missions, you can form relationships with your bosses and clients. If you do good, kill your targets discreetly, you will have a good relationship. If you do things in plain sight, without using your brains, your boss will most likely hate you and break all contact. It sounds like a great evolution on GTA2's fun, but not exactly deep, respect system.

- Maintaining character relationships can result in specific rewards. Little Jacob is the guy who sells you weapons. Your relationship is maintained through phone contact and loyalty. If you boost up his relationship, perhaps he gives you better weapons?

- Trip skip feature from Vice City and Vice City Stories is back, thankfully. Now you can even use cabs to drive you pretty much anywhere you want apparently.

- You do not get weapons Ammunation any more. Ammunation will most likely not be in the new game.

- As the third trailer hinted, before you gain any sort of weapon, you're going to be using your fists. More emphasis on hand to hand combat will be in GTAIV.

- Beware night time in certain Burroughs, as you may get jumped by random gangsters and the freaks of Liberty. You can get robbed.

- There is now a GPS. Saints Row ftw.

- People will react to your weapons. So if you have an rpg out, they will obviously go batshit, which will cause attention to you.

- You can push people off of buildings.

- As the third trailer showed, there is now an emphasis on cover. Kill.Switch and Gears influence obviously.

- Girlfriends are returning. No word on whether R* will make them funner than last time they appeared.

- The internet is a feature in the game. How this will affect gameplay is unknown but Rockstar promises it will be crucial to the gameplay.

- The game will NOT, THANK GOD, place emphasis on territory or gaining territory.

- The days where you carry millions of cash on you are over. You can now use atms or go to the bank to deposit or withdraw funds. Sounds pretty similar to Dragon Quest. Maybe when you die or get busted, you lose half of your funds or something. Can't imagine what will happen when you get robbed.

- It seems getting busted may have bigger consequences than simply losing your money and a lil cash this time. Many people think this means you may end up going to jail every time you get busted, but that's just mindless speculation at this point. Honestly, that wouldn't be very fun.

- You can now shoot different body parts and your victim will react realistically depending where he has been hit.

- Rockstar will use the Euphoria Engine, known from "Star Wars: The Force unleashed". Result: Every Explosion looks different.

- Enemies that have been hit may still try to get up again and attack you.

- Pedestrians have a memory. They remember your face when they saw you doing a criminal act and run away in terror whenever they see you again.

- The multiplayer will be activated via the cell phone. Nothing is known about the multiplayer modes except that there will be up to 16 players possible.

- Francis International Airport is back but resembles JFK Airport

-Niko's cell phone has a Built-In Radio

-2 Minutes real time is now equal to 1 Hour In-Game time. Thus, longer, more fleshed out days.

-Seasons are NOT in the game

-Every cop car has a working computer, which allows you to search for any criminal in the city, find his where abouts, and any thing remotely related to him or her. Should be handy if you need information on a target.

-You can call the police via 911 AT ANY TIME. Maybe you can use this feature to your advantage somehow...

Moar info plz

Try Wikipedia or the game's official site.

Updates

2/5

These (with a few different characters) have been popping up around New York City



2/8

davidbarry wrote: »

The GTA IV website has received an overhaul. New screenshots and videos can be found there, but know that the site has been wonky for a lot of people (including myself) so don't expect it to work. As such, I've shamelessy stolen some mirrors for 4 of the videos from Neogaf:

Beer Garden (Video of an irish pub in Liberty city)
Whizz Mobile (Video of the game's cell phone service provider)
Roman (Video of of Roman Belic. Also features a beautiful car vs. pedestrian hit and awesome drunk walking euphoria tech.)
Vlad (Another character video, this one featuring a short clip of AK usage in action.)

Also, some site I've never heard of (or really trust, for that matter) called Xbox Family is claiming to have knowledge of some free downloadable content being made available to everyone who preorders the Xbox 360 version of GTAIV. Grains of salt should be applied liberally.

2/21

New screens at Gamersyde

Phil Bell trailer

Dilettante Hybrid Trailer

2/29

Lots of previews dropped

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3166722&p=4
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/855/855555p1.html
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1887/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/p1/
http://games.kikizo.com/news/200802/091_p1.asp?f=091_p1.asp
http://uk.xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/grand-theft-auto-4/855562p1.html

2/29

From GAF from PS3Forums

Preview from PSM3

hey explain GTA 4 controls and show that you press circle to punch and square to kick, also show that when you hit R1 you go in cover. Also they show you have three movement speed, walking , jogging and Sprinting.They say that at some places you can climb objects like Assasins Creed with the square button.They show how the phone works, Down on the d pad and \it makes it appear at the bottom of the screen.You can jack cars in GTA 4, break the glass with L1 and then you cut wires to make the car start. You can go in NetCafe to go on the internet in the game.
• According to the journalists, the first hands-on minutes were enough to solidify their feelings of how the game is going to kick ass.

• Liberty City has more streets than any other game in the genre.

• You cannot enter every building. However, you can interact with most of them. Rooftops, stairways, fire escapes, partial interiors, etc.

• Niko will not be able to manage property, gangs or trade.

• Bowling, dart games, drinking games, strip clubs and night clubs will be available.

• The core of GTA IV is all about the human relationship.

• Sometimes, your contacts may call you during a hard mission to ask you a service. In this instance, you can choose between the mission or whatever your contact is asking. If you ditch your mission to do things with your phone contact, you may see consequences. Whether or not you will be able to replay the mission that you went away from remains to be seen.

• The new impression of seeing a next generation living, breathing city is absolutely stunning.

• The pedestrian population density changes between the place/borough you are in.

• If you walk around the street with a gun in your hand, pedestrians who have a phone can call the police.

• In one instance when Niko tried to carjack someone, the scared innocent driver sped away so fast that he hit two cars.

• During the first mission that the journalists played, they tried to carjack someone without a gun. The driver beat up Niko. Niko got beat up so bad that he ended up at the hospital.

• Pedestrians react in a very realistic way. The journalists said that it is as if each person in the game leads his/her own life.

• It took 15 minutes to go through 2/3 of Manhattan with a boat. It took 10 minutes by car to go through Brooklyn and Central Park.

• The cars can be destroyed very realistically. Every part of the car can bend and fold.

• GTA IV has a wider variety of mission types. The missions are more difficult than in previous games.

• The game is done. Most clipping bugs are gone. The game is super smooth in terms of frame rate. (Note: The game is not 100% done. It is not "gold" yet.)

• If you press the jump button, Niko can climb everywhere. In other words, wall climbing from San Andreas has returned. You can strafe on walls, too.

• There is a swimming club.

• If you have five stars, it's very difficult to escape from the cops. They are everywhere and they don't joke with you. They are smarter than in previous incarnations of the series.

• While in a boat, the sound effects are awesome. You can hear the sound of the waves that beat the front of the boat.

• With powerful weapons, you can shoot through the walls.

• The weather that was seen during the four hours of gameplay included fog, rain, sun and clouds. A variety of colors can be seen depending on the time of day.

• When you die, you pay $100 but you get to keep your weapons.

• When you go to jail after getting busted, you pay more than $100 and you lose your weapons.

• While you are drunk, it's very difficult to control Niko. The drunk sensation is perfectly done.

• When stealing a car from a pedestrian, Niko didn't get into the car before the pedestrian sped up. Niko held onto the car as the pedestrian glided along the road. (Note: It may have been the pedestrian holding on to a car Niko was in. The translation is sketchy.)

• Choppers with search lights are in the game.

• Women will striptease in strip clubs when you pay.

• Depending on the borough you are in, pedestrians may speak different languages. Italian, Chinese and those in the Bronx are different when it comes to language.

• Health kits are available only in buildings.

• Grenade and molotov cocktail sound effects are stunning.

And some new screens

3/7

Two new short trailers and a bunch of new screens

3/13

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1583276/20080312/id_0.jhtml

New preview by Stephen Totilo

As absurd as some of the moments in our session with the game could be, though, it was clear that "GTA IV" presents a more convincing world than its predecessors did. It presents a place less riddled with imperfect game design and awkward controls, replaced with improved technology and handling. The game lets the content — not the struggle to maneuver through that content — arrest the player's attention. It's a realer "GTA." Is it also a game? Of course. Is it still "just" a game? That depends on your perspective and what your hopes are for how something like this might impact those who play it.

3/14

Multiplayer details

Recoil42 wrote: »

Multiplayer Details!

http://www.gta4.net/news/4024/new-screenshots-amp-first-multiplayer-details-emerge/

# There are 15 multiplayer game modes in GTA IV. PSM had an opportunity to play 7 of them.
# Multiplayer supports upto 16 players.
# Your online character is fully customizable. You can alter his race, sex, hair, clothing etc.

The game modes featured are as follows:

1. Hangmans NOOSE
2. Car Jack City
3. Bomb da Base
4. Bomb da Base II
5. Mafia Work
6. Team Mafia Work
7. Deathmatch
8. Team Deathmatch
9. Turf War
10. Cops N Crooks
11. Race
12. GTA Race
13. Deal Breaker
14. Free Mode
15. Car Jack City

# In Race and GTA Race, the host gets to decide which vehicles are involved, and the number of laps to be played.
# In Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, the host gets to decide the number of pedestrians, the amount of traffic, the intervention of police, and the type of weapons.
# In Cops N Crooks, one team play as cops and the other play as criminals. The cops must stop the criminals from escaping. They can monitor the locations of the criminals on their GPS systems, while the criminals don't know where the cops are.
# In Mafia Work and Team Mafia Work, you play as one of Kenny Petrovic's mafia henchmen, and you must complete hits ordered by your boss (over your cellphone) before your rivals.
# The map used in multiplayer is the same map that is used for single player.
# A single-player mission called "Hangman's NOOSE" features co-op. You and your friends will be able to escort a mobster, while being pursused by a SWAT team.

i came so hard.

==================================================================

Fireflash

I hope it'll be more interesting than the first trailer.

bruin

Fireflash wrote: »

I hope it'll be more interesting than the first trailer.

The first trailer was a great first trailer. It didn't expect anything else out of our first glimpse of the game.

I'd like to see some gameplay from this one, but I don't really expect it. Maybe some guns shooting or cars speeding. More action than the first one.

ILOSTMYBOX

If someone doesn't get hit with a brick this game will suck.

Fireflash

bruin wrote: »

Fireflash wrote: »

I hope it'll be more interesting than the first trailer.

The first trailer was a great first trailer. It didn't expect anything else out of our first glimpse of the game.

I'd like to see some gameplay from this one, but I don't really expect it. Maybe some guns shooting or cars speeding. More action than the first one.

I dunno, I just wished it was a bit more "actioney". We might get a little bit of gameplay in that one, release date ain't that far.

Basticle

it was a fucking teaser. didnt we have this argument the first time?

bruin

Uhhhh I can't find it on Yahoo.

ILOSTMYBOX

No bricks, but it still kicked some ass.

Fireflash

It's up, just watched it. Use the link in the OP.

Recoil42

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/trailer_splash.html is all liek ded alredy.

edit: oh nice, it's on yahoo.

edit2: Meh. Shows off some nice stuff; graphics are excellent (especially the shot of that blackhawk helicopter, wow!), grabbing onto moving cars = lol, but the trailer itself was pretty meh. Not the standard dramatic GTA stuff we're used to at all.

Burtletoy

I can.

bruin

OH MY GOD THAT LOOKED AMAZING

FUCKING

GRABBING ONTO THE COPTER AND THE TRUCK

AND WHEN THE COP CAR FLIPPED OVER

Shit

Basticle

I dont know what was better. the trailer or the fact that I was able to watch it right away.

Couscous

It looks like they might ditch the shitty humor.

Fireflash

The environements feel really huge, scale-wise, much more than the previous games

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Eastern European for the win.

cloudeagle

titmouse wrote: »

It looks like they might ditch the shitty humor.

It's been said this game will be a bit darker, so that's no surprise.

corin7

Damn that looks pretty hot.

Vicious_GSR

this new trailer just feels like a 'mash' trailer. Mix a bunch of scenes together with no direction or reason. Still, game looks nice.

bruin

The physics look really, really nice to me. When he kicks the door in (that could just ben an animation though), when the cars are getting shot, and when the police car flips. It's all just really convincing.

ILOSTMYBOX

Was that a fucking iPhone he was using? Oh, fuck you Apple.

Vicious_GSR

ILOSTMYBOX wrote: »

Was that a fucking iPhone he was using? Oh, fuck you Apple.

HAHA! It really looks like one...

nexuscrawler

Guess they ditched the illusion the Liberty city isn't New York. Wow they re-created some of the landmarks really well. Plus it has Jersey in it too!

bruin

fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

Recoil42

bruin wrote: »

fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

Yep, by far the most impressive shot of the trailer.

Karn

Sweet mother of god... SWEET MOTHER OF GOD.

Any news on the size of the the city this time around?

Karf

Mmmm... GTA4.

Mmmmm..

mmmMmm

AnakinOU

meh. I care about GTA for the gameplay. God only knows how much of that was actual "on the fly" gameplay, and how much was cutscenes.

ultrapeanut

I need a cigarette.

The_Scarab

Karn wrote: »

Sweet mother of god... SWEET MOTHER OF GOD.

Any news on the size of the the city this time around?

San Andreas world size but all city.

It is basically New York minus, erm, one borough, which will be the XBLA exclusive DLC.

Karn

Which borough? It's going to be missing the Bronx isn't it? Well I am pretty much getting a 360 X-mas anyway so I guess it doesn't really matter!

Also, I still haven't played San Andreas. Is San Andreas really big compared to Vice City?

Renzo

Karn wrote: »

Which borough? It's going to be missing the Bronx isn't it? Well I am pretty much getting a 360 X-mas anyway so I guess it doesn't really matter!

Also, I still haven't played San Andreas. Is San Andreas really big compared to Vice City?

Yes. It has a lot of countryside, but San Andreas is several times bigger than Vice City.

Turkey

Has anybody hosted mirrors yet?

The_Scarab

Just use main site. Its loaded right up for me in seconds.

Backlash

The_Scarab wrote: »

Just use main site. Its loaded right up for me in seconds.

I can't, stuck at work with flash blocked. Is this on gametrailers or youtube or anything yet?

Lunker

I'm not normally one to point it out, but man, that helicopter looked beautiful.

Also, some stills, shrunken a bit to save some bandwidth:

ultrapeanut

Xboxyde has a mirror.

Recoil42

Karn wrote: »

Sweet mother of god... SWEET MOTHER OF GOD.

Any news on the size of the the city this time around?

5 boroughs of NYC + New Jersey.

Physical size will be slightly smaller than San Andreas, but it will feel alot larger, because there's no longer the assloads of countryside and empty space that was in SA, nor bodies of water as large as cities themselves. The entire map is urban area.




For your own reference:

These are the 5 boroughs of new york:


And on google maps, for scale reference:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=new+york&ie=UTF8&ll=40.767022,-74.034119&spn=0.435794,0.821228&t=k&z=10&iwloc=addr&om=1

jimenex

titmouse wrote: »

It looks like they might ditch the shitty humor.

Never played GTA3 or GTA:SA but the humor in Vice City kills me. I love VC.

Backlash

ultrapeanut wrote: »

Xboxyde has a mirror.

Very cool, thanks.

Recoil42

This shot is just damn impressive.