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Welcome to the second part of my review.
The first part i had completed one week after first playing, when everything was spectacular. However this part is being done over a month later, having finished it last night.
What took me so long? I wouldnt put myself in the catergory of being a hardcore gamer, but would definately be more than just a casual gamer. I dont spend every waking minute playing a game just to finish it before everyone else, i took my time. I even went a couple of weeks without playing it, not because i had become bored so much, but because other things had caught my attention more (non-games that is).
After completing the game late last night i felt overall satisfied with the ending, it wasn't big and spectacular, but it wasnt dissapointingly pathetic. It was just the way it should of been, and it fit in with the overall storyline and theme of GTA. It was a bit of a surprise that one of my choices decided the fate of the storyline, even if it was only a single decision, and looking back now (after checking other sources about what would of happened if i had gone the other way) I am happy with the choice i had made, and the ending i got (when i say that i mean i got the better of the two evils.). Your choice will decide the fate of one of your Allies, go one way (the one i did) you lose one Ally and the otherway you lose two.
One thing that did suprise me, and seems a bit of a mistake on Rockstars part (if it wasn't just a bug), was that one of my Friends that had died during the storyline called me up once i had finished the game and wanted to hang out. Which i did and they acted like nothing had happened... weird.
Since completing the game, i have been thinking to myself of all the things i had found wrong with the game and things i wished they had done differently, here is just a few (read part 1 for some others):
Decisions: I liked how they added a bit of choice in the game when it comes to the storyline, do i kill him or let him live, is one question you'll ask yourself a couple of times during the game. But only once does that have a direct effect on the end of the game, i just wished your decisions had a bigger impact on the game... Perhaps they were only testing to see how people liked them for next time?
I would of also liked to of seen a feature where you could choose your response during a cutscene, similar to how they had it set up when you responded to an email.
Girlfriends: Apart from those you meet during the storyline, girlfriends don't really have much use, except them nagging you to take them somewhere.... Couldn't they have a reason for them? Plus the lack of places to take them, everywhere i took them they would complain (A GTA-style reflection on reality??)
Friendship System: A nice idea, but on the whole rather annoying. During your time playing the storyline, you will have one of your friends ring you up and ask to hang out, the further you are through the storyline the more friends you have. When you are trying to go through the storyline the last thing you want is someone calling you up wanting to play darts. And if you dont go with them, they start getting annoyed with you. Like i said nice idea...
Overall i would still have to say this is the best game ever released, not perfect, but by far the best.
Vitals:
Genre: Crime Sim, Action, Adventure
Players: Single, Multi
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platform: PS3, 360
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The moment was here, I had been waiting for this moment for a long time now. Grand Theft Auto 4 was delivered to my doorstep, as I have said before, I have been a long time fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, since the day i played the original. Now came the Fourth Generation of GTA games. GTA 3 has been my favourite thus far, with GTA 2 comming a close second, was this Fourth one going to meet all my expectations? Or was it going to be Too big and lose my attention like San Andreas had? I was about to find out.
It's been a week since i first played Grand Theft Auto 4, and to be honest i am still playing it, last time i checked i was only about halfway through the total completion of the game, and not too sure how far through the storyline. So keep this in mind for this first half of my review.
I opened the package that arrived at my doorstep by the courier, unfortunately i left pre-ordering the game a bit too late to get the Special Edition through the retail stores so i bought it online instead, even managed to save $20 dollars in the process. I ripped through the packaging, pulled out the game and placed the game gently into my playstation 3. I was as eager as a kid at christmas to play with my new toy, too bad i had to wait a few minutes for it to save some information on the Hard Drive, i didnt even bother reading the manual, i had played the others, i knew what i was doing.
HA! I was wrong, After an awesome Introduction Cutscene (that was worthy of being in a movie) I was thrown into the sandbox of Liberty City, take my cousin home, easy enough? I get into the car and find that Rockstar had changed the controls on me. They had all changed! I struggled with these new controls at first, but i slowly got used to them. But while searching through the options of the game i found i could set them back to classic mode of the other games. Now i was back on top of things.
Now to talk about the game, take Grand Theft Auto 3 (as stated above the best game In my opinion) and times the greatness by a hundred, thats how i see the game. I thought with all these things they were saying they were adding in to the game, it was going to be like San Andreas again, great, but somehow just not a great as GTA3. But i was wrong, sure they added in alot of new key elements, but everything just seems to blend in nicely. There are two words i like to describe this game: Realism and Depth. It's almost like Rockstar took Grand Theft Auto 3 and said "We need to give this game more realism and depth." Which is what they have done.
Characters? Just your main character alone is more believable and realistic then all the others put together (though the first three games didnt have much of a lead character). You can feel his personality, just see with the way he presents himself that he has a history. And it wouldnt be a GTA game without some larger than life characters.
Graphics? Superb, realistic with out losing the feel that its a Grand Theft Auto game.
City? Well thats just extraordinary, it feels like a real city. People walking around, then getting a phone call from someone and having a random conversation with them. You can still see in some parts of Liberty City the old Liberty City (From GTA3 and Liberty City Stories). But they, dare i say it, added more depth and realism.
So as you can see i like this game quite abit so far, but there are a few issues that have annoyed me while playing (apart from the random bugs that i have encountered.)
Night Time: While you cruise around the streets at night, the place is beautiful, as those lights that light up the street look realistic. But it's when you leave the streets into the back alleys that you find the realism gets abit annoying. Theres been a couple of missions where i have had to go into alleyways at night and you can't see a thing! I was supposed to be chasing someone and i couldnt see where i was going. They could of atleast given him Nightvision goggles or a torch!
Vehicles: Now this is something thats annoyed me since GTA3, and i think most people would agree, why is it when you are on foot you can only find the crap cars? And then as soon as you get into a Banshee everyone is driving a banshee or a tourismo or some other super car. No matter what car you get into, no matter how rare, as soon as you drive them on the streets, everyone is. But when you have a crap car, so does eveyone else.
Respawning: Now the things i do like about what they have done with respawing after dieing, is one you keep your weapons, and two you get a text message to take you back to the mission you died on (similar to how they did the Taxi's previously). But what i hate, is the rediculous amounts of money i have spent on hospital bills. At one point i had $70,000 and then i blew it all on a mission they i kept dieing on (The Mission then gave me $30,000 back). I like realism, but thats just plain annoying.
Overall, I love this game, its one hundred times better than GTA3 was, but it's still not perfect.
Vitals:
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: Single
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: PS3, 360, PC Windows.
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Previously On Lost...
For some, that three worded little sentance, means an escape to an exciting mysterious Island out in the pacific. I would say i'm one of those, I've watched it from the start and eagerly await each new episode that comes out. Unfortunately Lost as a TV series has had its up's and down's. Season 3 being a low point, in my opinion. However in this latest season, things are becoming better again. Slowly questions are being answered, which is a good thing, people don't like to be kept in the dark for too long. Waiting over 4 years to find out the answer to a secret is a let down, to say the least.
But recently Ubisoft has released the Official Game, Lost: Via Domus. The premise of the game is you are another survivor of Oceanic Flight 815, however unlike the other survivors you have amnesia, and without saying have no knowledge of your past life. So while trying to unlock the secrets of the island, you are also trying to unlock the secrets of your past.
The island looks as beautiful as it does on the TV screen, full of mystery as much as beauty. You get to interact with I think almost all of the survivors, and Ubisoft did a great job with the characters to make them look really life like, and made the castaways really look like they belonged in the enviroment. However it was abit annoying to find that not all of the cast had done the voices for their characters, only a few had. But i guess that can be expected with busy celebrities these days.
The storyline is really done well, as it should be comming from the guys who make the TV series, the usual plot twists and turns are present to really make you feel that you are apart of an episode... they even put the opening sequence into each section of the game along with the "previously on lost" catch up session before commencing. My only quarrels with the storyline is the fact that it is short, and you feel left hanging with the dismal ending. In typical lost fashion, leaves more questions than answers. Which brings up questions as to whether a sequel might be made? But again as stated before, people don't want to wait 4 years to finally find out the answer to major question in the storyline. On the plus side however, is the fact that you get to explore area's that aren't shown in the TV series that does answer a couple of questions, however small they were.
My biggest problem with the game was the controls and the gameplay. The controls, atleast with the PC version, were too fiddly and unnatural for my liking. While the photography minigames were interesting, i found having to switch between the camera controls and movement controls a bit too awkward. And while the various minigames were interesting, and sometimes enjoyable, they felt too mix mashed which made the game not quite solid. This is generally suprising from the Development House that makes games like Assassins Creed, Splinter Cell, Far Cry and Rainbow Six series. Perhaps if they make a sequel they might find a way for everything to blend in together more naturally, and answer those questions...
Nearly everyone around the world that has internet would surely of heard something about the game World Of Warcraft. Nerdy kind of talk about Mages and Druids and how to get to mythtical places and the like has been going on for years. And has almost become mainstream, being mentioned in TV shows and other media. With over 10 million subscribers, bets are that you either play or know of someone who plays the game
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Comment by Mavryk
on Grand Theft Auto 4: Part 2
Proteus Gaming