Grand Theft Auto IV

February 28, 2008 - Grand Theft Auto IV
is, without question, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2008.
Rockstar Games has shown us pieces of GTA IV on three different
occasions. With each visit we saw the incredible potential for GTA IV,
but not having the chance to play it, we could only assume these things
would prove true. We knew there was a new dimension of verticality to
the city, that our anti-hero Niko would be a down-to-earth anti-hero
rather than an over-the-top movie spoof, that the new level of physics
would bring greater realism to driving cars, and that it would be fun
going bat$#!@ crazy running through the streets with a gun in hand
(Martin Lawrence style).

It wasn't until Rockstar turned over the controller and let us play GTA
IV that we could finally confirm that, yes indeed, these statements are
all true. The next iteration in the Grand Theft Auto series isn't just
a prettier version of San Andreas or Vice City. It's more cinematic,
more realistic, and yeah, more fun. It's a whole new ballgame in
Liberty City.

For the first time, Rockstar gave us hands-on access to both the PS3
and 360 versions of GTA IV. The good news is that no matter which
system you prefer, you're going to have a great-looking game to play.
There are only some minor visual differences noticeable between the two
preview versions. The 360 build is brighter and has slightly more
vibrant color while the PS3 build has less aliasing issues. Both
display a solid, consistent framerate even during scenes with heavy
pedestrian traffic and wild explosions. While graphics whores will find
subtle differences to nitpick, the average Joe is going to be happy
with either version.

And just to prove it, we have takes on GTA IV from PS3 fanboy Greg
Miller and the distinguished gentleman from Xbox 360, Hilary Goldstein.

Greg's Take
After getting run down by a car we were trying to steal, getting thrown
through a windshield when we hit a barricade and gawking at the plume
of black exhaust that poured out of a beater we fired up, it was time
to get into some of the missions that make up Grand Theft Auto IV.

And because everything's new and we suck again, we started from the beginning.

First up was "Bleed Out," which acts as a hands-on tutorial for the
brand new fighting engine. Niko's doing his thing and ascending the
ranks of the criminal underbelly when a call from Roman -- owner and
proprietor of the cab company Roman Bellic Enterprises -- comes in and
the cousin rants and raves about some guys who are coming to beat him
senseless. We jumped behind the wheel of a passing car and the HUD
sprung to life with a GPS line directing us to our panicked cousin.
After slamming into some mailboxes (Mail shoots into the air!),
newspaper stands (Papers shoot into the air!) and people (Their
lifeless corpses roll over the top of the car!), we arrived at a
fenced-in basketball court and saw a handful of bad guys surrounding
our kin.

Once on top of the perps, we were treated to a cutscene explaining the
ass kicking and then thrown into GTA's hand-to-hand combat system.
Whereas in the old games it was all about pounding a button and
watching your character swing, specific actions are now mapped to
specific buttons. Niko can punch, kick, head butt and block and you can
choose in what order he does what moves. As one of the goons wailing on
Roman stepped up to challenge us, we began swinging and kicking with
style. If we timed our button presses correctly when the goon swung, we
could reverse the punch and do some damage.

Niko
dispatched the two fools, helped Roman to his feet and spotted Dardan,
a local loan shark, hopping into a car and heading out. Our dynamic duo
gave chase -- making use of GTA IV's new chase camera that centers the
screen on the fleeing foe -- and eventually caught up with Dardan at a
Liberty City warehouse. Niko prepared to throw 'bows with the shark,
but the opposing jerkstore pulled a knife.

Now, normally we're against getting stabbed, but the "squish" sound of
the blade entering our chest was so satisfying that it almost justified
watching the health and armor meters around the radar deplete. When we
got sick of dying, we tapped a button as Dardan attempted to shank us
and disarmed him.

Then, we killed him with his own blade.

In between exploring the missions of GTA IV (FYI, the game autosaves
after each mission.), we took in a few of the sights and sounds of
Liberty City. Now, we could've tried to obey the rules as we took in
the towering buildings, snazzy cars and intricate details, but most of
our tour involved driving on the sidewalk and kicking people in the
head. However, not everyone was ready to take Niko's crap. Not everyone
is heartless in Liberty City. For instance, we ran our car into the
back of some dude's ride, and this guy gets out like he wants to start
something. We'll be damned if someone's going to disrespect Niko, so we
climb out and start punching the guy in the face. Suddenly, a passerby
runs into the fray and starts beating on us. Outnumbered and
out-skilled, we took off in another direction with the pissed off pair
in hot pursuit. We ran for awhile, and when it was clear we couldn't
lose'em, we fought, lost and ended up outside the hospital with a
little less money.

A similar running and beating escapade ended with the cops chasing us
down. However, when all looked lost and Niko raised his hands in
defeat, we were presented with a unique option in the GTA universe --
for the first time, we could run. Yes, when the cops catch up to you on
foot, Niko will initially play along with the arrest but can take off
before the cuffs are put on. Not a bad move if you need to catch your
breath (Niko gets winded from running) or a car crawls across the
screen to provide an easy escape.

The next chunk of Niko's adventure involved an incredibly hard to
understand Rastafarian named Little Jacob. "Jamaican Heat" seemed like
your typical GTA gun tutorial but it ended with a breathtaking view of
the city and its lit-up buildings reaching into the night sky. Running
a cab from Roman's company, you pick up Little Jacob, he hot boxes the
car, mumbles for a while in an accent so thick neither the captions nor
Niko can keep up, and hands you a piece. We proceeded to learn all
about the new gunplay system -- you can lock-on, free aim and take out
specific body parts if you like -- and take out a thorn in Little
Jacob's side.

That's awesome and all, but "Concrete Jungle" was the mission that
solidified Little Jacob as having some kick-ass tasks. Again, you pick
up Little J. and take him to shakedown some thugs. Niko waits in the
car while watching the back alley, things go wrong, and three bad guys
burst through the emergency exit. We hit the gas, killed one guy with
the car, nicked another and completely missed the third.

Knowing
he was screwed, the guy we missed ran back from the direction we had
come from and out onto a crowded street. We ditched the ride, got him
in our sights and took him out … along with a handful of other people
on the sidewalk. Then, we doubled back and found that the guy we nicked
had headed out into the open as well. We opened fire and hit him in the
arm, but after gripping the wound and mugging for the camera, the thug
fired back. Turns out you can strike folks in the leg and arm, and
they'll react to the damage but keep coming at you.

Of course, in the end, we killed the guy, picked up Little Jacob and
headed to the next shakedown -- a rundown house. Here, we were
introduced to the fine art of cover. Little Jacob headed into the home,
and Niko straightened up against the home's exterior with the press of
the button. We could pop out from behind the wall and shoot the
evildoers in the head or just blind fire if things got heated.

Now, the one-button cover system is nice, but it didn't seem to afford
much room for improvisation. With the first wave of bad guys down,
Little Jacob stormed the inside, and we decided to fiddle with cover a
bit. We went back to the door, walked into the room but couldn't get a
shot, went back outside, and finally settled on a spot next to an open
window.

We looked inside just in time to see Little Jacob get iced.

We were sad to see our partner in crime go, but we ran into the room,
grabbed a shotgun and went out to unleash hell on Liberty City. We blew
people away in the streets and marveled at the blood getting kicked
back on the screen before shooting out some tires and putting a round
into an incoming ambulance.

The rig caught fire, exploded and killed us -- which made the screen
turn black and white and track our airborne body in slow motion.

What a way to go.

Hil's Take
There are three things we should warn you about before you choose to
get excited for GTA IV. Consider all three items carefully, because if
none of them appeal to you, then GTA IV will likely be a major
disappointment.

1. GTA IV fixes the questionable targeting system from past iterations
   
2. Relationships are now dynamic, so ignoring calls from cousin
   Roman when he is being pursued by violent loan sharks will irrevocably
   alter your relationship for the rest of your stay in Liberty City
   
3. There's lots of stuff to blow up and thousands of people to kill
   

If
none of that sounds appealing to you, then walk away now. GTA IV will
be your worst nightmare. For the few remaining who actually enjoy
causing pandemonium on city streets, blowing up cop cars and rampaging
with shotgun in hand, this is pretty much your dream come true.

When Greg finished showing off how terrible he was at playing Grand
Theft Auto it was time to leave the training missions and delve a
little deeper into the belly of Liberty City. "Final Destination"
begins in a seedy Russian club where would-be thespians dressed as
cowboys pantomime a Wild West showdown. The ever-quiet Niko sits at a
table with some Russian mobsters who are worried that a cat named Lenny
might have ratted to the cops about some pot that was stolen. It's
Niko's job to take Lenny out -- rat or not.

While cruising town, we received a phone call tipping us that Lenny was
seen looking to catch a train up on Guantanemo Avenue. Sure enough,
when we got there we saw Lenny and a bodyguard waiting to hop a train.
Taking the motto "shoot first, ask questions later" to heart, we popped
the brain of the bodyguard without saying a word. Lenny hopped across
the tracks, just as a train passed, giving him a bit of a head start.
That didn't last long.

Once
the train passed, we jumped across the tracks, hurried down the steps
to street level and gave chase. Unfortunately, Niko isn't a track star
and ol' Lenny managed to hop into a car to speed away. We kicked in the
passenger window of a nearby parked car and hopped in for a quick
hotwire, which can be made even faster by tapping a face button. And
that's when we experienced a game-changing moment for Grand Theft Auto.

Tap the Right Bumper/R1 and Niko -- too impatient to roll down a window
-- smashes out the driver-side window so he can fire freely out the
car. This isn't the same drive-by controls of GTA's past. You have full
range of movement while driving, allowing you to target a car you're
chasing and try to shoot out its tires (Rubber explodes!) or cause
enough damage to set it on fire (The car explodes!).

It was an extremely cool element that felt natural and worked well. It
also ruined any hopes of completing another mission in GTA IV. Though
we'd certainly try our best, once we realized what could be
accomplished from the seat of a car, it was tough to focus on anything
but total anarchy.

A
cop spotted us exploding poor Lenny and gave chase. GTA IV uses the
six-star wanted system once again, where the level of police pursuit
increases as your wanted level rises. The change, however, is that cops
now work on a line-of-sight pursuit. Our mini-map on the HUD showed a
flashing red and blue radius of police interest in finding us. So long
as we were in that radius, our wanted rating could only go up. The
trouble with getting out of that small radius of pursuit was that any
time an officer attained line of sight on us, the radius readjusted.
This created a frantic race scenario as we weaved through city streets
hoping to shake the cop cars behind us, while also trying to avoid
incoming police cars that were being given eyes on our location by the
cops already trailing us. And things only got tougher when the police
brought in their whirlybird.

With cops in hot pursuit and the spotlight of a chopper locked onto our
car, we made a wrong turn, drove over a cliff and crashed onto a beach.
As we ran from our burning car, we narrowly avoided being squashed by a
squad car that -- in true CHiPs fashion -- followed us over the cliff.
We did our best to stave off an arrest, firing a few rocket-propelled
grenades to take down one of the choppers overhead. The curling smoke
trail is a gorgeous thing. The little scuffle soon turned into a
standoff on the beach as we laid down suppressing machinegun fire on a
group of cops attempting to approach from the beach. We were saved by a
miracle -- a second police car drove over the cliff and crashed into
the group of pursuing officers.

Once we'd stifled our gleeful giggles and collected ourselves, it was
time to attempt the final mission of the demo. "Harboring a Grudge"
proved a culmination of everything we had learned and experience in the
first hour of playing GTA IV. Patrick (or Packie to those who might
accidentally shoot him in the back of the head with an RPG) asked Niko
for help ripping off a Triad shipment of meds down by the pier. We
headed across the Algonquin Bridge and towards Liberty City's version
of Manhattan.

The first time we tried this mission, we drove like idiots, weaving
through traffic, smashing into everyone and every thing. At one point
we t-boned someone's car and our own started smoking. So we leaped out
and backed away. Funny thing is, the woman we t-boned hopped out and
started cursing up a storm. Packie pulled out his piece and popped her.
That's right -- no one talks $#!@ about Niko's driving! Then our car
exploded and we died.

The
second time around, we made it to the pier ahead of the Triad shipment.
Using the new climbing mechanics (a simple tap of the action button
near a scaleable surface) we made our way to the roof of a warehouse.
There was a bit of a glitch with climbing, as we had to do a little
dance of backing away and then inching forward before we could convince
Niko to grab hold of a ledge and climb up. Good thing Rockstar still
has two months to polish this off. And the fact that this was the only
issue we came across during our hour-and-a-half play session is a good
sign that GTA IV should be fairly bug-free.

Once on the roof we pulled out our sniper rifle and stood behind some
cover. We waited for the Triad to begin unloading their cargo before we
started taking headshots. The enemy AI wasn't dumb. They didn't all
stand out in the open waiting to die. Once the first shot was fired,
the AI scrambled, looking for cover. But our crack aim was more than
they could handle and in short order we picked them off. We hopped down
off the roof, switched to the shotgun, and kneecapped the remaining
three thugs in the warehouse. As they writhed in pain, we slowly walked
from one to the next, executing each one with a coolness not seen at
IGN since we last accidentally hired a terminator (we miss you, Doug!).


With the sound of police sirens in the background, we hopped into the
truck and accidentally backed over Packie. "Muh bad!" With a wounded
Packie in the passenger seat, it was time to make a run for it. That
run lasted about 10 seconds.

The first cop we came across managed a crack shot at our tire. With a
first and then a second tire down, the truck moved at a snail's pace.
And then we hit rush hour traffic. We were doomed. That's when we
decided Niko would never be taken alive. Not only can you shoot out of
windows, you can also drop grenades. We dropped a handful, hearing cars
exploding behind us as we attempted to push through traffic. But we
moved so slowly that we never made it past the last two grenades
dropped and, once again, we blew ourselves back to God.

We ended things by going on one of the great rampages in GTA history.
At least, we'd like to think that was the case. Determined to have a
final spot of fun, we started a ruckus with some cops and then
car-jacked a bus to make our escape. We tore through Liberty City,
crashing through cars at intersections and tossing Molotov cocktails
out the window as we went. At one point we saw an ambulance heading
towards us, clearly on the way to care for the wounded left in the wake
of our incendiary killing spree. One well-placed toss of a Molotov and
the paramedics were forced to stop, drop, and roll.

It should be noted that every car we drove handled differently. Not
only was each car unique in how it drove, but each its own suspension
-- which you could see while making sharp turns. Some of our chase
scene moments felt like they were ripped straight from Bullitt. Except
instead of Steve McQueen, you had Hilary and Greg behind the wheel
smashing in to every parked car on the street.

Our
first chance to put our hands on GTA IV proved more satisfying than
we'd expected. And there are many aspects we still haven't explored. At
the start of the game, Liberty City is on lockdown due to a recent
terrorist threat. All bridges are closed except for those who have
documentation proving their citizenship. Niko doesn't have such
documents. But you can still cross the bridges anyway -- you just earn
an automatic 5-star wanted level. We call that Threat Level Orange. We
also verified that there are vigilante missions in the game. Just hop
in a cop car and access the computer to find wanted criminals. We know
it exists; we just didn't have the opportunity to try it out.

As with any Grand Theft Auto title, there's a very large city to
explore with a seemingly endless amount of distractions. What we
experienced was only a taste of what gamers can expect on April 29,
when GTA IV hits store shelves. It's only two months away, but it's
going to be a long wait.