GTA IV:Things will be different.
by BaldursGate18 on Comments
As a former sony gamer I have always loved Grand Theft Auto I can remember playing the port of the original Grand Theft Auto on the playstation from the first introduction in Liberty City to my going on's in San Andreas and Vice City I was floored by how much (at the time) freedom it offered I was especially impressed with it's level and mission design instead of you playing linear missions you could choose which missions to do or which part of the city you could go and it was fun to start fights with the pedestrians and piss them off:). So this year marks the 10th anniversary of the series and Rockstar Games kicked things off by showing off the trailer on a countdown site for GTA IV since I've seen the IV sign I knew it was going to be set in Liberty City but I thought that it would let you play from the perspective of a corrupt cop or detective seeing how Martin Scorcesee went from doing movies about mobsters to Massachusets state troopers in The Departed but to my surprise it was Liberty City but it looked like New York as seen in the Spiderman movies but buildings looked inspired by New-York, everything looked like New York but looked like Liberty City and from the trailer you could get a sense of density and volume from looking at the trailer that was just impressive and really showed that GTA IV was light years ahead of the other open world games. And then came the big surprise whle most people had the impression that Clade Speed or "quiet dude" from GTA III would be the protagonist the trailer revealed a foreigner and he then says "Life is complicated,I've killed people,sold people,smuggled people.Perhaps here things would be different" and from there you get it you can tell by his accent he was russian and from his saying killed people,sold people,smuggled people you know he's probably in the russian mafia cause that's the type of stuff they dabble in. So I looked at it again and then that line got stuck in my head so I kept saying it. anyone can say that since the hot coffee debacle in San Andreas to the numerous GTA and Manhunt inspired murders and the media and Jack Thompson crusading against video games. Rockstar had to pull back and think about their direction and where they would go as a company and it seems to me the line "perhaps here, things will be different" it could mean we'll see rockstar's try to do new and different things such as stories,settings,and gameplay innovation so I think people can expect the unexpected. To me what makes Rockstar Games different from many other game companies is they don't say they're a game company but a life****company you can see this from games such as the Midnight Club series,Table Tennis,or Bully they don't fpllow industry rules and you can see it from the Grand Theft Auto series especially 3, and San Andreas.In GTA IV you play as Nikko Bellic an russian ex.mobster who one day recieve a phone call from his cousin, who's living in Liberty City about his "great life in America" and he persuades Nikko to come over and visit him not knowing that his cousin is in deep with gangsters who want to do him in. So as you arrive in Liberty you'll notice the city has changed amazingly since GTA III the cities have a sense of scale and scope even though games like True Crime:New York City used GPS information to get the exact layout of the level but only captured Manhattan island and not all of the city GTA IV will have all the area of new york including the five boroughs Manhattan island by the way is called Algonquin,Queens is now Dukes,Bronx is Bohan,and New Jersey is now Alderney,and Brooklyn is now Broker and the landmarks have funny names like the Metlife building is the Getalife building, the statue of liberty is called the statue of happiness and the DUMBO is called BOABO which stands for Bridge Over Algonquin Bridge Overpass.Rockstar's big promise will be it's physics engine they've licenced Havok physics engine for use with the game according to the Game Informer article the animation and movement of the characters will be more lifelike and believable and cars will look and drive believably and when you think about it physics will be important in next gen because instead of ragdoll physics bodies will fall realically cars will explode in ways it'll explode in real-life and cars will handle better in it's turning and collision so driving wildly when you're car crash into another it'll react differently each time physics can work better for humans by putting again realism into play so as you kill a person it'll probably have an effect on how players interact and will also make it more believable letting them give in to their suspension of disbelief. I could also see the moral system being implemented like if you commit a crime you probably have a tough time fighting the police as it wont be any stars system you'll probably know you'll being chased or attacked and seeing how it's set in 2007 you're going have to contend with challenging A.I that'll know how to counter and try to get you but as you evade and keep commiting crimes you'll be facing increasingly realistic police or millitary , I think Rockstar will implement this just to get people to think before commiting the violence to focus more on playing in the environment instead of just going around and doing mindless violence, GTA IV will have episodic content in the form of two episodes on the Xbox 360 it'll be the first AAA title to have episodic content for an open world game. Finally GTA IV will have multiplayer probably in the form of Co-op and Player Vs. Player.So Far I've only touched on the surface of GTA IV I know I've barely scratched the surface I hope as they stream out more info I'll inform you on more of what will be the best game of 2007. Because Perhaps Here Things Will Be Different.