Grand Theft Auto IV - Preview
Will the wait be worth it?
By Gaetano Prestia
It's been a while since anyone outside of the Rockstar Games offices saw Grand Theft Auto IV in action. The last time a demo was being thrown around the place, the target release date was still "October 2007". Not only has that date come and gone but we're almost 4 months past it and we still don't have a solid release date for easily the most anticipated game of this generation, if not this decade. But that doesn't matter. It's GTA after all, and you wouldn't tell Da Vinci to hurry up and finish painting the Vatican because he's running a few months late. Like Da Vinci, with Rockstar you know you're going to get a game that's as polished and complete as a Cohen Brothers film.
I never got a chance to see the earlier build of code back in July of last year but I can say, quite confidently, that this latest build is incredibly impressive. What's become so accustomed with GTA games, and Rockstar games for that matter, is that they are all as polished and refined as possible. When Rockstar delayed this title last year from October to "Early 2008', everyone knew Rockstar had good reasoning, and we didn't even need to hear why it had been delayed. As a gaming community we've all come to understand and respect the precision of the company's games.
Games. That's a word whose meaning may be reconsidered in the future. When you think of games, you think of entertainment and enjoyment, which is fair enough. When you think of Grand Theft Auto though, you think of so much more. You think of "epic" and "journey", even "evolve" and "relationship". We've all seen how far games have come over the past decade, but GTA IV may very well progress the medium even further. That's because it grasps all of the things we've all come to love in "games" recently, particularly this generation, and evolved them dramatically. You can still do the same old things but with more realism and effectiveness. Instead of stealing a car the easy and "game" way, you do it the "real" way by breaking the window and hot-wiring it. Instead of magically hopping into a cab and within seconds being teleported to the beginning of a new mission, you can sit back, relax and take in the sights of New Yo...err, Liberty City. It's the little things of GTA IV that ironically standout the most, and we only saw a preview code.
What's it about?
Just for anyone who isn't familiar with the story and/or setting of GTA IV , you play as Niko Bellic who is an Eastern-European immigrant who moves to Liberty City (the setting of the trailblazing GTA III) after being lured there by his cousin Roman. Hidden truths, lies and scandal's are there to be revealed. But Niko, like his cousin, also has his own dark secret and he's set out to find someone that has wronged him in the past.
The Demonstration
To get things started off, the demo began with a mission entitled Search and Delete. This mission was perfectly chosen, as it was able to show off some of the great and innovative new additions to gameplay that can assist you in completing your missions. In previous GTA titles the ways in which you could complete a mission depended on the mission, but generally it had to do with finding a target on the map and doing whatever needed to be done, albeit not as simplistic as that sounds. While up to this point that style was always praised, it seems rather simplistic compared to some of things you can do this time round.
In this mission, Brucie (one of the many characters you'll come to know) set Niko out to assassinate an informant named Lyle. Now Lyle is quite the hider and no one, including Brucie, had any idea where he is...except the pow-lease! (sorry...police for anyone not familiar with gangsta rap) Finding him and taking him out isn't as easy as it sounds and through this mission came the use of some new additions and alterations that, as I was talking about before, add something completely new to both the genre and GTA series. In order to find Lyle, Niko had to steal a police car. By doing this he could log into the vehicle's in-car search system and search for him and his location. God bless the Liberty City Police Informant System! This whole aspect is a fantastic addition. Not only will it allow you to search for particular characters and their whereabouts, but it also demonstrates what this game can do from a searching aspect. It's not that this system is available anywhere and to anyone, but it is restricted to police cars and this therefore highlights some of the realism and detail of this title. As you progress in the game and become to know more characters it will no doubt come in more handy. Also, I was shown the great new Wanted system. The stars are still there, but once you commit a crime your position on the map will be surrounded by a circle that represents the area your’re wanted in. The less you’re wanted by police, the smaller the circle and easier it is to break away.
Once Niko found where Lyle's last known hideout was he noted the location down on the map, which the in-car GPS navigation system used to guide him there. It's very similar to the one used in Saint's Row, but with one more notable feature; if you're driving an "upper-class" car the GPS will have a voice that will guide you. Quite a fantastic addition, especially for those of us not yet praised with the glory that is the GPS, a street-directory for lazy people.
As Niko arrived at the hideout, the snitch sped away in a car, leading to an oh-so-familiar GTA car chase. This is also where the brand-new, and much-improved, drive-by shooting technique was demonstrated. Instead of only being able to shoot out the side of a car while driving like in previous GTA's, you can now freely aim your weapon anywhere including directly in front. Something also worth noting is the pleasure in seeing Niko smash the side window with his elbow so as to start firing away. After all, this is GTA and it wouldn't feel right doing a drive-by the way our mothers taught us by first rolling the window down. You're also less restricted in the weapons you can use and instead of just an Uzi, you can also use pistols or grenades.
The chase scene also showed a new chase cam that seems to take advantage of the intense feeling of a car chase and give it a "motion-picture" and cinematic type quality. By pressing a button you can focus on your enemy car while also staying behind your own and this seemed to make it a little easier to determine when they would turn. In previous GTA's cars would sometimes take a turn suddenly and you'd be left skidding down past the turn or miss it altogether, but with the implementation of this cam it seems to have made the chases a little easier and enjoyable. It was also very cool to see blood splattered all over the car hood after Niko ran over a few unsuspecting pedestrians. That's a small addition that will put a smile on your face and suddenly make you want to go on a virtual pedestrian killing spree.
Once the bejeezus was shot out of Lyle's car and it started to flame out, Lyle jumped from his moving vehicle and this set off a chain of impressive events that showed off the games new Natural Motion engine as well as the RAGE engine. Firstly, the car continues to roll down the street before jumping over the sidewalk and stopping in a small patch of grassland. Here, it explodes and shows off the wonderful fire and explosion effects in the game. Secondly, as soon as Lyle jumped out of the car, he covered his head with his hands as he rolled on the road. He also rolled very realistically instead of sliding or hovering across the road like in previous titles. Realistic effects like these show the effort put into the title. There was also the first use of the on-foot firing system, which is pretty much identical to that in previous titles; a health meter that decreases as you shoot/punch/kick/whatever them until they eventually die surrounds the lock-on aim. As you attack them, bars will decrease depending on how intense the attack was.
Overall, this mission demonstration was a good introduction to some of the additions of GTA IV and what new aspects there were in regards to mission implementation and how you interacted with the cities own professions, such as the police car information system. It's also worth noting that Liberty City will have its own Internet. It will be restricted to the game so you won't be able to visit one of our sites while roaming the streets with Niko. Instead, you can log into Niko’s email and send and receive mail. It will be interesting to see how much this is implemented into the story in the final version of the game.
At the end of Search And Delete (and every mission you complete) the game automatically saved. You'll also have the opportunity to visit a safe house to save your progress and if you fail a mission you'll receive a text message on your phone that will allow you to directly replay the mission. This replaces the "hop in a taxi" system that was used in Vice City and San Andreas, albeit sparingly. No matter where you are, you'll receive a message that will throw you straight back into the action.
On the topic of your cell phone, you'll be getting a hell of a lot of phone calls depending on how deep you are into the game and how many people you know. This has a lot to do with the friendship system in GTA IV, which is very important to your progression as a character. As you play you'll meet people and become friends with them. Often they'll call you to meet up and have a chat and you'll arrange a time and place to meet. Now, in previous instalments this would end there. However, you have realistic restrictions and expectations that you must abide by in order to maintain your friendships. If you arrange to meet someone you'll have a certain amount of time to get to the designated area. If you won't make it in time you have to call them to cancel, otherwise you risk the friendship. Maintaining and developing friendships will open many opportunities for Niko in Liberty City so it's important to incorporate real-life ethics into the style of gameplay.
I was shown a very humours aspect to this whole friendship basis of the game and it also showed off more Natural Motion's ability to interact with the controls and presentation. Niko organised to meet up with his cousin Roman for a drink (or 10) so the two agreed to meet at Roman's house and drive to a near-by bar. Here, the two had some drinks and the outcome was both hilarious and rather impressive. With Niko incredibly drunk, his senses had been altered and suddenly very unreliable and the screen began to spin and blur, representing Niko's sight. No matter how steady my demonstrator was with the controls Niko and Roman both stumbled all over the place, hilariously falling over each other, all the while engaging in intelligent drunken conversation. This showed off the complex animations incorporated into the game and the intense motion synthesis that brings something completely new to the gameplay.
The second mission I was shown was Destruction for Beginners that showed off the classic and loveable GTA-style combat that we've all come to love and adore. The sun was still rising over Liberty City and Niko made his way over to Algonquin, the games Manhattan, to meet a new contact he met through a drug-dealing friend. This new contact was a gangsta that went by the name Playboy X. Niko knew what Playboy was about as the two had spent some time together before, so Playboy had some work for Niko now that he was in Liberty City.
Playboy was trying to get into business and impress a businessman whose building project is encountering problems with The Mafia. The mob had stopped the trade union workers from working on the building site, so now it was up to Niko to head down to the site and kill anyone preventing the completion of the project. Once Niko got to the site with Playboy, they noticed that it was being guarded by watchmen situated at the top of cranes. Playboy and Niko proceeded to a window cleaner and pulled themselves up to the top of a skyscraper opposite the site. Here I got a great example of the verticality of the title and how getting to the top of a building isn't restricted to going inside it or landing on it with a helicopter. When on top, Niko took out the watchmen with ease with the help of a trusty sniper-rifle. Once a watchman was shot, a cool little cut-scene of them falling to their deaths was shown. The integration of the Euphoria engine allows for the individuality of character AI, so when these enemies fell, they all fell and landed differently depending which way they fell. After Niko took care of business, he headed back down to the ground while Playboy stayed atop to watch over Niko at work.
At this point I got a perfect chance to see the new cover-system that looks as though it's going to add a lot to the combat. Niko has the ability to slide and move between coverable objects and he can fire wildly or by leaning out and taking proper aim. He can even throw out a grenade to a specific area that takes out a whole bunch of enemies with ease. The aiming system has also been improved dramatically. While you can still lock on or aim freely at your enemies, you can now aim for a specific body part while locked on. By moving the right-analog stick, you can aim for an enemy’s head, leg or torso that will obviously affect how much damage you do to them once you shoot. What's so impressive and great about these additions to the combat is that, beyond being simple upgrades of what was already available, they add more to the action and give it a much-needed realistic feel that also adds difficulty and the need for tactics. Instead of a gun-fight being a bombardment of bullets flying everywhere and the character moving from one target to another, Niko can take cover, take in the surroundings, throw a grenade in one section, sit back down, fire off a couple of shots, head-shoot a distant enemy and then take cover again, all the while avoiding a wild, all-out and unrealistic brawl. The game doesn't force you into using these tactics, but it might stop you from having to repeat a mission over and over again if you're being attacked by a large amount of enemies. The addition of the covering system gives the combat system a new look and feel that will make battles a lot more enjoyable.
Once all of the targets were taken out and Playboy praised Niko from the rooftop, the mission was completed and the game auto-saved. This mission, like the one before it, was a great demonstration of some new and upgraded aspects of GTA IV that show off both the RAGE and Natural Motion engines at work. Not only are they impressive but they also look set to reinvent the third-person action/shooter genre.
In the last mission, titled Truck Hustle, Niko enlisted the help of the mob to help him find someone and in return he agreed to do a job for them. He visited the port area to meet up with a Mafia contact called Bell who gave Niko the honour of stealing a truck owned by the Triads that's filled with heroin that they also believe is cursed.
Once Niko disposed of men watching over the truck using an array of weapons including a rocket launcher and grenades (which once again show off the amazing explosion and fire animations), the truck took off with Niko chasing after it. This was yet another example of the advanced physics of the Natural Motion engine, as Niko grabbed onto the truck and slides from side to side as the truck turns and weaves through the streets of Alderney, the games New Jersey. Niko climbed onto the truck and was manoeuvred in sync with the direction the truck was turning in as to avoid rolling off the side and onto the road. As the truck moves as does Niko and it was important to position him on the roof correctly so as not to send him flying off. Niko soon forced his way into the front seat, shot the driver and drove the truck to its new destination.
To end it all up I was given a boat tour of Liberty City. Firstly, the water looks amazing. The closer Niko got to the water the more sensational it looked. The boat reacted to waves and passing boats as well which looked great and again only further showed off the games Natural Motion engine.
Will the wait be worth it?
This was my first look at GTA IV. All I had seen up to this point were the three trailers and screenshots. I've read practically every preview that was available up to today, and I've been anticipating this title more so than any other video-game ever in my life. Thankfully, this anticipation and self-hype is worth it. Not only is GTA IV shaping up to be a gaming masterpiece, but it looks set to recreate a genre, regenerate a market and reinvent a franchise. There is so much more to do in this game, that to compare it to it's early counterparts would be a major injustice to its quality. And I can say all of this after only seeing a demo. It really is the little things that attracted me so much because everything else I've come to love about the GTA franchise is still there, only upgraded.
One little thing that stood out was the reactions from characters during cut-scenes, like little murmurs or grunts and small giggles. These were things that weren't really implemented in previous instalments, and if they were, they weren't strong enough performances, both graphically and from a voice-acting perspective, to stand out. That's just one example of how much this series, and game development, has evolved. Will the final game being THAT good as a whole when it's finally released? That's unknown at this point, but I can comfortably say that the next few months will be the longest few months in my life.
25/01/2008
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