Grand Theft Auto IV - Hands-On Preview
Does it play as good as it looks?
By Gaetano Prestia
To start this preview off, I’m going to ask you all a question: Is Rockstar Games confident that Grand Theft Auto IV will be the greatest game in the series, if not the greatest game this generation? In order to answer that question, you have to be able to define the term "confident" in reference to the question. "Confident" would insinuate that they know how good it is and are pretty sure that we, the gaming public, will love it as much as they do. In short, to be confident would be to care what we think. After playing Grand Theft Auto IV for the first time a few days ago, I can confirm that Rockstar Games care about gamers and what they want. There is a quiet confidence that GTA IV has all of the changes and features that gamers wanted and that confidence isn’t in vein. That’s because GTA IV is the epitome of game-evolution and it has everything (and more) that anyone could ever expect from it.
Over the years there have been plenty of other free-roaming gaming experiences, but most people should be able to comfortably admit that none compare to the experience had from a GTA game. I think that more often than not, games are made with more attention to extensive worlds and blissful graphics and not enough to story and interaction. That’s what Rockstar have been able to do with the GTA franchise and with that basic formula of presentation and extensive interaction, they’ve been able to evolve that direction and create GTA IV, which looks set to be the most realistic video-game ever created.
I made a visit to Rockstar in Sydney to get my grubby hands on a 360 controller and have my first play of Grand Theft Auto IV. To start things off I was given a bit of a free-roam play through to get myself used to the controls before I jumped into the missions. The first thing I did, as probably comes natural to most GTA gamers, was hijack a car. Being the super cool dude that I am in real life, I decided to recreate my real-life coolness through Niko and get myself a pimped-up 4WD. The first thing I noticed was that Niko had to literally break into the car to steal it because it was locked. This was also an opportunity for me to get used to the car handling. For most of the time during this hands-on, I can comfortably say that I sucked majorly at driving. That partly has to do with the fact that I was used to the basic style of driving mechanics in previous GTA games. In GTA IV, the cars handle a lot more honest to their size and design. For example, the 4WD had a slow acceleration and a wide turn. In comparison, a sports car had quick acceleration, a sharp turn and quick breaking. While it sounds the same as other games in the series, GTA IV has integrated it the best this time round. You’re really going to have to choose your vehicle wisely, especially when getting away from police or to get to a specific area by a set time. I found that I was better off hoping out of my 4WD and running down the street to minimise by wanted rating, because my 4WD just couldn’t get the speed up to get out of the wanted area. The hand-break is also more vicious this time, as using it while speeding down a street to do a quick turn will send you into a spin with some cars.
I also worked myself up a healthy 4-star wanted level after only 2 minutes and this illustrated the AI of police and the strength of the wanted system. I mentioned in the other preview that once you’re wanted by police, a circle appears on the map-hub to indicate the area in which you’re wanted in. The circle moves with you but not as fast as you, so you can get out of this circle and eventually bring down your wanted level. The circle size depends on your wanted level and my 4-star level was enough to create a circle larger then the hub itself, so I was unable to see the edge of the circle. Once I eventually reached the edge (thanks to some smart alley-way sprinting) I noticed a police car speed down the street ahead towards the wanted area. Even though I was heading in the other direction and away from the wanted circle, the police still patrolled the area in every direction. It’s a realistic and welcomed direction for the wanted system and it made me feel obligated to work my rating back up again to instigate another chase and test them out.
I headed down the street and decided to test out the hand-to-hand combat. I wasn’t a massive fan of the fist-fighting technique in previous GTA titles and it always took a backseat to gun-play. However, GTA IV takes the choice of combat in a whole new direction and I actually enjoyed myself getting Niko into a fist fight with a stranger on the street. Pending you have a person targeted, you can duck and block a person’s punches and counter-attack using a range of punches, kicks and other moves. I made sure to time by ducks perfectly in sync with my enemies punches, so as I could do a quick 1-2-3 punch combo. This instance also showed off the Euphoria engine in an impressive manner. In-between my enemy and Niko was a knocked over trash can. Instead of just magically appearing on top of the can whenever my enemy or I went near it, the characters actually climbed onto it and off it in a realistic manner. I noticed this specifically because, as my enemy was standing atop the knocked over can, I was able to spear tackle him into the air and onto the bonnet of a parked car.
The Euphoria Motion engine is one of the main new features of GTA IV and I got plenty of examples of its ability during the play through. One thing that stood out for me was the motion in which Niko would walk down stairs. Instead of just “floating” and quickly running down them as if he were walking on a straight slope, he actually walks down taking one step at a time. He could do it slowly or quickly which in-turn would force Niko to walk down the stairs on a slight angle (as if so as not to lose his balance).
The quick play-through was a great introduction to the controls and once I had familiarised myself with them, I was given the task of completing a simple mission entitled Jamaican Heat. Here, I was introduced to Niko’s cousin Roman who owns a cab rank. Niko is given the task of escorting Little Jacob to a drug deal and watching his back. This mission was a good chance to get introduced to some of the basic features of gameplay in GTA IV. As mentioned in our earlier preview, there is a GPS system available in every car. This mission introduced me to the system and it’s a good addition to the series as it makes it easier to reach a destination instead of aiming for it based on its position on the radar map. I noticed that, exactly like real-life GPS systems, it calculates a route based on your current location. However, it’s not necessarily the quickest route, but instead the more logical. It’s not going to direct you down an alley away or across parkland, for example. This is a good thing though, as it won’t push you in the right direction like a mother elephant does to its newborn. In some cases, a quicker, illegal and more GTA-esque route will get you to your destination faster.
After picking Little Jacob up from his house, I drove him to a drop-off point where, as expected, the drug deal turned sour. Here I got a chance to experience the weapon combat system for the first time. Pressing the left trigger will auto-aim on a target and softly tapping the right stick in a certain direction will facilitate where you shoot them. For example, if you want to make it a quick kill you’d aim for the head. If you want to be a cold-hearted killer (like I chose to be) you can aim for the torso, legs or arms and bombard them with bullets. It was great to see a target collapse to the floor in a realistic motion when I shot him in the leg, thanks to the Euphoria motion engine. Moving from target-to-target is easier this time round and a quick knock to the right stick will move your attention to another enemy. While it took me a little longer to take advantage of this feature (mainly because I suck at games), once I got the hang of it, it made the gunfights feel more tactical and independent to your actions, as a targeted enemy blocked by a pillar or car will call for you to quickly move to the next enemy. The gunfight combat overall feels a lot more solid and accurate than what was available in previous GTA titles. Not only does it feel different (and better), but also it gives you more freedom and choices in the heat of a battle.
Throughout this mission I also got a sense that Niko has a unique appeal to the gamer through his facial expressions and reactions. Little Jacob is practically incomprehensible, be it because of his strong Jamaican accent or because he was stoned throughout the mission. I kept saying out loud how I couldn’t understand a word he was saying and then Niko would react the same way on-screen. It was a cool feeling to be able to have that sort of emotional connection with the character. Not only was I unable to understand what Little Jacob was saying, but also Niko was struggling himself. It’s nothing major, but Niko seems to have a great personality that has the potential to connect with you.
At the end of the mission, Little Jacob blabbers on for a little longer and he is then added to Niko’s mobile cell contacts for future contact. While I didn’t get an extensive look at the cell phone, it seems as though it will be an integral part of the gameplay if the evolution of the rest of the game is anything to go by.
The next mission I attempted was Concrete Jungle, another tale involving the wonderful Little Jacob. This time round, Niko is asked to help Jacob dispose of some opposition and this mission was an introduction to the all-new covering system. As mentioned in the hands-off preview, almost any object can be used for cover simply by walking up to it and pressing the right shoulder button. The use of gunfire while in cover is similar to that in Rainbow Six: Vegas. You can still aim for particular body parts or particular targets but this will obviously cause you to pop out of cover momentarily. If you’re not willing to risk getting shot, you can free fire and hope that the spraying bullets hit a target.
As I arrived at the target house, I’m instructed by Jacob to lean up against the wall and fire at the enemy just inside the front door. This was my first use of the cover system and while it took me a moment to get used to, I found that it had a very tactical feel about it. It also provided me with another option besides barging in and risk getting killed immediately by the horde of enemies inside. I then moved Niko over to the side window and singularly took out the men in the lounge room.
Once the room was clear and Niko and Little Jacob entered, my ammunition filled up, indicating that discarded ammo from dead enemies is indeed available to a willing Niko. Thankfully, there was a health kit on the kitchen table, which worked out well because Niko’s health was depleted considerably. It was my first chance to utilise the cover system and get involved in some pretty intense fireplay, so I guess I had an excuse that time round.
Unlike in recently released wannabe “GTA clones”, health in GTA IV is not automatically regenerative and can only be healed through health kits (there maybe also be other ways to increase health but I didn’t experience any). It’s probably worth mentioning here that if and when Niko does pass-out, you won’t have to back-track all the way to the start point of the mission as you’ll have the option to restart it. This gets rid of the tedious backtracking from previous GTA games.
The last mission was Harbouring a Grudge, easily the most intense and difficult of the three I undertook. Climbing to the top of a shed at the docks I got to experience first hand a range of movement techniques. Niko has the ability to climb onto ledges and other objects, as well as shimmy across platforms, such as the piping of a building. I had the task of jumping down to a group of unsuspecting thugs, shooting them down and stealing a truck. This mission used the covering system to advantage the most, as Niko was heavily outnumbered. It was also important that I used the aiming system in as best a way as I could, as I had bullets flying at me from every direction. To get through this part of the mission, I wouldn’t have survived had I just bombarded the torso of each enemy, so I took the few extra seconds to aim for the heads of each guy to take them out quickly. Once everyone was taken care of, I jumped into the truck and started to drive away with a healthy wanted-level in hand.
The drive-by shooting method has been given a slight overhaul for GTA IV. By pressing a specific button, Niko knocks out the window with his elbow and pelts bullets into whatever target you aim for. Grenades are also able to be used as a weapon, however (as I came to realise twice) you have to throw them as far away from your vehicle as possible to avoid being blown up. I failed the mission twice because I kept dropping the grenade right next to the truck.
The level of detail in GTA IV goes far beyond the graphical superiority it has when compared to its predecessor’s. People on the street seem to have more personal interaction with the environment. For example, I noticed a man lifting his car bonnet up and taking a detailed look at his cars engine and then a woman screaming to a police officer and pointing in the direction of a suspected law-breaker. This is all coupled together with a smooth and consistent frame-rate and nice textures that never dipped in quality throughout my play-through. Character design looks great (for a GTA game) and the mouth-motion during speech is as good as I’ve ever seen. The city looks fantastic and everything is detailed to the finest touch to make Liberty City as interactive and alive as possible.
Throughout my play-through, I kept trying to imagine what all of these great aspects – the successful integration of the Euphoria motion engine, the improved hand-to-hand combat, the new cover system, more realistic car handling, improved fireplay – would feel like in an independent environment where I’ve got countless time to evolve my skill. That’s because, even in a controlled environment where I’m taught the basics of the gameplay, I was having an absolute ball and I was dreading my flight back to Melbourne. If I can respect, appreciate and thoroughly enjoy the look, feel and handling of this game when I’m restricted in what I can do, what will it be like when I have this game in my living room?
After this hands-on, I can confirm that one thing is for certain; Grand Theft Auto is back and better then ever. It’s hard to evolve something that is already seemingly perfect, but Rockstar seem to have done that perfectly with a game that integrates as-realistic-as-possible gameplay and presentation. Granted, what I saw was merely a drop in an ocean, but I’m confident, like Rockstar, that GTA IV will stand-out as a trailblazing title that setsthe standard for next-generation gaming. If April 29th isn’t circled on your calendar yet, go and do it now.
10/03/2008
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