Postcards From Liberty City: It's Not You, It's Me

Written by Kevin Alexander

Tuesday, 29 April 2008 06:15

Welcome to our own little way of covering the first big gaming juggernaut of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV. You've seen the countless perfect scores the game has already received so there's no real point for us to do a formal "review". Instead we decided to take this approach so that everyone on staff who's playing the game has a chance to voice their own opinions and observations about the goings-on in Liberty City.

Hey Guys! Just got settled down in Liberty City. Like most people who visit here this isn't my first time and it certainly feels very familiar despite what I've read about how much work they've supposedly done around here. People around here still walk funny and look like they're kind of bloated. There's cops EVERYWHERE who get on your case when you're not even doing anything. I mean, some stupid vendor I was trying to buy a hot dog from got up in my face and started throwing punches when I did nothing to provoke him. Then the cops showed up and arrested ME even though I hadn't retaliated at all. That was definitely annoying.

The main reason for my trip is still sort of mysterious in the same way that things in movies are even though its obvious there's some sort of secret that I'm hiding. My cousin isn't helping things any. The lying-bastard-loser is always trying to call me and get me to clean up his messes. I guess that's life here in Liberty City. Not much has changed, it's still the same-old Liberty City for better and for worse.

I'll write more soon when I get a chance! Hope all is well and say hello to the girls for me.

Love,

Kevin

Comments (9) Add Comment

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written by Johnny Wadd, April 29, 2008

I've been at the strip club for 24 hours. There is a city?

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written by Brisk317, April 29, 2008

Not much has changed....except the graphics and scale of this game is amazing.

Not much has changed....except I got to run around with five of my friends and blow each other up.

I haven't even scratched the surfuce of this game yet, and I already see it being what GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas was really meant to be. GTA game controls have always been a little awkward and take some getting use to whether on foot or driving but this is minor in comparison to the world Take-Two has given us to do whatever we please in.

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written by Kevin Alexander, April 29, 2008

Are the graphics REALLY that good when you hold them next to BioShock or CoD 4? I realize the enormity of the world that is being presented, but the characters models in God Of War 2 had more detail that these fools.

I haven't really touched the multiplayer, but I was only commenting on the single player so far.

Rock Star has had many years and four iterations of this game to get the controls right. Something Saints Row nailed the first time out.

I'm not trying to down play GTA IV as a bad game, it's definitely not so far, but I'm always shocked when these games come out and a shower of perfect scores falls upon their faces.

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written by Brisk317, April 30, 2008

Kev,
The thing is...is that I'm not holding these graphics next to BioShock or COD4. I'm holding them against the other GTA titles and as far as how the series has evolved. And I think the graphics in comparison to San Andreas are dramatic and impressive. Maybe it's just me but I think the city looks fantastic. Try having a Helicopter race at night to get a good look at it. Also, the little things like the updated cellphone and other sounds and details make the game feel very real and gritty.

Does the game deserve a perfect 10? Probably not. I don't think a perfect game exists. But I never really put much stock in critic reviews whether its for music, movies or video games, I just look for things that are fun and interesting and GTA IV for me definitely delivers on both of those accounts.

BTW - send me an invite when you start playing multiplayer, so we can duke it out on the streets of LC.

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written by Kevin Alexander, April 30, 2008

I'm not rooting for this to be bad, and I'm sure I'll end up getting caught up in it. When I wrote I had played a little over an hour intending for this series to be somewhat of a diary of our experiences, no matter how much time we had played. Unfortunately I ended feeling like crap yesterday and didn't play at all.

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written by swiftwulf, April 30, 2008

We had a blast last night playing online, lot of time spent shooting each other and crashing helicopters. Good times

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written by Jim Squires, April 30, 2008

totally agreed sir. can't wait to do it again.

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written by snakes & patriots, April 30, 2008

I honestly havent explored outside of the initial 10 blk radius in the first few missions. The graphics arent COD4 level. But i dont expect them to be. The city does look insanely real though. It looks old, worn, experienced, and mean. I feel like im visiting the big city when i load up the game in my PS3.

Though multiplayer was broke yesterday, all day. Sooo my brief 45 min in LC with others was from 1201 am to 126 am tuesday morn. and it was with 8 dudes playing capture the flag.

i did make a car flip with dudes inside of it with a solid 'nade drop. Exhilerating.

my one nit pick thus far is the driving controls. Is it me or does it seem like all the brakes on the cars are in need for a tune up? You slide ever so much when laying on the brake. And shooting and driving is a hard.....i dont want to think how drive bys are gonna work.

but overall great experience....i guess more cab missions for Roman and ill get the driving down