Only 24 to 45 hours to finish?? and it gets a 10 for that?????????

They aren't the only ones. The first few reviews on Gamerankings.com have all been perfect 10's, A's, etc.

Previous games in the series have had hundreds of hours of side quests such as finding objects, doing spectacular jumps, collecting different types of cars, etc. This version will have all of that, plus a variety of MP modes.

Agreed, the side stuff makes up a ton of the game. They said story line only, so that is hammering straight through and not messing around at all. I mess around a good amount, it's too much fun to do it. With new graphics, a bunch of buildings to go into, it may be worse for me in this version.

Yeah, does anyone actually do just the main storyline in GTA?

what loser has the time to spend "only" 45 hours on a game? as evidenced by the "how many games have you beat/finished" thread, people just don't finish an awful lot of games. i know i don't. with the handful of A+++ games that come out every year, not to mention the regular "must-have" games, who really has the time to devote more than 24 hours to a storyline, let along 45+ hours to one game? you really got be a friggin good for nothing loser to want to spend that much time on one game. not to mention GTAIV has multiple MP modes that seem like they're gonna be more fun than playing single. i know i'm not bothering with single player mode if i can help it. MP mode should provide hundreds of hours of gameplay alone.

anyway, some people got too much time on their hands.

I don't care for the story of GTA games at all, I just like to run around and do whatever I want. In fact, my biggest gripe is that I never get to see half of the cities because I can't be bothered to drudge through the story to unlock them.

nice.

Gold

Indeed, saying that playing for 45 hours a game is for losers but then claiming to play hundreds...

That makes it a long game compared to some recent offerings that were 10 hours or less.

point being - you're gonna complain there's only 45ish hours worth of gameplay when in MP there's an unlimited amount of gameplay, which is where most of the fun is sure to be anyway.

per a previous thread, most people don't finish games these days so what's the point of complaining if a game only has 45 hours of storyline? COD4 only has like 10 hours i think and i still haven't finished the solo campaign cuz i spend all of my time playing MP.

a 45 hour storyline is a long fucking time. that's about as long as watching the LOTR trilogy back to back 3 or 4 times, and how many times have any of you done that recently?

I just hit 8 days of game-time on COD 4 yesterday. I don't know if I'm proud/ashamed of that :) I'm hoping GTA will be a welcome distraction from that game. It's a different type of game, so I think I'll be able to add GTA to my current rotation of COD 4, Rock Band, and College Hoops 2k8.

Can't wait til the midnight release on Monday night :p

according to FM's timekeeper Ive played the game for:

56 days, 6 hours, and 33 minutes

Have you finished the storyline yet?

Well I moved from the SPL to coach NY in the MLS and absolutely hate it. The YI and SI, dev contracts are all a bit much for me and the idea of not having a shot at UEFA is just killing me so Im looking for an opportunity to cross the pond again.

I now have my Xbox360 Elite, now just waiting on release of GTA IV.

I picked up an inexpensive copy of Saints Row to tie me over 'til then.

Lots of comparison talk between the 360/PS3 version. Generally, the PS3 version is getting the nod with less pop-in, less framerate issues, and shorter load times. It appears that the differences, although noticable, are relatively minor and that both versions are very good.

One concern that has been noted in several reviews is that any 360 console without a HDD will see more problems in the graphics department. There's no way to cache data in advance as you proceed through the town, so the system has to load the data directly from the disc, which results in screen tearing, frame-rate issues, and noticable pop-in.

Below is a thread from Neogaf. Initial poster does a pretty good job of posting the relevant quotes from the various reviews. Also noted in the thread is a link to where the rumor that the 'DLC for the 360 will be as big as San Andreas' came from. Evidently, that's not the case, which shouldn't be surprising as most people noted earlier in this thread.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286527

So I wasn't really paying much attention to this game. I played GTA I like crazy back in the day and then put some time into GTA II, but not a whole lot. Never even played GTA III.

Then a buddy of mine sent me a long video review for GTA IV and explained the MP features.

WHY DIDN'T I PRE-ORDER THIS GAME?!

You never played GTA III?!! You need to get on that!

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Agreed. San Andreas is still a lot of fun. I put it in the other day and played it. I also have the 'Hot Coffee' version of the game (voyeurs be jealous).

Bioshock was less and was clearly a 10. COD4 got knocked down to a 9 by most because of the shortness of the game, but it's one of the few games that get dropped for that.

24 to 45 hours for a graphical game is a long, long game. That doesn't count the side quests or the just running around the city blowing crap up. Nor does it include multiplayer. Especially when we are looking at how sensational this game is graphicaly.

I think Bioshock took me about 15 to finish the first time. GTA will be at least 2x that for single player. I think a 10 is reasonable if the game is as good as they say it is.

Agreed. If GTA's main story line is 25-45 hours, you can bet that most people will take 50-60 hours to go through it, with completion of all of the side quests moving even higher that that. I'll honestly be lucky to finish this game. It's going to take a lot of gameplay sessions to get it done.

Any storyline longer than 10 hours is likely not getting finished by me.

Yeah.. GTA II felt a lot like GTA I from a different angle from me so I grew kind of bored with it.

Then I just wasn't in a big video-gaming phase when GTA III was popular, etc, etc - anyway..

EXACTLY. i can barely finish a 10 hour storyline. anything longer than 24 hours is a waste of my time. that is, unless, its a game with a huge world and if i just wanna have a game to pop into and walk around and see/do random stuff. but my attention span/interest level in completing an epic storyline is not what it used to be. i don't have as much free time to devote to video gaming as i used.

Agreed. I don't know the last time I "beat" a game. But that's ok with me - especially with a game like GTA that has an open world and what seems like it's going to be very fun MP play.

I actually think I enjoy the setting of GTA III more. Dunno why, but Liberty City is just fun... I think that's why the setting of GTA IV is Liberty City too... though I am interested to see the other cities that get added on in the GTA IV series (they've done Miami and SoCal... maybe revisit London? Chicago? Boston? Atlanta?)

I know you've said multiple times that you don't care about the storyline, that you just want to sandbox it, etc. . . I just have to warn you a little. With the GTA series, the bridges usually block parts of the town until you hit a certain spot in the story. You also can't get the 6 stars and have the SWAT team and FBI come after you until you've gotten through a portion of the story. This isn't an especially long time with past GTA games (Maybe 3 hours of gameplay or so, sometimes a bit more), but it is there. To get the full sandbox mode enjoyment, it's usually adviseable to get through about 1/4 to 1/2 of the story, which is going to put you between 6 to 13 hours by the looks of it.

I'm sure the MP overrides a lot of this, but it's still something you should be aware of if you want to just have fun in single player mode. (Typically I play the game until everything is unlocked and then alternate between missions, side missions and blowing up the town)

I just realized, I'm mistaken.

I played GTA III - I just didn't play San Andreas.

thanks for the info. i've never played a GTA game long enough to unlock bridges to other areas (that i know of). i start getting caught up in random/free mode too easily.

i can't remember - can you crash into people with your car or run them over?

I hope I don't have to run all over the city tomorrow to find an unreserved copy.

there's a Gamestop closeby to me who are doing one of those midnite things for people who preordered. i wonder if i were to stop by tonite without a preorder if they'd sell it to me.

I'm going to try to hit the Circuit City near my house. Would be nice to get the game with a $10 gift card.

Here's some geek links. First, the Best Buy locations that will host midnight launches.........

http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage...&type=category

Next, an 'unboxing' video of the Special Edition version of the game.......

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/u...es/208163.html

word to mother! best buy near me is doing a midnite launch too. only thing that sucks is they don't take trade-ins, which i need to do in order to bring the price down.

by the time i actually get it, if i were to get it, i wouldn't be able to play it much. i just wanna make sure i have it. odds are extremely high that there'll be more than enough copies available that a preorder wouldn't be necessary.

Most of shops in Spain are starting to sell it today. It all started when some small shops sold it, so everybody started to blame the big game shops chains even showing scanned tickets. The rumor is spreading so fast and more and more shops are starting to sell it early as their customers where cancelling the preorders to buy it in nearby small shops.

I'm thinking on calling the shop where i had it preordered to push them to sell it to me now too but... beign 32 years old i would feel ashamed of pushing a games shop employee younger than be to sell me a console game in advance like if it was something urgent.

My Amazon copy mailed today, but I didn't choose one of the fast shipping options. I can wait. :)

I strongly advise getting to the point where all of the bridges are unlocked, the extra driving space is useful when you are trying to shed FBI agents.

Yes, you can run over people with your car, knock other cars off the road and my personal favorite, slam into motorcycles and send the driver flying.

Doesn't it already come with a 3 year? Like the 2 they added to the original 360?

That only covers the RROD issue. An extended warranty will cover any issue and will also get you a replacement unit immediately from the store (depending upon which store you buy it from) as opposed to waiting weeks/months for Microsoft to send you a new unit.

That's pretty much my story with most games. I hate that fact that you have to work to get see all the game. I wish they would stop that type of crap... :(

Well then actually do some of the story :p.

It's their way of getting you to do what they spent a ton of time coming up with, ya jerk! ;)

Here are the supposed problems with the 360 version and lack of HD catching that makes objects to appear all the sudden in the screen (comes from a sony fans website so... also the guy driving has really bad reflexes):

"This tree just came out of nowhere and hit me!"

To be fair, those videos weren't created by that site. They just picked up on it and reposted them. Pretty sure that the original source was either the GTA Forums or Neogaf.

Bad reflexes, but I agree that's not great.

Icy, I'm assuming you don't have the game yet? I'm interested in your online experience since the PS3 version has region-free online play. Wanted to see if there was any major lag when playing on the North American servers.

Teleporting trees.


LOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to play their game! Let me play the game I WANT TO PLAY IT.

Then the easy answer is make your own.

As you said "their game". How many people say let me go to where ever in Call of Duty? Just because they have a sandbox style, doesn't mean they have to open it all up at once. They want you to earn the ability to go to the other areas. It's their game.

That's the big complaint? That's really not a HUGE deal imo.

I think the value of 'unlockables' depend on the game. For example, the fact that Wario Ware, a game designed completely for multiplayer party fun, comes with multiplayer LOCKED is insane. Yes, the single player game is short, but it still ruined it for my friends and I when we rented it and discovered we couldn't play against each other that night.

GTA having the city locked drives me crazy because the whole idea behind that game is sandbox. Don't give me a sandbox but keep me from playing in half of it until I build the appropriate number of castles on the original side, that is bullshit.

look on the bright side...you are only paying 60 bucks for it

I agree. Same with Smash Bros. And wrestling games.

I just want to play the game and relax, that's why I stopped playing MMORPG after 5 years of Ultima Online, I don't want to have to feel like I'm doing work, give me; the person buying your game for 60 bucks the option to roam freely and play. It does NOT hurt the game allowing me to do so.

When I saw that gif I didn't think "Oooh, an appearing tree!". I thought "Oooooh, pretty game!! I want!! I want!! I want!!".

Any more lovely gifs?

I think I hear sarcasm there. ;)

Let's not go crazy here. Most reviews are giving the game the same score despite the minor differences. It's a minor beef, but it's not a game killer. The main problem with it is that most gamers assumed with the next-gen systems that we were passed the pop-up graphics that hurt the immersion in the game. Obviously, that's not the case.......yet.

just a little:D


On vice city for the pc I'd just load it, enter the cheat code for unlimited weapons and let the fun begin.

I have no patience for the tedium of some of those missions.

Well in their opinion, having some portions of the game locked allows a feeling of accomplishment when you actually unlock them and benefits the gameplay if that limitation is there.

I have to agree. I always enjoy unlocking the next portion of the game.

I mean, really, it's already free-er than 99% of the games out there.

Yeah I agree with Mizzou here. Something like this just hurts immersion a bit. But if all is the same between the 360 and PS3 version, then this hurts the 360 version a bit. I want to know what this frickin' exclusive content is already.

I've heard rumblings from a few people that Rockstar, not Microsoft, is the reason that there hasn't been any info on what the exclusive DLC will contain. Rockstar has been keeping a lid on the info and trailers, limiting them to only 4 trailers and keeping details under wraps. If Rockstar is trying to do the same with the DLC, it's a killer for Microsoft. I'm sure they'd love nothing more than to tell people how great it's going to be and they'd like to do it before the launch day.

Here's a recently posted article about Rockstar's control over what has been released (and not released):

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352835,00.html

I don't have it yet, the manager at the shop where i preorder it is the only legal manager in Spain and won't sell it until tomorrow. I have read and seen pics that prove that hundreds of Spanish bought it all around the country, but i'll need to wait until tomorrow morning.

For what i have read, nobody wants to try it online today after the rumor of an user banned for a week from the PSN network for playing it one day before the release date.

Here is an article comparing both versions:

http://kotaku.com/384422/which-versi...d-360-versions

Edit to add:

The game is estimated to have cost over 100 million dollars to make:

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2978.html

too bad there wasn't a way to take in-game pics or even video clips and upload them, like you could in NCAA 2k8. how awesome would that be?

I thought that Jack Thompson was barred from campaigning against GTA4. He's now saying that GTA4 is the gravest threat to children since polio. :looney:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-ally-ign.html

I think he's barred from suing GTA.

So who is going at midnight?

some cool info on it:

Shenmue is no longer the most expensive game ever made then. And GTA4 will actually make the money back.


haha that's exactly how I felt after renting WarioWare, there's no reason anything on that game should have been locked at the start. For whatever reason it doesn't bug me so much in GTA, but then again I'm a fan of the traditional single-player mode as much as simply driving around causing mayhem.

Is it safe to say I will probably not be able to buy this tomorrow? As in, I should have pre-ordered?

I can't imagine it'll be hard to find.

The only place games like this are hard to find is Gamestop/Ebgames as they get off on this whole pre-order deal.

I would think other stores will be getting loads of copies in.

I am, I slept in today and will likely be up late tonight and have a Gamestop preorder. I didn't do that intentionally or specifically to play GTA4, but, its a nice side effect ;)

Well, I pre-ordered at Target, so they don't open until 8 A.M.

I will be staying up all night and be there at 8 A.M. though. :D

I managed to not read much of anything about this or get interested at all until a couple days ago.

Now I can't wait. I'm thinking of excuses to take the day off tomorrow, and then attempt to hunt it down and play all day.

I still can't decide if I want to go PS3 or 360 on the version.

w0rd.

Just went and pre-ordered at Gamestop. It's going to take every bone in my body to not call out of work tomorrow.

Since I pretty much make my own schedule, and have nothing going on tomorrow at all, I could sit and play it all day and night.

Except I don't have a working 360 right now. :( It was sent off today to some place online. Hopefully it's a legit repair company. ;) I hope to have it by the end of the week or early next week. I am going to get the game ASAP though so I don't have to worry about it being available when I get my 360 back.

We are going to have a metric assload of both versions in at work tomorrow, and while we had a presell program, I can't imagine we presold THAT many.

someone give me a PS3.

Would a broken PS2 work for you?

Yeah... every single game that has massive demand will usually have massive orders by stores. So you'll likely find a copy and even on the first day. Walmart or Target may have stacks of it.

no bumps since midnight!? Ahhh its good to be an unemployed slob sometimes. I had to read a couple docs for a conference call that I have tomorrow(that I would be way too prone to not take care of if I started playing first), firing it up now, impressions before bed perhaps. :D

Debating picking it up this afternoon. Most stores have it selling for $120AU ($111ish US$), but one particular store has it for $78, which is damn good, but a bit of a trip to get there... hmmms.... Just got my PS3 hooked up to my new 22" monitor too, can't wait.

Isn't the Aussie version heavily edited and censored? If so, plus the cheaper import price, it seems better to order it from the US.

Hmm, thanks for pointing that out - I didn't realise. Earlier in the year I'd read that it was to be uncensored, so looks like that changed somewhere along the line.

started feeling some motion sickness after about 60 minutes of play. Its good so far, but I'm still going through the tutorial style stuff and remembering how to drive efficiently. I forgot how badly the available cars early in the game handle. I'm watching all the cut scenes and taking my time, so far at least. I've never had motion sickness issues in a GTA game before, but the TV here is a bit smaller than I'm used to. Gonna try some Ginger pills as seen on Mythbusters tomorrow. :D

10 minutes until the shop where i preordered opens, getting ready to go for it.

Good gameplay video:

I should not have watched that video, I'm not planning on buying the game until June 1. Its going to be a long wait.

I'm installing it now, installation to Ps3 HD takes around 7 minutes as it's over 3.5GB, good bye world!

My pre-order copy is due to arrive tommorrow.
I went with the fastest shipping method from Circuit City.

Buy the U.S. version from the Play Asia website. It's located in Asia, so you can likely get the game shipped to you within a week, if not sooner.

I just picked up a copy at the local Walmart from a box of about 100.

Ouch, this is going to leave a mark..............

Guess I have to go buy this today.

MBBF - if you don't quit it, I might develop a really severe stomach ache.

I like how he stands up at the end and starts walking down the road like he didn't even notice that he had bounced off two cars and flown through a traffic light frame. Too funny.

I love that GTA has realistic physics, but at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously and try to be ultra-realistic in other ways.