Earlier today we posted my hands-on impressions of “Grand Theft Auto IV” at MTVNews.com.
While writing my story I ran out of room (read: forgot) to include two game details I hadn’t heard about before:
*Days Of The Week [UPDATE: Rockstar sent over a clarification on this one]
*Slow-Mo Driving
Sorry, sorry, folks. Let me make it up to you. I’ll explain both features:
Days Of The Week - “GTA IV” has days of the week. It doesn’t have seasons. It doesn’t have months. But this cutting-edge power-house of a game has days of the week. All seven? Unconfirmed. But I can report it has Thursdays and Saturdays. Let’s assume it has the other five as well.
I discovered this while pausing a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game and spotting the word “Thursday” near the map. I asked the Rockstar PR rep who was overseeing my session to explain what exactly this could mean. He told me about a mission called “The Final Interview,” in which the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, will need to assassinate a lawyer. Niko will be able to apply for a job at the firm from the game’s Internet cafes, but will only be called in for an interview on a Saturday. That’s when Niko can show up and take care of business. On any other day of the week he won’t have access.
Now don’t you worry, “GTA” has not gone all “Animal Crossing” on you. You won’t need to wait until an actual Saturday or start tinkering with your console’s internal calendar. The days change in the game with the sunrises an sunsets that the series has had for years.
What more will be done with the days of the week? I don’t know. But I’m sure you can dream up plenty of possibilities: Niko going to a football game on Sunday, getting his laundry picked up on Wednesday, watching his favorite TV shows on a Tuesday. Actually, let’s hope for none of that.
UPDATE: A Rockstar representative e-mailed me Friday morning to say the the appointment with the lawyer in the “Final Interview” mission can be scheduled for different days of the week, depending on when Niko applies for the job. The appointment will still be set for a day, but just not necessarily Saturday. That’s good, because I don’t believe in weekend job interviews.
Slow-Mo Driving- You can drive slowly in “GTA,” even while driving fast. Yes, indeed, the laws of time and space need not apply as the game will borrow a little from “Max Payne” or “Burnout” and let you drive in slow-motion. I learned this near the end of my demo as I drove a Hummer-like truck through part of “GTA IV”’s Manhattan stand-in, Algonquin. The Rockstar rep suggested that I hold down the B button on my 360 controller. This changed the camera view to an elevated, cinematic perspective. I could still drive in this camera view.
While driving from a cinematic perspective I was then encouraged to click the 360 controller’s left thumbstick. This slowed things down. I was thinking of “Burnout”’s after-touch system and stopped directing my truck. But the Rockstar rep told me I could keep driving. It was a little awkward to steer with the left stick while keeping it clicked in, but it seemed manageable.
I’m not sure why this feature was added. It seems to go against the vibe that I reported in my piece today of Rockstar making “GTA IV” feel less like a game than the “GTA” predecessors. But it will allow the game to be viewed in a more stylish, cinematic context.
I did not have a chance to test the limits of the slow-mo driving, to see if it would help during a high-speed chase or make me more capable of landing a stunt jump. But those seem like safe bets.
After I saw those two features I played the PS3 version of the game and flew a helicopter. But you read about that already. Didn’t you?
***
What more do you want to know about “GTA IV”? I played it for two hours, but I certainly didn’t see it all.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
This game is gonna be amazing.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Did you notice any differences between the two platforms? I’m finding it hard to believe that the two are going to be identical.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Motion infereia is that what this is?
days of the week; hopefully they dont find that a great feature alothough yes, its pretty cool.
how bout did they name any cars yet?
yes according to gamefaqs.com
weather? yes again specified in gamefaqs (it has bullets which tell you different things about GTAIV)
SO, ive seen all the trailers and the galleria of photos both old and new (which can be found at IGN.com) but what everyone wants to know now is is Rockstar games firmly confident that gta4 it will ship on April 29, 2008 worldwide and be avalabale for 360 and ps3 at that time? i hope so. but then again they gota amke the game perfect so if need be they could extend it.
another thing i want to know is when are the cheats coming out for gta4 cuz i want them even b4 the game ships. Gunnna sell fast. YOU SHOULD RESERVE IT OR YOU MIGHT END UP NOT GETTING IT. POPULAR DEMAND PPL….
March 13th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
GTA 4!!! Cant Wait!
March 14th, 2008 at 8:47 am
this game is going to be sooo amazing
March 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GRAND THEFT AUTO 4!!!!!!!!!!!!WOOOOOOOHOOOO
March 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
@ Espiox
I’m not that good at spotting fine texture or aliasing differences and whatnot, so I can’t say if there were any fine graphical distinctions between the 360 and PS3 versions that I played. The versions looked the same to me. Both were running well. Both had a very good (though not silky smooth) framerate, superior to the framerate of older GTAs, I believe.
It does look to me like the decider for people who own a PS3 and the 360 will be whether they want to be playing on Live or through PSN, and if they want the exclusive XBox 360 bonus downloadable content coming in the fall.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Oh, sweet. Thanks for the reply. The more I hear about this game, the less I believe they managed to cram it all into a 360 disc, so it’s nice to know there’s no particular graphical differences.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
@Espiox
Oh. Interesting. I didn’t realize you were coming at it from that angle. If anything you can take assurances from the fact that the 360 version seems to be a step ahead in development. So they have a little more time to polish that one. But, yes, both versions look good
March 14th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Slo-mo driving does seem to violate the spirit of the game. The question is: Is it fun? Or just a crammed-in feature?
March 14th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
If u gays need d ans;dis my nos,08058163409.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Is there slo-mo shooting? (sinilar to stranglehold)
March 15th, 2008 at 10:03 am
ok i am done where is the game
March 15th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
grand theft auto is the best game ever invented wwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooo
March 15th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Wow, your so lucky to be able to play the actual game. Pre-ordered it recently (Special Edition PS3), and this information has assured me that I have made a good purchase. Also I liked the article about the Helicopter, certainly looking foreward to owning this game now.
Thanks!
March 15th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
thaaaaaaaaaaaaat gameeeeeeeee issssssssssss hotttttttttttttttttttttt
March 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
xbox 360 version……..its all about the achievements. it gives the game that extra edge and that sense of completion after murdering the hard boss and gett 40 points for it. you guys know what im talking about.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:47 am
@ Stephen Totilo
It’s great that you didn’t notice any differences.
But could you describe the HUD for me? I don’t know why but i’m very excited about it. and out from the map if you think the map is mutch smaller than the San Andreas or the matter of fact that it seems bigger? In a preview they said that it took 5 min or something to drive besides half of Alderney and people found out that it had to be a slow boat or the city had to be bigger than they thought.
I belive the boat maybe has been slow. They tried in san andreas and in the same time they went around almost the whole San Fierro island.
But i’m most thrilled to hear about the HUD.
Some says that it’s black and white but that seems odd to me.
I hope they don’t have the same kind of minimap like in GTA III
and a preview did say the HP Bar was red so, how could it be black’n'white? I hope to hear from you, i really do
Thanks
March 17th, 2008 at 10:51 am
this game is goin to be a badass game!!!!!!!!! i want it really **@?~~ badly!!!!!!!!!
March 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
i cant wait until GTA IV comes out!!!!!!!Now all I have to do is pre-order it before its to late…………….YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAA
March 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
IM SO EXCITED IM FILLED WITH EXUBERANCE CANT WAIT TO PURCHASE …!!!!
March 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I agree with all of you. This game is going to be great. I pre-ordered my copy in early october 2007 then they kept pushing it back. I hope its worth the wait.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
dude this game is gonna kick ass im getting it for the 360 like when it fist comes out
March 17th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
i will believe it when i see it release the game already sheees loueeeees.oh yeah i had this game on reserve since august of 2007 do we get a discount or what?
March 18th, 2008 at 8:48 am
mwanna ebintu binka, kubanga game enyuma nyo nyo.
The game is the best ever , am willing 2 purchase before its too late,……
from States down here in Africa……….
March 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Cant wait 4 this game!!!!
March 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
@ Jimmarn
The HUD is more subdued than it was in previous games. Mini-map is still on the lower left (a colored ring around it indicates health. Ammo and wanted counters are still in the upper right, but in a single tight line of mostly black and white text.
As for the size of the city it seems to be incredibly dense, but not as large as the terrain of San Andreas. It didn’t take me long to fly across Algonquin/Manhattan in a helicopter (the island’s skinny, naturally), but it seems very dense, with a lot more activity per block.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
THIS SUCKES
March 18th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
@ Stephen Totilo
Thank you for your answer, I’m really looking forward to try the game for my self, if you press my name you will see a HUD I have made out of the info I have read in previous. Just wondering if it is any close to the real thing
Again, thank you very much for answering me
March 18th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
@ Stephen Totilo
Thank you for answering, i put a image i have made as website, it is a picture of how I imagine the hud looks like.
Is it even close to the real thing?
Hehe, i guess not.
I’m really excited to get to play the game for my self.
Seems like a very good game, and i have no doubt that this will overcome the last gen of gta.
While speaking, was there many places you could enter?
It’s a friend of mine who’s wondering. He misses that in the previous gta’s.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Oh!!! It screwed up again!
I’ll jus post the link here.
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u162/jimmarn/GTA%20IV/TheHUD.jpg
and
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u162/jimmarn/GTA%20IV/TheHUDScaled4-5.jpg
That should be right!
Now, again i’m really sorry, i don’t mean to spam.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
no worries. your image is close, but forget about seeing cartoon-y gun icons in the top corner. more low-key
March 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Oh, that was fun too hear. So the gun icons is more real looking?
March 18th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Is it in a box as in the previous gta III series?
Or is it more like in GTA 2 that you just see the weapon from the side without a box?
Is this image closer?
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u162/jimmarn/GTA%20IV/TheHUD5.jpg
Also, is the Street info on the right side there, or is it near the mini map?
I’m sorry, i won’t bother you more now, i’m just really really excited
But i really appreciate your answers, thank you.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolonggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.this is going to be a cool game .
March 18th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
hey.i will like to have this game out to my house
March 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Damn jimmarn that HUD looks so realistic, i wouldn’t be surprised if that was what it actually looks like. can’t wait ’til april 29th.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
@ jamesliv963,
Thanks, Can’t wait either, i just want to play the game now
It’s gonna be awsome.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:56 am
hiii it’s very good
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Hmm seen the hud from that magazine now, so i’ve updated mine.
Hope it’s closer now…
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u162/jimmarn/GTA%20IV/The-HUD2.jpg
April 27th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Wow, got the game now, i were pretty close.