I spent the last 45 minutes playing "GTA IV" online, mostly against Europeans and sleep-deprived Americans.
One guy claimed he couldn't find the mini-map on his game screen. Another player -- make that many others -- ran me down with a car.
I'm "working" from home today, playing "Grand Theft Auto IV" on my Xbox 360 all day (my wife's suggestion!). Online multiplayer is making a great impresson.
I spent the weekend binging on single-player and enraging people by saying that "Super Mario Galaxy" was occasionally pulling me away. But I also said that my main issue with the game's first seven hours was that the open-ended sandbox design of "GTA" felt overly familiar. I wanted some surprises, some shake-up of the established formula. And I guessed that the real revolution in this game would involve its integration of a "GTA" open world into online multiplayer.
I think I was right. Multiplayer is fantastic so far.
I've sampled three modes so far this morning:
I've played one Deathmatch, which took place in a factory. The Deathmatch mode was fully stocked with 16 players and ran smoothly without lag. That's quite an accomplishment considering that "Halo 3" often sputters on my shaky home Internet connection.
An American player asked what map we were on, before a more knowledgeable European player correctly pointed out that the "map" was the entire Liberty City -- weapons and health packs were just confined to the factory area. I did okay, scoring 10 kills, getting killed ("2nd Amendmented" in the game's parlance) eight times. That performance unlocked new clothes for my avatar.
PRO-TIP: The game advances your character's rank based on the amount of money you collect, so you can come out ahead by scavenging, even if you can't shoot a wall with a shotgun.
The second mode I tried, Mafiya Work, had me and three other players (out of a maximum 16) taking orders on our in-game cell phone from a crime boss named Petrovic. He asked us to do things like blow up dump trucks, steal specific police cars, and take his wife (girlfriend?) for a drive. This was a competitive mode and a little confusing for us first-timers.
The third mode I tried was the most fun so far: Car Jack City. Even though I again failed to find 15 other players (it was another quartet), we had a great time racing to specially marked cars that we needed to steal and then drop off at specific locations. I had a blast even though I was terrible at it. The best I did was detonate another car with a rocket-launcher, but blew my own character up in the process.
In the instructions for Car Jack City, there's a mention that whoever makes the most money is the winner. And then, summing it up, the text reads that this mode is "America for beginners."
It is a bit of a rat race in on-line Liberty City.
"Mario" -- and any other game -- isn't calling to me right now.
Okay, back to work...
You know where to find me.