G T A _ I V _ ( P C )

[zapionics<alt>]

Anyone playing this yet? I think it sounds awesome in the reviews...
Apparently some problems tho... performance issues... startup bugs... graphical glitches...

But the reviewers seem impressed... some of them are gushing with enthusiasm even...
I'm a bit of a fan of the series so I think I'll have to go for it...

[jaketerminate]

Ive waited for this for a long time, I loved San Andreas and SAMP, and im still waiting to purchase because of the Christmas season... The improvement in gameplay and graphics will surely create a better experience too. Cant wait to fire this one up.

[zapionics<alt>]

Installation on this rig was about 5 minutes... but add another 5 to negotiate the online verification...

Before going on I just want to say that having to go online to validate the exe sucks. Having to install their "social club" software and securom really really sucks Otherwise the game installed ok. You dont need to go online to start it in offline mode. In-game advertising, spyware and online validation... how did we come to this? It doesnt take to long to start the game... borderline annoying but not too bad...

The game looks totally awesome. Improvement in graphics over SA is really significant.
There are heaps of vehicles! YES You can actually experience traffic jams with the number of cars on the road. You can also customise car density... excellent... Plenty of variety too. NPC animations are fairly smooth, natural and interesting... lots of them are doing purposeful stuff rather than just walking in circles ... another big improvement Radio station is really funny again, sounds great. TV is fun too!

Gameplay is smooth... I'm benching around 45 fps at 1650x1050 no hitching. Some odd texture flicker tho in the shadows... maybe needs a driver update... minor issue, not distracting... Draw distance maxes out at about 50%... Texture detail is fixed at medium ... its tied to the video card RAM, probably need a GB to get max settings... I cannot overide it without adding some switches on the shortcut, but it then limits the resolution. I prefer to run at medium and in my monitors native res. Controls for contrast,brightness and saturation are handy. The game looks a little unoptimised... I expect patches.

Honestly I think it looks great but I'd rather it didnt restrict me like this.

The game is fun... none of the charm has been lost in this version...

Controls are very familiar but a really big negative dissappointment for me is that I cannot bind the on-foot forward key to the mouse this has just got to be patched or I will go crazy. Its the only flaw I've found so far but its a biggy. I've bound it to space bar in the mean time. WASD players will be fine
Air controls are complex. It doesnt recognise my extended mouse buttons.

It doesnt feel as big as SA but it seems more alive, more realistic by far and just as much fun. Plenty to see and do. It looks like I just might be able to retire SA finally...

Anyhow, I'll let you all know how it plays...

[zapionics<alt>]

double post...

[jaketerminate]

Great review, you should get some screenies up.

[spookyload]

Have fun with the game. I played it from beginning to end in Iraq on 360 and loved it. You have to make some decisions in the game that totally sway the way the game plays out. When you have to decide between two guys to kill...think about it and choose wisely. That is all I will say.

[zapionics<alt>]

Alternative endings? Sounds great.

I just spent a couple of hours mucking around with the game including tweaking the settings a few times and it has got to be one of the most stable games I've ever played straight out of the box like this. No hiccups at all. Astounding. I mean I drove like a madman and engaged with the local law enforcement frequently...

[zapionics<alt>]

Little bug; if you log out of Windows Live and then back in you lose all your custom key settings.

[Kimbo]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

Installation on this rig was about 5 minutes...

what rig ?
5 minutes ? i doubt it...
even installing from virtual drive takes much longer...
worldwide, installing is known to be long (average ~ 20 minutes)

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

how did we come to this?

by people purchasing such games. how else ?

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

The game looks totally awesome. Improvement in graphics over SA is really significant.

of course the graphics are better. it's 2005 vs 2008
but for me, so far, even though the quality of the graphics is better, because of the gritty new york setting which means the color palette of dark browns and greys, it makes for a dark depressing environment. not to my liking. here's hoping for a much better saint's row 2 - assuming it still has a pc release. (went off the radar a few months ago)

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

none of the charm has been lost in this version...

i and the rest of the internet beg to differ....

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

Controls are very familiar but a really big negative dissappointment for me is that I cannot bind the on-foot forward key to the mouse this has just got to be patched or I will go crazy.

you and everybody else


ps: did they start adding adds in people's posts ?? (re your sig) when ?
i use ad blocker and see squat... i could disable it temporarily but won't even bother.

[zapionics<alt>]

another double post

[zapionics<alt>]

Hi Kimbo...
You dont see the ads when logged in (except for the banners). Happened a while back, theres some posts in the feedback forum.

I dont recall the game install now but I will be re-installing again soon due to a system rebuild that I'll be doing ... will time it again then. However, I wrote 5 mins so then I expect thats what it took. I would remember if it had taken 20 minutes ...

The rig is an X48 chipset on an Asus P5E64 Evolution (rev 2.0) work station mobo with C2D E8500 (Wolfdale) running at max of 3.8 Ghz ... 4GB DDR3 ... 4870HD 512MB vid card. Vista 64bit... DX10...

Well, I think the game retains the charm... and I've played GTAIII, Vice City and San Andreas... but I havent finished it yet...

It was worth mentioning the graphics improvement since some ppl might want to know how it looked on the PC... same old or better... its better

[jeffturner]

i love grand theft auto.

[OldDeadOne]

Doesn't this game take advantage of a Quad Core?