on hold

Real life calling, can't get into any big time commitment game now. But I still want something with the substance of a sim or strategy game. I was thinking of revisiting the entire Age of Empires series, so I checked out some vids on YouTube. I got some good nostalgia out of the sound effects, but the visuals were kind of too small.

The small visuals reminded me just how far the Age series has come; those old games might be too crude to play now, other than for brief nostalgia. But there's some good stuff in there, and it might be enough to draw me in for a few weeks. So I won't go there just yet. Maybe I'll play a little Age of Empires 3. Its not an especially deep game, and its somewhat boring, so I think I can pick it up and drop it with little risk of accidentally losing a week or a month.

Grand Theft Auto 4: final review

GTA 4 and its add-ons are worth playing if you like the GTA series (especially if you get them on sale), but they're mostly unmemorable.

{spoilers}

I can hardly even remember the core game, about Niko. He seems like a mostly sad character, with occasional bouts of rage. There were a lot of dopey missions, mostly involving extended shooting sequences. There were surprisingly few car and racing missions (for a GTA game), for which I am grateful.

If Niko is a sad character, the guy from the first expansion, Johnny, is downright depressing. His story started by wallowing in an empty existence weighted down by nostalgia for days gone by, and ended with even that being taken away. His missions were a little more interesting than the core game, and it was an interesting experiment to slip you, the player, into a far more defined persona. Characters like Niko, and like Claude from GTA 3, are little more than puppets, and you can make them your own. With Johnny, I'm often wondering, well, how would I play this out if I was in his shoes. It was an interesting way to play.

I think they got the balance right with Luis in the second expansion, as far as character, and range of activities. Despite the diversity it was still mostly shooting, but with some surprises. The story seems a little too good for the environment it is in. It actually has a little depth, what with Luis being between worlds and trying to define himself, and almost everyone around him wanting to influence him in some way for their own purposes. But that's almost too big a concept to fit into the GTA sandbox.

GTA games are like a carnival where you wander around, enjoying the sights and sounds, albeit on a prescribed track between attractions. And yet GTA 4 was starting to offer hints of you controlling the story line, like when Niko chooses to execute someone or let them go. You'd think they would push that thread further, but it was dropped. It could have made the add-ons great, instead of just good.

I've been somewhat spoiled by games like Fallout 3, with its mix of RPG and FPS elements, and a seemingly endless world of interactions. But unlike those RPGs, GTA games are action first, not story first, and its a whole different kind of vibe. I accept that. But the GTA games can't be ignored, as they are out there pushing the boundaries of gaming all the time. You can't be any kind of gamer if you're not keeping up with the Grand Theft Auto series. So I enjoyed this carnival, and I may revisit, but I won't linger.

Grand Theft Auto 4: into darkness

Things have taken a turn for the darker, story-wise. What used to be a happy-go-lucky tale has now become a temptation story. I guess things had to come to a point eventually. There's the joke offer from Mori, to become his apprentice, that is easily dismissed. The offer from Bulgarin is not so easily shaken off. What I don't understand is why Luis even listens to this creep. He's instantly identifiable as a creep, and a dangerous one. The first time he insist that you kill someone or else, why not just kill him?

I'm carrying 25 sticky bombs at all times. I could just ring his whole house with them, and blow the fucker up. But no. I have to listen to this piece of crap, until the story says I don't. This game was doing so well, until this. I understand the game needs an antagonist. But this is like finger-painting with oven mitts on.

It's about time.

Shoot Em Win indeed.

(lots of shooting, and several reloads later)

This feels right. I finished the mission, and I'm in a long epic float to the endgame.

Wait, that's it? That's all? Rolling credits already?

At least there's the closing credits clips to watch, where various scenes are re-enacted.

And then, just like that, I'm back in the game, but its all different now that there's no more missions.

It feels so empty when a GTA game ends. I can revisit many places, but I can't really hang out with a lot of characters any more. Its just over.

I know. Games end, stories end, movies end, books end, life ends, everything ends.

It's time to end my time with GTA 4. I'll review later, when I've digested it a bit. I already feel like I'm done, and I'm gone. I don't think I'm going back to finish seagulls, or base jumps, or anything. I'm just done.

Grand Theft Auto 4: shift work

I'm in a nice little routine here: rob drug dealers by day, manage nightclubs by night. Who needs the story missions?

Didn't this used to be out of 25, not out of 50?

OK, so now I got Sticky Bombs. I hope I am retroactively awarded the 3 other weapons I'm due.

I really liked nightclub management. I'm sad that there's only 8 missions in it. It was different.









(next day)

"Walk Free" achievement? For losing 4 stars? Just another day at the office.

OK, 50 out of 50, and no weapon unlock. I'm starting to get a little tired of this. Besides, that's really more like 100 out of 50. At least every other mission ends in some disaster that isn't exactly my fault, but is still my problem. Like jumping into the water and dying instantly. Or having the target vehicle get flipped over, and I can't right it because I'm surrounded by cops, and can't leave the scene or I'll lose the car. Or a teammate steps in front of my field of fire. Its a high failure rate. And I'm not even currently enjoying the benefit of the weapon unlocks.

Back to missions.

What a view from up here.

And now I have a shotgun with explosive shells. Life is good.

Wait - now I have to jump off this thing?

Cool.

Yet another reminder that I am, in fact, playing Grand Theft Auto.

Oh great. I already thought my map was needlessly cluttered with drug war icons (when all you really need is one). Now its absolutely rotten with base jumping icons. I hope these go away if I do them, but I doubt it. Why can't I turn things on and off in mini-map?

I've been wondering now, for a long time, who was it that fucked up this diamond deal. Now I know, it was me.

This incident practically begs for a third chapter to Grand Theft Auto 4. There's still one party at this transaction that is not represented.

Grand Theft Auto 4: drug wars

Now that the helicopter business is done, its time for some fun. I will try to get to at least 25 of these before stopping. I might even do some other side missions, like the seagulls. I didn't think it was worth it before, but I'm really liking this chapter so far.

OK, I don't know if this is lame or not, but I botched my first night of nightclub management. I failed to get the VIP out before the paparazzi got a picture of him. I tried not to kill the guy on the motorcycle, and so the guy got his picture. I spent a fair bit of time just standing around in the club, too. I don't know how this activity is even rewarded, or if I can break it up into more bite size pieces.

Hey, I completed 10 rounds of drug war, where's my reward? I'm supposed to get a new weapon spawn at my hideout for every 10 of these. Reading... oh, there are certain missions that need to be completed first. Lame.

(a few days later)

Playing on and off, got up to 20 drug wars done. It's slow going. Something stupid happens all the time, like a teammate dying. Its fun but tedious, need to take a break. Dessie keeps calling, and I'm interested in seeing more nightclub management.

The music started promptly at 9 pm, but the outside security and patrons didn't appear until I stepped through the door.

I found another use for the joystick. When you are in the nightclub, the controls are different. You mostly walk or fast-shuffle, and move your head back and forth - that's it. This is cumbersome with a mouse, but easier with joystick. What else can joystick do?

Were all the good achievement names taken? They couldn't come up with anything better than "Snow Queen"?

Grand Theft Auto 4: wear this yoke

I couldn't get past a helicopter mission with the keyboard. I've always been able to muddle through before, but I can't handle the helicopter for flying and fighting at the same time. I've been putting this moment off for as long as possible, but its time to break out the console controller.

I have an old "Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows" with a controller. Download drivers, install. Restart the computer!? While I'm rebooting, might as well change the batteries; its been years since I touched this thing (why did I even buy this thing?) OK, I'm back.

Is this thing on? I press the big Xbox logo ball, and get some lights. I'd like to test this thing before I start. Maybe there's some simple utility or game I could try. I read around. Try running "joy.cpl", the built-in calibration tool either doesn't work or doesn't make sense. Maybe I should just try the game and see what happens.

OK, with the controller I can run around and do a lot of basic actions. It's actually a pleasant way to just walk about. Driving is a whole 'nother thing. Especially if I want to do anything other than drive, like shooting. But who cares, I'm still going to stick with the keyboard for everything but flying. Time to go try this out on a helicopter. Maybe I should just go jack a sight-seeing helicopter first, before even trying the mission.

Important safety tip: don't press that yellow Y button, you'll bail out in mid-air, no matter how high are you up. It startled me a little when I hit the ground and my hand vibrated - I forgot this controller has a little bit of force feedback.

Now this makes flying actually fun. I feel like a jerk for ever even trying to use a keyboard to fly. As easy as this now is, I still need practice. I switch to first person view - and holy shit I'm flying. It really feels like I'm flying. This is like a whole new game now! This is all I'm going to do from now on is fly!

OK, yeah, I need some more practice.

I tried the mission again, stealing the small military helicopter for that blowhard, and it went much better this time. Well, I strafed the target for a while without ever hitting it, and I eventually fell into the sea, but it was a lot more fun. It makes me want to go back to the GTA 3 games and try those helicopters again with the controller.

I realize something as I went to reload. My previous mission was to drop my boss off at Gracie's house (nice tie-in to Niko's story), and go to the internet cafe and write a post to a nasty blogger. That's it - drop someone off and then post something. Mission accomplished. My very next mission is to steal a helicopter from arms dealers, then use it to kill them. Is there something a little bit off about the pacing here?

Grand Theft Auto 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Nice intro - starts by showing Niko's story, with plenty of guest appearances from Johnny's story. It's sad to think that this is the last chapter, but it has to end or all these guest appearances in each other's stories could get exponential.

I like the style of this game so far. Everything's kind of bright and neon, yet fake and empty. Its a melancholy mix that reminds me of Vice City in some pleasantly updated way. I wonder if the addition of the 80s radio station was from this add-on, not the previous, and it was just made retroactively available. One of the downsides of retro gaming - your timelines tend to get compacted, if not outright squished.

This game has the P90! I haven't carried one of these (in-game, that is - I'm not likely to ever even see one in real life) since Fallout 2. I'm liking this add-on more and more.

I steer Luis to his Mom's house, and receive a sharp reminder that the Grand Theft Auto universe is a cruel one. Nobody loves anybody for long before it is inevitably ruined by jealousy, fear, and/or betrayal. I just met Luis' mom and I already want to take her on a helicopter trip over the city and bail out in mid-air.

Watching some TV and it occurs to me that GTA games used to be a sometimes subtle satire of our culture; now GTA 4 is almost as blatant as the movie Idiocracy. Yet another reason why GTA 4 feels like a sequel made by different people than the GTA 3 games. Usually sequels tend to lose original key players, subtlety, depth, and quality as they go forwards. Like Fallout 2, and Deus Ex 2. And yet strangely, there was a Fallout 3 and Deus Ex 3 that were better than their immediate predecessors, but still not as good as their originators. Maybe there is something to this, or maybe just coincidence.

Grand Theft Auto 4: idiot ball, end

I haven't raged this hard against this game since the frustrating end of the main GTA 4 game. It's another one of those situations where you have the boss at your mercy, and he's clearly a threat if you let him go, but you let him go so you can do an even harder mission against him later. If the main GTA 4 was written by the "B" team, then these add-ons were written by the "C" team.

Well, at least the game knows how to finish. Nothing like an extended gun battle, and then an execution. I especially like the funeral at the end, it seems fitting.


I really enjoyed the end credits, watching the adventures of Niko and Johnny from a great height. It was especially interesting when their paths almost intersected. I was wondering if they would show anything from the second add-on, and then there it was, on the roof of the museum. I wonder what awaits for the end credits of that add-on.

Not sure how I feel about this episode, TLAD, but I think it was a good length for an add-on. The overall quality was a bit spotty, but worth a playthrough. Not going to stop and think about it much more, as there isn't anything left worth doing but some races and gang wars, which really serve no purpose now. I called everyone in my contact list, listened to the goodbyes. I think I actually feel a little bad for Johnny, he's lost basically everything he knew.

As usual after finishing a game, I hit the net to see what I missed, and usually end up on gamefaqs site. Looks like I missed all the Stubbs extra jobs; wasn't aware of them. Not much else left to do. Time to move on to the next add-on.

Grand Theft Auto 4: back to story

Got bored of the gang wars, went back to the main story.

That's kind of boring too. The endless betrayals, the bosses escaping so you just have to fight them again, etc.

I've decided to just try and keep Terry and Clay alive, as they seem to be part of the story. The rest of the gang are just too stupid and charge right into the action, and it takes way too many retries to keep them alive.

Missions can be tough, but usually get easier with every try. I like how Johnny bites it right under an LCPD ad. Time to reload.

Now this is what I've been missing - fun. All of a sudden I remember why I'm even playing GTA, because suddenly you realize you are enjoying the heck out of some crazy shit, like being on the back of a motorcycle on a high speed chase, while armed with an infinite ammo street-sweeper.

Grand Theft Auto 4: team stats

I like seeing my team mates stats go up, but I'm having to restart missions a lot. Either the cops show up, or someone walks in front of my field of fire, or one of the two major named gang members gets killed, and its time to reload. And yet this is still more fun than most of the original GTA 4 tasks, which felt even more repetitive.

Grand Theft Auto 4: more at home in the city

As Niko, I took a cab everywhere, and it was a great convenience over having to drive. Now as Johnny, it seems right to go everywhere the old fashioned away, driving there myself on my motorcycle. I feel more in touch with the place, and the geography. It even makes a little sense story-wise.

I'm not very fond of having to manage a team; I like to work alone. Usually I end up having to babysit teammates, worrying about accomplishing my mission and trying to keep them alive. Its not much fun and adds a layer of complexity. I don't mind when it adds challenge, I do mind when it adds pointless frustration.