The Gamer’s Quagmire #68: Lucky Number 4
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less
by Jamison DeLorenzo
Promises are promises, and, this amazing revelation aside, I figure if there is a week to talk about GTA this would be the week to do it. There are very few stories in gaming news this week that do not involve this game, and rightfully so. Considering the sales numbers this game is putting up (6 million copies sold in week one) it would be rather silly to ignore this landmark game.
That was far more than just a play on words relating to the number of NYC landmarks in the GTA IV version of Liberty City. This is one of the few games I have ever seen released where every major gaming publication and review site is giving this game near perfect marks. I am not saying this should drive you to your nearest store and pick the game up, but so few games are ever given a high score, let alone from everyone. After taking a week off from work to plow through this game, something which I had planned since the beginning of the year, I find it very difficult to disagree with the notion that this game isn’t as close to perfect as a game can get.
There are many things this game does that its predecessors have done. All the basic gameplay elements that you love (or hate) about the game are back, the satire is still present, the detail in the city environment is amazing, the story is engrossing, and the characters and dialogue are movie-level quality. These are all things I expect from GTA. Games that step up to this level are almost always highly praised, including last year’s icon in this department - BioShock.
Where GTA has stopped before, IV has kept going. Let us start with what is in the forefront – the graphics. The work Rockstar has put into Liberty City has definitely raised the bar in the realm of the free-roaming environment. Combine the graphical power of Crysis with the city detail that went into Assassin’s Creed and what you get is Liberty City. Downtown is littered with gigantic signs that make you feel like you’re on the strip in Vegas. Seeing the city skyline light up at night is just like looking out of a hotel window. Those are the big visuals. The details - like movie posters and other ads inside buildings, the geysers of water that shoot up when you knock out fire hydrants, the debris that gets caught in a cyclone when a helicopter is flying nearby, being able to hear your car radio while outside the car - all of these experiences make you feel like you are inside a real city.
Next to the basic gameplay elements that make GTA what it is, the satire embedded in this game is easily the most enjoyable aspect of this. This is not anything new, but being able to see this in the form of television and the web are brand new experiences. One day I spent hours just watching TV in one of my safehouses. Is there any point in doing this? You don’t get missions or any real information on backstory in the game, but it sure is entertaining.
The only complaint I have is that the character movement is still a ways away from smooth. Running around, moving through crowds of people, breaking into cars or just hopping in them all have very natural movements. Jumping, however, is still atrocious. Trying to get Niko to jump between ledges, onto or off of a boat, or in between rooftops is still an ordeal. Jumping in wide open spaces is not nearly as frustrating as cramped spaces (I got stuck once under a staircase which forced me to reload because crouching and walking wasn’t working right), but jumping in a straight line can be a major ordeal at times. One mission I failed because I tried getting onto a dirtbike from behind it, only to walk in circles for over 10 seconds before my target escaped.
If those problems were not present in the game I would easily be able to state with conviction that this game is perfect. When I say a game is perfect, that means that while the game can still be improved to do things in different ways, there is nothing that I feel the game is lacking. For example, the cover combat system could be a little easier to use for getting in and out of cover or sprinting between cover spots, but it didn’t really cause any problems. The combat system was still much better than anything that has been in GTA games to date, so I cannot state with a straight face that the combat was difficult or frustrating.
There is one thing I should make a special note on. There is a mission that involves a bank job in this game. I thought this was going to be as annoying as the Vice City mission was, but it turned out to be the best mission in any GTA game I have played to date. The tedious parts of the robbery - securing the bank, subduing employees and customers, busting open the vault, were all scripted. The entire mission revolved around the escape from the bank. The adrenaline rush in running through the streets taking out cop after cop, running through the subway, avoiding helicopters, and the final escape back to the house provided more adrenaline and energy than I could ask for. I would need 3 Red Bulls back-to-back to recreate that sensation. This mission was the defining moment for the game.
Coming up with something different to say about this game is tough. You know it all and you’ve probably seen it all. The highlights of this game were the graphics, fighting system, environment detail, voice acting, character animations, story, dialogue, satire, and length. The driving, movement, and missions were good but could all have been improved. The multiplayer was new and fun, but still could be so much more. Every one of the highlights were near perfect if not perfect, which means that GTA IV probably didn’t exceed many people’s expectations, but it matched what most people were expecting from Rockstar. If that doesn’t say something about what the value of the GTA franchise is, then nothing really does.
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March 14, 2008
The Gamer’s Quagmire #64: An MMO With Sprinkles on Top
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less
by Jamison DeLorenzo
We have all been witnesses to the recent acquisition of Blizzard and the attempted acquisition of Take Two. Both of these companies are rumored to be in the development stages of a new online game, and these speculations have largely revolved around Starcraft and KOTOR. Whether you believe these rumors or not is your decision, but a new rumor popped up recently which has caused me to recall an article I wrote back in 2003 about the very same subject - a GTA MMO.
I went back and re-read my old article and discovered two things. First, my sense of humor in these rants of mine has changed a lot in even as little as two years. Second, the points I attempt to drive home now are a lot more coherent. That’s the price you pay for being a writer who is a lot more raw than polished. There were, however, some interesting points I made four years ago about what a GTA MMO would be like. Now that I have a lot of experience in playing in the genre it’s time for me to spruce up some old ideas and figure out how this game could work.
I know what you are thinking - come on, not another GTA article!? This topic is repeated a lot, but, to be completely honest, it gave me an opportunity to spruce up an old idea that, frankly, needed some polishing. It also allowed me to put a lot less time into putting together a solid article this week. Sometimes being lazy can pay off, and a retrospective on my old musings has been enjoyable (at least, for me it has). At this point let me make a solemn promise not to write anything more about this franchise until the last week of April, when GTA IV hits the ground running.
While I believe that the GTA MMO concept is probably not in development or even in beginning discussion stages, I believe that the primary reason people are drooling over this, aside from an overwhelming love of the MMO genre and GTA, is the very noticeable lack of a multiplayer capability in the franchise since GTA 2. Anyone who played these games on the PC knows how much fun deathmatches, cannonball races, and killing ice cream men can be. Who would be odd enough not to enjoy that type of good-natured fun? The good people at Rockstar North finally figured this out, and now people are salivating over the inclusion of multiplayer in the impending GTA IV release.
And while I do not have a problem with the ice cream man, or Van Halen, I have had a bit of a problem thinking about GTA as an MMO. My initial thought was along the lines of finding the person so I could test out my brand new nightstick, but after a couple seconds I decided I would be remiss to dismiss some idea like this (who knew I had the capacity to put together a hip-hop album?). I put away my nightstick and began thinking about how such an idea could be brought to fruition.
The types of character classes and opposing factions are pretty much the most important aspect of making an online game deeply immersive. Playing as the traditional thug is the obvious choice, but there are other interesting ones too. There should be the ability to play as cops, major and minor gang leaders, business owners, pimps, or other low-level thugs. All of these jobs could build off each other in working to build an impressive - how would Fat Tony put it - mafia crime syndicate.
In terms of what could be done as part of the general level grind I expect a lot of the standard stuff you see in most MMO’s. There would almost certainly have to be some generic NPC gang activity like there was in City of Heroes, but there does need to be a GTA spin on it. I came up with a couple minor things to consider, but I think they begin to set the tone for a larger GTA universe. Imagine holding up a jewelry store only to have the clerk pull out a Colt Python as soon as you turn your back to leave. Imagine an ambulance driver slashing you with a katana when trying to hijack his vehicle. Better still - imagine some psychotic soldier driving around in a Hummer running people over at will.
I also thought about basic skills and professions, and San Andreas started to tap into those ideas. When Rockstar talked about the RPG elements in that game they referred to your stats (swimming, running, muscles, etc.). I don’t see why those couldn’t be basic skills that several classes in a GTA MMO have access to, but there are plenty of ideas there. The professions are what interests me more, and you can have varying weapons specialists, drivers, brawlers, and grenadiers for all fighting classes. Gang leaders could specialize in recruiting, entrepreneurship, and negotiations. It’s all very doable.
Car theft is a major element in the basic game, so I’m betting that cars, along with people, would have to have a pretty good respawn rate. While that part is not that interesting I will state that watching many people get into ugly PvP battles over stealing a single car could be a boatload of fun. Contributing to overall mayhem in battles against cops could also be fantastic.
Using a PvP angle along with building your syndicate’s influence, the battle over various businesses would be great. This is a concept that Mythic Entertainment calls RvR (Realm vs. Realm) battles and has placed this into the core of Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online. I would argue that this dynamic would be perfect for an online GTA game. Instead of just businesses, however, you could also control another form of ownable property - the gang hideout. All of these buildings could constantly be fought over by competing factions to shift overall control of a city. Keeping control over these buildings may be trickier than getting someone to laugh while watching A Night at the Roxbury, but it would be very competitive and entertaining PvP.
Going back to four years ago I didn’t think that there was a reasonable way to put together a GTA MMO, but today I am starting to believe that there is something to this idea. While these ideas are a bit scattered and light, they should make any eager readers think that the overall game concept could theoretically work. Years of experience playing the genre do wonders for being able to put together ideas like this. With enough effort and innovation this could be a very popular game. With all the innovations the franchise has already brought to the table this move might be the last great innovation Rockstar can bring to the table with their primary cash cow. Even if that meant the end of the GTA franchise as we know that would be just fine with me - so long as it was still a lot of fun to play.
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March 7, 2008
The Gamer’s Quagmire #63: The Inaugural All-Uninspirational Gaming Awards
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less
by Jamison DeLorenzo
One of the great ideas that I have supported for a long time, the Ironic Punishment Division, is something I find myself wanting to write about multiple times per year. While it always felt like a genuinely funny idea, it never felt like a legitimate one until its appearance in Halloween Special IV on the Simpsons. The only time this idea has worked its way into any of these articles to date was when doling out ‘appropriate’ punishments in a lawsuit several years ago during one of the many media-grabbing lawsuits involving video games and a shooting.
There has not been anything recently that has prompted me to want to repeat this type of article, thankfully, but I feel like there have been a lot of strange reports in the gaming industry that makes me believe that writing such an article is the right thing to do. As such, this week’s edition of the Quagmire is an amalgam of recent events and how I perceive them. While they’re not necessarily punishments they are in a similar vein.
(In other words, there isn’t any one topic this week that is remotely grabbing my interest on any deep level)
The Developers Arms Race:
EA purchases BioWare and Pandemic. Activision purchases Blizzard. Now EA is going after Take Two. Correct me if I’m wrong, but God didn’t smile too kindly down on the Tower of Babel, right? There must be a serious inferiority complex in the industry if all these developers are being sucked up by the industry juggernauts. I mean - there does not seem to be anything to stop these two companies from being bitter enemies and swallowing the industry whole. How can this be a good thing?
At what point would either EA or Activision be satisfied with the amount of developers under their respective iron fists? Why do developers like BioWare or Blizzard feel like it is in their best interest to work for these companies? Blizzard has to be, almost literally, swimming in money with World of Warcraft being the success that it is. What can their motivation possibly be?
This trend scares me a lot, as I’m sure it does many people. If over $150 million dollars gross isn’t enough to stay relatively independent then how much trouble is the industry in?
Solution: It is time to implement some Tyler Durden justice here. No no, nothing violent! Every one of these conglomerate developers needs to be leveled back to ground zero and they all need to start over. The gaming industry produced a lot more interesting fruits when everyone was smaller and competing with each other. It’s true that development costs are much higher now, but every company already has development kits and working relationships with the console manufacturers.
In short, you have what you have and everything else goes away. We should do this every one or two console generations to keep the playing field level and to keep companies from becoming unstoppable intergalactic developer black holes.
Jack Thompson and EA:
First he was annoying. After some time he became funny. After having a suspended license, being called out by Penny Arcade, and still shooting his mouth off he was a running joke. Now we’re at the point where the running joke is just annoying and we want it to exist in a small corner (under a blanket, inside a very small box, inside of another box…) of the universe.
Basically, Jack Thompson has followed the path of the Energizer Bunny (too bad it is not a fabled RPG career arc). I am old enough to remember when both of these gags started in the entertainment industry. Anyway, now Jack wants to be a part of EA because they want to buy out Take Two, Jack’s mortal enemy. On top of his other spectacular failures he’s being, rightfully, snubbed in this move. He’s been viral for a long time, but now it looks like all other potential enemies of Rockstar want nothing to do with him (along with the Bar Association).
Solution: There is not a whole lot you can formally do here, but that doesn’t mean satire cannot help. If you have been to ThinkGeek at all and are a fan of Office Space you know about the Initech No Talent Ass Clown Award. We need a website to create a running list of worthy recipients of this award. I don’t think there’s any question Jack should be an award winner (and a potential inaugural lifetime achievement award winner).
Street Fighter IV:
I try to get excited about games that I worshipped as a kid. Fighting games can be a ton of fun, and Capcom struck platinum (it went far beyond striking gold) with Street Fighter II. Approximately 3,420 iterations of the franchise later, maybe 2 of them being mildly interesting, there is noticeable buzz surrounding Street Fighter IV. Why exactly are we supposed to care about this game?
Oh, right - it’s a 3D fighter now! This is innovative for the Street Fighter franchise, but more of a Rip Van Winkle-esque RSVP to the modern console fighter party. The artwork does a decent job of keeping the old Street Fighter II cartoony look while adding some ruggedness to each of the classic characters. Unfortunately, nostalgia alone is not going to make this game work. Perhaps if Capcom stopped going to this well so frequently there might be something left here.
Solution: Here we need to employ the Old Yeller approach. Street Fighter is an old dog now. We had a lot fun with it as kids. It’s run around everywhere and has become old and tired. If I this were 1995 I might be excited about a fresh entry in the franchise, but the reality of the situation is that I’m bored to death of Street Fighter. If this game doesn’t offer anything new then it’s going to be received as well as GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
Here’s my main point: it’s time to take this franchise out back behind the barn and let it never be heard from again. Don’t cry. Don’t fret. There is no need to weep - there are plenty of solid fighters out there that will make you much happier than this franchise possibly could. It’s time to get a new fighter.
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March 5, 2007
The Gamer’s Quagmire #42: My Guide to the GTA IV Galaxy
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less.
by Jamison DeLorenzo
What is going to be one of the biggest games for this year, assuming the launch date is accurate, is going to be Grand Theft Auto IV. No, I do not expect this game to blow me out of the water like Vice City did, but I expect big things. I am sure a lot of other people are too. Considering GTA III has remained in the limelight long after each of its incarnations have been released the impending release of this game is going to be larger than the gaming community (bank on the media playing a controversy angle). In fact, the odds are close to 100% that the lines for the game will be a lot longer just because people outside the gaming community continue to talk about it.
History keeps repeating itself this way. The best advertising is always free, so when people keep mentioning the game Rockstar can just sit back and count the cash coming in. Sure, they have to watch it go out to as their CEO and PR department have not exactly been the best thing for Rockstar. More accurately their PR department plays like a good blooper reel. In my head I see a department run by Krusty the Clown- because not only would it still be funny but it would be expected. Perhaps that is not a practical solution. Regardless, as long as they keep their games right it makes no difference.
Talking about a game this long before its release is dangerous, and so I write this with what is probably too much enthusiasm. I find it impossible to care if I am setting myself up for a big fall on this or not- in my lifetime Vice City is probably my defining game, so it is only natural that the next big leap in the franchise (San Andreas was a minor leap- but still a great one) is something I pay very close attention to. Will this be a good leap or a Pitfall leap?
Yeah, video game humor- you really have to love it.
Details on this game are obviously very sketchy right now. The only interesting rumor that is floating around is the backdrop for the game. Rockstar has been looking to do a GTA game that is outside the U.S. for a good amount of time and this definitely presents an opportunity. The setting has had a dramatic effect on how the game feels and plays with both Vice City and San Andreas. Any good game has this immersive quality about it. As such, the GTA IV setting may not be that pivotal for you it is quite so for me. If I feel like I am moving around in an actual city versus some artificial world it makes a big difference. If you don’t believe immersion is important consider this- could you really live in a world without the Degenatron?
(WARNING: previous joke aimed at GTA fans: if confused consult Wikipedia or, better still, play Vice City)
Looking back at all of the best parts of the GTA III series there are some noteworthy changes in the franchise. Before The Sims 2 came out I made a list of some changes I wanted in the game that would make the game a lot better without making it too complicated. Having a solid background in simulations (both for computer science experimentation and gaming) I came up with mostly everything that the game designers did- and this scared me. No, I am not an expert and I have no insider information. Still, it is always fun to guess. While I do not consider this guesswork I put together a small list of ideas that I want to see in the series. This was tough to put together mostly because the standard upgrades that games get I wanted to avoid just because they are not innovative anymore (the most obvious being more guns and vehicles).
1) We need better ways avoiding wanted level capture. I have never been a big fan of driving over the bribe icons, but if you are going to have rampages, health, armor, guns, and hidden packages then those are not a bad idea. It would paint a very interesting picture if bribing was different based on your wanted level. For instance, the bribe icons only work with local and state police. Once the FBI and army come in then you should have to do some very impressive tricks to get out of your predicament. Having a secret meeting with corrupt agents and paying a lot of money comes to mind. Oooh, maybe besides money you could even have access to special missions for assassinations when your meter is high enough. That’s just off the top of my head. This is definitely worth exploring.
2) Owning houses and businesses was just about where I would like it in Vice City. The balance was nice. Watching the criminals trying to steal over $20 million from my vault during the final mission was also quite hysterical. Okay, let me explain this one. Given that much money you would have about 6 hours at least to complete a mission that takes 5 minutes if you are tooling around. Overall there was enough variation in big purchases where the overall mass of what you could own was far from obscene (ignoring the adult film studio, mind you). I want to know why there’s no system in place yet for being a real pimp. If you can own a printing press and cab company then what’s stopping this? Building a city-wide ring that really rakes in the cash is far too appealing. You could even to do that in a multiplayer environment. Hmm, this leads me to…
3) Cooperative play. Yeah, everyone’s clamoring for it which makes this cherry-picking. I want more than just multiplayer- I want it to blow people away (at this point you have to know that pun was intended). There was a very small amount of it in San Andreas and it felt like a last-minute add. The multiplayer deathmatch and cannonball experience has been missing from the console games completely. This needs to be remedied now. Online play is far beyond established and we know that the 360 and PS3 can handle it. It is time to tap into some untapped potential.
For cooperative play I don’t want some lame situation where only certain missions are possible to have multiplayer. I want you to be able to “hire help” whenever possible. If San Andreas could handle a car doing a 4x drive-by then IV candle hiring a gang buddy for a fee. Hey, the more money you pay the more loaded the friend can be.
For competitive play there can be some great things. Deathmatch is a must, but there also need to be variations. I want a competition on who can do the most damage, who can blow up more civilian or law enforcement vehicles, who can run the most people over, who can do the most drive-bys, and so on. In the cannonball races I want a preset wanted rating, an option where my car blows up if I’m driving too slowly, or even a race between pizza delivery scooters (the equivalent of a slap only deathmatch).
4) I must admit I was against flying when it was brought in even though it led to interacting with James Woods. I was vehemently against swimming not causing death, but you cannot be resistant to change all of the time. It is now time to add something to those who love running around to avoid cops- climbing. The days of only stairs and jumping must pass. Even games like Tony Hawk have a mildly passable system now. If you can jump between planes, skydive, and scuba then we are far beyond ready for the ability to climb buildings. More ways to explore, more places to hide stuff, more ways to annoy cops- these are all good things.
Yes, the upgrade in graphics is going to be quite intense (if you care about such things) and may largely determine whether this game is accepted by the previous fan club. I don’t want the changes in the game to be disingenuous. I want solid innovations in this franchise to continue for a long time. We have a good litmus test coming for whether Rockstar is as good at innovation as I think they are. They proved it with III, Vice, Andreas, and Bully. I believe they can do it again.
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