Activation limits have been removed from BioShock.
Unfortunately, the DRM is still there. However, as I have said many times before, I am willing to put up with DRM as long as it isn't too draconian or too intrusive. With the activation limits removed, BioShock has just wandered into the "willing to put up with" category.
To be fair, at this point, I don't know if I will buy BioShock. This is a decision I will make when I finish with GTA IV and are looking out for my next game. Unfortunately for 2k, my eagerness for this game has long passed and it is entirely possible that by the time I buy a new game, there will be something newer which is getting all the press. However, the removal of the activation limits means that at the very least, I will consider buying it.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
GTA IV - single player impressions
At last - I've finally played enough of the game that I'm now willing to give my impressions of the single player game. The short version is that the game is bloody good. If you have played and enjoyed any of the previous GTA games, then you will definitely like Rockstar's newest baby.
But where should I start for the long version? Rockstar have managed to pack so much into this game that at times, its ridiculous.
I guess the big highlight, and one of the GTA series biggest strengths, is the living breathing world that Rockstar have managed to create. As you probably already know, GTA IV is effectively set in New York. And the developers have really gone to a lot of trouble to create as much of New York in as realistic a detail as possible. Granted, I've never been to New York, but its amazing how familiar the architecture looks (bear in mind, my impression of New York comes from various movies and other video games!).
Of course, simply recreating the layout of New York isn't going to be enough. What Rockstar have managed to do is fill the city full of people. As you wander around, you hear people talking to each other (then exclaiming in anger as I push them aside - hehe). Dotted around the city are various street preachers, hot dog vendors, drunks, beggars and even the occasional junkie.
In addition to the people are all the things you can do. You can go for drinks, go to restaurants (either a nice fancy one or a quick burger at the local Burger Shot), go bowling, play darts or pool etc etc etc. And they all come into play at some time or another as one of the big themes in GTA IV is hanging out with friends.
Hanging out with friends has various benefits depending on the friend. If you get chummy enough with the friends, then you can unlock various special abilities. For example, you could get free taxi or helicopter rides around the city or buy guns for cheap. Hanging out with girlfriends is another example where you can get a nice payoff if you get popular enough with her.
The second big highlight for this game is the humour. Although you get the normal humour (for example, you can go to a comedy club and watch various comedians - including cameos by famous comedians such as Ricky Gervais), you also get a healthy does of satire. Littered throughout the game are various digs at real life which are great if you know what the developers are taking the piss out of. As a quick spoiler free example, if you get friendly enough with your girlfriend, you can get invited into her apartment which unlocks the "Warm coffee" achievement (an obvious dig at the hot coffee scandal).
The third big highlight is the story. Bear in mind that the last GTA game I played was GTA III which didn't have a voiced protagonist. I know that the GTA games have had a voiced protagonist since GTA III: Vice City and playing this game, its easy to see why. Having a voiced protagonist means that the main character actually has character! In GTA IV, the protagonist is an Eastern European called Niko Bellic and as the game progresses, you learn a lot about him through the various cut scenes and conversations he has with his friends. Admittedly, I'm probably biased on the topic of stories in games as the main reason I like playing video games is to take part in an interactive story (hence my preponderance for RPGs).
All in all, this game is packed full of stuff to do. At the moment, I'm making my way through the game very slowly as each night, I only play 1 or 2 missions. The rest of the time, I'm either going out on dates, hanging out with friends, hunting NYs most wanted criminals using a stolen cop car, going on helicopter tours (or stealing the chopper and devising my own tour) etc etc.
Is the game perfect? No - its not. And I don't just mean that in the "you never get a perfect game" sense. There are some obvious flaws which, for me, prevents GTA IV from getting the elusive 100% which so many websites have given it. The biggest one is still the on foot combat.
On foot combat has never been one of GTAs strengths. To be fair, Rockstar have made big improvements to the game engine in terms of how on foot combat works - despite this the combat is still not particularly great. The problem is that its hard to spot other enemies considering the distance most gunfights take place at. Luckily, the game sports an autolock feature so you can rely on that to spot bad guys for you. However, when on foot combat basically turns out to be shooting at far away blobs, it doesn't get particularly exciting.
The problem of spotting enemies is particularly bad at night. One mission in particular has you trying to shoot your way out of an old burnt out building at night. Because its a burnt out building, there aren't any lights so its pretty dark. The combat is all short range as you are wandering around the inside of the building. Sounds exciting right?
In practice, because its so dark, you can't actually see any enemies unless they are right in front of you (ie point blank range). This means that the gameplay revolves around shooting whenever the autolock locks onto something. This is less effective than you might think as the autolock will lock onto enemies hiding behind a wall (ie I'm shooting at a wall but don't know this as its pitch black).
The alternative to shooting at walls was to get closer so that you can actually see what you are shooting at. Of course, this strategy doesn't really work very well as all the cops are armed with shotguns. One on one, this isn't an issue as I can normally kill the blighter before he kills me. The problem is that there are loads of cops and after killing the first wave, I'm pretty low on health and an easy target for the second wave.
Don't get me wrong though, despite one or two flaws, this is still a great game and very easy to get yourself lost in.
But where should I start for the long version? Rockstar have managed to pack so much into this game that at times, its ridiculous.
I guess the big highlight, and one of the GTA series biggest strengths, is the living breathing world that Rockstar have managed to create. As you probably already know, GTA IV is effectively set in New York. And the developers have really gone to a lot of trouble to create as much of New York in as realistic a detail as possible. Granted, I've never been to New York, but its amazing how familiar the architecture looks (bear in mind, my impression of New York comes from various movies and other video games!).
Of course, simply recreating the layout of New York isn't going to be enough. What Rockstar have managed to do is fill the city full of people. As you wander around, you hear people talking to each other (then exclaiming in anger as I push them aside - hehe). Dotted around the city are various street preachers, hot dog vendors, drunks, beggars and even the occasional junkie.
In addition to the people are all the things you can do. You can go for drinks, go to restaurants (either a nice fancy one or a quick burger at the local Burger Shot), go bowling, play darts or pool etc etc etc. And they all come into play at some time or another as one of the big themes in GTA IV is hanging out with friends.
Hanging out with friends has various benefits depending on the friend. If you get chummy enough with the friends, then you can unlock various special abilities. For example, you could get free taxi or helicopter rides around the city or buy guns for cheap. Hanging out with girlfriends is another example where you can get a nice payoff if you get popular enough with her.
The second big highlight for this game is the humour. Although you get the normal humour (for example, you can go to a comedy club and watch various comedians - including cameos by famous comedians such as Ricky Gervais), you also get a healthy does of satire. Littered throughout the game are various digs at real life which are great if you know what the developers are taking the piss out of. As a quick spoiler free example, if you get friendly enough with your girlfriend, you can get invited into her apartment which unlocks the "Warm coffee" achievement (an obvious dig at the hot coffee scandal).
The third big highlight is the story. Bear in mind that the last GTA game I played was GTA III which didn't have a voiced protagonist. I know that the GTA games have had a voiced protagonist since GTA III: Vice City and playing this game, its easy to see why. Having a voiced protagonist means that the main character actually has character! In GTA IV, the protagonist is an Eastern European called Niko Bellic and as the game progresses, you learn a lot about him through the various cut scenes and conversations he has with his friends. Admittedly, I'm probably biased on the topic of stories in games as the main reason I like playing video games is to take part in an interactive story (hence my preponderance for RPGs).
All in all, this game is packed full of stuff to do. At the moment, I'm making my way through the game very slowly as each night, I only play 1 or 2 missions. The rest of the time, I'm either going out on dates, hanging out with friends, hunting NYs most wanted criminals using a stolen cop car, going on helicopter tours (or stealing the chopper and devising my own tour) etc etc.
Is the game perfect? No - its not. And I don't just mean that in the "you never get a perfect game" sense. There are some obvious flaws which, for me, prevents GTA IV from getting the elusive 100% which so many websites have given it. The biggest one is still the on foot combat.
On foot combat has never been one of GTAs strengths. To be fair, Rockstar have made big improvements to the game engine in terms of how on foot combat works - despite this the combat is still not particularly great. The problem is that its hard to spot other enemies considering the distance most gunfights take place at. Luckily, the game sports an autolock feature so you can rely on that to spot bad guys for you. However, when on foot combat basically turns out to be shooting at far away blobs, it doesn't get particularly exciting.
The problem of spotting enemies is particularly bad at night. One mission in particular has you trying to shoot your way out of an old burnt out building at night. Because its a burnt out building, there aren't any lights so its pretty dark. The combat is all short range as you are wandering around the inside of the building. Sounds exciting right?
In practice, because its so dark, you can't actually see any enemies unless they are right in front of you (ie point blank range). This means that the gameplay revolves around shooting whenever the autolock locks onto something. This is less effective than you might think as the autolock will lock onto enemies hiding behind a wall (ie I'm shooting at a wall but don't know this as its pitch black).
The alternative to shooting at walls was to get closer so that you can actually see what you are shooting at. Of course, this strategy doesn't really work very well as all the cops are armed with shotguns. One on one, this isn't an issue as I can normally kill the blighter before he kills me. The problem is that there are loads of cops and after killing the first wave, I'm pretty low on health and an easy target for the second wave.
Don't get me wrong though, despite one or two flaws, this is still a great game and very easy to get yourself lost in.
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