GTA IV - some more

Right, where was I?

Before I go on I'd like to point out a few of my ideas that got used in the new game, breaking into cars, going through the windscreen, and hearing the radio when you're not in the car. yay

The latter idea is so cool and a great touch, ie you can still hear the radio from the car if you're stood close to it. Nice ambient moment.
Flying through the windscreen is something else, and as you can imagine heaps of fun.

There's no order to my rant so I'll just get on with it.

Vehicles are a great deal tougher, it can take an age to get a car to explode. And they don't seem to auto explode when they roll either. You'll get to see some terrific damage on the cars, one of mine had it's whole front squashed and the wheels were all pointing in different directions - thus needless to say it wouldn't go anywhere after that.

Lots and lots of vehicles to choose from, even at this early stage in the game. And they're all very realistic, even the trashmasters look like those New York ones. Trucks themselves are far better now, they feel huge and they handle a lot better than previous games - no more strange sliding about. Patriots which were modeled slightly on Hummers are now indeed exactly like Hummers (and there's police version too).
I ventured into the airport, much to the displeasment of the authorities, and drove around the runways in one of those cool big wheeled wagons, lots of police on my tail. Great fun.

The handling has changed a great deal. In keeping with this extra layer of realism Rockstar have made driving rather difficult, it'll take some getting used to. Cars take longer to gain acceleration, making collisions with other vehicles something even more to avoid. The hand-brake needs a more softly-softly approach too, or you'll find yourself 180 degrees facing the wrong way mostly.

I guess this is more real, I dunno I don't drive.

The map is a lot more condensed, there's not much open space like in San Andreas. So they've managed to cram a lot more areas within the city itself, ie on rooves and atop generally any structure you care to mention. You can now climb ladders, fire escapes, you can jump up to ledges and sidle across, swimming is still here, you can pick up smaller objects to throw, entering buildings requires no loading time, a lot more moves in combat system such as hiding and peering behind objects.

The subway system is now totally excellent, with different lines and more stations it all feels a lot more useful. There's even a friendly robotic female voice to tell you which station is next. You can change the view while riding them, even rotate the camera to see different angles. This also works with riding taxis, YES you can hail and ride taxis anytime you wish. It's just like being in New York it really is.

When you start, only two islands are open to you (out of 6), 3 main ones and 3 smaller ones, the first smaller ones requires a bridge toll to be paid but thats just a matter of slowing down for the barrier to open. Fail to do so will result in the local law interested in your actions. The first island is similar to Brooklyn, no huge skyscrapers here.

And check out the braking noise that the vehicles now make, ultra-real!