Guides
I'll copy and paste my first post just incase you missed it and have no clue what this is:
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"Hello Bombers, this is a little project I had in my head for a while now so I wanna atleast try it out and see if it can generate some pretty cool results.
A general problem with video game journalism of all kinds that has been brought up is the lack of coverage on a game after it releases. I'm not talking about something like the coverage of LittleBigPlanet or Fallout 3 after it immediately releases, I'm talking about games that were released months ago and is now a blur to us gamers since all of the newer games that continues to come out weekly(especially now in the holiday season). So, I'm going to take a look back on games and just write up some opinions and commentary of the game section by section and make an archive of thoughts on it, and I encourage everybody else to do the same. It might be interesting, it might turn out to be completely stupid and a waste of time, but I'm pretty excited about what it might do. Everyone can also agree that it might also save them a buck or two and put off all of these new games that are coming out, and give them a chance to go back to their good old classics. I even came up with a fun little name for this: The Second Playthrough. (I don't care if Playthrough isn't a real word in the dictionary)
So, What's the first game? I decided I shouldn't do these things too far back, so I think it would be interesting to do Grand Theft Auto IV again. I've personally only played through the game once and I didn't go back and do any of the multiple paths, so I'll see what it's like. For people that's never played GTA IV, shame on you, and I will ask you to either leave the conversation or else you will become very spoiled, for you should experience the game on it's own first, not with others :)."
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Act 1: Welcome to Liberty City
I've completely forgotten the beginning of the game at this point. I love the way the credits roll in the background, you don't see that often in games, unfortunately. The introduction cutscene is brilliant, hyping up Liberty City as this "land of opportunity" and how Niko is bragging on how successful his cousin, Roman, is. The moment Niko and Roman first meet is handled greatly by the general excitement shown by both of them. It's here when you drive Roman to his home where you discover his reliance on alcohol, his struggling cab business, and his creepy obsession with big titties. He also doesn't have a mansion, he has a very small, junky apartment, and while Niko is obviously dissapointed, he forgives his cousin almost immediately for lying to him. Niko here is almost immediately likable because he seems like a real person with a real past, he fought in some war when he was younger, he loves his family, he wants to be successful.
After seeing the introduction of Mallorie to the story, it's hard for me to understand that they're dating. At first, it just seem's like Roman is trying his best to flirt with some girl, but it isn't untill Vladamir says something about how she should lose Roman and go out with a real man(jerk, much?), anyways... I guess it's just my personal taste, but it looks like Mallarie would be too attractive and nice to go out with a lying scumbag like Roman, who is a bit on the chubby side. Maybe Rockstar made sure there was no ugly main character women in the game(which wouldn't explain Kate later in the story)... I don't know, too much of a rant. Roman is obviously in debt and sucks at running a business. I'm amazed at how much Niko relies on Roman for so long. Personally, I would have really early have seen how much of a loser Roman is and see how he is going nowhere(or would have gone nowhere if it wasn't for Niko).
Roman is confronted by the loan sharks, which are holding a knife to his throat. Niko comes and intervenes as he pulls a move from Jackie Chan's playbook and disarms the man and brakes his arm while he's at it, it definantly shows Niko's military training and questions just how high of a soldier Niko might have been during the war. Niko is introduced to Michelle, who seems harmless, and it's kinda weird how interested Michelle is into Niko at first(it's almost as if she knows him... na). Niko is soon confronted with the first decision he has to make, save his cousin, or go out on a first date with Michelle, it doesn't really matter what you do, you have to do both some time or another. You kill your first person here and I kinda find it funny how Niko says "I promised myself I wouldn't kill people here" right after he drops one of the lone sharks out the window into the water. Niko must have serious problems with his past if he struggles not to murder people.
The fact Niko calls the carnival a funfair makes me chuckle very girlishly. The first date with Michelle is kind of nice, you can really tell that she jumps around the truth(especially playing through the second time). Vlad is once again hitting on Mallorie, talk about obssesive. Niko has up to this point been slowly trickling out the real reason he's moved to Liberty City. I find it interesting that he tells a criminal he's escorting first that he's looking for someone in particular, but he hasn't started yet.
Here we meet Little Jacob, the man with the thickest Jamaican accent ever. Jacob is likeable, but if I remembered on my first playthrough I didn't interact with him much outside of the main story, which made it weird that he ends up your number two guy by the end of the game's main story. I like a man that will hand you a pistol the first time you meet him and asks you to help him kill some people. Just things like that you see in a video game that doesn't seem unnatural, but on paper seems absurd.
Anyways, back to Vlad's missions, which is basically "Go here, scare the shit out of this guy, get money." This leads up to him wanting you to murder someone and Niko is very quick to reject, and tell Vlad that he isn't a hitman. Niko seems to be cornered though, and already knows what would happen if "The Big Boss" were to find out if Niko refuses a job. Niko is very smart in the crime business, and this continues to question his past in the country he lived it before moving to Liberty City. Niko and Roman are both having suspicians that Mallerie is cheating on Roman with Vlad. In the cutscene, Niko tosses out a word that seems to be one of the main themes of the game, hypocrite, I'm sure we'll talk about this more later in the game. The game gives you the first major character to be killed(if you don't kill Ivan from the rooftops). I find it interesting that there's no turning point, and no decisions to be made, you must kill Vlad. The way Niko shoots Vlad is interesting also, he covers up his face to shield away the vision, maybe because Niko believes at this point in time, he will not have to murder anyone else throughout the game, and Vlad will be out of his and his cousin's hair. Sadly, we know this is false, because it would be the most boring game ever without anymore blood.
After killing Vlad, Niko finally reveals to Roman why he's truly in Liberty City, to get revenge on a backstabber that killed 12 of his squadmates in the war 10 years ago, and he found out one of the two suspects he was looking for lived in Liberty City. I remember the first time watching this scene and being blown away already by how improved the GTA story has gotten and how much I sympathized with one character in Niko.
on July 22, 2008