Video gaming site GameSpot, whose reputation was recently tarnished because of Gerstmanngate, actually had the gall to hand out two perfect scores in a span of weeks. First was for Grand Theft Auto IV, which was released last April 29, and the second was for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which came out last June 17. Watch the MGS4 video review below.

Using the FragFX on shooters is great. It gives the player PC-like controls and provide pinpoint accuracy when shooting. Given its benefits, I’ve decided to try playing Grand Theft Auto IV using the FragFX. What could go wrong? GTA IV requires a lot of shooting, so the optimist in me was stoked.
Let me tell you, it was terrible.

Let’s face it: the previous Grand Theft Auto games were absolutely pathetic in the shooting department. Press a button to automatically aim, and then press another to shoot. Was it fun? Nope. The only reason past GTAs sell well is the sandbox-style gameplay that lets you do anything (i.e. run over pedestrians, shoot people, steal cars, etc.) you want, anytime.
When Rockstar introduced the concept of shooting individual body parts in GTA IV, it completely changed gameplay. Not only does it add new mechanics for players to toy with—the gunfights are also shortened to a great degree. If you can make …read more

I’ve always hated the tradeoff of using motorcycles versus cars in Grand Theft Auto games primarily because I can’t shoot from inside a car, and that chasing someone in high speeds while riding motorcycles is bad for your health. It was a vicious circle that made GTA more difficult than enjoyable.
GTA IV seems to have solved that problem now that shooting is allowed inside cars. All one has to do is press L1 (or perhaps a shoulder button on the Xbox 360) and Niko would start shooting. If the glass window is intact, our protagonist would proceed to break it. …read more

The last time we saw Blendtec founder Tom Dickson, he did what the Covenant wasn’t able to do in three installments: turn Master Chief into space dust. Tom can’t seem to beat his grandchildren in Halo 3 so he took the game and pulverized its disk with his company’s blender. It looks like the Will It Blend marketing campaign doubles as Tom’s anger management program as well.
Look what got Tom’s goat now:

According to our blend-happy host, he wanted to steal a 1968 Mustang GT300 in Liberty City. To his disappointment, there was none so off to the blender Niko goes.
Source: …read more

Remember the patch by Sony and Rockstar to improve Grand Theft Auto IV’s multiplayer at PSN? It’s been available for quite some time now, but I was having difficulty downloading it. Every time I try to download the patch, I get the following message:
“An error occurred during the download operation. (80710092)”

Accomplishing The Snow Storm mission in Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t easy. It’s loaded with armed crack dealers, a persistent SWAT team, a drawn-out and dangerous car chase, a bag full of illegal drugs, and a few nasty surprises along the way.
There’s always a good chance one won’t survive the mission, so I’ve decided to create a little guide just for The Snow Storm. Beware; I’ve also embedded a video walkthrough at the end of this entry, but it contains major spoilers so watch it at your own risk.

Yeah, you must’ve heard that Grand Theft Auto IV is all that, but it doesn’t mean we should all be raving fanboys. Aside from the good stuff I’m churning out about the game, rest assured that there will be well-placed rants, like this post.
What am I going to lambast this time? Artificial intelligence or the lack thereof.
As Niko Bellic, you’ve been tasked to clear a certain area of bad guys with big guns. As you proceed to the location and start shooting, you notice that your enemies are a bunch of brainless gun fodder. The Euphoria engine does nothing to …read more

Clearly, Niko Bellic is not the star of Grand Theft Auto IV. He may be the lead character in Rockstar’s latest murder simulator epic crime drama, but the pièce de résistance is sprawling Liberty City, which is modeled after The Big Apple, New York City.
According to Wikipedia, Rockstar sent full-time researchers to NYC twice during the game’s development. They studied traffic patterns and makeup of every neighborhood, among other details. However, Liberty City is not an exact recreation of NYC. Rather, it feels more like a caricature. Liberty City attempts to depict the real-life city’s sights and sounds, and twists …read more

I’ve just hit the jackpot in Grand Theft Auto IV, and it’s only going to get even better. Remember when Rockstar representatives said that the game is a progression of “rags to slightly-better rags”? I think the publisher’s powers-that-be should sack these reps because they don’t really know what they’re talking about.
At my current playthrough, Niko Bellic has already made it big. Our likeable protagonist is already getting paid thousands of dollars for whacking each of his clients’ enemies. Niko wears the most expensive suits, takes a cab to his destinations (instead of manually driving from point A to point …read more