Grand Theft Freetime

I received a gift certificate to Future Shop as a birthday gift from my co-workers a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to use it to purchase a copy of the newly released Grand Theft Auto IV for PC. for a few weeks now I have been watching Live Video feeds of people playing the game (thanks to XFire), as well as recorded video of the game (again, thanks to XFire) and I have been suitably impressed.

Back in the day I enjoyed playing GTA 1 and 2, but never really got into the fancy new versions until GTA: San Andreas came out for PC. The game had the scope and freedom that I enjoyed in a game, but also gave you the structure of a storyline and missions that I need to keep me from getting bored and – let’s face it – the sheer scope of the world that Rockstar Games has created. While I never actually finished GTA: SA, I got farther into that game than any other game I’ve played. I may have said it before – I am not a completionist when it comes to video games. My attention wanders from game to game like a taste-tester. Something more delectable comes along and I want to sink my teeth into it to the exclusion of all others. This is why Left 4 Dead is gathering dust on my shelf (that, and many of my friends are never around to play it with).

Back to GTA IV. I had heard a lot of bad feedback about how poor this game performs, how it’s broken, how so many people are having problems with it. Either I have been lucky, or the vast majority of people who are not having problems with the game are keeping quiet – which in my opinion is probably the case. Before I installed the game, I updated my video drivers because I had read that many of the problems people have been running into are due to out of date drivers. The one problem I ran into is that on the Sunday afternoon when I installed the game I could not connect to the Rockstar website to create an account to take advantage of the game’s online features. Not a huge deal – I tried again that evening and was fine. In addition to that you need a Windows Live account. I already had one, so I simply linked it to my Rockstar account and away I went.

The game starts with a light backstory – you’re in Liberty City to see your cousin, who meets you drunk on the pier when your ship arrives. Of course, he asks you to drive him to his place. This is your first taste of Liberty City – or at least this small corner of it. In the short drive to your cousin Roman’s apartment, I really got a feel for the detail that Rockstar Games has put into this title. Neon reflected off of brick and stone, tail lights reflected off of the hood of nearby cars, and the crunch of metal on metal has been captured to near perfection. However, even on my Radeon HD 4870, the shadows still had something to be desired, and if you spin your view around quickly you watch leaves resolve on nearby trees. A little detail I dislike, but really, it’s just a little detail.

You are left at Roman’s apartment alone, and told to come and visit him after you rest. I slept (saved my game) and left the apartment just as the sun was coming up. While this game is called Grand Theft Auto, I opted to walk the short distance to Roman’s workplace. At one point I even paused on a bridge to look out over the bay. A shoot out between AI characters behind me brought me to my senses – oh yeah, this is a GTA game. I walked the rest of the way to Roman’s cab company and started the game in earnest.

Some of the things that everyone loves about GTA are still in this game – my favourite being the radio stations. Not only is there great music, but the banter of the DJs and the talk radio hosts and their guests is hilarious. References to locations from previous GTA games (like San Andreas and Vinewood) help anchor Liberty City in the mythos that Rockstar has created. Another fun addition is the ability to have your own personal radio station. Just load MP3s, WMAs or M4A files into the GTA music directory and switch your radio to Independence FM. You can select to have just your music, or to have it interspersed with DJ banter. Strangely enough, I decided to drop in the MP3s I have of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s music from Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Let me tell you, mowing down civilians and gunning down thugs while listening to the Peanuts gang singing “Hark the Herald” is more than a little surreal.

Driving in this game is a little trickier than driving in the older versions. The physics of the vehicles has been ramped up, and motorcycles are much more difficult than they used to be. Vehicles have also become satisfyingly destructive, as I found when I ran my Turismo into a concrete abutment on the Broker Bridge. I also found out that this game needs seat belts, as this collision also launched me onto the roadway. Surviving with only a few scrapes and bruises, I jacked a new car, payed my $5 at the toll booth, and continued on my mission. Weather also affects your driving, so racing through the streets in a rain storm is not something you should be enjoying – it’s something for laying down and avoiding.

Another noticeable improvement is how the police react to you, and how they chase you down. In previous iterations of the game, if you even bumped into a cop while walking or driving they would pull  out their pistol and begin gunning you down. In GTAIV, you need to make a concerted effort to piss them off or do some significantly criminal to get them on your case. Also new is the “cop radius”, a circle on your radar that shows you the area you need to be concerned about being in if you do something criminal. The more “wanted” stars you obtain, the larger the circle. Get outside that circle without being spotted by a cop, and you can go free. Also shown on the map when you are wanted are icons which represent law enforcement vehicles (cruisers, trucks, helicopters and boats), to allow you to plan your route in the best possible way to escape. A nice addition.

I plan on trying out some of the multiplayer functions soon, so when I have a chance to try that out I will talk about it.

Rob out.

Lesser Known “Peanuts” TV Holiday Specials

“Hey, I Hope Your Cancer Comes Back, Charlie Brown!”

“Stop Man-Whoring to Pay for your Crack Addiction, Charlie Brown!”

“They’re Genital Warts, Charlie Brown!”

“It’s Radiation Sickness, Charlie Brown!”

“You Killed Lucy, Charlie Brown!”

and

“Tell Your Dog to Stop Humping My Leg, Charlie Brown!”

Important Lessons

This weekend was filled with semi-progress on various projects, and I learned some important lessons, which I plan on sharing with you here.

First off, however, is that Melodie and I managed to get out for an evening without the kids. This is a first since Elizabeth was born and it felt both exhilarating and wrong. I will confess, though… the first time we managed to get out after Connor was born, we spent the first ten minutes in the car checking the back seat, wondering where he was. This time, we ran out the front door, peeled rubber out of the driveway and never looked back. If I had “Bat Out of Hell” on CD, I would have been blaring it out of the car speakers with the windows rolled down, shrieking like a banshee as we headed down Victoria, tearing up the road faster than any other boy has ever gone. Unfortunately our evening out was cut short by our babysitter calling at about 11pm, the first thing I hear when I answer the phone being my seven month old daughter screaming into my ears. Lesson number one; Make the most of every free moment you have without your kids.

Saturday, as usual, was Sportball. It’s basically a bunch of toddlers running around not listening to what they’re supposed to be doing. I try hard to not get frustrated when Connor doesn’t follow the instructions on how to bump a volleyball, putt a ball or shoot a puck. It always seems to me that every other kid is channeling Darcy Tucker or Tiger Woods except mine, who is running around in circles, foaming at the mouth and yelling at the top of his lungs. What is interesting, though, is that a week later at home he’ll suddenly do something he was shown how to do in Sportball – he successfully aced a serve while playing volleyball against me in the basement. The little bugger beat me 15-4. Lesson number two; Don’t assume they’re not hearing what you’re saying.

While Connor and Elizabeth slept, I began the tedious chore of hanging closet doors in the basement. It’s actually fairly simple if you follow the  instructions. I was nearly finished the first door by the time Connor woke up and decided he wanted to “help”. This entailed banging on the door with the tip of a Robertson screwdriver, scribbling pencil on the door frame, running off with a drill bit and asking me what every single piece of hardware was, four separate times. Important lesson number three; two year olds do not make efficient contractors.

That afternoon we braved the lousy roads and went out to get our Christmas tree. While the drive to the tree farm was sketchy, we had a great time once we got there. The snow let off and it was actually pretty mild for this time of year. While Connor rode in a sleigh and Elizabeth rode inside Melodie’s coat (with just her face sticking out – it was so cute), we hunted for a Christmas tree – march, march, look, look. If the weather had been worse we would have just cut down whichever one was nearest the car (which could have ended up being a fence post), but the calm weather allowed us to spend some time searching. Eventually we found the most beautiful tree we’d ever found, cut it down and slapped it on the roof of the Golf like a dead deer. Fastening it down with bungee cords, we learned lesson number four; Don’t fasten bungee cords to the front doors of your car before you get in. We attached the cords to the top of the windows on the front and back doors and then realized there was no way for us to actually get into the car.

Sunday was visiting Santa at the mall and putting up more closet doors in the basement (who’s idea was it to have so many closet doors? One’s fine… two’s enough… but three?). After dinner I rocked Elizabeth to sleep while Melodie and Connor baked my birthday cake (they’re decorating it today – should be interesting). Once Connor and Elizabeth were both snug in bed, we collapsed on the couch and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it. It was a good weekend.

Question Period.

So, my good friend Fraser Ronald from over at Pen’s Tip asked me to give a little more revelation into why I was enjoying Far Cry 2 when I have made comments to the extent that I do not enjoy modern military themed tabletop RPGs. It’s a valid question, as Fraser is an RPG pal who’s preference is for modern military adventures, particularly when run using D20 Modern from Wizards of the Coast.

I do enjoy military themed tabletop RPG adventures, so let’s just make sure that we’re clear in that regard. However, as I have stated on a recent episode of The Accidental Survivors, they need to have something that is extraordinary or fantastic to catch my attention. To be honest, the only military-themed RPGs I have played have had that fantastic element (Fraser’s Qalashar Dogs one-off at GenCon, for instance) and I have never played a straight-up, hardcore modern military game. I simply can’t imagine something like that being any fun. Why? It just seems so ordinary.

n.b. When I talk about a military-themed RPG, I’m speaking of one where the players are ranked soldiers in a large action somewhere in the world, taking orders from on high.

But I do enjoy Far Cry 2, which I suppose one could say is a straight-up, hardcore military-themed game. Two forces are gunning for one another in a war-torn African nation, and it is your job to eventually track down and kill the arms dealer who has been arming both sides. There’s a difference, though, between what I would see has a military RPG adventure and Far Cry 2 (other than one being a tabletop RPG, and the other being a video game).

In Far Cry 2, you are not a member of a large military force, the commander of a large military force or even loosely attached to any large force at all. You are one man (in my case an ex-IRA assassin) who is out to make a buck and a name for himself. Stuck between these two warring factions, you have few friends and at any point a jeep could round a corner on a dusty trail and you could get shot at. You are a loner working both sides while you try to find information about where your target could be. If this were a tabletop RPG, I would play it. It’s fast and loose with nobody breathing down your neck telling you what to do.

There are a lot of different ways to tackle a military-themed RPG, and the way I am simply not interested in is when you and the other players are a small part of a larger machine. I need my characters to be larger than life heroes, capable of fantastic acts or incredible feats of daring. If I don’t have that, I just feel like my character’s a normal guy in a shitty place, and most times in my own life I feel like that. I play games for the escapism. If I want realism, I’ll shut off the monitor or put the dice away and go worry about the family budget.

I hope that answers your question, Fraser. If it doesn’t, well, in the words of a certain wiseman (or was it wiseacre?), eat it.

R.

Far Cry 2 Ain’t All That Bad

No, I don't have this sniper rifle... YET.

I wish I had the forethought to get a screencap or a vidcap of my Far Cry 2 game yesterday afternoon, but here’s how the shizzle when down;

I had picked up a mission at a cell tower to go and whack some dudes who were patrolling around an airfield in an SUV. Why? I don’t know. I’m not paid to ask these sorts of questions, I just do it.

So, I barreled in there in a jeep and got capped by a sniper in a watch tower next to the airstrip. F9 is my best friend in Far Cry 2, so I tried again. This time I crept along a line of hills to the south, took control of a safe house and had a snooze. The safe house was right on the leading edge of a creek leading into the airfield, so I used the low-lying creek bed to approach the watch tower. Once within sprinting distance, I ran across an open field, juking to avoid sniper fire. I ran up the watch tower and slashed the sniper with my
machete, then picked up his rifle and his Mac-10. It’s also key to note that in my possession was a rocket launcher.

While my target circled the airfield in his SUV and bracketed by two jeeps, I noticed a third jeep patrolling the airstrip. With the sniper rifle I took out the gunner, and then waited for the driver to get out before taking him down as well. As I waited, the target drove past the airstrip, a pile of large rocks between myself and him.

Racing down to the ground, I took up a position in the rocks with my rocket launcher and waited for their next trip around. I left my own jeep nearby for a quick getaway. The first jeep passed my hiding place, and I fired the rocket into the front of the SUV. It exploded, and the front of the SUV lifted up, flipped over, and the SUV dropped on it’s roof on top of the trailing jeep, which then also exploded. One rocket took out two vehicles and five enemies. I had no time to rejoice, however, as the leading jeep had my position and I had to defend myself.

I was losing interest in this game until this mission, when I realized what I had been doing wrong. This is not a run and gun game. If you try that, you’re going to die. You need to be careful, quiet and tactical, scouting the area well before attempting any action. Most of my mistakes (and subsequent deaths) have come from not paying enough attention to what’s going on. Changing how I approach the game has increased my enjoyment of it tenfold.

R.