Crackdown discussion

[Raban]

There are some very cool physics effects you can cause in GTA IV like the one you described. One time I lobbed a grenade from my car with very poor timing, and it exploded in such a way that left a crater in the back half of my car, but the thing still drove! The rear-left wheel was practically horizontal, so you can imagine the handling was ridiculous.

Btw I know it sounds absurd, but there really is a way to get better at the driving in GTA IV. I've read enough of your impressions about other driving games (which happen to be in line with many of the posters here) to understand that you prefer an arcade racer, and GTA IV's driving is very rooted in simulation. I know that's different than the PS2 games (which were built on the engine Criterion created for Burnout, go figure), but I feel that GTA IV sets a very high bar when it comes to driving in open-world games. I'm willing to admit that GTA IV is a flawed game, but the driving is not one of those flaws. It just takes a little practice.

Anyways, you probably won't be going back to GTA IV what with Saints Row on the horizon. Game looks hot!

[The Sceneman]

Skills for kills agent, skills, for kills.

[Raban]

BURN, BABY! BURN

[chronovore]

There are some very cool physics effects you can cause in GTA IV like the one you described. One time I lobbed a grenade from my car with very poor timing, and it exploded in such a way that left a crater in the back half of my car, but the thing still drove! The rear-left wheel was practically horizontal, so you can imagine the handling was ridiculous.

Btw I know it sounds absurd, but there really is a way to get better at the driving in GTA IV. I've read enough of your impressions about other driving games (which happen to be in line with many of the posters here) to understand that you prefer an arcade racer, and GTA IV's driving is very rooted in simulation. I know that's different than the PS2 games (which were built on the engine Criterion created for Burnout, go figure), but I feel that GTA IV sets a very high bar when it comes to driving in open-world games. I'm willing to admit that GTA IV is a flawed game, but the driving is not one of those flaws. It just takes a little practice.

Anyways, you probably won't be going back to GTA IV what with Saints Row on the horizon. Game looks hot!

I very much appreciate your attempt to comprehend where I am coming from the GTA game. My actual complaint with the driving is not that it is realistic, and I understand that it tries to be very realistic, but rather that it is realistic in the face of the rest of the games attempts to be over-the-top.

As I stated in other threads, GTA's shooting allows for nearly telepathic levels of target location and absurd sub targeting. It's easy to pull off a headshot with little to no effort. However making a turn at 40 or 50 miles an hour tends to be more difficult than operating a sniper rifle. There is a huge disconnect between the competence displayed in the player-character between his shooting ability, which is Godlike, and his driving or fisticuffs abilities, which are below pedestrian.

You're spot on about how much they tried and succeeded in the driving realism; it just doesn't fit the rest of the world.

[Raban]

You've got a point!

[Lucretius]

funnest online co-op game this gen.

This is still my opinion today.  I played through this with ferricide back when it was first released.  Still haven't had as much fun co-op with any other game.  We did Crackdown 2 co-op, but it was kind of a let down.  Frankly, I think the lack of story was what helped me love it so much.  It was streamlined.  No real story to bloat it down.

[Great Rumbler]

Crackdown 2 really should have been one of the greatest games of this generation. What a disaster.

[AdmiralViscen]

GTA4 driving could only be called realistic if you've only driven 70s Cadillacs your whole life.

Every single car understeers, even the ones that appear to be RWD.

[chronovore]

Still debating on playing this to Races completion when I return to Japan -- I'm probably going back with Saints Row IV and I finally successfully downloaded Just Cause 2 to a USB drive, which I'll hand-carry back to Japan.

[pilonv1]

Crackdown 2 really should have been one of the greatest games of this generation. What a disaster.

I got it for free and played it for about 30minutes. I still cant remember what they changed to ruin it but it just wasn't fun.

[chronovore]

The demo for 2 was basically a 90 minute version of the game, including Achievement points, but I still couldn't bring myself to finish 90 minutes' worth of gameplay. It is oddly, mysteriously UN-fun.

[Raban]

Every single car understeers, even the ones that appear to be RWD.

I wanted to argue this but I decided to wait until I had the chance to play some GTA IV and see for myself. You are incorrect. If you want to bother yourself to play it again try getting your hands on a Futo, Uranus or Blista Compact. All of these cars are pretty great at cornering with throttle control instead of the handbrake. I think the Coquette might have oversteer as well, but I wasn't able to drive one when I played this time so I can't say for certain.

A lot of the cars you'd end up with in the missions have pretty bad understeer (a lot of things are wrong with missions in GTA IV, forcing you to use a particular vehicle being one of them), but there are quite a few roaming around that offer significantly different handling profiles. You just gotta find 'em.