GTA IV: Multiplayer - Hands On Preview

Up until now, very little has been known about GTA IV's multiplayer features. For a long time there was a question mark over GTA IV actually having multiplayer. Previously, the only GTA games to ship with dedicated multiplayer gaming were on the PSP (Liberty and Vice City Stories). These both had a large batch of distinct multiplayer modes, some of which were quite standard (i.e. deathmatches and base capturing), and some of which were really quite original (e.g. the 'Gone in 60 Seconds' style mode, The Wedding List).

Now, if Rockstar were to include something like the PSP's ad-hoc offering, only online and for GTA IV, then everyone would probably be very happy with that indeed. A variety of interesting modes; expansive maps; the trademark GTA gameplay - it's the stuff that dreams are made of. Every other GTA game during the last-generation was exclusively single-player. So, how awesome would it be to have dedicated multiplayer functionality in the biggest game to hit the series since CJ returned to Grove Street? Very awesome, that's what.

But, as with everything else that we've seen of GTA IV so far, Rockstar has blown-up what we thought would be awesome into something that's so incredibly brilliant that it shouldn't be stared at directly for fear that you might burn your retinas (kind of like the sun, a nuclear explosion, or the second coming of Jesus). Not happy with simply adding the basic PSP package with a few more player slots, vastly improved graphics, a couple of extra modes, and cooler weapons, Rockstar is instead preparing itself to blow the lid off what we thought could be done with multiplayer videogames.

Liberty City: Now Even More Dangerous At Night

Liberty City's interpretation of Manhattan is Algonquin, and is one of the five main maps in the game, much in the same way that Los Santos and San Fierro were in San Andreas. As with the 'Stories' games, multiplayer maps are essentially one of the five single-player game maps in GTA IV. Algonquin is one of the maps that we played various deathmatches on as we warmed up for our mammoth hands-on with the multiplayer at Rockstar's offices in London.

What's impressive is that Rockstar aren't simply streaming these maps with 6 players locally (as with the PSP). Instead, they'll be making it happen with up to 16 players over an online connection - a much harder task. What's even more impressive, though, is that when we were treated to an insane rocket launcher death match, there was no noticeable slow-down or lag. We were assured by a Rockstar Spokesperson that the connection we were playing on was online rather than LAN. With this in mind (and with all that rocket related mayhem going on) it was astounding that the engine remained so sturdy, the connection was so strong, and the graphics hadn't been noticeably tuned down to achieve this.

But aside from this amazement, there were many other things that wowed us in the early stages of our hands-on, and this was before we'd even ventured beyond the game's team and individual deathmatch modes. Firstly, and most brilliantly, helicopters can be flown by players in the deathmatches. We didn't actually get a chance to try this out, although we were pursued while on foot by a very low flying helicopter, peppering the ground beneath our feet with mounted cannon fire. We were being toyed with, and who had commandeered this flying machine to make us dance in the most belittling of ways? It was one of the Rockstar PR guys of course - typical. We did get the chance to pilot a helicopter in one of the other modes, but more on that later.

That savage embarrassment behind us, it was time to figure out the subtleties to GTA IV's particular brand of deathmatch. Firstly, the points system is based on money. You get a certain amount of cabbage for killing enemies, while additional 'Benjamins' can be picked when opponents drop it after they've been killed (just like with civilians in single-player GTA games over the years).

Vehicles obviously play a huge part in the deathmatch antics but, in order to balance out on-foot combat with drive-by shootings, players in cars have been made more vulnerable. All it takes are a couple of well-aimed shots at somebody in a vehicle for them to keel over. However, if you're on foot then it takes a much larger amount of molten lead to deplete your armour and health than it would in any type of transportation.

This balancing is key, because otherwise all the fighting in GTA IV's multiplayer would take place in cars. It would be annoyingly long with each player performing elegant pirouettes across the tarmac in their Patriot SUV's, trying desperately to shoot their opponents but firing many more bullets into the surrounding buildings. Conversely, while you can lock to a player in a vehicle, it's more difficult to do so (funny that, what with them being in a moving vehicle and all). This gets even harder when you're trying to shoot a guy in another car while you're also driving, resulting in some feverish deathmatch battles that are more than welcome.

The other feature of the deathmatches that really made our jaw drop (not quite as far as the helicopters, but pretty darn close), was the fact that you can turn police "on" in the options menu. This ends up in some incredibly nuts gameplay as every stray bullet that grazes an innocent bystander, or whistles passed the ear of a police officer, is certain to bring a wanted star or two. Now multiply that by however many players are in the lobby, each with their own specific wanted levels, and you've got a police shoot-out of truly epic proportions. It's like that scene in the film Heat (for those who haven't seen it, there's lots of police and many robbers) on steroids. Again, the game engine and connection speeds weren't the slightest bit affected by such manic confrontations, which really is a testament to how sturdy the game is.

As far as weapons were concerned, it was the usual GTA assortment of pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, rockets, Molotov cocktails, and grenades as far as we could see. Further roaming than we could manage during our hands-on will doubtless uncover further goodies, of that we're fairly sure. These weapons then come in particularly handy for the next mode we tried out, which was GTA Race.

While Race modes have been a mainstay of the PSP games (and they're also included in GTA IV), GTA Race is slightly different in that it puts the emphasis on weapons. While driving in a race through the usual GTA/Midnight Club checkpoint setup, you'll come across various weapon pick-ups such as pistols, sub-machine guns and an assortment of light explosives. Grenades and Molotov's can be dropped behind you as depth charges for trailing vehicles to negotiate, while guns have the usual damaging effect of setting engines alight and deflating tyres. An apt analogy would be Mario Kart for the criminally insane, and we certainly enjoy that sort of thing here at TVG.

You can also select car classes for these races (e.g. supercars, bikes, SUV's), and there were some oldies but goodies from the GTA series, as well as some new boys to GTA's showroom. We did come across something that was very Lamborghini in style, with hideously fat tyres and that spaceship style design that screams of the infamous raging bull badge. Of course, any likeness to a Lamborghini was purely coincidental (I say as a Rockstar employee pokes the barrel of their gun into my side). However, it was during a different game mode that we came across this car and, unfortunately, we were unable to ascertain whether the Lamborghini-alike is in the GTA Race mode. Let's hope so because it drove like a [censored], and it had scarier handling than a [censored] [censored].

Petrovic Sends Out His Minions

The next mode on our guided tour of GTA IV's multiplayer offerings was Mafia Work. Again, similarly to deathmatches, this mode has both team and individual options, of which we were lucky enough to play both. Mafia Work can be described as bite-sized versions of single-player mission where the aim is to complete the missions, or individual components of those missions, before your adversaries do.

It was here that we were introduced to our boss for this game mode, Petrovic, who will apparently also feature in the single-player story. When a game of Mafia Work starts, each player receives a call from Petrovic who gives them various crime related tasks (e.g. Pick up his drunk crew; take-out some hot dog stands; commandeer some fast cars; go and find a car packed with heroin and take it to a drop-off point).

Some missions have many mini-objectives, while others have one main objective. For example, there are many members of Petrovic's drunk crew dotted around the city, while there is only one heroin packed car. Completing each objective gives you a certain amount of cash, which is then tallied up when time runs out and the team/player with the most cheese (that's another "street" word for money) wins that game. This mode seemed jammed with content and the missions that we played on were far from repetitive. In fact, with many other sandbox games you'd be lucky to get missions that were that exciting in the main single-player campaign.

Another mode that featured Petrovic was Hangman's Noose, although this time he turns off his mobile phone and steps into the game world. At the beginning of the game you're treated to a cut-scene where you meet Petrovic as he steps off his private jet and onto American soil for the first time. Unfortunately for Petrovic, there's a very large SWAT team waiting for him at the terminal. Both the SWAT team and Petrovic are AI controlled, while you and your multiplayer comrades play the team of accomplices who are trying to smuggle him into the US.

Hangman's Noose is essentially a co-op game where you have to work together with your team to get Petrovic to an extraction point. What lies between you and this extraction point is a very lofty wanted level (imagine many police helicopters, patrol cars swarming like ants, and pummelling police wagons aplenty). We firstly ferried Petrovic into a getaway van, although it soon felt a bit like we were a group of bank robbers in The Sweeney because the van was so old. To remedy this, we pulled up at another entrance to the airport and commandeered a helicopter.

I looked up at the Rockstar official overlooking our hands-on with puppy-dog eyes as if to say 'Please, sir. Can I fly your helicopter?' We were more than welcome and, having cocked about for a while to get to grips with the controls (which, by the way, were just as accessible as in San Andreas), we then decided to fire our mounted mini-gun at whatever took our fancy. Eventually, as our hot pursuit began to... heat up, we made a b-line for the baseball field extraction point and Petrovic's freedom.

It's A Classic Take On A... Classic

The VIP mode has become very popular in multiplayer shooters in recent times, and what better guise to give it for GTA than the classic setting of organised crime vs. law enforcement? GTA IV's Cops 'N Crooks mode does exactly that by dividing a lobby into two teams and, surprisingly, one plays as cops and the other as crooks.

On the crooks side, you and your team spawn together on foot and must make it to a designated extraction point (i.e. a fitting getaway vehicle such as a speed boat or helicopter). Within this team there is one boss (or VIP) that the rest of the team must protect. The cops team, on the other hand, starts off in a squad car and they can see the boss and other opposing team members on the map (the boss is highlighted with a target icon), while the cops don't appear on crook maps.

All players have infinite respawns (with the one exception of the boss), although you'll often spawn in areas that are far away from your team. This makes dying something to be avoided if at all possible, unless you want an arduous journey back to the action that is. The game is then won or lost when the boss is killed by the cops, or if the boss makes it to the extraction point in time. From the hands-on we've had of Cops 'N Crooks, it certainly maintains that VIP feel while adapting it suitably to make the mode unmistakably GTA in its nature. What more could you want?

Well, that's pretty much it for the modes that we had a chance to play. We did spot a few other modes in the lobby's selection screens, but that's another story...