Multiplayer Interview pt 2:
from ign.com
Alex: Nothing was more satisfying than hitting a fully-loaded car with a rocket launcher though. Four kills with one shot. Taking out a tyre or killing the driver was really satisfying too. The range of cars available was great, from sports coupes like the Banshee to motorbikes such as the Sanchez.
Martin: I was too busy marvelling at the explosions to get many kills with the rocket launcher - that was sheer bedlam. The content doesn't seem to have been compromised at all. It's all in there, from the vehicles to the weapons.
Alex: I tried riding pillion into battle. Didn't last long though - the guy riding the bike was shot and I was catapulted off the back!
Martin: That's one of my favourite parts - saddling up with a friend or four, then going into battle.
Alex: I think it encourages people to form gangs. We should get an IGN UK crack squad together and rule the streets. I'm not driving though - I like shooting through the window too much!
Martin: I'm behind the wheel, you can take shotgun, Justin can shout obscenities from the rear seat and Matt can just admire the view.
Alex: Did you drive much? Because it felt exactly the same as it does in the single-player, with different cars handling in different ways. And it was a nice touch that the GPS was still in there, so in the Mafia missions you could highlight the waypoints when they appeared to calculate the best route there.
Martin: I spent a lot of time behind the wheel and it's exactly the same as in single-player. That GPS is a godsend as well, amid the insanity of the Mafia missions.
Alex: The team Mafia missions were insane. One of our guys was bombing it round on a dirt bike, completing missions like crazy, while I and another guy cruised the streets looking for you lot, to cut you off at the pass with a rocket launcher up your exhaust pipe.
Martin: I waited by the pick-up point for the other team to arrive. And then I waited some more. Our team won that round while all I did was stare out at the docks. In another Mafia mission, which was really close, we had just successfully escorted our man to the waypoint, but just as he was getting into the boat to escape he got shot in the face.
Alex: Nice! What about the race missions? I was rubbish at those - I kept driving off a cliff and parking my SUV in the ocean!
Martin: I'm a race daddy so I did pretty well in that area. They can be pretty chaotic and it's nice how they progress from straight races to a more urban-style Mario Kart, as weapons become available and you learn to fling Molotov cocktails in your wake like a violent banana.
Alex: It was sweet, driving up to the finish line and then getting out of the car to lie in wait with a rocket launcher for everyone else to come along. Dropping grenades out of the window at the cars behind was brilliant too.
Martin: That's pretty cynical. I was trying to win using my driving skills…
Alex: Ha! You loser… There was a classic moment where one of the Rockstar guys was lying in wait for me, but he missed with his bazooka and I piled into him at full pelt, catapulting him over the bonnet.
Martin: That's a great element - getting out of your car during a race, but then running the risk of becoming roadkill.
Alex: Also, you can race in anything you find. Halfway through a bike race I piled my NRG-900 into a billboard, so I switched to a Blista Compact instead. I didn't win but it was good fun knocking the other riders off their bikes!
Martin: I clearly wasn't going to win one race so used the eternally immature tactic of getting in a school bus and driving the wrong way to flatten everyone else. If I can't win, everyone else dies.
Alex: Hmm. Going off on one seems to be a recurring theme with you, like the time you chased planes in a helicopter rather than racing against the rest of us…
Martin: It was our first time in a helicopter - of course I was going to explore!
Alex: I loved the helicopters. I loved them in San Andreas and Vice City, but they were awesome in GTA IV. They controlled in much the same way but felt a lot heavier, especially the big military chopper - The Annihilator. It was much slower to control than the lighter Mavericks, so before a race you've got to decide whether to take out the nippy helicopter and stay out of trouble, or fly the Annihilator and machinegun everyone else out of the sky.
Martin: I think the Maverick will win out. I got a bit confused, though - I didn't know whether to fight or race, so I went and chased airplanes instead.
Alex: I tried to fight and race, but got a little enthusiastic and ended up shunting into another helicopter and taking us both out.
Martin: They fell apart pretty convincingly, didn't they? It's amazing to see a chopper's tail spiralling out of the sky, and all the more amazing when you know you're the one that shredded the thing.
Alex: Thankfully they're not really fragile, because I clipped a couple of buildings and still stayed in the air, which is a godsend when you're forced to fly between buildings to hit checkpoints.