Horrible | Grand Theft Auto IV

When size can matter | Grand Theft Auto IV

pc & video games:


	• Grand Theft Auto IV PLAYSTATION 3 \| Rockstar Games, 2008 average customer review:based on 228 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Lots of Fun

Unlike previous GTA games, there are very few missions that are timed, or are based on how much damage your vehicle takes. As always, there are very funny commercials. Some motorcycle missions can be annoying, though. Also, it can be frustrating when you're trying to do a mission and you get a phone call to be on the other side of the city within an hour. There is a learning curve with the controls, but eventually they become very easy. My first PS3 game and I wasn't disappointed.

Horrible

i like keeping grenades locked onto targets after they're already dead.

the missions are good. plot is surprisingly good. i'm giving it 5 stars even though i think they left out a LOT. i mean, a LOOOOT. no parachuting for example. lazy dev.s. oh well. relallllllly fun anyways.

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When size can matter

There's certain game series where I can say that I enjoy playing and find myself itching to play the next installment but I wouldn't call myself a die-hard fan of them either. It's sort of the difference between the day one buys and the ones you eventually buy down the line. I always enjoyed the Grand Theft Auto series when it made the move to 3D but I never really considered them my favorite series in gaming but since I have a Playstation 3, naturally this was on my ones to get. Seeing it all but shatter records including the massive amount of sales it sold within the first week, it certainly can raise the idea that this is one of the best video games ever. Well, it's impressive definately though the best might depend on how swept away you are by it.

Story: You play as Niko Bellic, an immigrant fresh off the boat arriving in Liberty City (redesigned from the one seen in GTA3) with ideas to start living the "American dream", complete with money, women and success. But the dream always ends up better than reality and Niko and cousin Roman broke and living in poor conditions though through ties, connections and double-crossings, Niko can work his way up the ladder though success can also bring pain as well.

Anyone who's ever played any of the previous releases will find themselves on familiar ground and the story found here is similar. You start either with nothing (here and San Andreas) or you're double-crossed forcing you to climb back up (Vice City, 3) and start taking on missions from numerous characters as you progress in making friends and new enemies. The problem is while Niko is a likable and even funny character, the supporting cast and their missions still follow the impersonal feel others had. Somebody will know somebody who will probably have more work for you and he/she will have you either kill someone or steal something or protect someone. After awhile it gets a bit too same-y and while the story is interesting, having to go on another assassin request gets kind of old.

Graphics: If one were to look at 4 compared to San Andreas in terms of size, the PS2 game wins simply due to how much of it is actually in there. We have 3 cities, plus the outskirts in between each city but with the redesigned Liberty City which looks even more like New York than in 3, it's more about it being more detailed and diverse in its locations than simply a bunch of roads and buildings. The best part of the graphics I find are the lighting and the city looks quite gorgeous at night and especially moody if it's raining or a huge storm is around. There's the occasional framerate stutter and going super fast on your car creates a giant blur and pop-up issues but it's still quite a great looking game.

Sound/Music: I've always loved the Grand Theft Auto series for its voice acting, mainly for how realistic it feels. While the Metal Gear Solid series is always well-done, the sheer amount of dialogue about politics, biology and the like makes it a bit too boring to hear. But here, characters talk like actual people and some are amusing in their own way. Sure Brucie basically feels like an OG Loc imitator and subtitles are all but required for Little Jacob and his friend Badman, it's still fun to hear the varied cast of characters.

What I feel is a step-down is the music on the radio stations. One of the fun things about getting into a car was wondering what station it be tuned to and there's nothing like killing a crime boss with classical music blaring in a sort of "Godfather" moment or having a heavy rock song accompanying a high speed chase but here, I mainly tuned to the Chatterbox-esque stations and listened to hilarious skits and commercials.

Gameplay: Same ideas as before. From missions to various stores like clothing, restaurants and strip joints but there is some changes and one is in the combat. While the targeting can still be improved, no longer being out in the open but instead taking on a Uncharted/Gears of War approach and being able to take cover helps though you'll occasionally be on the wrong side. My other gripe is actually choosing where you want to shoot and while sometimes you can choose who you want to shoot at, more often than that, your trigger seems to never want to leave the one guy across the way instead of the guy shooting and taking cover 10 feet to your right. There's a bit of free-aim if you lightly press R2 but it's not really as precise.

I'm sure many will agree that getting chased by cops frequently got annoying in past games and it's still here and cops are still a bit too biased to you as well. On one mission, things go horribly wrong and we get surrounded by backstabbers prompting us to defend for ourselves. Only instead of the cops being called on the ones who started it, they're after your foreign butt and all but ignore the other handgun-wielding thugs. Should you be forced to be on the run, a circle will appear on your radar showing you the range of the police's reach in their wanting to arrest you so how to you drop your wanted level? Easy, outrun them and be outside their zone for a bit and poof, they forget about you. That is if you don't run smack into another police car, re-centering the circle and forcing you to outrun the new guy. Like the combat, it's a great idea but not as refined.

Ditto for the cell phone which has been upgraded since San Andreas. Friends you make can be contacted and missions can pop up or they just call to make comments but the big feature is the options. Like a more enhanced girlfriend mechanic that San Andreas had where the more you date them, the more they like you, now everybody in your phone list pretty much can be taken out, whether to a restaurant or strip club or shoot some pool or take in a performance at a cabaret club. It's neat though used a bit annoyingly since you might call a girlfriend for a date while somebody else calls during the date asking you if you want to do something. Should you say no, they're a little bit upset with you. So wonderful, not only do I have to worry about making friends upset in real life, now I have to worry about Niko in a videogame being seen as an ***hole. But the phone does have messages, organizers for dates and meetings and you'll find yourself frequently consulting it.

At this point, the amount of hype and success this game got seems dangerously close to overshadow the actual game itself with many finding disappointment in a game that isn't all that different from previous games and introduces new ideas that aren't fully fleshed out. However, along with Metal Gear Solid 4, it's hard to think of any other title currently on the Playstation 3 with the huge amount of attention and buzz so I'd recommend playing this though if you thought the games were starting to become a bit too formulaic then Grand Theft Auto IV might be a game that you'll admire more than fully love.

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Brilliant game, art worthy

This game is a piece of computing history.

The graphics are beautiful. Liberty City comes alive around you as you stand. The atmosphere changes, the lighting is magnificent, and, of course, the physics are beyond amazing. Ragdoll physics have never been this good. For those of you that used Garry's Mod, the ragdoll physics here are much better and realistic.

The gameplay is much more original than the previous GTAs. III was pretty much a homage to mob movies. The plot of VC used many elements of Scarface and many other 80's films. San Andreas was based off unrealistic "gangsta" movies. This one is almost entirely original. The plot is great. You really need to play it for yourself to know how deep and immense it is.

Audio: 6/5 stars. The sound effects are the best I have ever heard. The city sounds entirely real. And how could I forget that soundtrack? Over 200, great songs and at least an hour of hilarious talk radio make up a brilliant, enjoyable soundtrack.

Something tells me this game is going to be preserved in the National Archives. Well, not really, but it sure deserves it. It really is the start of a whole new generation of gaming.

And as a side note: This game DOES entirely deserve an M rating. The language is incredibly profane, the violence is almost lifelike, and there is some pretty strong content. If you are easily offended, please take this into consideration. The game is great, but please, I want you to be aware that it really does deserve this rating ("Mature", remember?) Read why it is rated M, (It says it on the box, or you could look it up) and read some other reviews if you aren't sure.

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