A Must Have Game For All GTA Fans!
You're introduced to your character, Nico Bellic at the very start of the game. Nico, an Eastern European immigrant is looking to start a new life in Liberty City after being in a war, where he did some pretty stupid things. You are then introduced to Nico's cousin, Roman Bellic who is the owner and operator of a small-time taxi service in the city. You soon find out that Roman has been getting into trouble when loan sharks come-a-knocking to collect money Roman owes them.
The game starts off pretty easily, being that the first few missions are basically a tutorial to introduce you to some of the new elements in GTA 4. One new impressive feature is the ability to use cover during fire-fights. Pressing the Right Bumper (RB) while next to a wall, a box or anything that you could possible hide behind will make you take cover behind the said object. This helps you in bigger fire-fights later in the game when you are out-numbered by many enemies.
Another great new feature in the inclusion of a Cell Phone that you get early on in the game. Characters can call and/or text you with information on new missions etc. You can also call your contacts to see if they would like to take part in some activities around the city. A camera is also included in your cell phone which will come in handy in the later missions. There are many other electronic features in the game as well, I will run a couple of them down in the coming paragraphs.
The Radio - The diversity on the in-car radio in GTA 4 is unbelievable. With over 19 stations playing all sorts of things from rap to R&B, there is even some Eastern European music in there as well. The talk shows must be one of the funniest parts of the game with a diverse selection of talk-show dj's roaming the airways. The all popular Laslow even makes his voice heard over the radio.
Internet - Yes, believe it or not, You can even go onto the internet in GTA 4. Stop by one of the few Tw@t internet café where you can go and check your e-mails and browse the world-wide-web. The websites them self are well detailed and some of them are quite crude. Your e-mail's rage from spam, mission info and even e-mails from mother.
In the single-player mode, a nice 50 to 100 worth of gameplay awaits you. This could rise and fall depending on how much you want to spend doing side missions and just mucking around the city like causing hell all over the place. Although I say this, there is so much to do in the city that you could find yourself playing well over 100 hours after starting the game.
Unfortunately, you are not aloud to explore all three islands of Liberty City as soon as you start. You also spend quite a few hours doing okay but not great missions with a very limited supply of weapons are your disposal. This isn't helped by the fact that the first island you're stuck on is full of less than impressive cars with rubbish handling and paint jobs. The car quality will increase when you un-lock the other two islands. This drops the score of the game down marginally (and I mean, marginally).
Even after aking these small faults into account, Grand Theft Auto 4 is still a fantastic game that is a must-have for any fan of the GTA series. Liberty City combines great life-like citizens, fantastic cars (for the second half of the game at least) and great effects to combine one big metropolis for you to play in. The main characters are great with missions being a great mix of tactical and shoot-'em-up gameplay. This game is easily the best in the Grand Theft Auto serious, by far.