Nothing like a great story to go with your mayhem!
This is less of a review and more of a short praise to this game. I played through the first handful of missions so far, enough so that I could get a feel for the game and I must say it very well done. If you've played other GTA games a lot is still the same, which isn't bad as GTA has always been a quality franchise but there are a lot of tweaks that improve the experience in this installment. Graphics obviously are at the core of that but more than anything the story in this game is just great so far. I mean it literally has me laughing almost all the time and unlike most games you actually never want to skip through the cutscenes. One reason is b/c they're information, you get your mission briefings in them but also they are just great, the humor is spot on and all the actions and individual personalities are just great. All the characters are very unique and the voice acting is pretty good also.
Car handling is still probably one of the main challenges in GTA though, but that's to be expected I guess. Police are easier to escape, as they now show you the escape radius you need to achieve to lose the coppers. One thing I found cool, for some missions you need to steel a cop car, reasons for it can vary but if you can't locate one, you can call 911 on your cell phone and a cop will come to your location ripe for the jacking. :)
So far I haven't found many downsides to GTA4, as I said the driving remains the same challenge as in previous games but that's not really a downside. So far the only thing that has really annoyed me about the game is the lighting in some situations. Basically when it gets dark in Liberty City it really gets dark. There's one mission where you have to kill a guy for a contact named Vlad. He runs up on a roof at one point and it's so dark that you can't really find your way around (you have to go up some ladders and steps). Now the guy doesn't outrun you so it's nice that you can't fail the mission b/c of this but it's still annoying trying to find your way for 10 minutes. This may be somewhat realistic but annoying just the same.
Anyway, for me the best part about GTA4 is the story, it is literally the funniest story in a game I've ever seen, it really draws you in and makes you want to keep playing. I also love the Little Jacob, he's Jamaican and his accent is hilarious; it's funny b/c you can see Niko can barely understand him at times and he expresses that in game and at the same time I'm thinking the same thing lol. Very good stuff. :)
I chose "Immersive" to describe this game b/c the story really brings you in and makes you feel like part of the game, I especially took pleasure in killing Vlad.