Can you dip into the same city twice?
Niko enters the city on a cargo ship, which gives the player time to see the city and what is to come from the different shots from the camera. Once off the boat and with your cousin Roma, you realize that Liberty City is still a shady, corrupt, fun loving city that just needs to be explored and have someone cause havoc in. All the missions you attempt for the main story line are mostly the same. Go from here to there, kill someone or steal something, and get back to here or go to a different point and lose the cops. Aw the cops. What happened to them? Did they just lose some mojo or something? I never had it easier to lose a tail then I have in GTA 4. If you want to see the SWAT team or even the army, you'll have to find a good place to hold up in and take pot shots from. If you make it out of the circle that the cops have and don't run into a cop outside of the circle your in the clear. Aside from the lack of challenge from the cops there is the challenge from just surviving the sheer crazy stuff you'll pull off in cars, helicopters, boats, what have you.
The story is one of the best, with Vice City being a personal favorite. But the story feels real and the characters help push it over the top. Brucie is the best character in the game. He just has some funny dialog. Little Jacob is a great character to befriend in that he gives you a discount on guns and other arms. Roman is your go to guy for travel, but you don't have to worry about spending too much time out side of the story with him you'll be seeing him a lot in the game. Once you get to the second have of the story the game starts to get a little long in the tooth and the missions start to repeat. But the story gets a boost at, the end with an emotional cut scene and a great wrap up of Niko's personal story.
The best mission is "No Leaf Clover". Think Heat in a video game. It's loud, frantic, and exciting and round into one mission. Just to expect Al Picino or Robert De Niro showing up. Still the mission is great and a gem in the whole game.
The music is a great collection, but the talk radio stations are just great. WKTT, PLR, and Integrity are hilarious. WKTT is the republican radio station, PLR is the liberal and Integrity is Lazlow doing what he does best. Making himself the butt of many jokes and weird situations.
Other downsides of the game. The random building popping in to focus right as you pass it, the frame rate may drop a tad if there is a lot of action going on, and traffic is just a pain sometimes. You think the lane is clear because the car in front just changed lanes, then they change back. The big one is the second half of the games characters are just not that memorable. Packie is I think the last character you really enjoy. Most of the characters just feel a little dull and not terribly interesting.
Overall the game is great. The city feels alive and the story is just one of the best. Niko is a great protagonist and one that can stand up to any other. The scale of the city is just right, not too small or too big. The second half is not the best half and the random popping in of a building are just small potatoes to a great game. Not a 10, but a step in the right direction.