This is probably the best game I've ever played.
Grand Theft Auto IV lets you take on the role of European immigrant Niko Bellic, who has just arrived in Liberty City after escaping some bad blood in his unnamed home country. But he has not just come to flee from his past, he's also trying to uncover some of it. While in the urban paradise of Liberty City, he's staying with his cousin Roman, who often wrote to Niko of his lavish adventures and moneyed lifestyle. Niko soon finds out that Roman's wondrous stories are little more than just wild imaginings, and Roman is in fact not doing too well on the money front. But despite this major misleading, Niko has no choice but to stay with his idiot cousin. After all, Liberty City is a big, scary, unwelcoming and unmerciful place. A guy's going to need friends.
As is customary in the GTA series, the main character is dropped off in an area he knows very little about, thus creating an immediate connection to the character since the player also knows little about the area. Even though Liberty City has already been done in previous Grand Theft Auto games, the landscape has been completely redone and renamed. Its composed of five main areas: Broker, Dukes, Bohan, Algonquin, and Alderney. The sheer detail put in to every single square inch of everything in nothing short of astounding. More so because it's an open world game. Many interiors in the game could even be considered photo-realistic in the eyes of many gamers. And when you add the overwhelming effect of rain, it looks even better.
As is also customary in the GTA series, the audio is second to none in terms of quality. The amazingly talented cast of voice actors still remains a trademark, as well the razor-sharp writing from Dan Houser. Admittedly, there are times when the writing can lose its brilliance, but it's easily overlooked with the genius voice acting. The usual appearance of a superior soundtrack returns as well. From the swelling orchestral sounds of Philip Glass all the way to the drumming beats of Bob Marley and The Wailers.
Last and the opposite of least is the gameplay. Because of its use of the revolutionary new Euphoria physics system, there's an unbelievable amount of incentive to replay the game over and over again. What the Euphoria system does is incorporate a skeletal and muscle system into the body of everybody in the game, including the pedestrians. Because of this, every person with whom you interact has a unique and separate response physically every time you punch, shoot, knife, or set on fire. The result is always an incredibly rewarding display of realistic bumbling and stumbling as the person tries to keep their balance.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again a little differently: when you combine all of these qualities and then slap on the Rockstar logo, you've got a recipe for a video game that's bound to be an instant classic that feels brand new every time you play it.