This game is missing a few things but is impressive enough to be a valuable addition to every gamer's library.
Great main protagonist. Ability to make RPG style decisions to kill or spare significant characters in the game a step forward for the franchise. Good compromise on graphics between looking too real vs. too cartoonish. Cast of characters in the game very lifelike. Usual GTA series humor still fresh. Plenty of side-activities to do like play on the Internet or watch TV. Promise of additional downloadable content in the future with the 360 version. Few bugs and glitches for a game of this size and scope. The Bad:
Numerous things included in previous GTA games stripped out of this one. City can be a little monotonous. Not enough mission variety. In-game radio music pretty bad on average. Not enough checkpoints in long missions.
Grand Theft Auto IV has been the most anticipated game since Halo 3, and has already shattered sales records for the industry. But does it fully deserve the hype and critical acclaim that it has gotten so far? Let's go to the score cards and see how the latest entry in one of gaming's most beloved franchises fairs with its first sojourn onto current generation platforms.
The first thing that a person is likely to notice with the game is the innovative way that the game starts. Unlike in every other game to come out in recent years, where you're taking to a menu screen and presented with your standard set of options (New Game, Load Game, Options, etc.) GTAIV just starts right into the main campaign after loading. This is a nice touch as it gets you right into the action and sets the tone for full immersion to follow.
Immersion is helped by just how developed the city is. Missing are the large amounts of empty countryside featured in San Andreas, but in its place is a city that feels just like a true metropolis: crowded, loud and dirty. The game sets a perfect balance between improving the graphics (a long-term knock on the GTA franchise) without losing the cartoon-like feel that makes the games so funny. This ability to strike just the right note between giving the game a darker, more realistic feel without losing the over the top gratuitous violence, humor and parody of society that so many people love about the series is perhaps the greatest achievement of the game.
You play the role of Niko Bellic, an immigrant to the U.S. from Serbia. As Niko, you assume the role of a war-veteran who has been horribly scarred by some of the things that you have seen and done in your life. You're coming to the U.S. looking for a fresh start. Of course, it wouldn't be much of a GTA game if you actually found one, settled in and got a legal job a wife, two kids and a puppy. You quickly find yourself embroiled in your cousin's problems with the local organized crime bosses.
The storyline of the game features the usual escalating types of criminal activity that has been in previous games. You start out working for a really small-time crime boss and gradually work your way up the food chain as your rep spreads. Missing from the usual GTA progression, however, is you becoming your own boss.
Throughout the game you never really start becoming a crime boss in your own right. You're always working for someone else. Some people will find this a bit disappointing because at times it can feel like you're never really getting anywhere. This feeling is accentuated by your inability to either buy up businesses and invest in them, or to capture enemy turf as you were able to do in previous GTA games like Vice City and San Andreas. This inability feels like a step backwards for the franchise. It is partially explained by Niko's personality. Niko portrays himself as a mercenary for hire, willing to do any job if the pay is right. Towards this end, he's certainly a much more impressive combatant than previous GTA protagonists. He can take cover behind objects. If you're running in a direction and press the cover button, he'll dive towards the nearest safe spot. He handles smoothly and fluidly and his shooting skills, which include the ability to lock onto a target and fire with extreme accuracy sometimes feel just a bit unfair to the enemy. So while he is well suited to being a mercenary, it would be nice if he had a bit more ambition of his own. Certainly, being able to gradually take over the criminal underworld like you have been able to do in previous games would have helped with mission variety. While there are several exotic type of missions, such as when you rob a bank or steal a helicopter to later use in another mission, the vast majority of missions fall into a limited type of categories: chase/follow someone, or hunt and kill someone.
Breaking up the monotony is the usual side-quests available in most GTA games. You can do racing missions, vigilante missions and go on dates just like in a couple of the previous games. While these are starting to feel a bit stale to a long time fan of the series like myself who is ready for something new, they are by now means mandatory and their inclusion does add a bit of much needed variety if you do one from time to time.
In the case of the dating, there are real and tangible benefits to keeping and maintaining girlfriends or other relationships. One girlfriend is a lawyer who will clear your wanted level if you call her on your cell phone. Another is a nurse who can give you a health boost. One of your other friends is a gun dealer who can get you discounted firearms if you keep him happy. These bonuses make the game easier, but you don't have to do them if you don't want to. Their absence after being included in previous games would have been noticed though.
Another of the things that was present in previous titles but was noticeably absent from this one is the ability to import your own music into the game and play it on the radio. This was particularly aggravating for me personally because with a couple of rare exceptions, I didn't like any of the radio music that was included. After the first few hours trying to find a radio station I liked, the first thing I did whenever I got into a car was to make sure that the radio station was turned off. The music was distracting and often glaringly at odds with the feel of the rest of the game.
Other features left out that were in San Andreas are the ability to change your physical conditioning by getting either fatter or more muscular, to learn new combat moves at your local dojo or to really customize your look with new haircuts or facial hair. Each of these missing elements, by itself, is very minor. However when you add them all together it sometimes feels like the series took a step backwards.
Despite some of the faults however, the game managed to hit plenty of high notes and include some new things that modernize the franchise. Among the tools now at your disposal that were not there before are an expanded use of your cell phone and the Internet. Both of these tools are incorporated seamlessly into the game. Rockstar has done a particularly good job in this area. Just as in modern offline life it is practically impossible to live without these devices, the game makes them a mandatory part of many missions and the storyline in a very believable way.
Summary:
Grand Theft Auto IV is a good enough game that anyone who buys it looking to enjoy a Grand Theft Auto title will not be disappointed. The series has not yet reached the cash-in stage as this title shows a great deal of polish, attention to detail and vibrancy. The storyline and characters will keep you hooked. The setting is immersive and the action every bit as over the top as you'd hope for.
While the game is missing a few things that it really would have benefited from having, it is an impressive enough achievement that it will be a valuable and extensively played addition to nearly every 360 or PS3 library.
True Score: 8.3