The Grand Theft Auto Games isn't for everyone..it has the love or hate relationship, there is no middle, it is either Ya, I like or love GTA or No, I hate GTA. Or you have people that like the series but doesn't like the direction that it is going in. That being said, I'm the person who likes GTA and its series.
Rockstar has been pretty good in hitting the Bullseye on the series, they have GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas and this game GTA IV. It seems like Rockstar has made at least one good game for each system and for the PC/PS3/360 this game uses the new graphics and playing style to a whole new dimension (of course there are other games that do that also)
The storyline follows the typical style of the franchise. You have the main character that you "follow around" and you do certain missions or side missions that changes certain outcomes of the game for you and every other character that you encounter (well not EVERY character) It's amazing to see how many different outcome you can actually make during the game.
Controls are very smooth and responsive. They follow the typical drive/shooting game so no trying to figure out cryptic controls.
One thing I like is that if you get bored playing single player story mode, hit up a friend or neighbor and play multiplayer online. There is plenty to do and it will pass the time away.
This game has replay value because like mentioned before there are plenty of different outcomes that can happen during the game were if you did it one way, it will be interesting to see how the story would be different if you did it the other way.
All in all, this game is great and I would recommend this game to anyone.