Xboxist

Grand Theft Auto IV Review

I guess it goes without saying that GTA IV is a good, no, GREAT game. So besides the random defects on both versions of the game, it’s pretty safe to say GTA IV comes out on top with a perfect score. I could point you to Rockstar’s past GTA titles as reference, but I suppose you’d rather have some examples of why GTA IV is such an amazing game.
Let’s start with the single player. Gorgeous recreation of New York City that almost anyone can appreciate. Details that even the most devout New Yorker can appreciate while tourists can get an honest enough look at how things are here. Granted, some of the events are a bit extreme, but all the same, landscape wise, it’s a very impressive map that the player has free roam over at all times.

Enter Niko, a newcomer to America, conned by his cousin into believing he’d be entering a land of opportunity. Through a series of criminal infractions, you soon discover the opportunities presented to you are dangerous in nature, but highly profitable. Thrown into an underworld full of jobs to do, a girlfriend you just can’t seem to get rid of (no matter how many times you set her on fire), Niko finds himself in an endless realm of choices, with all manner of toys at his disposable to accomplish them with. Just like GTA games in the past, you are free to destroy just about everything you can dream of. Want to shoot a stripper, go ahead, but be prepared for the 20 police cars that will chase you halfway across town afterward.

Did I mention the map? Because it’s enormous, free flowing, and booby-trapped. Don’t try to skip town early or you’ll find yourself trying to outrun every police vehicle that can lock on to you. Another interesting tidbit about the map is that you have free reign of it in multiplayer. That’s right kids, you can play online ANYWHERE in Liberty City. No borders, no boundaries, nothing. I don’t know about you, but that impressed me quite a deal. No more stage selections, just one enormous sprawling map with nearly endless possibility.

On a quick side note before getting into my favorite topic, physics in GTA…amazing. There’s a slight psychotic joy that overcomes one’s person while watching their virtual girlfriend fly through the windshield at supersonic speed only to collapse in a heap like a rag doll. The better part? She still won’t dump you. Graphics, lighting, physics, GTA is truly attractive in all aspects. Each figure responds to the slightest action entirely, including the area you attack. You shoot an enemy in the leg, down he goes. This slight detail entirely changes how you play the game, running through on a merciless rampage, or merely wounding soldiers to get by.

And while we’re talking about possibilities, that leads me into my favorite new part of Grand Theft….multiplayer. And not just any sort of plain old Team Deathmatch multiplayer. Oh no. We’re talking objectives, teamwork, Cops & Crooks. There’s more to GTA’s online than simply running and gunning. There’s plenty of running involved in certain modes, granted, but there’s also targets, extraction zones, and extra points for carnage. And did I mention the MAP? Being able to hide anywhere from bridges to skyscrapers to small neighborhoods makes the game different every time you play it. With such options as traffic density and weather, the game continues shifting as you play, giving the multiplayer experience unlike any other.

Long story short, GTA IV is a definitely pick up for anyone daring enough to venture into the criminal mind without moralist issue. And since the game sold over 6 million copies in one week, $500 million worth to be exact, I’d suppose a lot of you are cool with that. At $310 million in one day, GTA IV sets the new record for highest Day 1 sales, with sales staying strong 3 weeks in. A title that I’d expect anyone over 17 to enjoy (it is rated M guys…), a perfect 10 is all I can come up with sum up GTA for the few of you that haven’t yet picked it up.
For the rest of you, I’ll be seeing you in Liberty City in some Cops & Crooks. -