.: Grand Theft Auto IV Review :.

Just my impressions and opinions on GTA IV, hope you enjoy.

The wait is finally over and GTA IV has been released, and the wait was well worth it.
It takes everything that made the previous titles so good and has increased them ten fold
while adding entirely new features as well, creating an immersive and addictive game.


The player takes control of Niko Belic, who has come to Liberty City in search of the
American dream, which his cousin Roman assures him he has. What Niko found however is
harsh and brutal city thriving with violence and carnage, in which he must survive in by
rising to the top by doing whatever it takes.


The game has the entire classic GTA trademarks such as the car jacking, fast speed car chases,
shoot outs and the crazy civilians, but what makes IV stand out from the rest is the
realism. Liberty City feels like a city. The pedestrians go about their daily business, meeting
friends, answering there phones, shouting abuse to one another, and the city itself looks
"lived in". The people react to how you act, push past them and they will shout abuse at you, pull
out a gun and start shooting the place up and they will flee, call the cops or take cover.


This in depth city makes the game so much more enjoyable, and the smooth control's help to. There
your pretty standard third person shooter configuration but the newly added cover system really
changes GTA. Gone are the days off standing in the middle of the street and firing away. Players
will have to take cover, and maneuver between it in order to successfully survive shoot outs. Its
a lot easy to die this time around, and while the "run and gun" tactic is available; you'll most
certainly be killed pretty quick.


Of course, vehicles are back and you will notice a vast improvement over them from the previous
GTA's. Cars handle a lot more realistically and good driving is a necessity to make it through most
of the missions. Each car has its own feel and doesn’t just feel like a different skin and
the same box. Cars are more detailed, truly representing there makes and most likely handling like
them to. There’s nothing quite like racing through Liberty City full speed with your friends
while being chased down by the police, which leads me to the defining aspect of GTA IV, the multiplayer.


The whole of Liberty City is open to you and 16 friends in over 15 different game types. I haven't played
all of the multiplayer modes so far, but i must say the cop's and crook's was defiantly the most
entertaining. There are two teams, the crooks goal is for them to get a randomly selected player titled "the boss"
to a getaway vehicle on the map, while the cop’s goal is to stop this from happening. The game play
is frantic and furious and like I mentioned earlier, the feeling of speeding through the streets while taking
out enemy players is great. The fact the entire of Liberty City is open for you to explore online is great, and
although I have experienced some lag, it was nothing to make me think any less of this game.


In my opinion, IV is a must buy for fans of the series and anyone that owns a Xbox 360 or PS3. It really raises
the bar for free roaming games and for gaming in general. Not to be missed out.