If you can make it here you can make it anywhere. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R351SHCAC8PICX GTA 4's story centers around a sarcastic Eastern European immigrant come to America to get a fresh start away from the corruption and violence of his home country. Whoops. Critics have often harangued the violence and the criminal aspect of GTA, but what flies over their heads is that satire is the premise of the series and always has been. And frankly, the violence here pales in comparison to Gears Of War or Condemned 2: Bloodshot just to name two. GTA's immense popularity is not because of the degeneration of our society (we've got reality television for that), it's because the series is constantly innovating and offering fun spot-on gameplay, brilliant humor, and is a game made by and for an adult audience. So if your child is playing this game, blame yourself for giving your child the means to get it or for not paying attention to what they are doing with their time, not Rockstar for making top-of-the-line entertainment meant for adults (see the markings on the box?).
GTA 4 seperates itself from the past iterations in several ways. First, the arcade feel is largely gone. While the controls are vintage GTA, the overall feel of the game has changed. In previous games, I never got into the game's story because I would get sidetracked rampaging with katanas and molotov cocktails or hunting for a tank. Now a lot of the distractions like crazy weapons and vehicles and building up your character stats are gone and the story behind the madness is a truly engaging one for the first time. The city is more alive than ever and there is more to do. The characters you meet are all brilliant and interacting with them is seriously fun. Take your girl out to a bar and watch her serious issues surface as she stumbles around slurring curses about "that fu#*ing whore" she thought you were checking out. Or challenge your buddies to bowling, pool, or a friendly game of darts. The dialogue during these bonding activities is varied and reveals much about your Liberty City aquaintances, many of whom have special services to offer you should you become close. The entire game is so well-written that one often gets the impression that they are playing a Tarantino flick. Oh, yeah, it's that good. The multiplayer aspect is also fun and varied allowing you to battle stangers for Liberty City dominance or just drive around with your friends wreaking havoc. Taking into acount the amazing single-player game this really wasn't necessary, but the fact that it is even included just makes this game that much more awesome.
Now all of that is well and good, but what makes GTA 4 the second work I'm upgrading from mere video gamestatus to an official work of interactive fiction (the first was Mass Effect) is the sheer depth of the world in which you exist. So far I have spent multiple hours just surfing the game's internet. That's right, there is a virtual world-wide web in-game complete with dating sites, a Craig's List parody, advertisements, personal blogs complete with flame wars, email, and much more. Hell, you can even download custom ringtones and themes for your cell phone! That is nuts. Do you know how ridiculous it feels to spend that amount of time in a video game surfing a fake internet? There are also several satirical television shows you can watch in your apartment (go Republican Space Rangers!), and naturally there's the radio: the sweet, sweet, sounds of GTA radio stations. There's a rock station featuring Iggy freakin' Pop as the DJ, classic hip-hop and R&B, smooth jazz, techno, LCHC (Liberty City HardCore), and even an all Bob Marley station. Then there's the thinly-veiled talk radio parody station Weazel News featuring the funniest Rush Limbaugh impersonator you're ever likely to hear. You even hear news reports about incidents you were involved in as you drive. This game is DEEP.
Honestly, if you like video games or digital entertainment of any kind then this as good as it gets. And if you don't like those things, do your best to hide your ignorance and don't spout off about things you don't know anything about. GTA 4 is a brilliant satire full of jabs at American politics and any violence is incidental in comparison to the brilliantly crafted story and interactivity of the in-game world that Rockstar has created. I'll say it again: this is not just a video game, this is interactive fiction on par with some of the great works of modern storytelling. If you own a video game system, buy it. It's that simple.
Take Me Down to the Paradise City Probably one of the deepest, most colorful, most intuitive games I've ever played...yet, people still shoot the damn thing down for having either A) Bad Graphics (WHAT?) B) Bad Story (K?) C) It's too violent (I'LL BUY THAT). But otherwise, my personal reccommendation is this...if you are old enough, have the free time, and an interest in delving into a deep, sprawling action adventure/platform title, then at least rent the game and give her a spin. Believe the hype, only professionals and dorks give poor reviews to games that don't have anything wrong with them.
Excellent Ive been playing this game for a week and its great. Ive never been a fan of the GTA series, but I had to buy this 10/10 game (plus my hands hurt too much from Guitar Hero). It is really well made, character development is not only realistic, but fun and intriguing. This is definately one of the best released video games in history.
Potential is there, but game did not pull through. Seems rushed. Let me say first off that I had alot of hope for this game, and expected it to be a lot more then what I was given.
If you've played games like Elder Scrolls Oblivion, or similar, you can understand how nice it is to be able to go into every building, interact with every NPC, and pretty much make the game your own.
Grand Theft Auto IV is like a big city, that is there just for show. It's a fake city, the people are useless, and you can only do stuff in designated areas along designated paths.
Where there could easily be implementation of strategic, role playing and adventure elements, there exists none at all.
Grand Theft Auto is a thriving city that has no purpose. Your money can only buy guns and clothes, which ends up being a useless commodity. I can understand if this was a game that came out last generation, and was not such a money maker, but for what it is, they could of made it sooo much better.
Imagine being able to go into EVERY building, interacting with NPCs and having a purpose to the game. I understand it's an action game, but to stick with only action when there is so much more potential at stake, I cannot understand.
You can only enter about 40 buildings in the whole game. Most of them are uselss, like eating to improve health or buying a gun, etc.
The game is fun and has its moments, but it could have been so much more and that's where the major disappointment lies.
Bethesda is making fallout 3, which will smoke this game. This game is all show and no substance. And the graphics aren't that good either.
Same Old with a Plus! GTA IV is a great installment in the GTA franchise. Defiantly worth the wait, GTA IV brings a brand new story to the next-gen consoles. But I don't think that it's worth all of the hype. It could have been more customizable, with better weapons (I mean come on, they've basically have been the same since Vice), and better vehicles (A car being the coolest vehicle in the game? Pretty sad). It is a good game, but it feels like I've played it already compared to Vice City and San Andreas.
Personally, I think they should have just used the same engine as San Andreas (with all of the customizable glory) and added new features that were in this game.
But there is one good thing out of this GTA game, MULTIPLAYER! The Xbox Live on this game is amazing, but does get boring at times. But still, the Multiplayer gave this review another star.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
