"Definitely the best GTA game ever made, making it an essential purchase." I admit whilst I do enjoy the GTA games, im not a completely massive fan of them. I played the original GTA, moved onto GTAIII, missed out on Vice City but got San Andreas. I did like them but never quite finished them (although I played the game properly, none of that rampage nonsense). It was kind of a last minute decision in getting GTAIV, it had rave reviews and I was planning to get it, but on the monday night I went for it and picked it up the next day (pretty lucky considering I didn't pre-order it). Some games receive a lot of hype which they simply don't deserve, but I believe GTAIV lived up to the hype.
GTAIV sees the story of Nico Bellic, an eastern european immigrant (I hear he is Serbian, although some seem to think he is Russian, although personally I do not know the correct answer), who moves to Liberty City in search of a new life, a second chance. His only family in LC is Roman, his cousin, who promises through email that he is living the American dream, although once Niko arrives he sees those emails were nothing but lies. Roman owns a taxi depot and is in debt (due to gambling problems) with the Russian mob. Once Niko arrives he decides to help Roman out, doing a little bit of work here and there to sort Romans problems out. However this soon spirals and the next thing you know Niko is suddenly a gun for hire, accepting jobs, killing people, delivering drugs, and it all goes on from there. The story was actually really good, I admit I never really thought the GTA games had the best of stories, but GTAIV had a really good one. Through out the game you are given tough decisions on who lives and who dies, and since I genuinely cared about some characters it made the decision even more harder (obviously these decisions will change the story). One slightly disappointing aspect was the fact the game had two endings, I thought your decisions through out the game determined which ending you got, rather than a single choice right at the end of the game, although at least you can choose which ending you want! Overall though the story was very good, obviously a few people you work for are a bit pointless but there are many interesting characters so you will want to meet them anyway!
Now for the gameplay... Well, what can I say? Its the classic GTA formula, many games try to copy it, but many fail (I hear Saints Row was okay but I haven't played it), and of course, Rockstar have nailed it here. You will notice many features of San Andreas have been taken out, although personally I see it as better this way. For example, you don't have to do gang wars for turf, and you don't get personal stats (ie you can't go to the gym, get fat etc, which kinda wasted time before) among other things. Whilst many may see this as some sort of down-grade to the gameplay, quite a few of the features in the previous game were rather pointless. However GTAIV does bring many new features, and since you probably know the basics of GTA, I'll explain the new features. Firstly, the combat has been overhauled. Its not quite the same as Bully (it doesn't have a proper move list etc) although it's still similar. You can punch, kick, dodge, guard, and counter-attack, and thats about it. This combat system is better than basic punching however it wasn't particularly easy to use (guns are a much better choice for fighting), even random pedestrians can get the better of you! Talking about the combat system, GTAIV implements a cover system, just like Gears of War. Pressing RB will put Niko into cover (providing there is an object for you to hide behind of course). Whilst you can still do fairly well without cover, cover is essential later on in the game, making the game much more easier and slightly more tactical (especially considering the enemies also use cover). You can lock onto enemies (although you can't lock onto an enemy and blind fire) and then quickly shoot them. You can still aim when locking onto a target (although the aiming is slightly restricted) allowing for easy headshots (which actually makes the hand gun a rather useful weapon). Whilst it doesn't sound like much its essentially the cover system of Gears of War, cover, move, aim, fire (although as far as I am aware you can't move from cover to cover, at least I haven't managed to anyway). This makes the action aspect of GTAIV much better and more fairier (considering in SA you locked onto a target, then simply shot at them whilst moving). Although its not that different, the driving is slightly more realistic. Each car has a different feel to it making cars more unique, although admittedly I just grabbed any car I could (or a cab, since they give you the option to skip the journey to allow quick travel for an extra cost). I did find the driving a little hard at first, I couldn't turn very well and crashed a lot, but you get used to it and its not that bad after a while. These are the main new features in GTAIV, but what makes it worthy of that 10?
All the little details of GTAIV make it an amazing game. Liberty City (based more upon New York this time round) is a massive, living breathing world. People go about their daily business, people are talking, on mobiles, reading, eating. Crashing into peoples cars make them call the insurance company, people jump onto your car when you steal them, and people call the cops when you fire a gun. The little things help make the game much more realistic. Another change is the scope of it, whilts SA was overwhelming, GTAIV has it just right. The story missions will take roughly 25 hours if you mainly concentrate on them, and whilst there are a good amount of side-missions, its never over the top. SA had too many items to collect, hidden packages, stunts, photos, horse shoes, oysters and god knows what else. However GTAIV simply has Random People (as they're called in game, they give out jobs), 200 hidden packages (yes, its a lot but its not that bad, they're in the form of pigeons by the way), and about 50 stunt jumps. Getting 100% will still take a long time, but you won't get bored of the game easily. Another great feature is the mobile. Niko can phone his friends, take them out, do jobs for them, and of course, get called out jobs (and info regarding jobs). The phone is quite a handy feature, whilst it isn't particularly big, you will be glad to have it. You can also view webpages, which is quite a good addition. Going to the internet cafes, you can type in random web addresses, usually taking you to funny and sometimes helpful websites. Some missions even use the internet, one forces you to pose gay on a dating website so you can meet and kill some one, another forces you to buy a car online and meet the driver, allowing you to kid nap them. Whilst the missions can get a little repeptitive, there are quite a few interesting missions too.
GTAIV also includes multiplayer for up to 16 characters. I admit I haven't played much of the multiplayer, but it boasts around 15 different game modes, including Death Match, Team Deathmatch, races, cops n' crooks etc. They're surprisingly fun, you would never think GTA was so much fun online. Best of all though, is Free Mode. Free Mode basically unlocks the whole city for you and up to 15 other players to rampage in, with pedestrians, traffic, the lot (just no story missions). Its incredibly fun with friends, getting a lot of friends together proves to be incredibly fun. I admit though there are games with much better online (CoD4 springs to mind) but its still different than the usual FPS fare.
The graphics were actually pretty good. I admit there are better on the system, but the graphics were very pretty, good character models, textures, the lot, were all of high quality. A lot of people have been reporting slow down in the game but personally I haven't had any problems. The graphics are nice, and work, absolutely no frame rate problems. The music is a wide selection of licensed tracks which are heard on the radio stations. The music is down to personal taste, I didn't like much of the music in the game, but I am sure there will be a radio station you prefer.
Overall GTAIV is an amazing accomplishment. Its definitely one of the best games on the 360, and an essential purchase. The game boasts a realistic game world, fun missions and characters, great online and graphics and a lengthy game to boot. Whilst its not perfect (I believe a 10 just means the game is brilliant, but no perfect), its still damn good. review by Exodist If that so I'll correct some money to buy ps3 first TT
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3 years, 9 months ago
I guess there always a possibility that while they are exploring the origins of the virus, they can cause another outbreak.
It would kind of feel rehashed an desperate, wouldnt it?