8.3

Gameplay: 9 Graphics: 8 Sound: 8 Lasting Appeal: 8

After years of waiting for the next Grand Theft Auto installment, many of us grew quite anxious to finally get ahold of it. In fact, I was one of the many enthusiastic gamers who waited outside my local game shop to get it at the stroke of midnight.

Less than half an hour over midnight, I was back home with the game already fired up. Now, you might expect that if I were to go to such lengths to obtain it as early as possible, I'd be up until the crack of dawn stealing virtual cars. Ironically, I didn't play the game for more than 15-20 minutes before hitting the sack. I know that it may surprise or disgust many people if I speak these words, but the sad truth is that I wasn't blown away or immediately sucked in like I thought I would be. There was nothing downright wrong with it, but my first impression was simply: “just another video game”.

However, after an hour or so of progressing in the game the next day, my opinion of it started shaping up a bit. While I still wasn't wowed, I really started to appreciate the addictive quality of playing around in a well crafted virtual sandbox.

After all, it is this sense of “sandbox” gameplay that has so many people hooked on it. In any Grand Theft Auto game, it is very rare that you ever actually feel like you must do something, or complete a certain sequence of events in order. This is no different. Obviously, certain missions won't be able to you until you have completed others, but the overall sense of freedom reigns throughout your entire life in Liberty City.

Liberty City is where the events of GTA4 all unfold, but only an imbecile can't see how clearly the city has been modeled after New York City. In fact, America's shining beacon of freedom, the Statue of Liberty, is even there. Only, now it is now referred to as the “Statue of Happiness”. There's also an area that resembles Madison Square Garden beyond any questionable doubt, and the entire city consists of several islands, much like New York City. And also like New York City, there is a strong sense of a cultural melting pot, where people from different walks of life all coexist.

This is where you come in. You take the role of a Russian immigrant named Niko Bellic. Your cousin, Roman, has been sending you emails filling your head with ideas of striking it rich, driving fast cars, and sleeping with beautiful women with fake titties. You've come over to the so-called land of opportunity in the hope of finding the American dream, and living out the ideas Roman has clouded your mind with. Unfortunately, words and reality are two completely different things, as you will find out almost immediately.

Roman has a gambling problem and frequently is in debt to some very nasty people. Because of this, you get caught up in a chain reaction of events in which you meet lots of really bad dudes. A lot of these guys end up introducing you to other people who have their own share of problems. While many of these “evil-doers” provide you with nothing more than opportunities to make cash, others can offer simulated friendship as well.

As I was saying, while some of these people do some things that society might deem “bad”, several of them end up being really nice people, whom end up being your buddies. And, what a diverse cast of characters Liberty City hosts as well!

My favorite character has to be Brucie; an insecure beef cake who's obsessed with being “genetically superior” (interestingly enough, through the use of steroids). He provides a lot of the comic relief, as many of the other characters have much more serious tones. Packie, for example, is an Irish man who's life is, and always has been, quite a bitch. Of course, Dwayne is a hardened ex-con who seems to have just as bad luck as Packie. There's also Little Jacob, a Rastafarian weed pusher who is constantly well baked out of his head. The character development throughout Grand Theft Auto 4 is great, as you really get a sense of who the characters are, and what they think.

Many of the people you will befriend come with perks as well. For example, get Little Jacob to like you enough and he will then be available to sell weapons to you, with only a call on your phone. Roman can provide you with a taxi service whenever you are in need. Packie can hook you up with explosives, and Dwayne can be called when you are in need of backup for those sticky situations.

In case it wasn't clear by now, you always have a cell phone handy, which is how most of your communication is done. Not only can you answer the phone when someone is ringing you, but you have the opportunity to call up any of your friends to arrange for, or cancel, appointments. Aside from fast food joints and restaurants, there are a number of minigames spread throughout Liberty City, such as darts, pool, and bowling. Once you are friends with someone you will need to take them out for activities such as these in order to maintain good friendship. It's a nice idea, but I have to admit that it really does begin to feel like a chore to maintain these friendships. Although, you could easily argue the same could be said in real life.

Friendship aside, you also will have the opportunity to go on dates with a couple lucky ladies. While not necessary for the story line, the presence of these dating mechanics certainly does add a bit more variety to the already wide range of things to do in Liberty City. At the end of each date, you have the chance to “try your luck” or just say good night. That is, if you pushed the right buttons, you will get a chance at virtually scoring with a virtual chick. You don't actually see anything, should you make it, but when you do get some, the scene that follows is good for a few laughs. If the laugh isn't good enough for you, you get an achievement out of the deal as well!

Obviously, the Grand Theft Auto series, as the name implies, isn't all about delegating time with flings and friends. In fact, if you ask some people, they might tell you these social/sim aspects have no place in such a game. Regardless; if you've played any other Grand Theft Auto game then you should feel right at home here. You steal cars, kill people who get in your way, and carry out missions for mobsters to fatten your wallet.

The missions you go on are not only challenging and diverse, but can be extremely rewarding as well. At one point in the game, you will rob a bank, which, if pulled off successfully, will fill your pockets with roughly 50 times the cash you'd make from an average job! Some missions consist of merely making hits on marked men, while others can have you cleaning out an entire building of its inhabited gangsters. For the most part, the missions don't feel too repetitive, as not only the overall objective changes, but your means of executing it as well. For example, some missions are basic and done by foot, while others involve high speed car chases. Others will have you racing through the oceans of Liberty City on a speed boat, while fewer involve piloting a helicopter. The sheer number of missions available to you is also quite incredible. It seems you almost always have more than one contact to choose from, so if you are planning on doing the optional ones aside from the main story, then you can expect to spend more than fifty hours taking care of business! That's a lot of gameplay for an action oriented game, although I would be lying to you if I said that I never felt that the missions became a bit repetitive. It's true that after playing long enough, one can easily begin to feel like they have been doing the same thing over and over. If it were not for the integrated story and cut scenes you'd probably feel it much sooner, but the presence of a strong story with solid character development does wonders at keeping you interested and involved.

Control in Grand Theft Auto 4 is very similar to earlier episodes. Pressing the Y button is used to get into your car, or, in the event that the car is already occupied, to jack it from someone. The X button is used to jump, and then B button is used to melee attack. You hold down the A button to run, and you repeatedly tap the A button to run even faster. Now personally, I found this to be rather pointless and unnecessary, considering the movement analog stick is only programmed to move you at one speed, regardless of how much pressure you put on the stick. This doesn't make much sense, considering the concept behind the analog stick is to increase the rate of input based on the pressure you apply. I guess the idea was to “simulate” your leg movements or the swinging of your arms by having you press the button over and over to go quicker – or possibly simply to make you put a little effort into it. Nonetheless, I personally felt this to be quite unnecessary.

And now we come to the point at which I hesitate the most to discuss – graphics. The reason I am so hesitant is because I harbor such mixed feelings about the visuals in Liberty City, and because I know that my opinion might not sit too well with many people. Yet, critiquing should always be a truthful and honest approach at expressing one's opinion, so here I go...

It pains me to say this, but I wasn't that impressed with the visuals in GTA4. Why? Well, let me get the nasty stuff out of the way first, so I can move onto the visual pleasantries. For starters, the draw distance isn't very good, and objects just a hundred or so feet away are filtered in a very fuzzy way, presumably as to keep the game running smoothly. I just came from playing Crackdown again, so when I saw how limited the line of sight was in GTA4, I was quite disappointed. All of the shadows throughout Liberty City are also quite dithered and fuzzy looking as well. Though, in all fairness, this seems to be a growing trend game developers are doing in order to compensate for performance. There are also a few instances in which the character models for the “extras” are quite blocky looking. I remember a certain instance in a cabaret club where I was quite shocked to see how blocky one of the character models looked. Fortunately, all of the main characters, and most of those you see from a distance throughout the city, are much smoother and less offensive looking. Surprisingly, there were even quite a large number of textures which were very low resolution. Many of the texture maps on store and building fronts were ugly, and random places throughout Liberty City really starkly contrasted the otherwise finer toning. In a few areas, there is even texture flickering. During dawn or dusk (I forget which, to be honest) the whole world looks much too pale. I'm guessing they were trying to make it look realistic, but they went much too far as almost everything on screen appears close to the same color at these times. But above all else, the absolute worst looking aspect of GTA4 is the plant life. It's been a really long time since I can recall seeing such horrid looking trees and bushes. I think I might have a plant life fetish or something, because I'm always paying close attention to how trees and plants are constructed in games. Those in Liberty City frightened me, and looked incredibly last-gen! To make matters worse, trees will frequently obstruct your view, which causes complications during intense scenes. As trees interfere in the path between the camera and you or your car, they do not fade out, or become transparent. Instead, they simply cover the whole screen and make it impossible for you to see what's going on. I wouldn't exactly say this is a rare occurrence either, as it had to have been a source of frustration for me close to ten times. So, in other words, I couldn't say it's all eye-candy here, as some people seem to portray it to be. By no means are the graphics poor; they simply left a lot to be desired for my taste.

Then again, there is an awful lot that was done right, and even several aspects that were quite impressive. To start off, the frame rate is very stable, and drops only slightly ever-so rarely. That says a lot too considering just how much detail there is in the Liberty City. The attention to detail is amazing, and really shows how much time the developers put into making the special effects life like. Since Liberty City consists of several islands, this means there is a lot of water in the game. Much like paying close attention to plant life in games, I also pay close attention to how well done the water is. I've got to say, the water in Grand Theft Auto 4 is probably some of the most life like water I've seen in a video game. It actually has depth and waves which move in a very convincing nature, and the texture used for the water itself is also amazingly realistic looking. The rain effects are without a doubt the coolest I've seen in any game. Not only does the rain fall and splash realistically, it really effects how easy it is to manage a vehicle – something many games neglect. And then there are all the little details and intricacies on land. As you smash through fire hydrants, they will spray water up that is capable of pushing you up, or even lifting your car, should you leave it on the spraying water. If you smash down a light post, electricity will spark out, and if you plow someone over in your car, blood will splatter on it. Even the cars themselves move very realistically. As opposed to the car seeming like a block moving on wheels, the physics that control the way the car's body moves on top of the tires is very well done. The little details that have been added to characters also raise the bar. The lip synchronization is nearly perfect, and really portrays a sense of realism far surpassing the majority of other games. And it's not just the way the lips move that may the characters so believable, every gesture the faces and body language make only increases the realism factor.

Now, I find it difficult to accurately measure just how good the audio is in a game such as Grand Theft Auto, considering that much of what is to be reviewed is licensed music not specifically made for the game itself. Like past games in the Grand Theft Auto universe, you can listen to a large range of radio stations as you drive around. Maybe it's just me, but I thought the number of radio stations you have to choose from in Grand Theft Auto 4 was much higher than any of the earlier games. Obviously, this is a good thing. Yet, at the same time, I'm not one that would actually willingly listen to almost all of the music available. I do enjoy Bob Marley from time to time, which is good considering there is a radio station that only seems to play him (I guess those making the music selections don't realize there is actually more reggae in the world). Normally, my genre of choice would be punk, but the crap they have in here only irritated me (just because you shout “hard core” over and over, doesn't make it so). As for the rest of the music, I'm sure it's all fine and dandy to most people, but none of it is really my cup of tea. I was a little disappointed by that, considering just how much music they try to cover, and still I couldn't find a radio station that I could stick with for very long. But, like anything else in a review, this is my opinion, and some might consider my tastes in music to be snobby, because of how picky I am with what I listen to. Even if I had enjoyed every song that was used, I find quite unfair to praise a game too much for simply for licensing popular music. That doesn't take too much thought; just money.

Of course, what has to be praised is the awesome voice-over work! The voice actors did a remarkable job, and I'd probably say that Grand Theft Auto 4 has the best voice acting in any video game. Niko's accent is not only believable, but not overly done so that one could get the impression they are faking it. Every line is voiced full of emotion, and delivered with impeccable timing.

The sound effects are good, but didn't really stand out to me, one way or the other. Although, the addition of a spoken GPS feature is a great idea. That is, while you are driving your car can tell you when to turn, based on where you specify you are trying to reach. Aside from that, the sound effects weren't all that memorable, but at least they weren't irritating either.

When you take away all the flashy and shallow appeal games contain, the most important feature is of any game is its ability to keep you playing. Fortunately, Grand Theft Auto 4 nailed this area aspect pretty well, if you ask me at least. I couldn't tell you just how long the story missions alone will take because I got quite caught up in trying to do any mission that was available to me, sometimes even forgetting which were the ones relevant to the main story. It took me roughly 50 hours to complete all of the missions the contacts had to offer, which is a lot more play time than I was expecting. Liberty City itself is quite large, although if you're going to draw comparisons to similar games, then you may be surprised to know it is not nearly as large of a world as many other sandbox type games. I found it quite disappointing that 99% of the the structures and buildings in the game are nothing but external boxes. Seldom, can you ever actually enter a building, which really contrasted the otherwise free feeling of the game.

In an age such as our own, the addition of multiplayer couldn't be more necessary. While I'm not much of a multiplayer person myself, I did play around for several hours with others online. There are numerous game modes, although few will really stand out from the rest. For the most part, the game runs smoothly, but there were several games I ran into in which lag was so bad that it was unplayable. Occasionally there would be bullet-lag, and situations in which people were killed and you just didn't know it yet, or you'd be shooting in one direction where a player had already moved, and your system just hadn't updated the character positions yet. It isn't a frequent problem, but it does happen from time to time, and should definitely be mentioned.

But, my biggest gripe with the multiplayer support is that for some reason there is no way to tell who is speaking through their microphone (unless the character is in your screen and you can see them - which is next to never). This was a huge source of annoyance for me, considering the incredible number of Xbox Live users who sing in their microphones, or those that just act like they are still in pre-school. Sure, there's a “mute” feature with both the game and Xbox Live, but that does you absolutely no good when you can't even determine the name of the user you want to mute. Because of this, I found myself plugging my microphone in just so I could turn the volume off completely so I didn't have to hear anyone. Normally, I prefer to let everyone speak as I play online, but if I have no control over silencing the nitwits on Live, then I have to resort to silencing everyone.

As with my gripe regarding voices in multiplayer, there exist numerous other issues in the game itself, which, not surprisingly, seem to have been ignored by even many of the most reputable critics.

First and foremost, Rockstar promised a “living and breathing” world. I'm not seeing it. I remember reading all about how they were finally going to give the citizens of Liberty City stuff to do so they weren't all just walking around on the streets. Now, when I first heard about this, my initial thought was something along the lines of in Oblivion, in which every NPC follows a schedule of activities. Perhaps that was too unrealistic of an expectation for a game with as many NPCs as Grand Theft Auto. Regardless, I expected more, and even if I hadn't expected more, I'm still disappointed by the fact that it takes this many sequels to get it done, when it could have very well been done the first time around if the attention to detail was great enough. Sure, you will see people standing on the streets smoking and things like that, but it's always superficial actions like smoking or talking to someone else. I never got the impression that these people on the streets were up to anything other than standing around or walking around, which is not a living and breathing city, as far as I am concerned.

In terms of technical performance, I experienced brutal load times on various occasions, and once it even took (and this is by no means an exaggeration) upwards of five minutes before completing loading. Of course, not many people are actually going to sit through that, as even I thought the game had frozen (again) – I simply went out of the room, got something to eat and eventually after coming back it finished loading. There was actually one time where I waited for more than ten minutes during a load and the game never came back, so I can only assume it crashed or hung while trying to retrieve data it couldn't access for some reason.

Loading aside, I have to admit there are a variety of other technical and design issues which need to be mentioned. Throwing grenades from being cover is extremely problematic as 75% of the time the grenade will hit your cover object and blow you up instead. Flying a helicopter is much more difficult than it needed to be. Heck, I avoided using a helicopter anytime I didn't absolutely need to for a mission, because controlling one is a painful chore. I know it doesn't have to be like that either, because flying a helicopter in Just Cause was hundreds of times easier.

The added hide-behind-cover feature in GTA4 is not only new to the series, but completely unnecessary. Except for a few (rare) scripted instances where it is a must, using an object as cover is more troublesome than helpful. Since it locks you in place, it makes immediately reacting and leaving cover impossible, and it doesn't seem all that helpful anyhow since you can just hide behind the object without pressing the cover button, and that way you won't be locked onto anything.

Now, maybe it is just me here, but I felt that, contrary to what we were being told by Rockstar prior to the release, evading the police is much easier. I remember reading all about how much more clever the fuzz would be, and the all new and improved tactics they'd use to haul your ass in. I gotta tell you – I don't see it. Not once did I ever notice the police do something drastically different than they would have done in any of the previous Grand Theft Auto games. Heck, I actually found it much easier to lose the coppers here, than any other Grand Theft Auto game. Each police unit has a circular bubble on your map; if you are within the bubble, then you are still in their range. To lose the cops, you just need to step out of the bubble and wait a few seconds. Then you can turn around and go right back where you came from while all along the police are completely oblivious. So I hate to say it, but I think it's a lot easier to lose the police now than it has ever been. You can take that how you want it, but I for one take it as unchallengeable, and much too unrealistic.

There's no denying it, Grand Theft Auto 4 was a heck of a lot of fun for me. It's a solid game, with a pretty good story and excellent character development. There are times that you may get the feeling that you're playing a SIM game instead, and you may even begin to feel the overbearing tedium of repetition, but most of the time it is a treat. Sure, there is a list of issues that could have made the game even better, but many of them can be overlooked for how much is done right. If you're an adult gamer, and you don't particularly mind delving into a morally bankrupt pseudo world, then you need to check this one out. However, if you are going to ask me straight out what I thought about the game, I'd have to respond “3 parts fun, 1 part hype”.

overall score: 8.3

Gameplay: (9) Solid GTA gameplay you have grown to love, but it can feel repetitive at times, and there are various annoyances and issues that can frustrate you. Some design and technical issues. Graphics: (8) Mixed bag of nuts - some parts overachieve, while others underachieve. Great rain and water effects, and the little details and touches are excellent. Some texture flicker and low resolution textures on buildings. Anything not directly in front of you is really fuzzy and dithered. Sound: (8) Licensed music - would be nice if they wrote some original music once. Unmatched voice-overs, average sound effects, and no way to tell who is talking on Xbox Live. Lasting Appeal: (8) Lengthy game if you're going to do everything. It can feel repetitive at times, and when it is all said and done only multiplayer may keep you playing.