Review: Grand Theft Auto 4

GTA4 was one of, if not the most anticipated game of the year so far. And after playing it for the past two weeks I understand why.

Story Line: The story line is amazing and not too complicated to follow. You are a character known as Niko Bellic who has just arrived to America from Europe. You start out living with your cousin and eventually get your own place. Like all of the GTA series you start out low in the food chain and work your way up by completing the missions. In the game you meet so many characters, each with their own story and personality, most of whom being some kind of gangster. Most of the missions involve murdering and stealing cars, which is what the game is about right? The missions never get repetitive and you are able to choose the fate of some of the people you are targeting. These choices may come back to haunt you.

Graphics: The games graphics are unbelievable and so realistic. Undoubtedly the graphics make the game a hundred times better because they make you feel like your actually in the game, especially if you have your system hooked up to surround sound. Unlike the past GTA games that looked almost like cartoons, GTA4 looks a lot more real. Explosions and fires look amazing in the game, and i really enjoy creating them (especially when there is a traffic jam- throw a grenade that is all I can say).

Gameplay: The gameplay is great and very easy to learn. Crouching and Sheltering behind walls is a great feature allowing you not to be openly hit by incoming shots. The controls are fairly similar to the old GTA games and take little time getting use to. A great thing that I like is how the directions pop up in the upper left corner to let you know how an action like buying a hot dog is done.

Miscellaneous: As always the weapons in the game are great, even though I have not unlocked all of them yet. Like the other games in the series the pedestrians are always rambling on about something hilarious like: "I've been to the other side! they have pizza's the size of cities!" or "So I called that girl I met last night, she turned out to be a dude!"

Video Review: Courtesy of Gamespot