GTA IV... What isnt there to love about this fabulous game? First let me tell you I am no fan of the Grand Theft Auto series as I have found them all boring after the first two hours, until that is GTA IV came along. Now I'm hooked and I don't know why. Is it the pedestrians walking by munching on a hotdog, conversing with their friends and even pulling out an umbrella as it starts to rain upon the ever alive streets of liberty city, As I drive down the city at full speed pursued by the police I smash into a pedestrian and almost feel sorry as Euphoria kicks in (Euphoria is kinda a ragdoll engine for games and the like, But it gives the characters a sense of self preservation so they could for instance try and break thier fall as they plummet to the hard hard ground below them) sending them flying over my bonnet and into the the police in hot pursuit of me, Niko shouts "Sorry!" through the window in his amazing awesome Russian accent and I can't help but smile.
MULTIPLAYER
I'm sorry but the multiplayer needed it's own section just for the pure enjoyance I have got out of it so far. Imagine this, I oull out my handy cell phone and proceed to go to the multiplayer option and find the free roam mode, It's my first multiplayer game in the streets of liberty city and luckily I've managed to get into a now full game (16 players is the Max in free roam the mode I was in) I appear on a street and look around, nothing odd here I think, OH Whats that across the road, A rocket launcher!? Ive got to get myself one of those. I casually walk across the road smiling at my good fortune. Im almost there. Almost ther.... SMASH a player controlled car smashes into me from behind sending me flying into the air, then I land with a thud and then comes the pursuing police cars who plow over my lifeless body in pursuit of the wanted player. I'm a victim of Hit and Run, do I care? Hell no! I'm laughing too hard at my first death so far in the madness that is Multiplayer. Now I'm not going to go into too much detail but imagine the depth of singleplayer in GTA IV. Now keep thinking about those epic police chases you have had. Now imagine three of your buddies with you in a van you driving and trying to keep upright and your three friends shooting to protect your hide. Now imagine crashing that van evacuating and quickly sprinting across the road to that lone helicopter sitting there begging to be stolen. Oh no! One of your friends go down as the SWAT team pull in and shoot him down. No time to worry about him you have just gotten into the helicopter, You're going to escape! You're in the air just above the coppers in dismay, nothing can go wrong here! Nothi... BOOM a rocket comes flying at you from a player and his rocket launcher and hits the tail of your helicopter. The tail is ripped off and you franticly try to land safely, but then another rocket comes and kills all three of you instantly. You're all gobsmacked at first then you all start laughing and take off, having some other insane experience in Liberty City...
CLOSING COMMENTS
As you can see I'm in love with this GTA the first timee i've ever loved ANY GTA game infact. The Xbox 360 version has quite a few "Pop Ins" but seriously that is my only gripe. There is one thing though, the Xbox 360 is getting exclusive downloadable content as a tradeoff I guess for the PS3's better overall performance.
Overall this game is a MUST BUY. Five Stars from me!
