Review: GTA IV
Sit, down grab some popcorn and read through one of the most highly anticipated games of the decade.
Will GTA IV be claimed the king of Grand Theft Auto or will San Andreas steal the title with the fan favourite CJ or will the infamous Russian Niko Bellic prove to be one of the most stories so far. Let's get this straight GTA IV is no light weight, in fact Rockstar has invested more time and money than in any other GTA before. The story is 3x bigger than the previous title set in Liberty City.
GTA IV take place in the dirty and dark city of Liberty City (New York) with many famous landmarks just renamed in that childish but funny way that Rockstar does. Niko Bellic who's the main protagonist is from Eastern Europe, with many speculations pointing towards Serbia or the former Soviet Union. As you would expect from any Rockstar game, the voice acting is fantastic and the highly detailed open world is a major plus with the main story line played around the open world. Don't expect a lack of effort on Rockstar, part the world is €living and breathing€, with pedestrians knocking into you and the cops strolling around the prettiest city yet.
Dotted around the huge world of Liberty City are small quest's and minigames, to complete with Bowling, Snooker, or even the local Burger shot may grab your taste. All the previous GTA's to date have had huge re play value, with 100% competition taking hundred's of hours. GTA IV is no exception with a main quest line taking 50 hours, you may as well add another 100 hours onto that if you plan on completing all of the side quest's, shooting all of those pigeons around the city.
The missions vary throughout the game, one minute your raiding the main bank of GTA to taking out a Girlfriend to Bowling and there's a whole lot of them, with some major yet emotional changes throughout the story. With each chapter of the GTA IV story you move throughout the city, from the Bronx of Liberty City to the upper class with skyscraper dominating the sky line. What's unique and remarkable is how well the Character are portrayed, we must credit Rockstar on the incredible Voice acting with the Niko Bellic coming alive after every word, this quality of acting has yet to beaten in any other game.
Rockstar has been pioneering open world games from the start, especially city based ones at that. Yet, again Rockstar has managed to crack the many aspects of the game. A feature, we like is the explosive HUD, the crisp and simple design really shows in tight sequences. Criminal world's are ugly, drank and desperate is what's really shows within GTA IV, when the rain shoots down on you and the dark street lights, are a far cry to the financial district of Liberty City.
So, what's the whole point of GTA. We've missed some vital points here, the truth is GTA is one of the best games of this generation. In no other games, can you go into a local burger shot and create a €hold up€ or helicopter and mow people down with your rotor blades, this is genuinely the truth you CANNOT finish the GTA, the fun keeps on coming when you complete the main story. Liberty City is a massive playground, with many endless and damn right crazy things to do.
Rockstar north, did not get everything right. With many annoying graphics bugs and annoying gameplay mechanics. Above, we credited the missions, but those are the only 1:10. The majority of main quest's and some side quest's, are simply €Hey, Drive to the other side of town, that takes ten minutes; while you complain at how bad I'm driving.€ Then when you finally get there, you usually have to chase another drug dealer, which after a while get's very tedious.
Even when your screaming at 100 mph past a cop, they still don't chase after you. But, by far the most annoying mechanic from GTA IV, is the police chasing you. Let's say you steal a car and a cop see's, immediately you'll be placed under what's called a star rating, then when you've out run the cops (Which is just a blue ring on the mini-map.) you'll then just stop being €wanted.€ Even though, you've just committed a crime, the cops will just ignore you after you've escaped, the pray and spray garages are useless, as it's cheaper and easier to out run the cops.
Rockstar north, have taken out the main gritty parts that we loved in San Andreas and replaced them with a half-broken gameplay mechanic. Don't get me wrong Liberty City is one of the most gorgeous open world city, I've seen to date, but the raw gameplay is repetitive and annoying.
Mini-games such as the shooting range have been taken out, with what€¦ Bowling? Instead of flying Jet's, we now have a horrible helicopter, that's un controllable at the best of times, a better option would be just to crash and knock into the other helicopter when you get into air-air fights, as the main cannons are so inaccurate.
Grand Theft Auto IV, just seems the a dumbed down version of San Andreas, yes there has been major improvements in Graphics and voice acting terms, but the real thrill and excitement we loved in San Andreas is gone. Is it worth a buy? OF COURSE, but will you have as much gameplay value as San Andreas, that maybe a different story.
The Good:
Great Open World Game
Highly detailed
Loads of Re-Play Value (Dam, those pigeons!)
Great Voice Acting
Highly addictable
The Bad:
Dumbed Down Version of San Andreas
Missions Really Repetitive
Hard To Get Interested At the Start (It's really hard to get out of the bronx, you can't get into the financial district without getting a six star wanted level.
BAD PC PORT
Pass, Rent, Buy? BUY
Will GTA IV be claimed the king of Grand Theft Auto or will San Andreas steal the title with the fan favourite CJ or will the infamous Russian Niko Bellic prove to be one of the most stories so far. Let's get this straight GTA IV is no light weight, in fact Rockstar has invested more time and money than in any other GTA before. The story is 3x bigger than the previous title set in Liberty City.
GTA IV take place in the dirty and dark city of Liberty City (New York) with many famous landmarks just renamed in that childish but funny way that Rockstar does. Niko Bellic who's the main protagonist is from Eastern Europe, with many speculations pointing towards Serbia or the former Soviet Union. As you would expect from any Rockstar game, the voice acting is fantastic and the highly detailed open world is a major plus with the main story line played around the open world. Don't expect a lack of effort on Rockstar, part the world is €living and breathing€, with pedestrians knocking into you and the cops strolling around the prettiest city yet.
Dotted around the huge world of Liberty City are small quest's and minigames, to complete with Bowling, Snooker, or even the local Burger shot may grab your taste. All the previous GTA's to date have had huge re play value, with 100% competition taking hundred's of hours. GTA IV is no exception with a main quest line taking 50 hours, you may as well add another 100 hours onto that if you plan on completing all of the side quest's, shooting all of those pigeons around the city.
The missions vary throughout the game, one minute your raiding the main bank of GTA to taking out a Girlfriend to Bowling and there's a whole lot of them, with some major yet emotional changes throughout the story. With each chapter of the GTA IV story you move throughout the city, from the Bronx of Liberty City to the upper class with skyscraper dominating the sky line. What's unique and remarkable is how well the Character are portrayed, we must credit Rockstar on the incredible Voice acting with the Niko Bellic coming alive after every word, this quality of acting has yet to beaten in any other game.
Rockstar has been pioneering open world games from the start, especially city based ones at that. Yet, again Rockstar has managed to crack the many aspects of the game. A feature, we like is the explosive HUD, the crisp and simple design really shows in tight sequences. Criminal world's are ugly, drank and desperate is what's really shows within GTA IV, when the rain shoots down on you and the dark street lights, are a far cry to the financial district of Liberty City.
So, what's the whole point of GTA. We've missed some vital points here, the truth is GTA is one of the best games of this generation. In no other games, can you go into a local burger shot and create a €hold up€ or helicopter and mow people down with your rotor blades, this is genuinely the truth you CANNOT finish the GTA, the fun keeps on coming when you complete the main story. Liberty City is a massive playground, with many endless and damn right crazy things to do.
Rockstar north, did not get everything right. With many annoying graphics bugs and annoying gameplay mechanics. Above, we credited the missions, but those are the only 1:10. The majority of main quest's and some side quest's, are simply €Hey, Drive to the other side of town, that takes ten minutes; while you complain at how bad I'm driving.€ Then when you finally get there, you usually have to chase another drug dealer, which after a while get's very tedious.
Even when your screaming at 100 mph past a cop, they still don't chase after you. But, by far the most annoying mechanic from GTA IV, is the police chasing you. Let's say you steal a car and a cop see's, immediately you'll be placed under what's called a star rating, then when you've out run the cops (Which is just a blue ring on the mini-map.) you'll then just stop being €wanted.€ Even though, you've just committed a crime, the cops will just ignore you after you've escaped, the pray and spray garages are useless, as it's cheaper and easier to out run the cops.
Rockstar north, have taken out the main gritty parts that we loved in San Andreas and replaced them with a half-broken gameplay mechanic. Don't get me wrong Liberty City is one of the most gorgeous open world city, I've seen to date, but the raw gameplay is repetitive and annoying.
Mini-games such as the shooting range have been taken out, with what€¦ Bowling? Instead of flying Jet's, we now have a horrible helicopter, that's un controllable at the best of times, a better option would be just to crash and knock into the other helicopter when you get into air-air fights, as the main cannons are so inaccurate.
Grand Theft Auto IV, just seems the a dumbed down version of San Andreas, yes there has been major improvements in Graphics and voice acting terms, but the real thrill and excitement we loved in San Andreas is gone. Is it worth a buy? OF COURSE, but will you have as much gameplay value as San Andreas, that maybe a different story.
The Good:
Great Open World Game
Highly detailed
Loads of Re-Play Value (Dam, those pigeons!)
Great Voice Acting
Highly addictable
The Bad:
Dumbed Down Version of San Andreas
Missions Really Repetitive
Hard To Get Interested At the Start (It's really hard to get out of the bronx, you can't get into the financial district without getting a six star wanted level.
BAD PC PORT
Pass, Rent, Buy? BUY
Source...