PS3 Game Review: GTA IV

OVERALL:  8/10
Game Play:  8.5/10
Graphics quality:  8/10
Addiction value:  7/10
Funness:  9/10
Value to own:  Yes
Replayability:  Definitely!

Now that I have gotten a chance to play the game (after all of the freezing complications and Rock Star support disaster), I found that the game itself a lot of fun!  The premise of the GTA as a whole has always captured my attention.  I love the ability to change the fate of the game depending on what you decide to do.  The amazing part of the game is the grand scale of the city (which looks spectacular).  You can decide to do whatever you want at whatever time.  It’s games like GTA and Fable with a high ability to decide whether you’ll be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and if each move you make will dictate what your character will be which makes it fun.  It almost dives into your psyche. 

I love how some cars just drive better than others and Rockstar took the time to investigate all of the different moves the controller can make and used the controller completely.  The controller was also fairly simple to get used to with ongoing controller tips for simplicity.  The Sixaxis motion detection was good (not as intuitive as Wii) except for the helicopter which I found difficult to fly.  Outside of that, it was a great use of the full controller. 

The storyline itself is quite good — each with a little twist in the plot which made the game interesting.  The side jobs and dialogue from the characters is spectacular.  Character development made it easy to really put yourself into the game.  I enjoyed how Niko made friends (and you can see why, he’s pretty funny) and each contact gets added into the phonebook. 

I like how GTA IV actually started using some of the new world ideas into this old style concept.  The cell phone dialing and internet dating really did put a slight spin on the game.  As well, the GPS system which is decently good but tough to follow.  It’d been nice if they used more of a racing game style for mapping the roads than a yellow line in a small corner since I ended up never looking at the streets.  One nice improvement was the police warrant changes — they are much easier with the radius of the police officers in the area.  I did find that running away from the cops a little too easy and that the radius never really changed size as time went by either. 

There are still bugs in the game even after 2 patch updates, however.  Although, I can understand why this would be as the environment itself is very big.  The online game play is good fun but the number of bugs in it is quite severe (ie - being able to shoot through walls, can see the enemy but enemy can’t see you if you joined first, can swim under roads).  As well, the game is quite similiar to the old GTA games.  The mini games (playing pool, etc.) is still available and still just as fun — interesting new games would have been nice.  Shooting the gun in the game is difficult if there are 2 enemies close to each other in different distances.  You tend to point the gun at the closest target.  If you didn’t want to autoaim, it make the gun unintuitive to use as you need to ’semi-auto-aim’ but pulling the trigger 1/2 way down.  I actually never ended up using that feature. 

Overall, with the new boroughs in Liberty City, this is a game that has great fun factor and is great for killing time after a long day at work or school.  The stress melts right off!