In your first several hours with Grand Theft Auto IV, it’s easy to want to approach it with a checklist of expectations and start comparing it to what you think a “next-generation” Grand Theft Auto game should be.
- New carjacking animations? Check.
- Improved gunplay? Check.
- GPS on the map? Check.
- Corny-yet-still-somehow-funny jokes? Check.
It’s natural to want to take that sort of clinical approach to a sequel, but as I moved through Liberty City and became more entrenched in its story, that stuff simply ceased to matter. At that point, and for the rest of the game, the only thing that mattered to me was Niko Bellic, the game’s protagonist. Is he going to survive this time? Are his new-found friends going to make it out alive? Will he ever find what he’s looking for, and will finding “that special someone” bring him the inner peace he needs? How did every single person he encounters end up so psychologically damaged?
That psychological side to the game translates into characters talking about how they feel, and about what they’re going through. It’s extremely well-written and made a serious impact on me. This isn’t the carefree killing-and-carjacking romp you might have expected. The way the characters act made each life harder and harder to take until I found myself rooting for Niko, hoping that he’d find what he was looking for and finally get some peace. Of course, once you’ve gone on a crime-spree that has you working for just about every different criminal in Liberty City, getting out unscathed simply isn’t an option.
To say too much more about the specifics of the story would start to detract from your own personal enjoyment of discovering it for yourself. It made a serious personal impact on me, and there were some plot twists that simply made me stop playing for a few hours because it started to hit a little too close to home and started reminding me of people in my own life. Seeing these virtual lives getting torn apart by heroin addiction, depression, or forces beyond anyone’s control made an emotional dent on me that no other game has done before. That makes being the man in charge of who lives and who dies even tougher. Later in the game, you’ll start to make very tough decisions, where you’ll have to kill one of the people you’ve been working for at the request of the other. By that time, I was so invested in these characters that the choice felt like much more than pushing a button on a game controller.
Though you’ll make choices at critical points in the game, the impact on the overall plot is mostly minimal. One choice you make near the game’s conclusion makes the most impact of any of Niko’s decisions, and the choice you make here determines how some of the final missions go, leading to one of two possible endings.
One last thing about the way the story and characters play out: unlike most GTA leads, Niko is no pushover. He’s got a sharp, sarcastic tongue and he doesn’t just mindlessly follow whoever is giving the orders. This helps acknowledge the insanity that’s going on around him and makes him a likable character. Yes, he’s out there doing horrible things, but he’s not doing it to run some Tommy Vercetti-like empire. He’s doing it to survive and to hopefully find some closure along the way.
So if you’ve read this far, you’ve probably figured out that this is a much darker game than the previous GTA games. Though the tone borders on nihilistic at points, the game is still filled with a bunch of lighthearted humor that exists at the periphery. The game still has a bevy of radio stations, each with its own DJs and commercials that make all kinds of jokes at the expense of American society or the culture of New York City. You can also watch TV in many of your safehouses, and there’s a collection of shows there that also provide the same type of humor. News is delivered by the Fox News-like Weazel News, which provides a slanted view of the things happening around town, calling almost everything that occurs a “terrorist threat.” The tone of the humor is exactly what you’d expect from the series, though the modern setting makes that humor feel a little more biting. Either way, this time around it also serves the purpose of preventing things from getting too dark and serious. It makes for a nice balance.
The majority of things you associate with Grand Theft Auto’s gameplay haven’t changed too much in GTA IV, though many of the familiar things you expect to see in a GTA game have been refined a bit. Combat, both armed and unarmed, is probably the biggest overhaul. When unarmed, you have two punches and a kick, as well as the ability to block and counter when necessary. But more often than not, you’re going to be strapped with a melee weapon or a gun of some kind. The game now has a cover system, letting you stick to walls and other objects, blind fire, and pop out to take a few aimed shots before getting back behind cover. This addition alone makes shooting much easier to deal with than it’s been in the past. The game’s lock-on targetting has also been tweaked. Overall, most of the people who have had serious complaints about the way GTA handles shooting shouldn’t find much to complain about this time around. If anything, it makes things a little too easy, as popping off headshots is a breeze now.
The bulk of the story is spent with you approaching mission start points, which triggers a cutscene to set up the mission. Then you’re off on your task. The things you do in GTA IV aren’t dramatically different from what you’ve seen in previous games, but it feels a lot more grounded in reality this time. You aren’t learning how to use a jetpack, or helping someone take over the music biz or anything like that. Instead, you’re overseeing diamond heists, shaking down people for protection money, or following gangsters back to their bosses so you can clean them all out at the same time. Throw in some dirty cops, some New York crime families, a shadowy government agent, and a whole lot of Russian mobsters, and you’ve got a lot of work to do. Failing missions is no big deal, either, because you can easily warp back to the start of a mission after you fail, die, or get arrested. Also, you don’t lose all your weapons when you fail, so the time it takes to get going again is pretty minimal.
But what if you need some more firepower before taking on the next mission? You’re given access to underground gun shops, but it’s even easier to get in good with Little Jacob, the friendly neighborhood rasta/dope dealer/gun seller. If you’re friendly with him, you can give him a ring on your cell phone and he’ll roll through with a trunk full of toys at discounted prices. That’s one of the many benefits of maintaining friendships in GTA IV.
While you can date girls with mostly-predictable results, you can also cultivate friendships with a handful of the guys you meet throughout the game. You’ll occasionally get phone calls from them, wanting to hang out, or you can initiate a play date with your dudes with a call of your own. You can visit strip clubs, go out drinking, play darts, go bowling, take in a set at the local comedy club, play pool, and so on. Getting to know these characters a bit more makes them seem a little more human, and you get some real insight into some of the characters’ stories, as well. Or maybe you just want to keep hanging out with Brucie, the genetically jacked steroid monkey who loves cars, VIPs, staying alpha, and “putting bitches to the sword.” If you and Brucie become close buds, he’ll hook you up with a helicopter. The other bonuses, such as being able to call a cab that will take you anywhere in the city for free, or the ability to rig cars with explosives, certainly make things easier for you.
In addition to all the single-player stuff you can do, the game also has an online side that lets up to 16 players join in a variety of modes. Most of them seem fairly standard, like team deathmatch, a pair of racing modes, and an objective-based mode where one team of thugs tries to escape while a team of cops tries to take them down. There are also a few co-op modes for up to four players, but calling these “modes” is a bit of a stretch. They’re more like individual missions that you can play again and again. They’re fun, but they feel like a tease because there are only a few of them and they don’t change much, so once you get good at them, they’re a breeze. All they do is make me wish that the game had a larger co-operative component to it, because they’re probably the most interesting part of the multiplayer mode. There’s also a free mode that lets you and 15 other players run around the city with no real objective, which can be fun if you just want to screw around.
Getting into and out of the multiplayer mode is done via your in-game cell phone. It’s a pretty slick integration, but it’s not without its issues. For example, if you run into any network trouble and can’t join a match, you’re kicked back to your single-player game, where you have to pull up the phone and try again. If you set up a game and realize you want to change modes, you have to quit all the way back to your single-player game and try again. Switching to some kind of multiplayer menu once you get into the multiplayer side of the game would work better.
All of this stuff is put together into a great-looking package. Liberty City really comes alive in GTA IV, thanks to some terrific building design. The environment looks rich and realistic, and makes the GTA III-era Liberty City look like a bunch of flat facades by comparison. The visual quality also really helps in the cutscenes, because the facial expressions of the characters can effectively convey emotion as they deliver lines, which helps give the story its impact. Animation-wise, the characters move well and there are lots of little touches, such as the over-the-top stumbling that Niko and friends do when they’ve been drinking, that help make the game look great. The frame rate is mostly stable and it runs at a playable speed, provided you aren’t getting too crazy. When piling cars together in an attempt to make a huge explosion, I managed to get the frame rate down into what looked like single digits. Also, the game doesn’t always convey a great sense of speed. When you’re in the faster cars, the whole game seems to skip along, rather than giving you a fast, smooth look at the world. It never gets so choppy that you can’t handle your vehicle, but it’s very noticeable, especially on the 360.
The game is backed by some terrific audio, from character voices to the soundtrack, to the sounds around you. Niko’s footsteps are especially well-done. They’ll echo off nearby buildings if you’re running across a quiet street, and they’ll generally reflect the surface you’re running on–like the metal walkways of a cargo ship, for example–really well. The gunfire sounds great, car engines are appropriate, and plenty of pedestrian dialogue helps make the city feel complete.
The soundtrack is, once again, all over the place, with enough variety to keep you hearing new things for quite a long time, provided you’re open to scanning around the radio dial a bit. At some point during my time with the game, I discovered that I sort of like dance hall. Weird! The DJs, commercials, and talk radio stations are great, and deliver the perfect level of ridiculous satire mixed with dick jokes.
This is the first time in a long time that a GTA game has debuted on multiple platforms, and of course, people are going bananas trying to dissect every little difference they can. From my time with both versions, I found the PS3 version to run a little smoother, though neither version is immune to drops in the frame rate when things get crazy. The PS3 version installs up front and seems to load and stream a little better as a result. The 360 version’s loading and streaming is entirely dependent on the quality of your hardware’s DVD drive. On one system, I had no problems, the loading seemed perfectly snappy, and it generally wasn’t a thing. On the Xbox 360 Elite I have at home, though, I could hear the disc thrashing about as it tried to load, and occasionally objects and roads would appear a second or two too late, causing me to ram my car into invisible objects, in one case. Thankfully, I had another 360 at my disposal, but if your drive is already a little iffy, just know that you might run into some occasional streaming issues.
Of course, the 360 version has achievements and will apparently have downloadable content down the line, so if I were choosing, that’s the direction I’d lean in. But the story is just as great on both platforms, and you really can’t lose either way.
It was difficult to anticipate how Grand Theft Auto IV would turn out, given the way that the whole “open-world game” thing is being done to death across as many different games and settings as possible. Rather than try to out-do the Crackdowns and the Saints Rows of the world with bigger land masses and more missions, Rockstar went the other way, and managed to craft an amazingly impactful story and weave it into an open-world game in an incredibly meaningful way–all without losing the heart and soul of what makes Grand Theft Auto so popular in the first place. The end result is absolutely masterful and absolutely worth your time and money.
144 Comments
had a chill go down my spine.
must play…!
YEEYEE GTA WHAT
The game is hot! Hype Hype!
Jeff, thanks for the awesome review!!!!
**runs to vehicle to go buy GTA 4**
I don’t agree with the score/rating..
This game should get at least 7 out of 5 stars.
GTA IV is the greatest game from the gta series…so far. Niko is the only character in a game that I really had sympathy for. The story is amazing. When had to make a choice in a game. I actually had to think about it.
Interesting review…it’s weird how a game with a good story can make you forget about the core gameplay itself. I find myself wanting to find out what happens next instead of actually playing it! The beauty of GTA4 is that it connects the story and the gameplay incredibly well, keeping you playing while still enjoying the story. I have yet to finish the main “quest”, it’s getting too good now!
If that ain’t the longest GB review yet, I don’t think I’ll read it all, though. The score seems right.
Awesome Review, Jeff!!
Now to just figure out a way to get more than 24 hours into one day. hmm…
Mr Jeff …..You are the BOMB ~
Smart , Insightful and Clever
As ever ……GREAT READ !
Hmm… i feel kind of put off by this review, and well most review of GTA4. I say that because, i don’t really care for Niko or the choices you have to make in the game. Am about half way in (i think, i could be wrong) and am at the part where two of the characters want you to kill the other, and well, the choice was easy. And so far, all the choices have been easy, i never really spent more than 2 seconds thinking about them. So either my heart is black like my coffee, or people are making a big deal over something that isn’t.
Personally i feel that this gta is actually a step back for the series, as far as gameplay is concern. The story is great (at times), but the game itself feels too static. Blah, but like i said, am only about half way in (i think), perhaps things get better near the end, if not, well… guess i’ll just trade this game to my friend for okami or something.
OMG It’s GTA IV REVIEW!!! BY Jeff Gerstmann, now, i wish i knew which BIG GAME will Ryan be reviewing later on.
Good review, well written. I just finished the story and it’s great. This game is really something special even though it has it flaws.
I find it really interesting how many people think the story is AMAZING. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really good, but plenty of times I found myself kind of zoning out and hoping a cut scene would finish so I could get to the shooting. I also found myself wishing that the game would sometimes sacrifice gameplay for story. After you get into the meat of the game you know that virtually EVERY mission will go wrong in some crazy way that will lead to A) A protracted gunfight B) A long vehicle chase or C) Both. There are a FEW missions where this doesn’t happen, but I wanted a few more, just to ratchet up the tension and make it all feel a tiny bit more realistic.
On the other side, I believe that in some missions it’s impossible to finish before the scripted events have played themselves out. On one particular mission I was chasing a guy and the game would NOT let me target him even though I was close. I believe this was so that a scripted event could play out. After that I was able to kill them. There are also chase scenes where the enemy cars seemed able to absorb ludicrous amounts of gunfire, only to have a scripted crash and out of car gun battle to end the mission. Those things I did not like at all. GTA should be all about a cohesive world and clever ways to beat missions, not scripted chases where you can’t kill the enemy until the game says you can.
I found the friends’ dialog entertaining, but the long patches of driving/pool/strip club required to hear it to become somewhat torturous after a few ‘dates.’ This becomes even more annoying when your friends get pissed because they’re feeling neglected and you lose the use of important friend-based powerups.
I also wish it wasn’t so easy to interrupt a phone call. The parts of the story I DID really enjoy often included the post-mission or random phone calls from people, but you can end these by accident in a thousand ways. I once had to hide from a two star police attack without shooting back or getting in a vehicle so I could hear the end call for the mission I’d just finished.
The game is great. It definitely deserves five stars and a lot of praise, but I did have some semi-serious issues beyond the frame rate, and I don’t think the story’s much better than that of Vice City or San Andreas (even if the characters are better drawn due to longer cut scenes and more seriousness.)
Great review!! I’m getting close to the end of the game.. Been saving it and taking my sweet time.
agree with you 100% jeff, this game is masterful! finished the game today and got myself a “Happiness is Island” t-shirt lol. can’t wait to get back in and play it again to see the other ending.
Yes, I concur. I wrote a review on GTA 4, and I also gave it a perfect score. Nice review buddy. Sex with prostitutes was amazing and getting lap dances from exotic dancers was incredible.
good points all around.
yo jeff, did you pick $ or Kill Bill style?
gotta know
Those who don’t love the new GTA story are probably from the japanophile segment of the gaming world.
Once you’ve convinced yourself the MGS narrative is a ripping good yarn, there’s no coming back.
Glad you are enjoyed the game as much as i am, i wish you guys would use a 10/10 ratings, just my personal preference and i wish you would answer this question…
Would you have given this game a 10 out of 10?
Great review, thanks
nice review and very good post by Todd McTodd and some others.
)
While,yes,the game is definitively great it made me wonder that very few people,especially on reviewer side speak about flaws such as those Todd mentioned. I find that on the gameplay side regarding single player missions this version of gta is way more scripted and restricting than previous ones. To the degree where things happen like you can´t use a vehicle of your choice,use a weapon of your choice, enemies get invincible often and lots of similar things, although its still that big open world during missions it suddenly feels very tightly confined and forced to a extremely linear way. I like the deeper more serious story, building up more serious feeling relationships with more interesting characters a lot but i think its sad that in return a lot of the actual freedom in gameplay is taken away when one wants to finish missions. In most missions i played so far (i guess i´m close to the end as i already did several missions after unlocking the third area) everything i could do and also the order in which i had to do it felt extremely scripted and unflexible.
Also i read it in talks on the game often that the retry option in the game is kinda nice and allows pretty quickly getting back into a mission. While it is surely way better than in previous ones I quite wonder its called good seen by itself because when one retries the mission one usually has way less ammo (if it was a mission where one used up a lot) and one still has to do all the driving and custscenes parts and in several steps taking missions also all the already beaten steps. Usually its then still the wiser choice to just reload the last game save.
Overall the game is a great achievment of course and i enjoy it a lot, still i´d like it more if also the downsides are mentioned more in the reviews,i think it would be cool if rockstar addresses some of these things then in the next version (i still think rockstar and valve make games at a totally different level than most others, so yeah,a bit of nitpicking on the issues won´t take away from that much anyway
Great Game / Great Review
Great review, Jeff.
Also, props for not being a fanboy during the part of your review that explained the differences in visuals between the consoles.
SO many people blow that way out of proportion.
Well done sir. I agree and feel that this game is a watershed moment for games being seen as a mature medium. Maybe not necessarily art yet but no longer just a “toy.”
Geez Jeff , now thats what I call a review ! wheew ,what is it like 2000 words ,give your fingers a rest man, kick back and have a brondo on me.
“….I discovered that I sort of like dance hall. Weird!”, no no no — “….I discovered that I sort of like dance hall. WORD!”
holler.
My 360 died the day before GTA IV was released.
Seeing these reviews…. is ridiculously painful!
11 out of 10. By the way, LCD Soundsystem is on Radio Broker. Check it out. Then…again…Justice is on Electro Choc. Just one of the many game altering decisions in GTA IV.
Great review, Jeff.
At first I was expecting all the hype to be just about shooting people and cops, stealing cars, and prostitutes. If the story is as deep as you say it is, then I know now that I’m definetely getting this one.
That was a great review, Jeff. A job well done.
I am about 40% into Grand Theft Auto IV and I have to say, so far, this is the greatest game ever made.
The graphics are amazing, especially for a world as large as Liberty City. I haven’t run into any identical buildings or two people that look alike. I still have to stare in awe every time I drive on the bridge or ride a helicopter into Algonquin when the sun rises in the morning or when it sets in the evening, or when driving through the streets of downtown at night in the middle of a light fog. The entire city is just bursting with excellent visuals.
I also love the combat system. It took me a little while to get used to it, but once it gets to you it make for great experiences. Add that to a wonderful new cover system and you have immersing movie-esque firefights. Once you play “Three Leaf Clover”, you’ll know what I mean. The variety of weapons
The sound is also top notch. From the bullets of your AK-47 to the busy streets on downtown, the realistic sounds of a city and it’s underground surround with life. The music is as great as always, with a wide variety of musical genres and satire radio talk shows. All of it is blended in perfectly.
The word I find myself associating with GTA IV is “life. The story is what gives it to the game. Just like Jeff, the characters get to me on an emotional level. From Roman’s unstoppable(and pathetic at times) ambition and gambling habits to Dwayne’s struggle of life out of prison, I feel an attachment to all the people(especially Niko). I have already run into one tough decision I had to make and it took me forever to decide which fate to choose. The story drags you down into the crime underworld of a metropolis and provides a dark picture of what Niko has to survive in to finally meet “that special someone”.
Everything in GTA IV is of such great detail, it boggles my mind of how it could have been created in the time that it did. It isn’t a cliche anymore. You actually do feel like you are a part of a bustling metropolis and engaged in the dark sick world of crime. It is a game on unprecedented technical and artistic levels. It is not matched by any game today or any that will come out in the near future.
Yes, I am only halfway through it, but I will say it again defiantly. Grand Theft Auto IV is the greatest game ever made.
Re: Andrew
I am no fan of (often) nonsensical Japanese stories, but I read and I watch films and this game does not reach those levels in terms of its story. It’s great for a GAME story, but it didn’t reach me emotionally. Nico was too inconsistent as a character and the plot never particularly grabbed me (not nearly as much as some of the more creative missions.) People are saying the story truly affected them on an emotional level. It didn’t do so for me, and it’s not because I wasn’t ready for that or didn’t want it to. It may be that it happens not to resonate with my sensibilities, but that’s sort of outside anyone’s control.
Fantastic review, I agree completely! I’m surprised at how great the story is in this game. When playing the previous games, I would usually lose interest in the story before finishing them.
God I love GTA IV. It is probably the best game I have played so far. Keep up the great reviews!
can’t say I’m surprised, now I just need to get over to my friends house to play it.
Jeff, you just did one of the best reviews I’ve seen for GTAIV. Reading the reviews for GTAIV from certain sites just didn’t have any passion to them. It’s like they just slapped a 10 on it and went about their business. It feels like you really played the game and got absorbed in it. You just proved why you are great asset to the industry sir.
Good review. I thought for sure that you guys would have done a special video review for a game like this. It dethroned OoT!!!!!!
Did the 360 version freeze for anyone else randomly in game?
Excellent write up man.
Thumbs up!
I wouldn’t call mass murderer human exactly…
Excellent review, Jeff, and by far one of the best reviews i’ve read on the web.
Jesus Jeff, that was quite the review, well, more like a purge of pent-up prose predicated on a particularly awesome game. My hat is off to you Sir.
By the way, Radiohead? August 22nd? SanFran? You there? I am.
really spot on Jeff as usual, great review.
Wow, there is alot of brown nosing for this game, its awmazing and all….but its not freakin jesus or something, every one just praises this thing, i could give you a big ass list of things that were wrong with this game…its not perfect.
I’m Sorry but this game is over rated
I have a few issues with this game:
1. The cover system is almost broken - It’s such a pain in the ass to get into cover, out of cover, move along a wall and do anything. Niko walks in cover as if he’s afraid to fall and break, and there’s no easy “advance forward” option from cover to let you get around cover quickly.
2. What the fuck is up with the driving? Seriously. All of the cars feel like they are driving on slick ice and they all weigh 50 tons.
3. There’s no system for determining a threat/danger with the aiming system. I found myself constantly frustrated with trying to aim at a guy that was a little bit farther away and it kept auto-locking to the guy that was 10 feet away from him but also out of sight.
The story, characters and humor are all great, but Rockstar did a good job at breaking a lot of shit in the process too.
GTAIV is, finally, the game that actually understands the idea of offering a player CHOICE.
Unlike legions of Western RPG’s before it, with their black and white notions of good and evil, GTA presents the player with choices that have no clear choices. The Good have as many problems as the bad, and you’re seemingly good or bad intentions can actually betray you.
A Mild Spoiler Warning!: One of the missions close to the middle to the game has you track down a Russian cadre responsible for funding terrorism. You have option to kill the man at the end of the mission or not.
For Krishna knows what reason, I didn’t execute the man.
He was unarmed, I thought to myself. I had done enough damage. But I let a man who funded Terrorism go, just because he was unarmed. Did I really do the right think? Could this character recover from my attack and still fund an attack on civilians?
I think Dan Houser(who co-wrote the game) must have, at some point between the development of San Andreas and GTAIV, must have picked up some of the works of quintessential American poet Robert Frost; many of the choices that Nico Bellic makes throughout the course of the game draw perfect parrelels to Frost’s classic poem The Road Less Traveled.
In that poem, the speaker comes across a fork in the road and is forced to make a decision. One of the two paths. He makes a choice, almost arbitrarily. Most importantly, however, he spends his days justifying his choice, and all the events that resulted from that choice, calling it “The Road Less Traveled”. It doesn’t matter what choice he makes; all that matters is how he justifies it.
GTAIV presents Nico with ambiguous choices and lets the player make the final call. It doesn’t matter what call the player makes, so long as he or she can truly justify it for themselves.
Poetical Allusion, now interactive.
Ladies and Gents, we finally have mainstream Game as Art.
Couldn’t agree with you more good sir.
OMG I am so angry, I am sitting on a copy of this game until June 12th because I want a backwards compatibly PS3, but OMG I am a very frustrated individual!!!
great job Jeff
ANOTHER 5 star review? Hyperbole alert! Heh, you should have given it 4.75 stars so everyone could be up in arms at the only reviewer who didn’t give this game the psychotic praise it deserves.
Iron Man and GTA IV- the champions of 2008.
dude i agree with u 100% on the review u made a typo in the beginning of the review u said niko belic is one the most human protagonists to appear in a videogame when it sghould be niko belic is one of the most human protagonists to apear in a videogame
I don’t have a lot to add to what Todd McTodd, Ugur and Zor said, but I too didn’t really get into Niko, or the other characters, that much. I thought Roman was sympathetic, and Brucie is funny, but the rest of them blurred together. Which f*cked up, drug addled mess am I doing dirt for now?
*spoiler* I killed Playboy for his crib, no hesitation.
Did any one not see the 5/5 star rating coming?:P
My big, stupid “game as art” manifesto, and I got the name of Frost’s poem wrong! It was “The Road Not Taken”, not “The Road less travled.”
I’ll go back to keeping my mouth shut.
re: people complaining about scripting
I didn’t have any problems with scripting in car chases. It allowed for some great dodging traffic moments and they always clearly explained beforehand whether you were supposed to just chase OR fire upon the car while chasing.
I guess I understand the complaint about a lack of freedom in mission gameplay but.. it’s a matter of opinion, personally I had a lot of fun with the scripted missions and didn’t miss whatever freeform aspects previous GTAs offered. When I want to screw around with no limits I’ll do it outside of the story.
Most Def deserves the score it got, as long as you don’t claim it to be perfect like IGN and Gamespot…
It certainly is one of the best stories in a video game, but the characters and story pale in comparison to books and movies. Irvine Welsh, Charles Bukowski, Anthony Burgess. There are so many really good stories about drugs, crimes, and the people who do them, why should we be impressed with GTA? Given the limits of games as story telling devices (broken and inconsistent narrative, short duration as compared to a book, need to deliver gameplay, etc.) I wonder how much story should really count for.
Sorry to double up there. I’ll be glad when we can edit our posts.
I am really loving this game, and totally appreciate the more grounded-in-reality, psychologically impactful tone it manages so well. On the other hand, part of me misses some of the totally over-the-top mission design from, say, San Andreas–stuff like intercepting a jet full of assassins in midair, jumping from my plane onto theirs, taking them out, then landing the plane–which would have seemed totally out of place here, but were hella fun. I’m already wondering if Rockstar will gradually move things in that direction again with the later GTA games of this console generation. I’m certainly anxious to find out.
And I’m glad you said that popping off headshots is kind of easy with the new cover system. I had the same thought. You know what it really reminds me of? Everything or Nothing.
I love reading reviews like these. The reviews where you can tell the game truley impacted the writter. I’m loving the game so far and look forward to seeing how everything comes to a head.
Have not beat it yet… the story that is… But im not getting my finals homework done……. Yikes… I want to play MORE!!!!
Thats how you write a review
Great Job Jeff.
Tour de force. it is, one of the best video games i have ever played… amazing Rockstar really out did them selfs this time.
Re: derrick
I think you’re wrong. Several missions where it says something like “Eliminate the MacGuffin Gang” lead to scripted chases, after which the MacGuffin gang ends up crashing or getting out of their cars or whatever, and THEN you can kill them. In previous games you could have blown out a tire with a lucky shot and then driven up and uzied them to death. The fact that this can’t happen makes the chases less dynamic and interesting IMO.
Re: Matt
While I do agree that some of the choices in the game are well scripted, I don’t think it’s THAT revolutionary, and while the moral ambiguity of some of them does make an artistic statement (If a somewhat nihilistic one) I generally found myself more curious about the effects of them than caught up in the meaning.
Is this game art? Absolutely. If someone made a LESS interactive version of a city half as complex as this one people would have no problem calling it art. The fact that you can take a cab ride, buy a hot dog, and go to a comedy club in a convincing city environment means it’s extraordinarily good art. I don’t think the “Should I kill MacGuffin or not” choices hold a candle to the world construction.
I will grant that there are several moments in the game that do at least grab your attention (though I never had to stop and think about anything except whether I was too tired to keep playing) but this is a 25 hour long story. Did you really care about most of your “friends” or the people giving you missions? Did you feel they were mostly three dimensional?
its probably to early to say this but I just finished it sunday night I believe I got the “good” ending and well…..GOTY
I really thought this game was all hype at first. The series has always been great, but I’ve never been able to finish the story because of gameplay problems.
I just got my copy today and I truly can’t believe how good it is, especially after all this hype. Really amazing sequel, really amazing game!
re: Todd
“Several missions where it says something like “Eliminate the MacGuffin Gang” lead to scripted chases, after which the MacGuffin gang ends up crashing or getting out of their cars or whatever, and THEN you can kill them.”
I played through the story twice (to see the result of the different choices) and I really never ran into this problem of trying to shoot guys when I was supposed to be waiting until a scripted event happened. There were a few chases where I took dudes out halfway through what was obviously a scripted chase, and there were other chases where I didn’t fire a shot because the dialogue said not to.
Maybe it’s just luck on my part or maybe it’s easy to miss the dialogue that implies what you are supposed to be doing. Either way it sucks that it happened to you… but this just isn’t something that was a problem for me on two playthroughs.
After playing for 60 hours I still cant put GTA IV down
Great Review
I hope GTA4 comes to PC too …
Superb review Jeff - I’m convinced, I need to go and buy this game (as soon as there’s copies in stock somewhere, of course…).
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
Jeff Gerstmann = the world’s biggest Xbot
I really agree with the review.
I’m loving the game, and just wish I had more time to play it.
I want more “How to build a bomb!”.
Love the suit!
Hmmmmm….I was really hoping that Jeff would mention whether he had any problems with the game freezing during the time he spent with it. I would probably just buy this game regardless of those problems but since I’m importing it I’m a little more careful.
I guess I have to play this game. I love moral dilemas.
Redfield4ever did you read IGN and Gamespots reviews. They never claimed it was perfect.
GTA IV or MGS4 for GOTY. It’s going to be a tough call.
The game definitely deserves all its stars.
Though the ending is quite… something.
Crime is a bitch indeed. (Which is something mainstream media will totally ignore.)
Thats the secret irony of GTA IV.
For all media’s talk about how video games glamorize violence and anti-social behavior, GTA IV ends with the notion of Crime as a self-fulfilling prophesy, where the fruits of all that labor will never quite leave the criminals fulfilled, and where Death will simply predicate more senseless death.
Great review Jeff, very insightful and covers alot of aspects of the game which gives a full picture of what to expect from it. I like games that have a great storyline, thats what i find immersive and makes me want to finish a game or play on, which i can tell this game gives.
Unfortunately im not a console gamer, not since the PS1 but im hoping they might release it for the PC sometime down the line like they have for previous GTA’s, fingers crossed.
Keep up the good work Jeff, Ryan and Alex.
Well done Sir, I have been a member on another site for many years, I am pleased to see the avenue that you and your partner (Ryan) have taken. I hit the site daily now, it is now my new gaming home, I thank you for that.
Peace
Niko Bellic: A Real American Anti-Hero??
A Eastern European character in a British game is American??
Ok jeff.
Don’t mean to be a downer, and overall I agree with the review…when the game works. I just wish there’d be some mention of the technical problems many people are having with the game. Just as a caveat emptor kind of thing.
I had the game freezing randomly on my 360. Exchanged for a PS3 version and that one freezes while loading, if I don’t sign out of PSN. And spend some time surfing any game forum and you’ll see I’m not alone…a significant (note I didn’t say majority) number of people are having frustrating technical problems with the game, regardless of platform.
Hopefully Rockstar will able to patch these into oblivion and then we will have a 5-star game. But as it stands now, I don’t believe it deserves the highest rating.
will this FINALLY end the annoying onslaught of posts about gta4? can we start reading about something that is not gta now?
Fantastic game.
That’s all I have to say.
Awesome review. Can’t wait to get this game and play it all the way through.
Jeff, you forgot to mention that unless you’re forcing 1080p on a REALLY nice TV, the PS3 version of GTA IV looks like ass. Blurry ass.
And I do own both versions, so I’m not blowing smoke out of my ass.
mine looks fine..
All these other sites rushing their reviews…
This is a 5 star rating I not only accept, but respect. If you guys continue in the spirit of playing games as we will see them and not rushing reviews because of various resons, this site is going to be huge. Respect man, that’s all I gotta say.
“will this FINALLY end the annoying onslaught of posts about gta4? can we start reading about something that is not gta now?”
You will never stop reading about GTA. Never!
This game is sooooo great. Of course 5 stars.
OT http://www.jimandthem.com
whow great review. I stopped gaming for quite a while now and I managed to notice this site. Amazing quality review, I’ve almost never read a review so complete and clear than this one.
Really this kind of quality reviews will make your site succesful.
Keep it up!
You hit the nail on the head Jeff. I’m only a few hours in, but I’m slowly realizing that it’s the relationships and Niko himself that make GTAIV; not all the existential stuff that we’ve seen before.
You know, I’m gonna make this comment short. I absolutely love the game whenever I’m not working or at school I’m usually playing it because it is that good to ruin my real social life so I can maintain my in game social life. On another note, I always loved Jeff’s reviews on gamespot and on here but I never knew he was such a phenomenal writer, this is probaby the best written review I’ve ever read. Good Job!…I didn’t know how to end it
-Robert
yes this game is the shit !
Nice review, One thing I noticed in the game that wasn’t noticed in the review is that there is a problem with getting into multiplayer games in a group of people. It works some times, other times its not as forgiving. Just wanted to let people know that.
Wow, Gerstman is getting all serious in a review. What gives?
At any rate, I am several hours into the game and feel like I have just scratched the surface. I agree with Jeff so far. Nico is an amazing anti hero and the story is mesmerizing. This is my first GTA I have ever played and between the hysterical radio commercials and talk programming and the dark, fascinating story with this violent thug I somehow identify with, this may be the most interesting game ever made. I find myself protective of Nico’s cousin and his friends and feel personally betrayed when Nico gets double crossed. I am just amazed at the feelings I get playing this game.
I see people complaining about scripting as if the other GTA games didn’t have any. The bike chase on San Andreas, the one you shoot and Big Smoke drives , the one that resembles the one from T2 is scripted, it is impossible to destroy that truck !!!! Before this one there is the first OG mission where you need to kill a guy in a bike, you can’t kill him till he drops off the bike.
So some of the missions have always had scripted parts, and it is a pattern in GTA, so it is no different now!
I haven’t played GTA IV yet since it only releases here in Brazil on the May 15th, but I am replaying the 3 first 3D games and what I see people complain here have always been present in GTA games.So, it is no surprised. As Jeff said, it is still GTA.
Anonymous = epoch fell.
I don’t need to read the review, I beat the game last night, and well, next to Mass Effect, This is perhaps the best game I have played for the past 12 years I have been gaming….
great review; and probably the greatest game I have ever played.
Yet another great review, enjoyed reading it.
YEEEE NB MAH BOII!
I guess this will be my first GTA purchase! Thanks guys!
Good read. It’s an ok game..i give it a 3/5. Just not much innovation, but much better graphics.
It would’ve been better, had it not been too late !
It is a great game, although not without some issues. The randomness of the GTA world can get in the way rather than entertain at times. I’ve played a couple missions only to have Niko pick up his cell phone to call someone to note the job has done while I was still in the middle of a shootout (target dead, but his buddies were not), or worse while still running from the cops (Niko won’t run when on the phone). All of those resulted in me getting killed, or nabbed by the cops and missing the phone conversation that should have taken place.
Mateus, yeah, sure, there were quite a number of scripted things in past gta games, too, its just that there are even way more of those in the current one and during missions there´s generally way less choice what you do in which order and which way.
I´m not generally against scripted stuff when its well done but in this case it always detracted a bit from the believable living breathing world the game shows so well besides the missions.
I still like em a lot, would just have been great if they could have kept the story up and still allow one to do the mission more in ones own way.
Also while i really liked some characters after a while it made all less believable and enjoyable to me that 95% of the people you get to know are heavy addicts of some sort. While this may have been done to form the message that most people are indeed addicts of something and each has his own pack of issues it felt weird to me that really most of the people are addicts in a state close to death or mental home. You know,there are various states of craze and addiction, why do most have to be in that heavy end state?
I´d like it more and also find it more believable and interesting if there was more variety and so a heavier contrast between people of different addiction levels would be formed.
Overall,again, the (though many) small issues just are so much more popping out when its about something like gta where so much is so well done
Awesome review Jeff, enjoyed reading and agree with everything you said, IV is an amazing game.
I swear I heard the theme to Greatest American Hero in the game when entering a building.
Either way, this game beats being kicked in the baloney.
Game of the year? Check.
I actually read all the negative comments on this game. I love reading forums where people say this game is overrated. They are so wrong in this case. I don’t think I have found one flaw with the game that takes me out of the experience. Not one. When I boot up that game on my 360, I am sucked into the experience.
I’ve been hearing a lot about rampant problems on the PS3 version of the game such as freezing and unplayability. My friend has the 80 GB version and he says the game ran fine for one day and now it won’t load. He returned it and the new game doesn’t work either.
My 360 must be a good one because the load times for me are understandable (20 - 30 seconds) and I have little if any pop ins or streamlining issues at all, maybe I’m lucky.
Awesome review, Jeff. It’s sold out in every shop over here in my local town of Stockton in the UK but luckily a guy was selling it on ebay locally so I picked it up tonight.
To be honest, as good as GTA IV no doubt is I don’t think any game with frequent lockups and serious framerate issues should ever get five stars.
I haven’