NOT QUITE AS AWESOME AS MOST SAY
Does GTA IV live up to the hype? Are the controls vastly improved? Are the graphics as great as everyone is saying? Is Niko Belic a compelling character? Does the story live up to GTA standards? All these questions and more were being asked--still are by some--a few weeks ago. The answer to all is: yes and no.
An honest and impartial person would immediately understand that no game could live up to as much hype as the amount that surrounds GTA games. That said, GTA IV is a very good game, in many ways the best GTA game yet, but I could'nt help feeling the Rockstar North left a bunch of chips on the table. It was almost as if they're keeping the good tricks up their sleeves for the imminent sequels knowing full well that the game will sell gangbusters regardless.
I've had a few questions from friends regarding the controls for GTA IV: how the handle, the new cover system, driving improvements. My response is always this: playing GTA for the controls is like playing Gears of War for the story. GTA games are all about crazy, real-life based action and outstanding stories. Never has gameplay been such a mix in a series. At times it will be great, and then suddenly it's to bad you fling your controller across the room. Driving is still an obsolute mess: the controls are much to loose. Going from Burnout Paradise to GTA IV feels like going from analog to digital control. Do you doubt me? Try it and tell me I'm wrong.
The cover scheme is actually pretty good. There are a view quirks (sometimes Niko covers on the wrong object or picks an unfriendly angle putting you in the line of fire), but for the most part it really helps in gunfights. Here is a tip: never throw a grenade from cover, never. Just don't do it; it's tempting, but those little bastards are wicked unprodictable and you're just as likely to kill yourself as your enemies. Here is a second tip: never fire a rocket launcher from cover. Make sure you are far away from any obstacles before letting that baby fire. Few things are as frustrating as getting 3/4 of the way through a mission only to die by your own hand.
That brings up another bone of contention nearly everyone has with GTA games: repeting failed missions. GTA IV does improve on this somewhat because after failing a mission you recieve a text message to retry the mission again, and you get to start at the missions starting point rather than having to travel to the destination first. This still isn't as good as having a checkpoint system--it's still frustrating as hell to die repeatedly in long missions and have to start over from scratch--but atleast it's an improvement.
Graphically, GTA IV is a step up albeit a smaller one that others will have you think. The colors and textures are much better, but it definetly doesn't compete with the upper tier of current-gen games. I don't buy the whole "open-world" excuse either because Burnout Paradise has just as big of a map and is absolutely beautiful and has a stable frame rate.
Story is an area that will absolutely not dissapoint you, as this is probably the best GTA story yet, and Niko is arguably the series' most compelling protagonist. He is by far the most human, and this makes for a great story and very interesting character development situations. This is a great example of a game where nothing should be revealed about the story in a review. That would be like opening your Christmas presents on Thanksgiving.
Overall, GTA IV is about what you would expect: a great game that will be enjoyed for a long time, and a landmark in the series. What you might not expect is this: it really is not the breakthough masterpiece that everyone else will tell you it is. Rockstar took the smallest steps possible when they moved GTA to this gen. You can definitely tell they were more interested in selling games than breaking new ground.
