Rockstar Exceeds the Hype for GTA4
GTA4 does everything to the GTA series. It fixes the control issues that I had a serious issue with in the GTA3 games. It is graphically more real than any other GTA game, and its graphics are up to par with some of the best games in the industry. And, most of all, the story is alive. Everything in the story feels real. Real characters, acting like real people do, and feeling like real people would in that situation. With those large things out of the way, I shall list off notable flaws in the game.
I list the little bugs in this game because the game is so close to perfect, that I have to dig a bit to find anything to be bothered by. While it is said to be a discrepancy between the consoles (more often occurring on the 360 version), there can be a bit of late load in at times. This only ever interfered with what I was doing one time over the whole 33 hours I clocked on the game (and that didn't even make me fail the mission I was on). The cover system can be just a little buggy, but overall the cover system is great.
The only other bug-type thing I can come up with is the AI on your side. Sometimes the AI working with you will run up ahead in an effort to advance, and he will be blow away in the process. This only really applies to a couple missions, but, if it happens repeatedly, it can be very infuriating. That is every bug I can think of at this moment. Small minute things I could ignore, but I heightened my senses for this game.
The control of the game is great. It may take a little getting used to, but what game doesn't (ignore your huge stack of FPS games. I get it. X reloads. R shoots.). Some people are saying the auto-aim is broken (as in unfair), but I found that I prefer to have it off for single player. I am the type who likes to shoot people as they pop out of cover, and I don't like watching my reticule move while I prepare to remove a face. Overall, the on foot control is performs well and feels pretty real.
Driving is another thing you have to get used to. I have seen user-reviews where people dock the game because the cars feel very heavy, causing them to over drift turns into people on street corners. The driving is not a problem at all, but, yes, it is very different than past GTA games.
HINT SESSION!
1. To make a faster turn in the game: Slow down with your normal break in advance of your turn, then tap the handbrake and crank your turn. Practice with it and it will become second-nature.
2. Learn to use RB instead of A for the handbrake. I used A and the occasional phone call would make me kill 4 people on the sidewalk. (A answers your cell phone)
END HINT SESSION!
Liberty City looks fantastic in GTA4. It is slightly smaller than other GTA games, but it feels more alive. People are talking to each other on the street, cops will arrest random people for crimes you did not witness, and there is more clutter on the corners. The city may be smaller than you want, but it has so much more in it. When I say the city is smaller, that means it is smaller than previous GTA games. The city is still more than large enough to make me feel that it accomplishes its purpose and then some.
The story in this game is where everything comes together. The great movements of the characters along with their facial expressions convey mood like no other game has. In my opinion, if Bioware used its Mass Effect skills on the faces and Rockstar used the body movements, the acting would feel as real as any Hollywood picture.
Niko is a very likable character as well. GTA4 is based on survival in America, not the take-over-the-world feeling that came through in GTA3 and Vice City. When told to kill someone Niko usually questions his order or acts as though he doesn't want to do it. While you may have slaughtered five hundred people driving down the street to get to the mission, Niko acts as though he hates taking each life. Niko also refuses any drugs offered to him throughout the game, and not until late in the game do I remember him even drinking alcohol (aside from your bar visits you may go on). These aspects of Niko's personality make him seem more like what a real person would be like in those given situations.
On a final note, all the wacky, corny humor of GTA is fully intact here. I watched TV in my safehouse for a good half hour and I enjoyed all of it. The talk radio stations and all the DJs in the game are consistently amusing as well. Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais are even comedians at the local comedy club. Yes, it is really them speaking and acting. They were motion captured for the game and they make the Comedy Club my favorite place to take people for the date missions.
Overall, GTA4 is a brilliant game that brings a level of reality into GTA. The real feel will, I am sure, get more parents up in arms about the violence, drugs, and prostitutes in the game, but I think that Niko's character helps quell those problems. Well, that, and the fact that Rockstar and the rest of the gaming industry really doesn't care what people say about their games so long as people buy and enjoy the products.
GTA gets a 5/5. It is pretty much everything you could want in a GTA game, and then some. It exceeded my expectations by far, and I had put the bar pretty high for Rockstar to jump over.
