Great, but dissapointing.
I'm a huge GTA fan and to the whole free roaming franchise. Having played the first 2 GTA's it was a bit weird to see the game in 3D, but they did a excellent job at it, having clocked even way more hours in those 3 then in the first 2 was proof to me how great these games are.
So you can imagine how much i wanted GTA 4, everything looked amazing about it, it was huge, the graphics engine was finally upto par, and seeing how many new things they added with each game, I simply couldn't wait to play this.
And then the day came, the game felt different, driving cars was especially very different to what I was used to, but you get used to it, and although I still prefer the old, more arcade style, I still enjoyed it. After a while I was beginning to wonder when you could buy houses, stores, improve your shooting skills and all those things that were in San Andreas, and then I found out that it was all gone, so many of the things that made the game yours, that gave you control of atleast part of the city was gone, this was just not the GTA I expected, I expected much more, I expected that you could basicly rule the city, buy it all.
Rockstar made it a different GTA, a more realistic GTA, ofcourse, in a realistic game you don't own the whole city and you can't do whatever you want, but it makes sense that if you use weapons a lot that you get better at it, accuracy, reloading and those things do improve normally and if you are a rich man you can buy/rent houses and buy stores, this is all possible, so why did they remove those things?
I still remember fantasizing with other people how GTA 4 would look, you would have places where you could buy up the ground and build something new, maybe a appartment complex to make money, or a big house with a helicopter platform, anything was possible...
The game I got was nothing like I expected in terms of features and gameplay, it's one thing to not overdo it, but it's a whole different thing to remove realistic aspects of previous games.
GTA 4 is a great game, it looks great, it plays great, but it's just not the GTA i wanted it to be, it's not the GTA that went further where San Andreas ended.
So by all means, this game is worth the money, but if you loved the old GTA's and you want that expierence, then I suggest getting Saints Row 2 instead.
