I originally posted this in General Discussion and realized it should be here:

Yes, I have beaten this game much later than I wish to admit, but I've been busy with the rest of my backlog. I got through about half of it and took a long break before returning it. Overall, I thought it was quite good, though I grew tired of it for a large percentage of the middle of the game. The story and missions just dragged their feet for a long time, becoming quite mediocre and repetitive. Things really ramped up in the end though, with much more interesting missions and story progression. I wasn't quite as shocked with what happened at the end at Roman's wedding as my roommate was, mostly because I hadn't built much of a relationship with the character involved in that part (avoiding spoilers).

My biggest problem with the game was how bloated it was with chase mission after chase mission. GTA IV's missions were mostly built upon two different scenarios:

• Go into a deal which goes wrong and you have to fight your way out

• Chase some guy down.

Its called Grand Theft Auto for a reason. I think too many people have been spoiled by the earlier games focusing more on action shooting, but hey that's just me.

I felt like they purposely gimped the game. There are a lot of things and a lot of mission types that could have been added, but I feel like they're saving that stuff either for DLC or for the next expansion like Vice City and San Andreas.

The game's campaign, which usually gets fellated by critics, does have a really lumbering, clunky sort of pace during the halfway--to--four-fifths mark.  Rockstar did baby the same mission structure, and it does get repetitive. 

It has other merits, though.  I, personally, think the game plays rather well, and it isn't too buggy.  Though the driving mechanic bears a pretty steep learning curve, and the cover system can be wonky at times, I do have a lot of fun tearing apart the pedestrian community of Liberty City.  That alone, however, does not keep my attention in a firm hold, and the longer I play Grand Theft Auto IV, the more I catch myself drifting out of the immersion.

my admission is that I STILL havn't beat GTA
I know I suck.

There was a time where I had trouble getting into it because I was so busy but now that I'm back int he flow, I freaking Love IT!!
I know it's old news now but yea.

I have not beaten GTA yet as well. The game flat out sucks, is boring and not fun. The missions in this series have been the same since GTA3. Go kill this guy. O look he's running away chase him! Ok nice job, now go do it 40 more times. Yea, funny how a brand name can get a game such high markings around the Internet.

My admission is that I sold the game a few weeks after I beat it. I still loved the game, but doing random things just wasn't as fun as doing them in San Andreas and Vice City. Maybe cause the crazy activities were toned down to make the world of Liberty City more real. The chase scenes did get really repetitive but the one chase where you ride after this biker on your own bike through the train tracks was completely awesome. Weaving through passing trains and making it to the ledge just before a train passed by was awesome.

"Yea, funny how a brand name can get a game such high markings around the Internet."

I just finished the game yesterday.   I took time off from playing when MGS4 came out.  And there were a few times when I got frustrated and stopped playing for a couple of days.
I loved the game, but will admit (please don't flame too much) i did cheat.
I'm not great at games, so I need some help.

Not sure if I'll play through again for the second ending though.