" Well said. GTA 4 went from over-praised to over-criticized but the fact is it really is a masterpiece. Can't wait until 5 "  

It's funny how the people responded by mentioning the lack of save points and bad combat mechanics, both true, but despite that I agree with what you have said, it was a really well thought out blog, and I now feel like blowing the cobwebs off of that disc and giving it a spin, it has been a long time since I played and I just love going out to simply explore simply for the sake of exploring. I might even see if I can shoot some pigeons! I might even give the online mode a bash too, that was usually quite fun, even though I wasn't that good at it.

I don't understand how the terms relevant or deep apply, but I do think that GTAIV has one of the best feeling open worlds in games. That being said, I think the fact that you basically told people to ignore or downplay the story shows how flawed GTAIV still is.

I can't wait until the next gta, gta4 was great grand theft auto always made me feel like I was in another  world no other game really or much games I find are as immersive as gta  especially  for its sp IMO best singleplayer games that are worth your money I love gta's humor and replay value I always felt when gta3 came out video games started to grow up a little to quote the comedian Lewis Black when he was talking about gta "saving the princess is for pussies".

History will show GTA IV to be the best Grand Theft Auto game of the series so far.

The mission structure was stupid but the actual world and everything else was amazing, I love it. To this day I still find new things to get a kick out of. 

As a general reply to those who criticized my advise to not "overlook the world of GTA IV by trying to make it through the story": perhaps I didn't make my point clear enough. A better way to say it is, "don't overlook the world around the story in order to slog through missions and plot points."  This is not to say that the story was weak, in fact I felt memorable attachment to each of the characters, but more to say that the world fills out the story, and makes it more complete, which in turn completes the gameplay.
 
I suppose that every game is devisive depending on who you ask, but GTA IV seams like it is more devisive than most. I think it boils down to what we expect out of video games in the first place... 
 
Often times gamers get bogged down by check lists of what makes a good game, which (in my opinion) causes us to see them narrowly. This thinking will kill the possibility of games ever being art for you.
 
On the other hand, GTA IV is art to me. If an alien abducted me and asked me what these "video games" are, I would probably show him/her/it GTA IV. If you can say that about anything, I think that makes it art... because, in some way, that means it exposes a part of the human condition. Doing that in a modern context while telling a story about a fictional post 9/11 city and its inhabitants makes it extremely relevant. So stop talking about checkpoints and all that bullshit, cause it is bullshit and doesn't actually DO anything for anyone. If you don't like that you have to drive to the mission start, rockstar provided taxis. Otherwise, I just ask you to stop for a second and think, "Am I a pleasure junkie? Am I someone who prefers checklists to feelings? Do my dreams contain contain well-placed checkpoints and an accurate cover system?" If you seek truth to those questions you will find that not all great things are perfect, and checklists are for computers and robots. 
 
For me, as an all-breathing, all-shitting, scum of the universe, I like GTA IV damnit, and all haters can go play Call of Douchebag: Operation Checkpoint.

"Am I a pleasure junkie? Am I someone who prefers checklists to feelings? "

Frustration is a feeling... and its one that i try to limit when I play games. I think most peoples issues with the checkpointing and sloppy mechanics are important because that directly impacts your interactivity with the world. If I want x to happen and I know ive done x correctly and it happens slowly or incorrectly i get frustrated...this happens all the time in GTA 4 while driving and occasionally in combat.

 If I then fail a mission due to that problem and the game punishes me by making me do a bunch of shit ive already done I get frustrated, and that frustration reduces my level of enjoyment of a game. Yes the city is big and really fleshed out and the story is pretty good, but the most important thing in games is how you interact with things and GTA was clunky in that regard.

@ninjakiller said:

" Lack of checkpoints in missions and repetitive gameplay?  No thanks.   "

Yeah this.   The driving only exacerbated things in this. I was in a spot were I had 3 or 4 missions, that were literally all the same. They were the standard "Get on this bike and chase these guys! Why didn't Niko stop them? Shut up!" The best part: I could not, for the life of me, complete a single one of them. The missions were not designed with the vehicle controls in mind. 

@astrodoggy said:

"
Coming up on three yeast since GTA IV was released, and folks.... this game is still the most relevant, deep, and satisfying game world ever created.    
"

/followed  great read btw

Every time I try to play GTA IV, I realize that I'd rather be playing Saint's Row 2 instead.