Evolutionary with room for improvementNovember 14, 2008 Ok all the hype has died down. How good is this game for real?
Well for starters, its fun but it takes a while to get to that point. The story line is fantastic. Who doesn't like Niko Bellic? The visuals are good and there are tons and tons of laughs, big ones, all throughout the game. Rockstar has gone to lengths to immerse you into a real living city. From the new radio stations and good weather effects, to the seemingly endless parade of street characters, GTA 4 has a true unique feeling. But its not without some clear faults.
GTA 4 takes awhile to get rolling. The first chunk of the game is slooooow going. The early pieces of the game are really a snooze, many times feeling like a SIMS rehash until you can start doing some real damage with larger crime. I would have hoped they could have started the storyline and gameplay with a lot more of a bang.
The helicopter, cars, boats and stuff are nice to have around but while the controls are improved in someways, you still feel as if your thumbs are treading up hill through mashed potatoes. The cover system is welcomed, but doesn't work very well sometimes. Definitely not as well as the cover system in the GTA rip-off, and now ancient, Godfather game. Seriously, it can't be that hard to get a smoother and more responsive set of controls in this game. Is it really necessary to make crappy controls part of the necessary game experience? Some of the vehicle controls in particular, with or without SIXAXIS, can be incredibly frustrating.
Sure the game can be a blast in places. And Niko's story is one you just keep wanting to see unfold. But despite the traditional fun of running errands for crime bosses and smashing into people on the sidewalk with your car or motorcycle, Grand Theft Auto 4 still could use some work. Its fun, but feels unfinished and is by no means a masterpiece.
There is some real value and replayablilty in the sheer amount of things to do, and on that basis, I recommend the purchase. However, if you are looking and some stunning piece of polished work. Forget it. The best reason to pick up Grand Theft Auto 4, is simply to hang out with Niko Bellic. He's a bad dude but he's also funny and surprisingly sympathetic.
SpoiledNovember 10, 2008 A very good game but perphaps I`ve been spoiled by its precursors... by the fact that there is nothing outstanding from the previous generations of the game, the only difference to me is the storyline incredible graphics online connectivity and everything that this platform offers but other than that more of the same!
Awesome Game...November 10, 2008 One of the best games I've ever played. Ranks in my top three PS3 games.
Its much better now!November 5, 2008 all the updates and trophys now added just make this game more fun trust me i put this down for a while till i found out about trophys. and now far in it! I dont have saints row 2 which ive heard is better but is has no trophys. So get GTA4!
Lack of difficulty levels makes it unplayable for meNovember 1, 2008 This game is too difficult for me which made the experience frustrating and ultimately unplayable. I see others find it too easy. This could have been easily solved by having 5 levels of difficulty from very easy to very hard. The game would appeal to a much greater consumer base and would have had much greater sales if it had 5 difficulty levels.
The other major related problem is that one cannot save in the middle of a mission. Because of this one must repeat the same driving sequence over and over to finally get through the hard part of the mission (ultimately I could not pass missions and had to stop playing the game).
Because of the two problems above, I find this game more frustration than fun. I will not buy any more games of this series or any games that do not have levels of difficulty (hopefully 5 levels).
