Grand Theft Auto IV is no doubt the best game in history, everything is great, but not everything is there.
The city is beautiful and anyone who says anything different is legally blind or stupid. It feels alive and it's immersive, people talk and walk, and read the paper, smoke a cigarette, or carry their groceries home. The people no longer just walk down the street like zombies waiting for you to make a move. The detail brought into the game is outstanding, the years of waiting is well worth it, and nothing feels rushed.
For the first time in the series you no longer go to a bridge to another island and think, "How do I get over there?" You probably won't even leave the area you started the game in until the missions take you to the other islands. Anyone who has ever played the series knows that this mean GTA IV is truly a ground-breaking game.
The story really gets you connected, with over 30 hours of game play, you defiantly don't have to worry about a short game. Who would think you start as a nobody walking off a boat from a far away country to the man of the city making the big bucks. The story is just enough to buy the game. There's never a dull moment in GTA IV, and some of the twists will really surprise you.
And now for the disappointing part... everything in GTA IV is excellent... what is there, however, there are some missing things that just doesn't make the game whole. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas I remember you being able to go to the airport and take a luggage vehicle and connect it with luggage carts and have a long train of luggage carts. This may be completely pointless, but it was fun and something interesting to do when your bored, see how long you can get it. I also remember that you could get into a semi and connect it with a trailer. How I long to connect a semi to a trailer and go down the road speeding at 100 miles an hour ramming into cars and people and then using the trailer to do the same. These things really don't take away from the game play, but it does make me go "Well, THAT SUCKS!" Regardless of how pointless or stupid it is, it just makes me wonder why it wasn't included, little things like that and then using it for mass destruction was always fun.
Also, there a several other things that bother me, like when you get a mass of police after you and you take cover, and these suckers have the balls to full out rush you when you have bigger gun than they do, or a rocket launcher for that matter. Where the tactics go?
And there is another massive problem, that's more than a little simple thing. It's actually quiet depressing, and a major let down. I always thought, before the game released you could do anything you could in Singleplayer is Multiplayer. This is just simply not so. I was looking forward to owning some buddies in online bowling or pool. Or taking a lovely taxi ride with them, maybe going to the strip club and looking at virtual boobs, all in good fun of course. Unfortunately, it's too good to be true.
Overall, this is nothing that would make this a bad game, just something that is a big bummer. The game is great, everything is great that's in the game, there's no huge flaw that would make me no recommend this game to anyone. Really, anyone who is anyone must have this game, there is no exception.