Another installment to the GTA series, and another memorable experience that drags you into a dark criminal underworld
Contains: Very Strong Language, Strong Violence, Sex and Drugs References
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Grand Theft Auto IV is a sandbox-style action-adventure where you get dragged into a criminal underworld by shysters, thieves and sociopaths, and realize that the American dream is heaven for those with fortune, and a living nightmare for those that don't have it.
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STORY - 5/5
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The game is set in a redesigned rendition of Liberty City, a fictional city based heavily on modern day New York City. Grand Theft Auto IV follows the story of Niko Bellic, a human trafficker, smuggler, and veteran of the Bosnian War, who is haunted by the betrayal of his army unit by one of its own during the war. After a smuggling run he is running goes bad Niko leaves Eastern Europe to escape the anger of his employer, Ray Bulgarin. Eventually, under persuasion from his cousin Roman, Niko comes to Liberty City, where he hopes to pursue the American Dream as well as find the man he blames for betraying his old army unit: Florian Cravic, whom he has learned lives in the city. After his arrival, however, Niko quickly learns that Roman's tales of riches and luxury were lies concealing Roman's struggles with gambling debts and loansharks.
The revenge theme plot is slow-paced, as you frequently divert your attention to other situations occurring in other characters lives, but it still is strongly focused upon by Niko and is highlighted by various characters that bring the story to life, and emotions to display the importance it has on Niko. Overall its a fantastic story, and probably the best GTA story yet.
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CHARACTERS - 5/5
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On your journey through Liberty City, you'll have the pleasure of meeting and co-operating with many memorable characters, some which are humorous, and some which are down-right violent and cruel. The cutscenes are particularly engaging, and each characters predicament is uniquely told so as to pass on all the emotions onto you, where the respected mission will be accepted and the targets will be satisfying to extinguish. Each and every character you come into contact with is heavy handed into Niko's life, and you'll know at first glance whether this is someone you'll respect and like, or someone who you'll hate to the bitter end.
The sandbox design opens up lots of missions, which, when completed, will unlock more, and are nicely displayed on the map so you know what character you will be negotiating with. The criminal underworld is a gritty place, and you'll wander into many tight situations which give a realistic sense of brutality and justice, and give you an uncomfortable feel when interacting with these criminals.
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GAMEPLAY - 5/5
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In natural GTA style, Grand Theft Auto IV follows on the tradition of the open world concept, and achieves near perfection.
There are 3 separate areas, based on real-life locations, and completing a certain amount of missions will unlock the next. You'll enjoy most of the missions, and at the start they do a good job of settling you in with the basics. But a lot of your fun will come from creating havoc, like starting fist-fights, running down innocent bystanders, starting car chases with police and stealing vehicles (Which range from cars, motorbikes, boats and helicopters). Dead bodies drop a wad of cash, and collecting at the beginning is essential to keep you going. Unfortunately in the later stages of the game money has no use since you have too much and nothing to spend it on apart from weapons and ammo.
The driving mechanics are very realistic, and while it may take some time to get used to, its a great addition to the gameplay, and most of the missions when it features important. But the most exciting element of gamplay in GTA IV, is the gunplay. The physics engine produced allows for some extremely detailed deaths and responses. Shooting a leg while someone is running will cause them to stumble and fall, shooting an enemy with a gun in the arm will cause them to fall back and unbalanced, and each contact that bullets make causes a very good blood spray effect.
Your actions won't go unnoticed though. When you commit a crime, the police will attempt to arrest you, but start creating more mayhem, and they'll pursue you endlessly unless you escape the radius on the map. The more severe your criminal acts are, the more stars you attain and the harder it becomes to evade the law enforcements. The police will send heavier reinforcements which are far more aggressive than you can possibly believe, and escaping the maximum six star wanted level becomes virtually impossible, unless you find a pay and spray garage.
Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain content and parts of the city, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not attempting a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to do activities. Side missions such as locating and destroying criminals in the police database or participating in street races can keep you occupied until you wish to start a mission.
A mobile phone has been included GTA IV, and there is a large amount of use for it during the course of the game. You'll be able to call contacts to do activities, receive text messages for missions and even be able to customize it how you want, with different ring tones.
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GRAPHICS - 4/5
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Liberty City is a beautiful yet dark city to be roaming around in. During the day, you will see some truly fantastic scenery and the detail put into it.
And at night prostitutes will wander the streets and thugs will crowd alleys.
The Euphoria engine used is capable of producing realistic animations, and make you feel much more involved in the gameplay because of it. The sun will reflect on the ocean and make the water shine naturally, and the glimmer of it captures the essence of the atmosphere nicely.
Cutscene graphics are good, but up-close inspections of character modelling looks a little out-dated, and textures don't look clear, which can distract you every-now-and-then from the subject matter.
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SOUND - 5/5
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From the largely enjoyable humour of in-game characters, to the comedy show acts and the many daft yet hilarious scripts that radio DJ's say aloud, the voice acting is simply perfect. This crowning achievement carries on into the gunplay aswell. Explosions sound fantastic, gun fire proves realistic, and screams of dying are faultless. With a brand new theme tune to the Grand Teft Auto genre, you simply have to marvel at the achievements Rockstar have accomplished.
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CONTROLS - 5/5
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The controls differ from most games, but none-the-less don't prove struggling to get the hang of. On-foot controls are just as well constructed together as the vehicle controls, and each time you press a button, you get a perfectly timed response. With a new and well-worked cover system implementation, GTA has really taken a step up from all previous games in the gameplay department.
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ATMOSPHERE - 5/5
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Liberty City has never felt more alive, and is brimming with a realistically charged atmosphere, with nuanced pedestrian responses, and new and improved police awareness. Its the little things that really add up to the atmosphere, things like Police chasing down a criminal, catching him and then forcing him into the back of a police car, and road workers tirelessly trying to fix a road problem. Such small details give a big impact on the overall game's performance, and should help make you feel more involved with everything knowing that the city is literally alive.
There is a dark tone around much of Liberty City, especially when the sun sets, but the criminal underworld has never been more brutal and frighteningly real in front of you. Humour sometimes eases the tension, but still, witnessing torture is gruelling, creepy and... somewhat enjoyable.
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ENEMY AI - 3/5
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The many gang members, vicious thieves, sociopaths and murderers you dispatch all have some intelligence when it comes to combat. Taking cover is the way forward and the path to completing objectives, and your enemies effectively do the same. You hear them ocassionally communicating to each other showing their awareness of your whereabouts, and their accuracy with various weaponry is good, meaning when you pop out of cover, you must efficiently take them out in order to prevent yourself from taking heavy damage.
A lot of enemies also stand out in the open, and stay glued to the spot they're on, so they aren't all necessarily clever at finding cover, but for the most part, the enemy AI are challenging.
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LENGTH - 5/5
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This open world action adventure is undoubtedly a long one. Your free to explore every square inch of the city, and with many side missions, stunt jumps to complete, and pidgeons to blast (there's 200 glowing in various spots of the city), your journey will be a chaotic and bloodthirsty one. The game will roughly last about 30 hours if you take your time, but can easily be completed in about 25 hours if you rush through all the main story missions.
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REPLAY VALUE - 5/5
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Grand Theft Auto IV is an unforgettable experience, and one which is full of action and emotion to recommend a second playthrough. There are so many missions that you'll probably forget most of them, and some of the more dramatic moments are certainly worth playing over again. There are also 2 different endings, depending on a choice you make near the end of the game which powerful results to each. Throughout GTA IV there are many moments where you have the opportunity to choose characters fate, and so replaying the game provides lots of variety during your adventure for revenge. Grand Theft Auto IV is a masterpiece, and is just another exciting chapter to go with the Grand Theft Auto series.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 9.5/10
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Good Points: Deeply engaging story and characters, Lots of humorous dialogue in cutscenes and radio talkshows, Realistic gunplay and physics, Liberty City feels alive, Fantastic sandbox design with a wide range of activities to do, Voice acting is perfect.
Bad Points: No checkpoints during missions, Fire and ambulance services are useless, Not enough things to use your money with.