Open up! It's the streets!
The good news is, once you're through, you're through. Mostly. A crash here and there, a lame graphical glitch now and again, but nothing major. And you'll soon see that it was all worth it.
The game world created here is like nothing you've ever seen, not even in previous GTA games, which were praised for their attention to detail. The folks at Rockstar went so far this time, the detail here pays attention to them. It simply must be experienced to be believed, especially at the start of the game. As you play more and more, you will begin to see the Liberty's limitations, the locked doors and the like, but that's only because you will be already spoiled by then. More on that later. Literally thousands of the city inhabitants move about, exchanging pleasantries and, more often, unpleasantries. I can't speak for all the ethnic groups represented here, but Russian speech and slang you'll hear in and around Hove Beach are extremely authentic and colorful.
And that's really the main point of GTA 4, it's just so damn deep and authentic and colorful. Take a cab ride, or a train ride. It's the stuff of dreams. There's radio from the previous games, but there is also TV and Internet this time around, and none of those are treated like second rate citizens. The main character of the game is often treated that way, but that's because he's not a citizen at all, but a fresh-off-the-boat immigrant from the Balkans. Of course, as the game progresses, following the laws of karma, most of those mistreating him end up living shorter lives than he.
The gameplay has not changed much from the previous entries. You steal cars and do missions for various scumbags as you try to fulfill your desire for revenge. Most missions come down to "go there, kill that guy" routine, but there are over 90 (!) of them here, and there are enough of original missions - ranging from change-of-pace to epic - in between, to keep it interesting. But to tell you the truth, the missions themselves, even the good ones, are just icing on the cake. The cake itself are the cut scenes, through which the story is told, and, more importantly, the characters you meet in the course of this tale. Rockstar has elevated this art to a whole another level here. Other developers - I'm looking at you, Bethesda - should attend game story classes using the cut scenes from GTA 4. Or just understand the single most important truth - focus on the characters and your stories will come alive. There is so much brilliant stuff in this game, you will still be cracking up as you remember certain scenes long after it's over. The writers responsible may not have created a masterpiece of literature, but they sure as hell created a masterpiece of interactive storytelling.
The main story and missions aside, there is a lot of other stuff to do. The side missions, the girlfriends, TV, internet, and so on. To be honest, this aspect is not as good as the rest of the game, and the above-mentioned limitations come to play here as well. As I said, a lot of doors are locked; the strip clubs are fun, but the girlfriends and scoring with them is not; a lot of secondary activities from the previous games, most notably San Andreas, were dropped due, apparently to being deemed boring, but I missed them here. There is, puzzlingly, a pretty severe shortage of clothing shops and, by extension, clothing choices. No haircuts, no tattoos. And my main complaint, the meaninglessness of money. Throughout the course of the game you will be told repeatedly that Niko's main motive, aside from revenge, is money. He'll often talk of "needing" money, complain of money being wasted, but the truth is, there is plenty of it and nowhere to spend it. Your safe houses are free, the cars are free - the are dealerships in the city, but you are not allowed to buy cars - the clothing shops, weapons, restaurants, bars and clubs cost barely anything. So every time I heard about "We need money, Roman," or whatever, my immersion and enjoyment suffered. I finished the main story with over a million in my pocket, so what? It would be so much better if money did, in fact, matter. If it constantly trickled away on bribes, lawyers, rent, Niko's cousin's gambling habits, I don't know, something, so that our hero was really forced to do those missions to stay alive and fed. Why not keep property purchases from the previous games? Why not allow us to hire French maids? Or French maid wheel, uh, girls? Anyway, can't win them all, I guess.
Still, if you're Rockstar, you can win plenty. Is GTA 4 the best game ever created? Probably not. Is it a perfect 10? Nope. Is it a masterpiece? The crap-eating grin appearing on my face every time I read the quote at the top of this review says hell yeah.