In depth review for Grand Theft Auto 4.
You play as slightly likeable Niko Bellic, who gets "imported" into liberty City, America. Forget what you may have learned or appreciated in the previous iterations of Grand Theft Auto as this has been completely reworked, built up from scratch and polished to a fine sheen. Yes this is Liberty City, but a completely reworked and expanded version to what we saw in GTA 3. Everything has been worked upon to give this game a heartbeat, you no longer feel like a stranger in the town, now you feel more connected to the city, pedestrians now have their own agenda's and personalities instead of being bonnet fodder. Pick a fight and they'll generally fight back or if you're unlucky, they'll fight back along with several other pedestrians joining in to lay the smack down upon you for disturbing their peace. Make no mistake, Liberty City is now alive. Alive and kicking. Literally, kicking! Rockstar's obsessive attention to detail is quickly obvious, everything feels like it's in the correct place, nothing sticks out like it should not be there, all the advertisements, TV shows, radio stations immerses the player into this beast of a game. The visual outlay has a gritty realism about it, after all Liberty City is based upon New York. Deliberately moving away from the bright cartoon-like style of the previous installments, Rockstar created an unmistakable visual style that is consistent throughout the art design, the storytelling, the physics, mission design and the interactivity found within the metropolis of Liberty City.
The increased individuality that is visually apparent as you wander about had an influence on all aspects of the game. Rockstar's design team has created brands for countless companies; clothing, foods, banks, drinks, movies, credit cards, everything you would expect to see in a city. All of which carry over to radio, internet and TV for an amazingly complete, coherent experience. Liberty City has never been more realistic. Cars are now based on real life transport. The hummer is my favourite. Now, Liberty City is a bigger, posher (well, one section of it that is) and meaner. The story is perfect, and revolves around Niko and his freinds. You make some, loose some and forgive some. And don't forget all the other people you meet. Enemies, trators, hot dog venders. What!?
Grand Theft Auto has never felt so real. The moving mechanic of the game is brilliant. Running is much more realistic, although a bit annoying, and driving a car is now much funner, and more like it should be. Not a shed on wheels like previous entries. Shopping is fun to. Forget women shopping for cloths, it is fun to jazz yourself up a bit. And gun shops are just the same as ever. Although Grand Theft Auto 4 provides alot more weapons, and cheats that is. Grenades, Rocket Launches, Sub machine Guns, Pistols, Baseball Bats, the lot. Although, what happened to the good old chainsaw? Come on rockstar, chuck a chainsaw into the next entrie please. Ok, ok, I've rambled on long enough, time to get into the game itself. For PS3 owners you will have to wait a few minutes longer to jump into the shoes of Niko as the game will install information onto the hard drive, also perform a system update if needs be, while 360 owners I believe are able to load up the game and play without any fuss. Right the game begins with Niko entering Liberty City on a ship with cousin Roman Bellic arriving soon after you set foot back on stable land to take you back to the safe house which is located on the island of Dukes (Queens) and Broker (Brooklyn), Bohan (Bronx) becomes quickly available, while the other sections of the game, Algonquin (Manhattan) and Alderney (New Jersey) are currently under lockdown due to a terrorist threat. I do not recommend trying to wander into these blocked locations as you will initiate a 6 star police chase which will ultimately lead to either your arrest or death, also do not try and hijack a plane from the nearby Francis Airport as unlike San Andreas, aircraft aren't freely available and the police will attempt to arrest/kill you, I learned out this information the hard way.
Overall, Grand Theft Auto 4 is the best open world,g angster action adventure game I have ever experienced, and I think everyone should give it a shot!
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Graphics: 5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Enemie AI: 4/5
Replay Value: 5/5