It's missing a lot of what San Andreas had, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. SO STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT IT!
Simply put the game is amazing, if you can get it to work that is. Some PS3 users have reported freezing. certain Xbox360 users report the same thing, but a problem that seems to be unique to the 360 is that the DVD drive will sometimes read the game as a DVD and attempt to play it as one. This results in an error message that says "this can only be played in an Xbox360 console" I have this error message and while annoying, it doesn't show up every time. usually just a reset of the console or a quick eject of the disc will fix it. This only happens with GTA and is most likely an error in the copy protection code that could be fixed with an update.
Nitpicking the bugs aside, it time to look at the game itself
Graphics: While the graphics in the game aren't "state of the art" they do look very good for an open world game. If I was to nitpick the graphics at all, I'd say that some of the sign textures in the game are a little low-res, some texture pop-in occurs (no more or perhaps less than previous GTA games), and aliasing (excessive amount of jaggies) seems to occur even in HD 720p. Even so, the game is still beautiful 9/10.
Sound: There hasn't been a GTA to date that has sounded crappy and GTA IV is no exception. Everything just sounds right and the music selection as well as the talk radio shows are great. That being said I do still miss the old-school GTA theme by Da-Shootaz 10/10
Gameplay: Comparing GTA IV to San Andreas, things look pretty bleak.....at first. They removed a lot of the RPG elements and customizations. But I'll be honest, I hated that about San Andreas. My CJ had the same outfit and haircut the entire game and I got so sick of the stupid skill building mini-games I just cheated to build my skill. They also removed the ability to customize cars...but I never really did that either....usually i just nitro in the car and went on my merry way anyway. I say what they removed was for the better, I know a lot of people complained about this stuff in a very big way but I say to hell with them. That being said, time to nitpick. The driving mechanic could have been improved. the cars feel a little floaty and tend to spin out way too often. you could say "YOU JUST SUCK MAN" but sometimes its next to impossible to take a turn without spining out of control, skidding to much, or crashing into something. I avoid the motorcycles for that reason. maybe I do just suck, which is why I'm not going to count that against the game. what I will count against the game is the gun-play. in GTA IV, you can finally take cover, but this can feel very awkward at times. Sometimes, even though there is an enemy in plain sight and you have bullets in your magazine, Niko wont shoot. He'll stand up awkwardly, point his gun, and just take whatever bullets the enemy throws at him. I suppose with an open-world cover-system, theres bound to be issues like that. What gets me especially is the AI, the AI will use cover to its advantage almost any time. You'll fire wildly in an area thinking you've killed everyone. ask you walk out in the open a guy you didn't see pops out with a shotgun and BAM wasted. this happened to me alot and was extremely frustrating. That aside, theres just a ton of detail in the game and the Euphoria physics engine makes the city and its people come alive. Multiplayer is also frantic and extremely fun but its not something to obsess over like a Call of Duty or Halo. Its just fun for everyone. 8.5/10
story(spoiler free): If you play a game just for its story, this one of the better ones. Niko Bellic seems like a real person. He gets frustrated, pissed off, he loves, he hates, and does everything in between. Like the reviewers say, you also tend to feel connected to these characters in some way. They're likeable and like all likeable people they also tend to have annoying traits and habits. If you play the game just to blow people up, you wont get to see this awesome piece of story-telling unfold. Rockstar North really outdid themselves with this one.
Summary:
PROS: This game is just plain fun, awesome sound and music as per usual, excelant story-line and characters.
CONS: certain textures in the game could use some work, lots of jaggies, annoying occasional bugs, driving mechanic takes getting used to.
annoying **** people just have to get over and stop **** about: lack of the total character and car customization, loss of RPG elements.
overall, the game is a 9/10, not perfect like the gaming press seems to think, but it is really good and you'd be foolish to miss out on it for any reason.
one final note, to Rockstar itself....MAKE A PC VERSION. the PC versions of the past Grand Theft Auto games have ALWAYS been better than the console versions. San Andreas case in point! At the time of this writing a PC version has not been announced. We just know that they have "no plans" as of now. I'd buy it, I bought all the other ones.