Grand Theft Auto 4 is back with all sorts of little touches to keep fans happy. However, major issues still exist.
First of all Niko is by far the greatest lead in GTA history. His voice actor is charismatic and his lines are extremely witty. You can't help liking the guy, and despite his willingness to kill for cash, he is the first GTA character to express remorse over his lifestyle (only sometimes).
The game obviously looks great. There is nothing quite as awe-inspiring as looking from the first city you start in across a river to see the sprawling landscapes of Liberty City's mainland. Quite impressive.
The story line is also easily the best in the series since it actually takes itself seriously. Don't get me wrong, the game is filled with hilarious moments, but the overall plot is a dark one, and this seemed like a very good turn in the series.
The cell phone is an amazing addition to gameplay, letting you call anyone and everyone, and even letting you take pictures later on in the game. This was a welcome addition.
There are also scores of things to do in the game, such as see comedy shows, go to strip clubs, go out drinking, and a lot more. The only issue here is that these places are few and far between, which considering this is supposed to be similar to New York city, that's rather ridiculous.
FINALLY, GTA has a quick transit system, where you can hop into any unoccupied Taxi and ride through Liberty City, either watching as you go, or skipping entirely to your destination. All I can say here is: It's about damn time. The single reason I dislike San Andreas is that it was simply too big and too hard to get around.
Now for the issues, of which there are many.
For whatever reason, the game creators decided to give the vehicles realistic physics. This means they turn and behave like a real car does. This is very humorous when just driving around goofing off, but when you're chasing an opponent and your car doesn't want to stop spinning due to the e-break...you WILL get angry. Trust me. Realism is ok in a game as long as it doesn't detract from the games fun-factor, which in this case it almost certainly does.
The friend system is kind of a cool touch at first, but after awhile it feels like The Sims friendships, where you are constantly pampering your friends to avoid losing them. This is particularly annoying when you're seconds away from starting a mission and a friend calls you wanting to hang out. Of course you can say no, but the friend will think less of you.
The continue system, as always, is horrendous. They decided to make it so if you fail a mission you use your new mobile phone to retry it..sounds good, but all this does is take you back to the missions start, leaving you to do all the frustrating parts over again. One example was when I had to storm a warehouse to save a friend. I did all the hard work, painstakingly picking off every bad guy, and as I was driving away, I ran over a propane tank and blew up my car...leaving me to do everything all over again. This almost always results in a "turn the game off and walk away" scenario.
My biggest qualm with the game was a huge shocker: The complete lack of customization. Now I didn't expect to be able to pump iron or tat up Niko, that would be dumb, but I was hoping to customize his attire a little more. There are a total of 4 clothing places, two of which are the same, leaving 3 different shops. There are 2 hats in the entire game, and 2 pairs of glasses. This just seems like pure laziness. The clothing combinations are equally strange, considering I cannot decide to not wear a jacket. I can buy another and wear that instead, but I can't simply take it off. Given the vast customization of GTA's biggest competitor (Saint's Row), I expected a lot more in this area.
Another thing is the lack of places/reasons to spend money. Besides very tiny expenditures on clubs and dates, and the few clothing items you may buy, as well as a handful of guns...there is very little to buy. My first play through I never found myself short on cash, and could easily afford to buy the best of everything just by playing missions. What happened to buying businesses? Homes? Where are they at?
Another qualm is the lack of a lot of the cool things introduced in prior games, such as the jet pack and parachute. This sounds very trivial, but it's weird considering this game has more high points than any GTA, so you'd think you'd be able to base jump from them...but apparently, no dice. Other small things like the bicycle, random farm equipment, etc. are also no longer here.
Poor placement of weapon stores is a rather big problem. Considering any mission that has a shoot out, you will almost certainly need body armor, it's quite frustrating to get a mission in the far north of the island(s), have to drive south to get armor, and then drive to wherever the mission is. Quite frustrating.
This issue will be blunt: Where are the tanks? GTA has always had tanks...how can you remove them?
All in all, GTA is definitely a must buy. It may seem like I have issues with it, but it's simply because I expect the best of the best with GTA, and while in some areas they certainly delivered, in others they simply fell short. This game reminds me of a lot of games making the leap to Next-Gen: worrying so much about appearances that they completely remove some of the tiny things that matter.