Astounding detail and gameplay and a compelling story make GTA 4 one of the greatest video games I have evr played.
Developers Rockstar have wisely chosen to ramp down the insane size of San Andreas and in return greatly increase the detail of Liberty City (New York in all but name). And the detail is amazing. One of the first things I noticed were how non-playing characters react believably to stimuli, talk amongst themselves, and even natter on their mobile 'phones. Hot dog vendors shout out double entendre spiel. The porcine policemen strut around, asking their buddies to buy them doughnuts. In other words, as a character you are just one among millions making their way in the violent, hedonistic world of Liberty.
This attention to detail is emblematic of the whole game environment: just walking through Liberty as main character Niko Bellic you have the eerie impression that the game is living and breathing without knowledge of your existence either as a character or as a gamer. The already cliched take on the game, that Liberty City is the true star of the revamped GTA, is true insofar as you could almost imagine its continued and thriving existence outside the focus of the main character's story. Critics of the game's smaller scale in relation to San Andreas tend to miss the extraordinary detail that makes the smaller world somehow seem so much bigger than its PlayStation 2 predecessor. You can watch TV, go online (and the brilliant online modes are a whole new review), and date women; in a word live in a city which is so much more than a simple background to story missions, car chases, and shootouts.
The main character's moves have had a welcome overhaul; the targeting and cover system is really on a par with most dedicated shooting games -an impressive achievement in itself. Again, Rockstar have cut back on trinkets such as customisable costumes for Niko and trips to the gym to buff up in favour of a more believable and rounded appearance for someone who is, after all, someone you are meant to sympathise with. This cutting back from myriad different paths of appearance and choice of tasks has again been answered with a story mode which makes Niko a tangible and emotive human being whose decisions are actually of consequence.
Of course, the game does have its faults. I own both the XBOX360 and PS3 versions, and find that pop-up is more pronounced on the former console, while jagged lines tend to be worse on the latter. It may take the appearance of the PC version (rumoured to be coming in November) to iron out these technical issues and do justice to the magnificent game engine. The lack of 'planes to fly, things like gang wars, along with the restrictive customisation options, are certainly not to everyone's taste, as is the more conservative choice of music on the (still excellent) radio stations.
Someone once said of "Citizen Kane" that if films could do this, they could anything. GTA 4 is the equivalent in video games. It's that good. There are moments when the game approaches the grace and sadness of Shakespeare (if only to snap back into its preferred modus operandi of admittedly very funny black humour and smutty jokes). There are even moments where even the whole "greatest achievement in Western Civilisation" bit doesn't seem so far-fetched. Game developers that are not Rockstar are probably very, very worried about how they are ever going to follow this: that is, after they've stopped playing the thing.