Much like everyone else who's followed this game, I've occasionally read about the development of this game for sometime. On a whim, I decided pay GameStop a visit and GTA4 suddenly shows up on the shelves.

I finally bought the game and played it for a couple of hours. I was very impressed with incredible amount of content I was buried in. I actually felt overwhelmed with the content that I decided to put down the controller, turn on NFL Network, and start browsing through my emails and sites. Then, I read the reviews.

Gamespot: 10
1up: A+
IGN: 10
etc.

Wow. They all followed the same trend. Any game that recieves a "10" is an incredible game in every sense but of course this is just my own opinion. Does GTA4 deserve to sit next to timeless games like Chrono Cross and Zelda OoT? I'm not too sure about that (at least in my book) but I can see why all these game reviewers gave 10s.

The Theory

GTA4's crazy sales and high reviews is the happy ending to Rockstar and Take-Two's tumultuos tale.

I believe that EA's attempted hostile buyout played a small part in this. It was an ongoing saga that most if not all game pundits followed. Take-Two knew they were in deep crap thanks to their overspending and acquisition sprees. Take-Two's subsidiaries did whatever it took to produce good games, but unforunately Take-Two's management was in disarray and with the added pressure of delivering similar GTA4 game experiences on two different systems, Rockstar and Take-Two had their work cutout for them. 2K Sports (although arguably superior than their EA Sports) has suffered and died since the exclusive NFL license. EA is to Empire while Take-Two/Rockstar is to Rebels. Game journalists took note and moved forward.

When I played the game, I expected high 9s but 10s are very rare to see considering the sacred few games that have gotten 10s. EA's hostile takeover was a very public message that put gamers and journalists on the defensive for their beloved GTA franchise. In some ways, I think GTA4's perfect scores sends a message not only to EA but to other large companies looking to acquire lucrative game properties just to increase their bottom line and place customer satisfaction in the backseat. It sends a message that smaller companies can still deliver the goods.