Just what were Gamespot reviewing.. because this Better than the first Game.
Storyline : Ok the story isn't the best in the world it won't win awards for it but it's ok there are worse out there,
Graphics : I run this in progressive scan and it looks ok to me, I have not seen much of new york so i dont know how much of the game matches the real city, but it looks good, I havn't seen any of the graphical glitches that Gamespot have said. and it seems to be no worse graphics wise than GTA san andreas.
Sound / Music : A great soundtrack with none of the glitches that Gamespot report. no worse or better than GTA here,
Controls : Ok here is where i agree with Gamespot to some degree, on foot it's ok although having to wait for a frisk option to appear on screen when you want to grab somone isn't great, you dont need to do this when you fight so why do it for any other time, Weapons seem to be of equal power no matter what you choose although aming is no better or worse than GTA Car controls are not perfect but nither was the ones in GTA to me they seem the same, again i haven't come across the framerate problems that Gamespot refered to so the cars do move at a decent rate.
Gamplay : It's not near the size or the scale of things to do as with GTASA so i guess that's it's biggest fault, you can customise your character with new haircuts and clothes although again not to the scale of GTA but it's nice to see that option, one gripe i do have is that some stores you can go into such as the record store to buy new Tracks to add to the already good soundtrack can only be accessed by making sure the area that the record store is in is crime free other wise shutters are down and you cant go in, same is said for the martial arts clubs to learn new moves etc, this can be a pain as you cant go there when you want unlike other stores such as food ect which seem to be open no matter what the area is like, i guess it gives a reason to do the little side missions etc that pop up but i wish i could have had a choice.
Overall : This is not as bad as Gamespot have made it out to be. as i have said the PAL version i have doesn't seem to have the bugs and glitches that put gamespot off this game, it controls and feels better than the first game TC.LA i couldn't run that in progressive scan without sound problems which this game doesn't have so that's a plus in my book, It's not the best game in the world.. but it does a ok job.