Video Games : Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360)

Rating: - Disapointing
Ive just completed the game and felt i should comment on it. Firstly i was very impressed, the graphics are gorgeous however underneath the graphics the game is missing in a lot of areas. Having played all the other grand theft games i guess i was expecting too much from this, to me it feels the game has been rushed and there are many things that could be improved upon. Firstly there is no where near enough weapons to choose from, the police are actually TOO good in GTA4, there isnt enough customisation available in clothes or cars, motorbikes are quite hard to handle and one thing that really stands it is that it just isnt as humorous as the other titles. The city at first feels huge and makes you want to explore however, there isnt that much in the city to actually interact with. The use of the in game internet is very limited and doesnt really add anything to the game. Improvements in the combat sistem is pretty good, but again could have been better (learn new martial arts?. Niko is a likeable character and develops well in the game. Still worth a purchase, just dont expect to be blown away by it.

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Rating: - Not too sure about this one....
I was eagerly anticipating the launch of this game as I've been a fan of the franchise since the very beginning. From the original GTA, GTA2 and then onto GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas I was hooked.

Then this came along. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, though, is it a step forward or a step backwards? The truth is it's a bit of both. The graphics are (mostly) polished and detailed, the vehicle handling is much more realistic and the general populace of Liberty City seem more real; they walk around talking into mobile phones, smoking cigarettes, sitting on park benches, it's much better than the older GTAs when they just walked down the street for very litte reason. There are a total of, I think, about 90 missions in the main story plus numerous side missions including assassination missions, drug dealing missions, Police vigilante missions and missions given by "random characters" who appear on your radar from time to time, and I should add there is an achievement for meeting all of them. Another handy feature is the mobile phone; if you fail a mission, you immediately get sent a text asking you if you want to try again. This is great because it means you don't have to go trudging all the way back to the mission giver and sit through a cutscene again. If you die, you keep your weapons when you respawn back at the hospital although you do lose your weapons if you get arrested and respawn back at the nearest police station. Little things like this are great improvements, plus there's more I don't really have space for in this review.

But, despite all this, there are problems. Out of the 90 missions, I'd say there's about 6 or 7 different types of missions that get repeated endlessly over the course of the game. It all basically amounts to chases in different types of vehicles or standard warehouse shootouts and because of this the missions get repetitive, samey and predictable quite quickly, especially when you consider that all you need is an assault rifle and body armour and most of the missions are far too easy anyway. I understand that Rockstar have tried to make GTA more realistic this time around and they have, it's just nothing like as much fun somehow. In my opinion, there are far too many motorbike chases. The bane of GTA games, I had to do 4 across GTA:Vice City and GTA:San Andreas combined but I had done 7 in this game alone by about 3/4 of the way through; it does get repetitive and annoying given how bad the motorbike handling is and, if you fall off or crash, you've basically failed instantly. I am currently stuck at the final mission and, in true GTA fashion, the earlier part of the game is far too easy and the final mission far far too difficult. It feels really unfair to have played through all that to get stuck so badly on the final mission, it feels like a complete waste of time and effort especially after the 20+ attempts I've now had.

The graphics, although mostly great, do suffer from pop-in issues. It's not unheard of to crash your car into something which hasn't actually appeared on screen yet, plus some of the character animation seems jerky and not too natural. Sometimes, also, even with my TV brightness on 100% it's still often too dark to see some things even when it's currently daylight in game. The controls don't exactly help, though. The controls for this game aren't exactly stellar, they're clumsy, sluggish and unresponsive most of the time and this isn't aided by the basically broken cover and auto-aim system, which will happily allow you to rattle off all your ammo into a wall but when you have a clear shot you press the trigger and nothing happens, while you're getting filled with enemy lead all the time. The auto-aim system doesn't properly prioritise, either; you're getting shot at, you try to aim and you immediately find yourself turned around pointing at a random unarmed civilian across the street, it's just frustrating and annoying and makes very little sense at all.

The multiplayer offers a whole load of different modes, but lag and connection problems have turned quite a few people off, unfortunately. When it works it's great fun, though.

All in all, this game feels like GTA III with a fresh lick of paint. All the fun activities like skydiving, flying planes, basejumping, ambulance missions, cycling etc. have all been stripped out completely, there seems to me to be little reason to keep playing after you've completed the main story as it gets boring even before then and, without spoiling anything, one of the fun side-activities may or may not get taken away from you at the end of the game depending on which path you take to the end. I spent hours and hours and hours playing San Andreas even after I completed it because it was great fun and there was loads to do, but I don't see myself doing this on GTA IV. You can't buy property or really make yourself feel like a real person as opposed to a cog in a machine, you get the safehouses you're given which are erratically placed at best. There's no point in trying to make money other than for the achievement for making half a million because, besides guns, there's really nothing to spend your money on and it seems pointless even having it.

I paid quite a bit of money for this game and can't help but think it maybe wasn't totally worth it. Sure, the story is suitably long and is a good story, but what afterwards? Probably not a lot, I don't think. I no longer have my PS2 so going back to San Andreas isn't an option, unfortunately.

That said, it gets 4 stars because it's a solidly built, good quality game, just lacking in a number of key areas. Hopefully Rockstar take these things on board and expand it for the next one.

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Rating: - Over-rated
This game was certainly hyped up and when it finally arrived I couldn't wait to play it. I thought it was quite similar and different to the older games in equal measure, plenty of extra stuff added but the missions are quite easy and straightforward like previous games with it getting tougher as you get further into the game. I would definitely recommend it but I don't think its as great as people think.

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Rating: - Next-Gen GTA... ?
GTA 4. Possibley the most hyped-up game EVER?! IGN.com who hadn't given out a 10/10 score in ten years gave GTA 4 a ten. Did it deserve that score? Lots and lots of other critics gave the game the perfect score of 10/10. This suggests that it is the best game ever. It's not. And if you can get that idea out of your head - you will not be disappointed by GTA 4. Because it IS one of the best games available on the Xbox 360.

I'll start with the story. No spoilers that you do not already know. Niko arrives in Liberty City to meet his cousin. And for something else too... I found the story to actually be quite interesting. Unfortuanetly the cut scenes don't always spend that much time on the main story. Most of the missions could be classed as "filler" in terms of story since only a handfull of them actually develop the main storyline. But it doesn't matter- its a game, not a movie. I found the story to be quite gripping but I would have liked it too be developed better. I wanted to know what Niko was feeling more often. Niko is a good character though, and probably the best the GTA series has spawned so far.

The gameplay has been much improved. You can now take cover, and shoot from behind it. You can blind fire. With a rocket launcher. The shooting is quite enjoyable now and while its no Gears Of War, it could stand in for it if GOW decided to take a day off work. The driving has been heavily critised by the casual player. Personally, I think the driving system is the best I have ever seen in a game. I love the way that when you crash the car actually takes the damage where you crashed. Once you get used to it, the handling is excellent. The movement of Niko himself feels more weighty this time around. But again, I like this change too because it adds to the feel of realism this game has got.

The mobile phone is a crucial tool in this game. You recieve mission objectives from it, and you also phone whoever your boss is after completing a mission. If you like interesting dialogue then you will love the addition of the phone. But if your an impatient 14 year old boy then you will probably not like this addition since when you are on the phone you cannot do anything else but walk around. You can also use the phone to call your friends and to ask them out for a drink. You can change the background on it and even the ringtone. My ringtone is 'lesbians'.

So all in all, this is a great game. But if you want to buy it too just fly planes into buildings or to just generally mess about... maybe you should stick with San Andreas. But if you like story and good characters- then this is a MUST buy!!!

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Rating: - Interesting view of the 'real world'...
I like the premise - a thinly disguised NYC - but the underlying anti-immigrant/Eastern European/only way to make money message is disturbing when you consider that although the game is slated as being an 18, I think you'll find that a hell of a lot of under 18s are playing this. I didn't find the graphics mind-boggling. They're good, but I have yet to find a game that can mimic a studio-engineered TV sales trailer.

I think that if you want a bit of escapism then this'll do the trick; just don't expect it to necessarily live up to all the hype. Remember, it's just a sequel...