This game is a bit older, But I think that it's gotten way too much love, and it doesn't deserve it, so because of that...This review is formed.
This is a new format for my reviews, because it's easier.
THE GOOD:Story: The story in this game is pretty decent. By that I mean it sucks you in, and it entertains you with a vast array of entertaining/funny characters, and a bunch of well formed personalities. The story has a few plot twists, but overall the story doesn't leave you dumbfounded. It's acceptable and entertaining, but it's not Steven Spielberg.
Length: The games Length is a good feature. You get enough game for your buck, and that counts for something.
Simplicity: They took out a bunch of mundane/tedious features from San Andreas, and it makes GTAIV a lot better than San Andreas. No more body building and working on tons of pointless attributes. All you worry about is your E-Mail, friends, and health.
THE BAD:
Fanboys step aside. Before I get into the bad parts of this game, realize that It's my OPINION. If you love the game to death, awesome, but respect my opinion. Or just don't read
Driving Mechanics: Wow, let me tell you all about why I hate the mechanics of this game. GTAIV stepped out of the arcadey-ness, and jumped onto the whole "Realism" bandwagon that a lot of Developers did on the PS3/360. This could have been a good idea, if properly executed, but it wasn't.
The driving mechanics are okay, but the major problem is your driving speed+handling. If you are doing a mission where you must chase down and kill an enemy, good fucking luck. Every single time you attempt to turn a corner, you either have to slow down to a ridiculously slow pace, or expect to hold both your break and handbreaks in attempt to not throw Nico out of the front of your car. The mechanics just feel as if they were designed TOO realistically, and in turn, made them not as good as a game like Gran Turismo.
MotorCycles: This has to be the worst game-ruining aspect of Grand Theft Auto IV. I have a feeling other people will deny that this is a problem, but you must be blind or a prodigy. I've played my fair share of racing games, and I do quite well at handling cars/motorcycles/etc. But this game completely butchered them.
My advice: Never take a motorcycle on a mission. The MOMENT you hit a little fucking pebble in the road or a curb ONCE, you get visciously thrown off the bike, for nico to (as slowly as possible) get back up, WALK over to it, pick it up, and get back on and start the chase again. All of this wasted time costs you the mission, and I cannot tell you how many times I've just turned OFF the console from this horrendous garbage.
Shooting While In Vehicle: WELL THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA.....Why could they not have a lock on feature? Why does it have to be that you must MANUALLY AIM at a vehicle you are pursuing WHILE trying to steer clear of the ridiculously crowded streets of Liberty City(mention more later). During a Mission where you must kill someone while in a chase, do this: Follow him mindlessly until he is on a straight path. Then try to line the vehicle up in the least crowded zone (if possible). fire a few rounds at a time, but pay attention while driving, or else it's mission failed, and yay, you get to tediously start it over for the 90th time.
City Population: This is probably the least annoying, as it's supposed to be populated, but still.. Playing Vice city, I was able to almost always complete missions within 1 try. The city was designed perfectly, and cars were populated, but it wasn't OVER done to the point of utterly getting stuck at every intersection+ road you turn onto.
GTAIV pumps car after car in every road giving you almost NO space to speed up and drive safely without running into a passing dumb whore texting on her cellphone. (Again, least annoying feature as it's a given they have to add population).
Lighting: I get it. Lightning has to be in the game. Just look at beautifully crafted games like Call of duty, where every shadow and effect is placed perfectly to make the level come to life. Well GTAIV just shoves so much shadow in the game, that I find myself constantly holding the Right thumbstick UP as high as it can go, to simulate GTA2 (top down perspective.) Why does every single area have to be so dark that I can't see curbs and stuff? Is it my T.V.? Or did they really fuck it up this bad. If it's my T.V. then exclude this part of the review.
and finally...COPS:Why rockstar, WHY........?
Go outside, right now. Go outside, get in your car, and drive through the city for a half hour. WHile doing this count every cop car you encounter. Hmm. So you counted what..? 5? 10? Ha! not in GTAIV.
Every SINGLE road has 1-2 cop cars on it. If you shoot a single bullet, expect the cops to INSTANTLY know EXACTLY who shot it, and where they are headed. The cops are fucking psychic in this game.
Not to mention the fact that an AI controlled car can speed at 100KM into a cop car, flipping it and like 6 other cars over, and the AI will just walk away with nothing happen, but if I touch...TOUCH a Cop car, while going literally 1km, I'm instantly being chased and shot at, waiting to be arrested and scammed out of my money?
FUCK THAT. This game is trying so hard to be realistic, that it just completely fails to fix the minor inconveniences that completely ruin the games chance at being a 'classic'.
FINAL SCORE: 5/10.The story and simplicity/fun you experience in this game is it's only redeeming factor. If the story wasn't interesting, I would literally set the disc on fire and let my car run over it several times.
So many fixes I wish I could make, but unfortunately that won't happen.
So if you plan on buying this and you AREN'T a huge GTAFANBOY, just save your money and wait for Red Dead Redemption. Because luckily we can't get into 4000 man pileups on horseback.
