GTA IV: Great Game for PS3

Grand Theft Auto IV is by far the most realistic of the series. Having played every single GTA game to date, I went into this title expecting a lot and I was not disappointed.

For starters, the graphics on this game are incredible. If you have a decent television you are in for a visual treat. It's quite obvious that Rockstar was trying to push the graphical aspect of the game to its limits on the new generation of systems. The details are impressive and you can tell that the publisher put a lot of time into creating a very gritty and lively Liberty City.

The city is huge, with tall buildings and landscapes that stretch for miles. You'll see pedestrians carrying on conversations, people begging for money, street preachers, muggers, ladies of the night...anything and everything. Unless you have a photographic memory, you will probably never see the same pedestrian twice. I also love that if a person is holding a cup of coffee, you can run and knock it out of their hands. Better yet, you can pick up what they dropped and then throw it at them. You see how detailed this game is? In addition to radio stations, you can watch television and attend shows at comedy clubs. Lots of detail.

The story itself follows the character of Niko, who is a newly arrived immigrant to the United States. While he isn't as slick as earlier GTA protagonists, Niko's story is an interesting one with several twists along the way. You'll immediately be introduced to Roman, Niko's cousin, and the hilarity will ensue. The dialogue in this game is great and there is plenty of it. When traveling from place to place, you will talk with characters about things going on in or the mission at hand. Some of the characters are a bit over the top, but it adds to the overall ambience of the game.

The missions in this game are entertaining, but become a little repetitive over time. As a whole I would say that there are more good missions than tedious missions, but you will definitely be gritting your teeth on a few.

The combat system in this game has greatly improved from the previous titles. It's a lot more fun to have shootouts and the camera angles are way better than in San Andreas. The only argument I could have with this game is the lack of weaponry, which isn't too innovative. In the defense of the publisher, I wouldn't doubt that they were trying to stay more realistic and kept things simple. You will not find golf clubs, samurai swords, chainsaws, and other unique weapons this time around. You'll mainly have access to automatic weapons, although the rocket launcher is still there. The choice of weapons is similar to that of GTA 3.

Driving can take a little getting used to, but the learning curve isn't that high. With the new physics engine, driving is much more realistic and the outcome of massive high speed wrecks is much more devastating.

Multiplayer is awesome. If you have a broadband connection you'll wind up spending hours shooting other people in death match mode. There are several multiplayer modes, but I prefer death match and team death match over anything else. There is also a free play mode, but most other users have turned it into an all for one death match.

Overall, this game would be an excellent investment and a great addition to any PS3 library.