Grand Theft Auto IV

[Ash]

I had never really gotten into the Grand Theft Auto games.
My friends all played them and I thought they looked ok.  But because I generally tend to stay away from 3rd person games, I never really thought GTA was my cup of tea.

That all changed yesterday when I traded in some Xbox 360 games I never played for a brand new copy of GTA 4.

Wow!  This game is pretty friggin' sweet!  

It's much more in depth than any previous GTA games and the storyline is absolutely fantastic.  You find yourself absorbed into the story right from the start.
You play an illegal Serbian immigrant named Niko Bellic who is literally stepping off the boat at the start of the game.
You meet up with his cousin Roman and find out that everything Roman told him about living the high life in America isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Instead of a mansion or luxury condo, Roman lives in a crappy old apartment.
And Niko quickly learns that if he's going to get anywhere in Liberty City, he's gonna have to meet with some shady people and do some low down dirty things to make his dreams come true.



Niko actually seems to be a decent guy...when he's not killing people for money or jacking them for their vehicles.
He's pretty much an average Joe who just wants to live the American Dream like everyone else.

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There is so much to do in this game, it's unreal.
The story will take you about 30 hours to complete but because of all the side missions and whatnot, it'll give you far more replay value than you thought possible.
You can do simple things like watch hilarious TV shows, shoot pool at a bar, or even go out on dates with chicks.

Here's a hilarious example of one of the TV shows you can watch in it:

Republican Space Rangers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2Iy34aUhc
(NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!)

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The online multiplayer kicks ass, too.
I got into a few really intense games of "Cops & Crooks" where one team is the Crooks and the other are the Cops.
While playing as the Crooks, four of us were riding in an SUV and we stopped so one of our teammates could jump out and grab a rocket launcher.
As he was getting it, we looked behind us and saw the Cops screaming toward us in their police cruiser, sirens blaring.
We were all yelling, "Come on dude!  Get in!  Get in!  Get in!"
Once he got back in the car, everyone was shouting into their mics, "Go go go go!!  Step on it  Get the f**k outta here!!!"

It made us feel and act like we were really on the run from the cops.
It was awesome.  


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Now...a few words about the mature content.

They weren't kidding when they said this game would deserve its M rating.
This game has more swearing, more brutal violence, more drugs, more guns and more sexual related stuff than a lot of R rated movies!

When I was at Gamestop, a mother and her son were in front of me and she was buying GTA 4 for him.
This kid couldn't have been more than 12-13 years old.  The sales clerk warned her that this game contains a lot of things a kid his age shouldn't see or hear.  And still she bought it for him.
The clerk should've gave her a more stern warning.

The adult content in GTA 4 is no joke!

I'm 34 years old, and while playing it, there were things said and done in-game that even I couldn't believe!
In the first couple of hours of gameplay alone, the F word is said countless times.
Every curse word under the sun is said...and I mean every curse word ever invented.

I don't have children, but I wouldn't even think of letting a kid under 18 play this game.
It's that hardcore!

I can only wonder what that mother at Gamestop must've thought when she watched her kid play it.
Even worse, when I jumped on to play the superb multiplayer on Xbox Live, most of the people I played with were obviously young kids.

Bottom line is this:  No responsible parent would let their underage kids within 10 miles of this game.

That being said, if you are old enough, you'll get a kick out of the gameplay and the crazy sh!t that comes out of the character's mouths.
It's a great story driven game that will give you countless hours of quality entertainment.

Want to see more?
Check out this cool video review of GTA 4:

http://www.gamespot.com/video/933037/6190052/grand-theft-auto-iv-video-review-1

Or you can read the review here.

What about you?
Have you bought pr played GTA 4?

[Sister Grace]

It made us feel and act like we were really on the run from the cops.
It was awesome.  

I bet you've never ran from Cops before then...

It is exciting but far from awesome...

[Mr_Vindictive]

The game came out on my birthday and my wife, with her knowledge of my undying love for the GTA series, picked it up for me.  I started playing it a bit yesterday and I have to say that I was initially underwhelmed.  I honestly don't like Liberty City as a basis for the game due to my general dislike for GTA3.  That said, I still feel that Vice City and San Andreas were two of the best games I've ever played.

The graphics here are superb.  It was always fun trying to guess which cars the creators were mocking in the original games, now with this new high def version of the series, you can instantly tell exactly what each car is.  I also really enjoy the new "Wanted" system which gives you a read-out on your map of where the police are and where you should go to escape them.  I've only gone on one killing rampage so far and I felt that the aiming functionality was much more fluid and intuitive than in previous versions.

I do feel that the graphics may be a hindrance though.  I've noticed some framerate lag during some car chases and stuff which is a major disappointment.  Hopefully additional patches and updates will clear it up.  I have yet to try the multiplayer but it sounds great.

[Mr. DS]

I shouldn't be reading about this game.  The more I read will cause me to go out and drop the money on it.     I'm going to wait until XBox 360 goes down in price and by that time this game will probably be on discount.  I bought all the other GTA games on PS2 and love them.  The replay value is priceless epecially in San Andreas and originally I didn't want to get that game.  The beauty is, I don't have to being doing much of anything to have fun in the game.  Just walking around  and hearing people talk to you is fun.