I'm not a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, the whole idea of shooting police and prostitution was never appealing to me. When my boyfriend bought himself a copy of GTA 4, I rolled my eyes and went on about my day. After a few weeks went by hearing and glancing from time to time at him play, my curiosity got peaked. Eventually I gave in and decided to give it a try, after a short time playing, I was impressed.
The content is still extremely adult, but the game box is rather explicit in emphasizing that it's not for children. The story lines are rich, there are plenty of cut scene, and most unwanted content is optional. I find it to be no worse then a rated R movie Any scene your not interested in you can fast froward threw.
One of the features I like about the game is the ability to change the story line and determine your characters nature by making choices for the character. The fact that allowing some one to live or die has future rolls to play in the game is a nice aspect that gives it good replay ability.
The ability to make and keep friends, gain favors, date, save cars, change clothing, shop, and even use the in game Internet (not real Internet), are interesting side tracks from the daily grind of missions and story line. There is no lack of mini games either, between ramp jumps, side missions, races, and pigeon hunting. They even included some puzzle style video games you can access from the arcade machines.
What I don't like about the game is the countless repetition in missions. I do appreciate the fact they tried hard to make hours of play for content, but doing the same thing 10 ways is some times annoying. The fact that a professional hit man some times tries to do things in irrational ways is some what annoying to me as well.
While some people may enjoy walking in to the middle of a room and gunning every one down, I prefer a little more tactics. If I was going to assassination a person, I would not wait in front of his house then chance him threw the streets in a car. Needless to say, stupid people annoy me and that includes in video games.
There are few bugs to speak of, once in a rare while you get a graphics bug, but nothing game stopping. As far as auto and visual it's a nice game. The occasional camera angle may drive you mad, or completely block your view, but this is the same with all games. Some of the game issues I find discouraging is th lack of customization to the controllers, and weapon swapping.
With the controllers there is only two settings and they are pre-configured. There is no ability to change driving and camera controls. The aiming can be a bit much in some times too, as you have to cycle threw targets with auto aim. As for the weapon swapping, it is again cycling threw the weapons until you get the right one. This is all during active play, you can not pause and do this.
In all I would have to give GTA4 a good review, I am enjoying the game and eager to see how the story plays out. While I am not a fan of games with such violent and adult topics, the labeling is clear and the characters seem to discourage a lot of it.
For more on this game feel free to view some professional game reviews.
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