| You are here: | About>Electronics & Gadgets>XBox Games> Xbox 360 Reviews> Grand Theft Auto IV Review (X360) PG 1 |
 | XBox Games |
Grand Theft Auto IV Review (X360)Guide Rating -   Easily one of the most anticipated games ever, Grand Theft Auto IV is finally out and is selling by the boatloads. Has it been worth the long wait and massive amounts of hype? Yes and no. It is certainly a huge game with tons of insanely cool little touches and tidbits that tickle gamers in all of the right places. But in terms of gameplay and graphics and storytelling, it all feels awfully familiar. Find out our final verdict on GTA IV right here in our full review. Quick Hits
Overview I’m not going to bother with the usual “You can do this and this and, oh wow, it is so great!” spiel that reviews usually start with. You can read that in any of the other GTAIV reviews/previews out there. Instead, I’m just going to dive into the nitty gritty. And that is, simply, that I’m afraid that I don’t see what everyone else seems to see. Some people see “Game of the Year 2008” and a “10/10”, but I see pretty much the same game we have been playing for the last 6 ½ years. This is a polished up GTA 3. That isn’t a bad thing, certainly, and the game is good fun in most every way. And I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy it (and the 4.5/5 9/10 score should show that). But it isn’t really all that different from previous games. It does innovate in a few key areas, but in most ways it is more evolution than revolution. And in my mind, that isn’t GOTY material. What It Does Right Rockstar What It Does WrongIt isn’t all roses and chocolates, however. The core gameplay is still basically the same as we had in GTA 3 in the Fall of 2001. It has been tweaked, certainly, and you can’t deny that effort has been made to improve it, but it is basically the same. Take the mission structure, for example. You still drive to missions (or, thankfully, take a cab), shoot people, and then run away from the cops. Lets take a look at these aspects. The driving is improved over previous games and is much more realistic. A junker handles very differently from a sports car. But it is still a matter of fitting a square peg in a round hole as to whether you can actually get across town in one piece because the driving still just isn’t all that good. The on-foot controls have also been improved, but still aren’t that great. You can now use cover and blind fire at enemies, which is nice, but you also still have to wrestle with the camera in order to try and actually see what you are doing. Recent previews that said the game plays like a first-person-shooter were greatly exaggerated. Simply moving around the game world on foot is sort of hit and miss as well as you get hung up on objects and in doorways and trying to find the perfect position to stand in to talk to people or order a hamburger or do other things in-game is more difficult than it should be. The controls just feel at the same time sluggish and imprecise. Rockstar And speaking of the story. While I find the characters involved great, the story itself is kind of boring and predictable. It is basically the same tale that has been told by every other crime simulator-type game out there. Also, it just seems completely silly at this point to make us unlock the rest of the map as we play. It is the exact same storytelling pace and structure as the last three GTA games. I guess I expected something different. Review continued on Page 2 ... Related Guide PicksGTA IV - Xbox 360 vs. PS3GTA IV Image GalleryGTA Cheats and Codes |
Las Vegas on a BudgetFind a BargainHotel DealsCheap EatsFree AttractionsEntertainment for Less |
All Topics | Email Article | |  |  |
| Advertising Info | News & Events | Work at About | SiteMap | Reprints | Help | Our Story | Be a Guide |
| User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy | ©2008 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. |