Grand Theft Auto IV Review (X360)

Multiplayer

If it was just single-player, I think GTA IV would be kind of a disappointment. Lucky for us, there is also a fantastic multiplayer component to the game as well. Up to 16 people can all run amok on the entire Liberty City map and play a dozen different game modes from deathmatch to street races to a territory control-style turf war. Or, you can enter free mode and do anything you want. Only now you have 15 friends to goof off with. This is exactly the type of absolutely frantic, fun, massive, living, breathing awesomeness with our friends that we dreamed of back in 2001 with GTA3. And now that it is actually here, it is everything we had hoped it could be.

One complaint I have is that you can only play online. There is no splitscreen (understandable), but there is also no system link. At least the game comes with a free month of XBL so you can still play with buddies in the same room on Live rather than system link.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, GTA IV is a nice looking game, but it also suffers from a lot of the same graphical glitches as previous games in the series. Flickering and tearing textures. Serious pop in. And textures occasionally don’t load as fast as they should so cars sometimes look bland and blocky and then “poof” into their real skin. One other issue I have is that the city all sort of looks the same no matter where you are. You don’t ever really get lost or confused since there is usually something specific to each area so you know exactly where you are, but the game definitely has the same sort of look all over the city. From the air, when flying in a helicopter, the city is completely bland and boring looking. The character designs, on the other hand, look good overall and the animation is quite good. One thing I want to mention is that the screenshots put out for the game aren’t really representative of the final game in motion. It looks all sharp and great in screens, but when you actually play it things are a bit blurrier and not so smooth.

The sound is pretty good all around. I don’t think the radio stations are quite as good as in past games, but there are still some great talk shows, commercials, and great songs to be found. The voice acting is nearly perfect for pretty much every character, which is part of why it is so easy to get attached to them. Sound effects are pretty standard faire.

Bottom Line

So was Grand Theft Auto IV worth the hype? Mostly. There is no question that it is a good game that does a lot of things right and the multiplayer is absolutely phenomenal. But at the same time, it is hard to not get a sense of déjà vu if you have played previous GTA games. IV is easily the most polished of the GTA games, it looks the best and has the best controls and some nifty gameplay enhancements like cell phones, but the game is still awfully familiar at its core.

And yet, despite the negative tone of this review, I still give it a 9/10. Why? Because Grand Theft Auto IV is an excellent game. The multiplayer in particular is simply outstanding and, in all honesty, bumped the score up from an 8 to a 9. You can read other reviewers gush about how great it is. I wanted to take a more critical and realistic look at it rather than just drowning in the hype.

My recommendation? Buy it. But temper your expectations accordingly. If you played the other GTAs and THQ’s Saint’s Row to death, GTA IV loses some of its luster. If you have never played a GTA, then IV will probably seem like the greatest thing ever. If you played previous games but didn’t like them, GTA IV is improved enough in the area of ease of play and convenience (love cell phones and taxis!) that you’ll likely be hooked this time. Grand Theft Auto IV is a great, but flawed, game that I highly recommend to anyone.