Grand Theft Auto 4 Review

So, i finally finished the game. Took me 39 hours so i missed out on the 30 hour achievement but i don't care.

I really enjoyed the game. The visuals (other than the odd case of pop-in) were remarkable. The water effects were brilliant with the sea reflecting the city lights, and the rain during thunderstorms (which were also great due to some great lightning effects) was very well executed.



The gameplay mechanics have been much improved since the last games and other than some terrible up-close combat issues i was very impressed with the cover system. The ability to fire RPGs whilst in cover work well, not so when trying to use a sniper rifle.

The characters are likeable though i felt there were too many at certain times so some were forgotten (Jimmy, Ray and Phil). Packie, Lil' Jacob, Brucie and Roman are all great characters, for you actually feel a connection with them especially Packie and Roman. Lil' Jacob's accent is fantastic, but you need subtitles to understand what he's actually saying. Brucie screams energy in every piece of dialogue, his character is about as 'alpha' as it gets. Packie is a charming gangster, part of the Irish pack, becomes a worthy adversary and his voice seems calm enough in every situation to assert confidence and faith. Roman is the loveable rogue. He lies to Niko, telling him he has a penthouse ready when in reality it's actually a grimey flat. But as the game progresses we see him for the naive, protective man he really is.

The missions structure was a little wayward, some mission types got repetitive and others were either very easy or just frustrating (objects occasionally getting in the way and having to restart the whole mission again). The ending was a tad short i felt, and could have been made a bit more 'epic', though the sentiments echoed at the end of the game and the subsequent events are certainly touching.



Even so, it's a solid 9/10 for me.


I loved it, and although it doesn't beat GTA 3 in terms of atmosphere, initial impact and overall game experience it's certainly a fantastic iteration in the GTA series. Here's to more current-gen GTA offerings of this calibre.