Grand Theft Auto IV

Is it really worth this much hype?

	Version Xbox 360, PS3	Developer Rockstar North	Publisher Rockstar	Genre Action

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So if the game's story is complete at the 60% progress marker, what do you do to achieve 100% completion? That's where the shocking added value of GTA IV begins. During the story, I only occasionally felt like doing the additional 'jobs' and optional side-missions, because I always felt like I had more cash than I actually needed. But once the story is completed, these missions actually become the real deal, and are just as fun. There are nine 'Assassin' missions, 200 'flying rats' to find, cars to steal and races to win for Brucie, and literally hundreds of other things to do. There's also a sizable list of Achievements to be unlocked, including some really fun and challenging ones - although these Achievements are not specifically tied to the progress percentage. I've also heard that the PS3 version has the same achievements ready and waiting to go once Sony's new Trophy system goes live - not really sure about that though. That's not even to mention the obvious replay value of the main story itself, which for many reasons you're going to want to play through more than once. Seriously.

Eating or training to beef up, as in San Andreas, is thankfully a feature that has gone (although changing clothes in the interest of relationships or special appointments is on the agenda), and there is no military, no ambulance missions and so on, which is all good as far as I'm concerned. There is however a whole lot of 'other stuff', like Internet and online dating, and the ability to watch television. At least half of the stuff on LC TV - particularly comedy - is better than actual TV in the US or the UK. The TV ads are even funnier than GTA's radio ads - I spent minutes at a time laughing at some, needing to pause the game for a while. Out on the streets, meanwhile, people going about their daily thing and the way that the world randomly interacts with you never ceases to impress; the incredible extent to which citizens behave realistically is something for another article.

We could go on for pages about how much there is to see and do, and how many fine little details there are to be noticed and enjoyed - and regardless of whether it contributes to your completion percentage, the fact is that GTA IV will last you months upon months. And that's before we've even factored in the multiplayer.

Multiplayer Deathmatches are technically almost flawless. Smaller maps seem to work best for me, and some games prove much more enjoyable than others, but that's just the nature of any online multiplayer. And probably an indicator that I'm just shit sometimes, as I learnt the hard way with Halo 3. Sometimes it is too easy to veer off away from the pack, other times this somehow never becomes an issue during the match. Occasionally, blatantly shooting someone in the face simply does not even register damage, which I can only assume is down to lag on somebody's weak connection, but this does occasionally make for moments of random chance determining a kill, so perhaps some matchmaking optimisation by location or connection strength is required, if it's not in there already. Or maybe this is just unavoidable. Either way it's only occasional, and barely taints a highly enjoyable deathmatch experience, whether played all-out or as a team. I am also a big fan of the racing modes, which I usually do pretty well at.

As I predicted with my multiplayer preview (which goes into loads more detail about GTA IV multiplayer), these modes do seem to be the cornerstone of multiplayer for me personally and also judging by their popularity, but there are some excellent modes which were only revealed just as reviews came out over the weekend, and we'd encourage you to check them all out fully because there really is something for everyone (and again, we don't want to spoil these modes in this review). All multiplayer games are acutely customisable, and it's all encased in a lobby system that pretty much does exactly what it needs to. I still think that additions like replays and 'Saved Films' (in the vein of Halo 3) could have worked extremely well with these multiplayer modes, but perhaps something like that can be added at a later date - and multiplayer as a whole is already so vast and compelling that asking for further extras almost feels ridiculous.

I did have a few other minor gripes with GTA IV, which I'll go into now for the sake of completion and transparency, starting with the most trivial. Firstly: as useful as it is to be able to hold down on the D-pad to get a broader view of the map on the radar, I think this should be a toggle option rather than holding. Also, it would be nice to have a third toggle that shows your position on the whole map, for times when you need to quickly get your 'global' bearings; it would be slightly easier than going onto the Pause map.

Next, there are a few elements that don't look quite as polished as the rest. Witness Michelle walking towards your car and it looks like a bit of an outdated NPC - a bit dead and robotic and not like you expect from the standard of the rest of the animation and personality in the game.

Third, the over-sensitivity of pedestrian awareness. Line-of-sight applies to police pursuing you, but not civilians seeing what is happening. I can be miles away from the nearest pedestrian who is facing away from me, tap the L trigger to aim, and all of a sudden they go into scared running-and-alerting-police mode, or I-won't-serve-you mode, even if you were nowhere near their line of sight. It's nice to have a reactive world like this, but this irked me on a couple of occasions.

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