bit-tech News: Grand Theft Auto IV

[Chierin]

[jeffopus]

I have never played any previous Grand Theft Auto game until my editor at Game Chronicles listed it on the available reviews list for us reviewers. I jumped at the chance to review this as it would be the first in the series I played as well as the first decent game I played on my new PlayStation 3 system.

It is a very good game, 8.8/10 in my opinion, but not the best thing since the guy sliced the bread before selling it us. I liked the games style and the voice acting was fantastic along with the detail they followed for making such a wide open environemt with things everywhere, even in train tunnels.

But, and I do not think this is small or petty things, the open ended environment ends when you start on a mission, you do not have the entire islands to roam from the start. During a mission this open ended environment will often not matter as several mission will have you quickly having to chase down someone where they are dictating where you go.

The game is fine and plays well for the most part but there are times when you are trying to quickly perform a couple of manuevers like running and then whipping out a gun and shooting that does not always work well. This jumping from one movement or action to another was the most infuriating part of the game and definetely not a perfect feature.

So my big complaint about the reviews of GTA IV, I saw several reviews that included complaints and problems with the game, nothing major but still worth mentioning yet they gave the game a perfect 10 out of 10 or 100% or whatever their scaling is.

I found it a great game but there is no such thing as perfect when the game has graphical and gameplay problems.

My review will be hitting Game Chronicles Magazine soon.

Jeff Gedgaud