Grand Theft Auto IV: Xbox 360 Review

Home > Reviews, Xbox 360 > Grand Theft Auto IV: Xbox 360 Review

July 2nd, 2008 Rich Reed Leave a comment Go to comments

The Grand Theft Auto series has been a hit for Rockstar games. It seemed with each new game the franchise added something new and addicting. In fact it’s safe to say no other franchise in the industry has received as much attention by the media, ticked off parents and of course MR. Thompson. When San Andreas hit, it offered a decent story and plenty of action. So when the news of GTA IV arriving on the Xbox 360 with exclusive content hit, fans were excited.

After a delay, the game hit to rave reviews and set amazing sales records. I expected the game to sell, well but I was a bit on the fence with all the perfect scores. Whenever a game gets amazing reviews, it can do one of two things. Either it’s a great game and lives up to the reputation and hype or it can set gamers up for a disappointment. So I knew reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV was going to be difficult. After spending time in Liberty city and in Multiplayer, is the latest Grand Theft Auto IV the perfect game of the series? Read the full review and find out.

Gameplay

The mystery man in all the trailers turns out to be Niko Bellic, an immigrant looking for the American dream. He picks Liberty city since he has a cousin already settled there. Niko is an interesting character and helps the gamer care about his story. Niko soon finds out that the land of opportunity is not as easy as he heard about and is soon drawn into the life of stealing cars and cleaning up his cousin’s problems. In short Niko soon turns to crime to get what he wants.

Now Niko is not all bad. In fact he has morals and at times has to choose what actions he will or will not perform or carry out. I like that you have a choice with certain things. Since the last game Liberty city has grown, it’s huge and has to be the largest of any in the series. At times this plays against the gamer and other times it helps create the sense of being in a living and breathing city. Car Jacking is still the main way to get a car in the game and you will drive plenty of miles in the game until it ends. Having played all the games before this one, I really expected the driving engine to be tweaked and modified for the next-gen. While it has improved, it’s still not as stable as I would have liked it to be and at times can make the game a bit frustrating. The gunplay in GTA IV has been tweaked and is very good and fun. It also helps make the player feel like they are in a shootout and not just hoping to hit someone.

Rockstar threw in a lot of hidden things to find and to do just like in all the past games. The hidden packages are back and just as hard to find them all. Money is harder to earn this time around and you can’t just go beat-up someone and collect the money. This takes a little time to get used to, but it does make the game a bit more of a challenge. Also back are the ladies of the night but this time Niko has to go to a gentlemen’s club to get lucky. Rockstar pushed the limits again and the game is certainly meant for mature players. You won’t find a hot coffee mod but there are plenty of suggested sexual themes.

Niko will meet up with the police, but this time around they don’t show up right away as before. You can outrun them, however if you get enough of a wanted level, things heat up fast. You can also choose to help out the police by stealing a police car and hacking into their database and finding the most wanted criminals. The story unfolds as each mission is completed or based on your choice of action. Overall a solid single player mode but could have used some added touches. I wish the cell phone was easier to read. If you adjust the fonts and play around with it, it’s is fine but will take time to get used to using.

Control

I was expecting a different system or new engine to make driving seem more realistic. You have to drive a lot in the game and win races so it would seem that making the controls smoother would have made sense. They seem to be the same as the last game with a few minor changes. While fun and offering some very cool vehicles to drive and fly, it can be a chore to complete certain missions on the first try. The new targeting and shooting system works great and overall the rest of the controls are well done. They made it easy to learn and it fits the Xbox 360 controller just fine.

Xbox Live

Perhaps the biggest draw is the online modes and the chance to play with your friends over Xbox live. It was amazing at the amount of multiplayer games going on during the first few weeks after the game was released. Rockstar created some interesting modes and it really surpassed what I was expecting. They recently released a patch to fix a few minor issues with the online play. It fixed the dropping issue and joining a game in progress. For the amount of different modes ranked and unranked, the online mode was well thought out. The lobby system is a little awkward to start a room since you need to create or join via the cell phone. This is a neat idea but will take time to learn how to first get your friends in the same room and then launch into one of the game types. The online co-op missions were a good idea but seemed rather short. I know new content is going to be released so maybe they wanted to just set players up for more?

The Online mode is a huge step in the right direction and the fact it supports 16-players is another reason to play online. The whole online set-up is very cool. It could have used a little polish but once you learn how to join and make rooms, it’s very simple to switch from offline to online mode. It prompts you before entering the online mode and this is also a reminder to save your game. If you join a game without saving, it will restart you at the last save. I have to hand it to Rockstar for creating the multiplayer games they are fun and with over a dozen to choose from it offers something for everyone.

Graphics

GTA IV Screenshot 1

If you have ever been to New York City, then you know the game looks amazing using the city as a model. The city changes from night life to day time. The cars, bikes and other vehicles look great although at times you may find they tend to spawn the same types when you need something different. The characters look good but not as good as other things in the game and I think this was on purpose. The GTA games have all had a certain look and feel to them and even with the next-gen that look remains intact.

GTA IV Screenshot 2

It has a next-gen look overall and they certainly added a lot of work on details to make the game stand out. I did find a few issues with clipping through a wall or stuck between to cars for a few seconds but overall a nice job in the graphics department. They also managed to keep the online modes looking just as good as the single player game. If you want to see just how detailed they made things, fly a helicopter over the biggest part of the city and then hit the cinematic view.

GTA IV Screenshot 3

Audio

The dialogue is well done and the voice over work sounds great. It helped make you care for Niko’s background. At times the dialogue seemed to kick in unexpectedly and I missed some things. With all the voice work in the game, they pulled it together in a way that makes you want to hear and see what is going to happen next. My main complaint is in the soundtrack. While it has some great parodies of commercials and talk radio shows, it seems weak compared to the last GTA game. It was great to hear Lazlo on the soundtrack and the variety of music was good but could have been beefed up a bit more. Each car and vehicle has a unique sound and overall a decent job.

Replay Value

GTA IV offers a great deal of replay value for the simple fact you won’t find everything the first time around. The appeal of each GTA game has always been finding the odd or hidden items thrown in the game. GTA IV is huge with the added online modes offering a great deal of replay value. I will say that it’s a game that you may need to take a break from before being excited to find everything or completing a mission that is giving you problems. It also depends on the type of gamer you are. If you are the kind of gamer that wants to unlock and find everything, then the replay value is going to be higher than the causal gamer. With the overall size of the game and the online modes, the game is worth the $59.99. I also like the website tracking your progress although it seems to take awhile to update.

Bottom Line

Overall Score: 9.3/10.0

Additional Comments

GTA IV is a fun and huge game to explore and play but it’s not perfect. To say it’s the best of the series seems unfair to say. Playing the game with friends and going back to find everything is fun. I think maybe the excitement of the next-gen version may have prompted the perfect scores. I have always been as honest as possible and while it’s a great game with loads of things to do, it has some issues that need fixed. I would love to see the next game have an improved driving control system like they added to the gunplay. For the next-gen, it’s a great first showing and with new content coming soon, I am sure we all will be playing it again. Rockstar really did a great job. I just think the game got a little over-hyped in the excitement of the release.

XBox Solution