SpawnPoint

The launch of the Xbox 360 console was shortly followed by the PlayStation 3 console and since this time gamers across the globe have been eagerly anticipating the day that Rockstar would develop a Grand Theft Auto for their new generation of console gaming hardware.

With plenty of hype in the offering and what seemed to be a delay that lasted a lifetime, Rockstar finally unleashed GTA IV to a devouring global population.

GTA IV is, like others in the series, a third person action game and is centered on its main character, Niko Bellic. Niko's journey begins on the shores of New Liberty City, hoping to capture an American dream likened to that of his cousin. Instead, he finds his life in the USA becoming more of a nightmare as he embarks on a roller coaster ride of organised crime and terrorism to earn a living.

GTA fans will be familiar with the cut scene and mission style gameplay as seen in previous Grand Theft Autos. However, secondary to the main plot in GTA IV, single player mode, a player is able to make decisions related to the storyline, offering slightly more control. In addition, mission tasks noticeably increase in difficulty and variation, a nice touch that keeps the game feeling 'new', even after hours and hours of gameplay.

GTA IV is heavily based on the original GTA classic framework, but many improvements have really made it stand out from its previous titles.

So, what improvements have put Rockstars Grand Theft Auto IV heads above other titles in this flagship series?

Liberty City
The city spans four major islands and is huge! The Streets are almost always bustling with fights, car crashes and people having conversations on their mobile phones. The attention to detail can really been seen everywhere you look in Liberty City, with enhancements that prove the transition to GTA IV is probably the largest seen yet.
Bystanders now have unique reactions to events such as being threatened and reactions will vary from person to person. A higher level of realism is given to the police, not only is their attention not always focused on you, they may even offer assistance is someone attacks you.
Objects can also now be knocked out of other peoples hand and thrown/used as weapons.

The usual violence and sexual innuendo is just as strong as with previous titles and the game is also slightly more adult focused in terms of dialogue.

Game Features

You will discover the enhancements made to gameplay impressive as you participate in street races, get drunk, hang out with your friends, browse the internet for dates, use your mobile phone while your washing your car, to plan your next crimewave. 

Rockstar certainly pulled out all the stops to tweak and fine tune major features to great success, however not all changes to GTA IV have been welcomed.
Customizing Niko is no longer available, apart from his clothing, whereas in San Andreas, gamers could re-develop their characters style and adorn body art.
The cars in GTA IV have also been reverted back to the pre-San Andreas era where upgrading and customizing options were non existent.
Apart from vehicle and character customization, it has also been noted that some original series features are missing, such as gambling and airplane piloting. Also the two ways to traditionally kill a car; shooting the gas tank and rolling it on its roof, are just a few of the omitted features.

As the missions begin to increase in difficulty, you'll probably find yourself quite often having to restart missions. Perhaps by design, the game has intentions of challenging gameplay, but this could be both frustrating and repetitive because the game doesn’t score too highly when utilizing checkpoints.

Combat
The weapons and auto aim system has largely remained the same as GTA's recent titles. Big improvements have been made in GTA IV that now enables you to take cover behind objects. Enhanced hand to hand combat such as multiple attack types and the ability to counter attack has also been implemented.
GTA IV's game dynamics have been changed impressively due to the combat features alone, and still they are just scratching the surface, as many more improvements have been made across the board.

 

Driving
Driving in GTA IV has been finely tuned and upgraded in almost every way imaginable. Driving is now much more realistic in terms of cornering and speed. You will find yourself having to use the brakes as it is no longer easy to navigate the roads at top speeds. The driving sub-system has become more difficult to master, with vehicle weight and momentum noticeable more prevalent.  There is an impressive new damage model also.

The new driving engine keeps the fun factor intact and the general overhaul of gameplay makes GTA IV more challenging and exciting.
In driving based missions especially, no matter how much driving you do in this game, you will have to keep your eyes on the road!

The Mobile Phone
It seems these days everyone needs a mobile phone and Niko is no exception. The adoption of the mobile phone in GTA IV gives new life to missions, as being just a phone call away both during and after missions ensures Niko can contact stakeholders at all times .
By allowing the gamer access to the phone at more or less any time during gameplay, Rockstar has taken the implementation of this phone to the next level.
Nikos phone, in many ways becomes the game's main menu. This is your phone, your call. You can input numbers at will, alert emergency services (911), call friends and contacts, organise a lunch date or arrange a game of pool. You can receive calls also but only if you care to answer the phone!
The phone also allows you to access the game's multiplayer modes which really sum up how much the phone has been integrated into GTA IV.

Multiplayer
The gameplay is extensive, compelling and addictive but if you find yourself getting frustrated with the intense challenge of single player mode, you can go online, into one of the games many multiplayer modes and unleash your pent up frustrations on other people.
Multiplayer modes include Death Matches, GTA specific modes built around capture the flag concept and protecting VIP's to name but a few, and can only be accessed through a menu on Nikos phone.
GTA Race is like a combination of GTA and FlatOut where you drive around and shoot your way through checkpoints, challenging for 1st position.

Visual Effects
GTA IV has paid stunning tribute to visual effects as well as gameplay, and it’s not just the poly counts or the texture resolutions that make it great.
The attention to environmental detail is particularly impressive and it compliments the games overall detail.
Liberty City has a true air of authenticity about it, with cement walkways, litter scattered around, parked cars and ambient noises. Even the subway and train system is complete with urban graffiti. The city is that varied and that detailed you would have to look hard to find any repeats in the environmental textures and models. Again, phenomenal attention has been given to the visuals of special effects with elements such as explosions, time of day and weather being superbly rendered.
Despite the amazing visuals, detail and effects, Rockstars 'Pièce de Résistance' has to be the games jaw dropping, near perfect, Draw Distance. Being able to see buildings, cars and people as far as the eye can see is by far the most under rated feature of the game and probably the one single visual that will impress you most.

Glitches
We have all experienced oddities throughout the GTA series such as poor clipping and confused AI and GTA IV is no different. Occasional glitches are to be expected especially with such an open ended sandbox style of gamplay. In GTA IV, Niko can experience getting stuck in places and floating through objects. Other quirks such as robotic or random reactions and confused path finding affect the AI.
Whilst it is quite likely that you will get through the game from start to finish without any of the above mentioned problems, do not be too upset if you find yourself having to restart a mission now and again due to glitches. Whilst the game might have a few negative flaws, if you weigh them up against the impressive enhancements and positive aspects of the game you will find that GTA IV definitely comes out on top.

Despite being a little unpolished around the edges in places, GTA IV certainly lives up to all its hype in practically every way possible. This is a gaming experience of epic proportion and an exquisite example of what our current generation of game developers can achieve; great visuals, brilliant gameplay and ground breaking design.

The expectation with GTA IV was that of 'the best game ever made' and despite immense pressure, Rockstar have definitely delivered.
GTA IV is quite simply a 'must have' game.