GTA4 is not worth it in my opinion. Having played all of the GTA games, including the original over view 2D versions, I can say that this is simply a rehash of everything you have already done but with a script. There is a lot of voice acting in this one. The game itself is the same thing over and over again. I didn't even finish the game. I played about 8 hours or so into it over a two or three week period and then never turned it on since that time and ended up trading it in for Force Unleashed on my xbox 360.
First, and most annoyingly, is the friendship system in GTA4. You have to constantly take out the friends you meet to play pool, strip clubs, get a bite to eat, and if you don't then you piss them off and if you ignore them you piss them off, and if you piss them off you miss out on content in the game. You are forced to have a social life and they call you in the middle of missions at times. If you turn your phone off you can't do missions either. So, when you want to progress the game you have to make a choice. Either every 10 god damn minutes take out a friend so you don't miss out on content, or ignore them and progress the game and then you miss out on content and the perk that they give you.
The combat system is over simplified and non challenging. I feel like I am playing a game from 1990s. Now you can take cover behind things and blind fire which was nothing new and was widely used when the PS2 first came out. GTA4 is just now catching up to that concept. The targeting system is automatic, which I guess is OK for third person, but I feel it is way over simplified. Overall, combat is not a challenge at all, and you do the same thing over and over and over and over through out the whole game.
Multi-player is a joke. It comes down to who can get the rocket launcher first and kill every one. There is little skill since the aiming system ridiculous at times. It doesn't hold a stick to many other multi-player games that are already in existence. COD, CSS, HL2, or any other widely played FPS game that is already out are way better multi-player games than GTA4 could ever even dream of. Even when you turn off the auto aim in multiplayer it feels like I back in the 90s playing first generation FPS games.
The driving system is retarded. I am sorry but when I play a video game I want it to be fast, crazy, and I want to do tricks. Things I can't possibly do in real life because of how dangerous it is, that I don't have a stock pile of vehicles I can destroy, or that is really is physically impossible to do. The police system is also retarded. You drive two straight blocks and all of the sudden you are gone.
If I wanted that much dialogue I would watch a movie or better yet read a damn book. I think that Rockstar had many awesome ideas that came into GTA4 but overall they missed the big picture and that is games should keep your attention and be fun, with out all the extra baggage. If I wanted to socialize that badly in a video game I would just go out and meet people. The game also is nothing new under the sun and after about 2 to 3 hours of game play into the game, you just wash, rinse, repeat through out the rest of the game. The story of each mission may change slightly but it is a lot of the same old recycled content.
For the hype and production value put into this game it is boring, over rated, and really in all honesty not that much fun. I think the last time I played I got mad because every 5 seconds one of my friends was calling me over and over again to go out. Once I would take one out another one would call me instantly. I turned the game off and took it out of my xbox 360, hopped on the Internet to see what games were coming out in the near future. Traded it in to GameStop and picked up a new game.
My bottom line rating for GTA4 is 6/10 and that is because the game does have some great content, but only about 3 hours worth. After that you just repeat those same three hours over and over until game over.
the single player is very good.
