[Dual Review] Grand Theft Auto IV
What? We're just reviewing this now? Clicky clicky to find out what the hold up was...
Published: June 23, 2008
Sam: You have to admit, though, that setting the traffic to parked and leaving the equivalent of Times Square totally empty and then finding the fastest two cars, revving 'em up and then smashing them into each other at max speed is pretty friggin' incredible. I'd say a good half of my "whooooaaaaa" moments came from just screwing around with friends. I honestly stopped caring about shooting people or even the objective-based modes after a week or so and just wanted to use the online as a sandbox, which I suppose says something about the options out there.
I do think that there could have been a little more in the way of ranks, customization stuff, stats... It's there, yes, but I would have loved to see it blown out like Call of Duty 4 or something. Wishful thinking, I know...
Justin: It's a good sandbox, yeah, which is all that most people will want out of it. It's incredible what they were able to pull off in terms of having full pedestrians/traffic while throwing lots of human players in the mix, but for some reason it just felt a little rough around the edges. That's probably just because single player is so well polished, but it's something I couldn't get over.
Sam: I guess they wanted to save something for the inevitable sequels too, so hey. It's not like I'm complaining about what they gave us or anything.
Justin: Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. It just wasn't something that held my attention as long as I was expecting. Single player was the golden goose.
Sam: Missions aside, I do agree with you. For me, it's the combination of online and off that really made it the complete package. I mean, finishing the game twice pretty clearly indicates that I didn't hate the game or anything, but there's still room for improvement, which is a good thing. Gotta save something for next-gen San Andreas, after all.
So now that the dust has settled and you've had time to process stuff, what would you give it, score-wise?
Justin: Oooh, no pressure here, right? You first. Haha, kidding. I'd say... a 10 is fair. It has its flaws, but what game doesn't? When it all comes down to it, the world that Rockstar has managed to create is just incredible. You'll have a lot of fun playing, even if some things could have been done better. It's really a cream of the crop title. You can see the effort they put into just about everything, and it paid off. It'll be a game people reference a few generations from now, and because of that, I think the team at Rockstar have earned this 10.
Sam: I do agree that the world is amazing. I didn't quite fall in love with it the same way I did with GTA III's Liberty City, but I think that's just the law of diminishing returns. No game could ever replicate that same sense of awe and wonder that GTA III had. Everything about it was magical, right down to the radio stations. I guess part of me saw a bit too much familiarity with the older games, though, so I'm going to be a little beeyawch and give it a 9. I think we can agree on the usual score breakdowns, though, so if we average everything together, the game manages a very respectable 9.5.
