GTA IV may be one of the most hyped games since Halo 3 or Bioshock, and the critics are eating it up. It’s sitting at a whopping 98/100 on Metacritic, currently putting it at the top of the 360’s list and quite high on the all-time lists, at least for the moment. While overall scores almost always go down with time, both Mario Galaxy and The Orange Box recently broke into the overall top 10’s over at GameRankings.com, and GTA IV may just do the same. San Andreas really didn’t do it for me story or gameplay-wise, but GTA IV might be the best yet.
I’ve just picked up my first HDTV, and after having my 360 unplugged for the last month a half while moving, GTA IV was the obvious choice as the first game from my play list to break it in. Is it worth the hype? Depends. Like Halo 3, if you disliked or was indifferent to the series before — this one probably won’t change your mind. That said, there’s a lot here for people sitting on the fence and fans. The graphics looks kinda bland at first glance, but once you’re ripping down streets, cars are wrecking with wonderful detail, and people are flying through windshields — you’ll forget all about that. The driving mechanics are vastly improved, cars feel weighty and crash with satisfying crunch.
I’ve still got a long way left to go in the game, but so far I’m really enjoying it. The mini-games and cellphone text messages with friends and dates are pretty boring really, but the missions are the story has been keeping me playing. It almost seems less sandboxy than previous GTA games, there seems to be less incentive to go exploring, but that’s fine by me. Between the great story and all the improvements to an already solid gameplay system, it’s easy to see why GTA IV is getting rave reviews… but like Halo 3, though the game is solid, the hype is still a bit extreme.
