Grand Theft Auto IV
Buy Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360)
from Amazon
The seminal crime series has finally arrived on next-gen. Action takes place in Liberty City – a faithful recreation of the five boroughs of New York – and features an Eastern European immigrant, Nico Bellic, as the main underworld protagonist. No longer following the classic gangster tale of rags to riches, Nico simply has to survive the attention of blackmailing cops, his cousin’s less-than-friendly associates and his own shadowy past.
Liberty City itself is gigantic. Every block is smothered in painstakingly etched-out detail and littered with an array of characters smoking, eating and bitching about their lives. Everything from being chased by the police to disposing of petty crooks has been approached with a methodical intelligence that strikes a near-perfect balance of realism and playability; the combat system is intuitive and precise and the cars, bikes and trucks you drive feel reassuringly weighty. A nifty new addition is the use of a mobile phone and internet cafe (the brilliantly named Tw@!) with which you can summon Rastafarian arms dealers and hotshot lawyers alike.
With distinctly un-linear gameplay and often over-lapping missions, it’s as if you’re merely leading Nico around his daily business in this living metropolis. If this is the future of gaming, should we be scared? Perhaps. Impressed? Definitely.
