Grand Theft Auto IV LE PS3 - Review - 10/10
I was one of the very few lucky people in the world to get one of the most anticipated games in history, 5 days before its world wide release -
Grand Theft Auto IV
At first I thought it was a mistake when I got a email letting me know my long awaited order had been shipped. The next day I waited and waited and then finally after many hours of looking out the window, the courier man drove his lovely white van up my driveway. If this had been any other day, I would have thought his van was an ordinary piece of ..... but this was no ordinary day, this way a very good day.
After signing for the package, I eagerly raced back inside to unpackaged it. Inside I found my long awaited Grand Theft Auto Limited Edition for the Playstation 3. Now I know what it is like to have a child, this must be the same feeling you get, when you stair into your child's eyes for the first time after its birth, he box would be almost the same size as one too.
I slowly and gently opened the box to reveal the Security Safe Box which had some white form on the hand stopping if from rattling etc, very nice packaging touch if I must say so. Once I pulled it out, I noticed it was very well built with the GTA IV logo on the face of the box. Then the magic happened, I opened the Safe box and their it lay, in all its sealed glory - Grand Theft Auto IV.
I slowly grabbed it and lifted it up like it was the most rarest comic book in history. I slowly unwrapped it and noticed the cover inlet was different to the rest of the games in the series, it was embossed. This inside of the case I found the Blu-Ray disc, Manual with all the normal GTA advertising humor inside and the city map.
After placing the game down, I then revisited the Safe box where I came across the Art Book, Music CD, Key Ring & Duffel Bag all inside along with the Safe Box keys cleaverly attached to the back of the box. I was almost at the stage where I thought I did not have the keys until I gave the Safe box a shack and heard them rattle. I am yet to play the Music CD but I did give the Art Book a little visit. It contains drawings of the city and characters through out the game.
Now I will not get into too much detail about the game itself as I do not want to spoil this experience for you all.
I placed the sexy Blu-Ray disc which on this day, had to be the best looking disc I had every seen into my PS3, and then it began. It comes up with some GTA IV character & Location art before installing the game onto the PS3. The installation takes about 10min or so, it could have been under that time but when you get this game and this happens, it feels like 2 hours.
After the installation had finished, the game begins with a start scene. I must say, this is one of the best if not the best starting scenes to a game I have every seen. The way they did the credits was the best part and the music was a nice touch too. As most of you know, you play as Nikko Bellic, a Eastern European who comes to the United States in search of the "American Dream", only to find his cousin has lied to him about the wealth that would be waiting for him.
Now depending on what type of TV you have, the first thing you want to do is go into the games settings and change the brightness, contrast etc to suit yourself as the game itself is a tad too dark in some areas. Like most of the GTA games, you start of by driving to a location on your map, in this case, you are required to drive your cousins car (He is too drunk) back to his luxury apartment...
You will notice when first playing that the game will prompt you and inform you on somethings, for example, you can turn your headlights on the car you are driving on, off and highbeam. The cleaver thing about this is, if you smash the front of your car up, this option will no long work. I am trying not to get into full detail here (its hard as the game is that damn good) as I do not want to spoil this for you all but I will add a little more though gaming specs below -
GAMEPLAY
10/10
Like the other games in the series, the game plays almost the same, you can enter cars the same way but if they are locked, you now can smash the window to gain entry. Running is enabled by holding the button down but you can also now sprint but repeatedly pressing it. Shotting is easy and along with the rest of the games controllers. Other little things in the game like, going bowling and playing a game of pool or two, calms you down a tad from all the killing and stuff you will be doing, nice touch!
GRAPHICS
8.5/10
It is no GT5 but it adds what most fans of the series have been waiting for, great visuals. The cars look great, but as I said before, dont expect GT5 style cars. scenery is fantastic compared to the rest of the series, at some times its like a real photo image, the city is amazing! Characters a great and well detailed. After playing it for many hours I did not notice any significant slowdown at all.
Audio
9/10
The sound is great, from the in-car radio stations to the on street swearing and complaining you get from the pedestrians.
Value
10/10
A must own if you are into the series, if your not, then I suggest you get into it and play this installment as its great value with loads & loads of hours to be played along with the first GTA online multiplayer mode!
In regards to the Limited Edition package, if you are a GTA fan then this is a must, if your not, then just get the game on its own as you will not be one bit disappointed.
OVERALL
10/10
I don't think I have ever been soo excited to get a game in all my life then I was with this one. It is truly a work of art on the GTA scale. Apart from the things cut out of the Australian version which I must say, it seems to be some sex clip scenes from your date, the game still stands above the rest in my eyes. As I said above, if the GTA series has never appeared good to you, then try this one, it will win you over in a instant.
If you are a big GTA fan like myself, then all I can say is - You are all going to experience this tomorrow the 29th when its released. Good luck if you have not pre-ordered it, as I am sure its going to set a new recored for gaming sales.
******* OUTSTANDING!!!
I'm ZOIDBERG - Pat You're dog for me 
Submitted by ZOIDBERG
28/04/2008
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