The Grand Theft Auto series has always been very popular. The series re-invented the open world game play system. Then Grand Theft Auto III took this huge open world and turned it into a hugely impressive 3D game world for the then next generation Playstation 2 console and created a living breathing city. But since then there hasn't been a lot of advancement in the series. Yes Vice city was a good retro diversion with cool 80's music and San Andreas helped many young folk pretend they were a "gangsta" that likes to wear their undies higher than their pants, but their hasn't been much advancement since apart from within a graphical nature.
So here we are with the next gen iteration of the series and the best I can say about it is, "more of the same!" This isn't a bad thing mind you as the story mode is excellent by your average game standards, but even though this might be a "next gen" title, the game play isn't is far from next gen. It just feels like GTAIII with tarted up graphics. Couldn't we get a new original city to commit crimes in. Liberty City, been there done that.
Lets look at the positive things; Storyline, Graphics and Multiplayer. But the negatives outweigh it more; Same old story mode, no originality, multiplayer, unlikable characters.
Honestly, it feels as if I'm playing GTAIII with better graphics. While the story mode is good it's just more of the same mission types that shows a lack of originality. The characters themselves are just not likable either which will affect your perception to what is happening to these people. Multiplayer is a nice addition to the series compared to the previous releases, but the multiplayer is flawed and the the game types are just average.
On the whole, GTAIV is a solid game, but not the best example of the genre. It's the Godfather III of the series. Not bad, but not an excellent example of the genre.
