I Hate you Rockstar!

It was May the 9th when I bid "The Orange Box" and "Frontlines Fuel of War" farewell, hopped into the car and drove to the game store....While I felt bad about "The Orange Box", I did not shed a tear for "Frontlines Fuel of War" (theme for other reviews I guess) but, you see, filled with guilt of wanting to go get another game, I usually rationalize it by doing a trade...Either way I either get a "free" game in exchange for games I am no longer playing or at the very least I get a very cheap one...I had (almost) promised myself *not* to get GTA IV. The advertised violence and mature content actually turned off my appetite for the game and, to be honest, the game theme did not seem very enticing to me...I actually was convinced I would not like the game that much...probably would find it even boring...oh boy, was I setting myself up for a surprise...I gave in...I went into the store, traded in, ran out of the store (kind of like Niko Belic running free after a hit). Kept it on the shelve unopened for a day still trying to resist...and then... I hate you Rockstar....The moment I popped it into the XBox 360 tray, I got hooked....badly.

GTA IV is an amazing game...and worth every 5 stars review it has been getting!
Let me go into the details. Usual GammerConnect style. Likes and dislikes:
Disclaimers: To set the record straight, my experiences are on the XBox 360 version of the game, I have been playing single player only and have about 26% game completion...

Liked:

• It's all about detail, and wow, does GTA IV has detail!
  
• Besides supporting a whole slew of vehicle radio stations, filled with music and talk shows in some cases (!), the integration between the game and the outside world is really, really cool and innovative. The fact that you can call ZIT-555-0100 to get a message with the title of the song that is currently playing, and get that music information sent to Rockstar's Social Club is cool...that fact that the social club is also integrated into Amazon to allow you to easily buy the musics you called in online in DRM free MP3s is even cooler! Way cool! When games start to have this in-game, real world integration, I get fascinated...Halo 3 (see here)and Tiger Woods 08 (see here) already started doing that, GTA IV takes it to next level!
• TV shows: just turn on your in-game TV and start watching the shows...these guys actually put some funny content in there! Detail, detail, detail...
• Go to the cabaret and watch the shows...again...pretty cool!
• On internet cafes, you can actually browse, get/send emails, read newspapers, cool...
• On GTA IV, you can drive anything: cars, bikes, helis, trash trucks! Driving *is* fun! Each vehicle has it's driving characteristics and it actually makes a difference if you're driving a top-of-the-line super powered car or a little compact car! It really does...even the GPS in the cars are different...top of the line actually talk to you, give you heads-up info...amazing...and then there's taxis...and police cars with on-board computers...and other cars going out of their way to let you through when you turn on the police lights....All damage to your car is clearly visible....from bullet holes in your hood to scratches in the paint to pieces of the car just plain falling apart...nice.
• This is one of those sandbox games where you can go anywhere...and they do it really nice...Even the initially locked islands are actually accessible...you *can* go there by jumping through the police barriers....you'll have the whole police force after you though...And it *is* fun just to drive/fly around and watch the details...in a last gamerconnect game night, we spent easily 4 hours just watching each other play, noticing the details and pretty much wreaking havoc throughout the city...it's that kind of game where it is just as fun to play it as to watch it being played!
• People can actually be interacted with...Just try stealing a car from some characters and they will fight back...just go postal and start shooting anyone and you can actually do damage to everyone...and get a response by the police force for that matter...they will get called and will show up!
• The story is actually interesting enough to make me want to play some more to learn what is going to happen!
• The fighting mechanics are actually pretty good...from the covering system and blind fire (that were so popular in Gears of War), to some decent auto aiming, or free aiming, pretty varied weapon choices, all with different effects.

Disliked:

• Cutscenes characters authenticity...After seeing Mass Effect, the characters in GTA IV seem a bit too rag doll like for my taste...On the other hand the voice acting is really nice.
• GTA IV does have some collision issues. You often see your character running through walls.
• Too addictive! ;-) (even stopped playing CoD 4 for this!).

Bottom line: Wow....I will not be surprised to see this be the game of the year....And I have not even started to explore all aspects of the single player game let alone the multiplayer.

Like I mentioned before in passing, the gamerconnect group got together recently and we spent a good amount of time playing GTA IV...It definitely passed the "group play" test...

5 stars on all fronts!