I hope everyone has this pre-ordered. I believe this is the game that will never leave our collection.

This is on my list, havn't had much time to play lately but come the 29th this will be in my disc drive for a long long time. Hopefully some ppl here will get it too.

ESRB Content Descriptors: Intense Violence, Blood, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Partial Nudity, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

April 8, 2008 - If Grand Theft Auto IV is anything like the previous iterations, it will offer a robust single-player experience, the kind that can last several hundred hours. That always worked well in the past, but Rockstar decided that wasn't enough this time around and added a sizable multiplayer component. Here's the challenge for Rockstar: create a multiplayer experience good enough to convince players to leave the single-player campaign for a little while. That's a tall task. After spending a day checking out four of the MP modes, we're pretty certain Rockstar's succeeded.

Multiplayer is accessed from the single-player game via Niko's cell phone and supports up to 16 players. Oh, and the entire world runs at the same time. That's right -- all the pedestrians, traffic and cops are there. The entire city is open to you and your fifteen friends in apparently every mode.

And that's what it feels like to have your mind blown.

You won't play the story mode in multiplayer. In fact, no one gets to be Niko online. Instead, you'll create a custom character (dude or babe) from about a half-dozen options. While the options we were shown were fairly limited, new clothes and accessories unlock as you rank up. Ranks run from 0-10, with experience earned by collecting cash in multiplayer. Cash is dropped by opponents and can be nabbed by anyone and is also automatically earned for performing certain tasks in the various modes. We didn't get to experience the leveling system, but it appears fairly simple. It's meant to reward you for playing a lot of multiplayer, but leveling up your character isn't the focus as it tends to be in Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

We weren't given a view of the lobby system, but from Rockstar's hints, it sounds like you will just run around going Bananarama in Liberty City until someone launches a game. The good news is that when a game is set up, the host has a myriad of options depending on the mode. This is everything from turning on cops (yes, you can have a wanted level in multiplayer), adjusting the density of traffic, selecting from several weather options (fog and heavy rain being the coolest), time of day, and even what radio station is playing. We counted sixteen options for one mode and the others had similar amounts.

Playing with eight people, we only had one instance of slowdown. And that was when all of us were firing RPGs into a crowd of cops. At that point, the game just sort of threw up it hands and said, "Come on, seriously?" Except for this brief moment of slowdown, our hours enjoying GTA IV online were without incident. And, more importantly, the controls never suffered. You may notice a slight drop in visual fidelity (or perhaps we're nuts), but GTA IV still looks great in multiplayer. The city is as alive and vibrant as in the single-player campaign -- and it's a lot more hectic. That so much can be happening at once without the game breaking in half is an amazing feat. The fact that it's also incredibly fun is just a bonus.

Before we break down each of the four modes played (Team Deathmatch, GTA Race, Cops N Crooks and Hangman's NOOSE), there is one significant gameplay change from single-player mode. When playing MP, your names shows above your head along with a colored dot. However, if you crouch, your name disappears, making you tougher to spot. And if you use cover, both your name and dot disappear. It may sound insignificant, but both bring an unexpected pacing to GTA multiplayer by rewarding you for being strategic in your combat.

Aside from this, the gameplay is basically the same as in single-player. There is no dumbing down of the game. So you will be able to take cover, jack cars, climb up buildings, swim, run over pedestrians and toss Molotov cocktails out the window of your car, just as you can with Niko in the main campaign. No, you won't have a main story component, but if you've trained in single-player, you should be able to do well in multiplayer. Unless you're playing against people at Rockstar. Damn you to hell, Hove Beachin!


Team Deathmatch
Hil's Take: I went into GTA IV believing that the multiplayer would be like a third-person version of Quake -- twitch gameplay, lots of deaths, and just a touch of shallowness to the whole deal. I was wrong. The cover system makes a big difference.

Most folks died three or four times in a 10 minute match. On Happiness Island (Rockstar's version of Liberty Island), the team that can claim ground at the mighty statue's base has a severe advantage. They can place a few snipers along the wall and two people can guard the stairwell that acts as the lone entry point. If the other team is full of fools, they'll run out in the open and lose quickly. Otherwise, they will dash along the surrounding buildings from cover to cover or approach through some heavy bushes. Find the right weapons (and some body armor) and you can make an devastating charge to claim the base of the statue.

In open areas, things do get a bit more hectic. Especially when vehicles get in the mix. My favorite is holding tight to Davey Clay on the back of a motorcycle. You get a clear view of all enemies and you're free to fire while your partner drives. Headshotting a would-be assassin while popping a wheelie: priceless.

As with many of the other modes, there are a lot of options to suit your personal tastes. This includes altering the weapon layout. A game of shotty? Done. All heavy weapons? Bingo. Rockets only? Hell yes. You really can never go wrong with rocket launchers. Especially since you can blindfire with an RPG. Blindfiring an RPG into someone's face as he turns the corner is what professionals call, "givin' him da bid'ness." I quickly discovered that I'm not impervious to my own rocket fire. However, with friendly fire off, I take no damage if an ally shoots a rocket at my feet to launch me in the air and onto a roof. Call it co-op rocket jumps. The only caution is that no one is immune to gravity. Jump over a building (instead of onto it) and the landing could kill you. If only Rockstar would add a bit of aftertouch control so you could guide yourself in the air, then all would be good in the kingdom of Heaven.

Winning Team Deathmatch isn't a matter of scoring the most kills (though that helps). In true GTA fashion, it's about coming away with the most cash. Much of that does come from killing people, but picking up bonus cash left by the dead makes the difference.

Dave's Take: Team Deathmatch in Liberty City requires more strategy than you think. Ducking and taking cover are a huge part of combat because of their tie to a player's visibility. Every deathmatch map has a main point of contention and if you can sneak to a cover point with a view of that area you'll rack up the kills. But since the game is about collecting cash drops, headshots campers are encouraged to leave their post and grab the loot.

The rules we set for deathmatch were rather tame considering the options available. We duked it out on Happiness Island under the Statue of Liberty and there weren't any vehicles or police to get in the way.

I imagine there will be two groups of deathmatch fans, gamers who play to demonstrate their skill and gamers that get their rocks off blind firing a rocket launcher from a bus. We tried both and though it was difficult to stay alive for more than five seconds there just isn't any denying the fun of an all rockets skirmish.


Cops N Crooks
Hil's Take: They say to save the best for last, but I've always thought that was a dumb suggestion. Rather than make you wait, let's chat about the best mode played when we visited Rockstar. Cops N Crooks puts players on two very different teams. One team spawns as crooks, with one of its members randomly selected to be the crime boss (or VIP). The other team spawns as cops in squad cars. The crooks need to help the boss get to a randomly selected escape points so he can flee the city. Most of these are along the water for a boat escape, though some have you extricated from a roof via helicopter. The cops win by either killing the boss or destroying the escape vehicle.

There are a few twists that make this the most interesting version of VIP I've ever played. The cops can see the crooks on their radar (with the boss getting a unique icon), but they don't know where the escape vehicle is located. Remember, all of Liberty City is open, so it's not going to be easy to immediately guess where the crooks might be headed. While the cops spawn in cars, the crooks start on foot and must find transportation. This gives the cops an early advantage, unless TeamXbox's Andy Eddy is driving. Even my grandmother can escape a pursuing Officer Eddy.

The crooks only see the cops on radar when they are about to apply a cavity search. So you just never know what the cops are up to. But, you can see your extraction point. The boss has a single life, but the other crooks respawn. This allows for a lot of possibilities for strategy. Do you stick together and go in force? Do you put the boss on a motorcycle and then try and cause roadblocks for the coppers? Or do youk do what we did and constantly crash your car and accidentally shoot one another?

The cops also have some strategy to consider. While you do respawn, it is often well outside the action. Do you take note of the direction the crooks are headed and make a guess where the extraction point is located? That could pay off. Do you go in as few cars as possible or do you split up? Clearly, learning the city by playing the single-player is going to be a big help in dominating multiplayer.

Cops N Crooks is a brilliant recreation of a caper movie... after the caper's gone horribly wrong. Not only are extraction point locations random, so are the spawn points for both teams. Sometimes the crooks spawn on the street sans car and 30 seconds later police sirens can be heard. Hey, crooks get a lot of bad breaks.

While all of the multiplayer modes I played were good, C&C was far superior to the others. It's my new favorite type of entertainment.

Dave's Take: Normally deathmatch is the meat and potatoes of any online shooter but from what we've seen Cops N Crooks is the premiere reason to take GTA online. On the surface the setup is deceptively simple. The Cops start with a vehicle, the Crooks do not. The Crooks have to get to an extraction point marked on their map, the Cops only know the location of the people they're chasing. Kill the crime boss, and it's game over. Depending on the randomly assigned location of each team and the extraction point, the game can feel weighted in favor of a single team, but the single most important factor about this match type is teamwork. The more you talk, coordinate, and cooperate the better you'll do and it makes for a thrilling experience.

While playing as the crooks it was integral to have one person in charge of setting a waypoint on the map, one person skilled at driving, and at least one person running distraction. You must communicate, you must work together. Unlike deathmatch, the work of a single player can tip the scales but it can't carry the team. I was impressed when the finely crafted rules of this game imposed order on the chaos of Liberty City. In one instance the Cops set up a well-placed road block that anticipated our movement through a bottleneck not far from our spawn point. Their preparation and our lack of foresight ended the match quickly. We'd lost, but we'd also learned that trying to bomb through an obstacle without a plan was bad idea. While other modes have an ever-present element of anarchy, Cops N Crooks was serious business. More importantly even when my team was getting completely stomped, I was still having fun. This is the mode that I can tell will eat up hours of my time and I cannot wait to revisit with larger teams.


Hangman's NOOSE
Hil's Take: Niko's story is going to remain just for Niko. To satisfy fans' desire for cooperative play, Rockstar added some Niko-free co-op modes in multiplayer. These four-player missions are sort of halfway between the feel of a campaign mission and multiplayer madness. There's a little bit of story -- cutscenes introducing the mission and putting it to a close -- and few random elements. You have a start point and the same definitive endpoint each time you play. The change comes with upping the difficulty and altering the options to stiffen the challenge.

In Hangman's NOOSE, you and your 1-3 other cohorts must take down the cops guarding a crime boss, Kenny, who's on a grounded plane at the airport. On the harder difficulties, it can get pretty crazy as the cops attempt to flank your party. They'll keep coming until one of you parks a vehicle in front of Kenny's plane. The options are to swipe an armored van or an attack chopper. Either makes for a fun escape.

The heli is a hot ride and makes for an easier escape. One person pilots with Kenny riding shotgun. Two others can hop in the sides and fire from the edge of the chopper. You'll see plenty of combat choppers giving chase, along with cops on the ground trying to keep you from getting to the extraction point at a baseball field. And everyone must make it to the baseball field to win the mission. If one dies, he respawns away from his pals and will almost certainly have a tougher task to get past the cops.

It's tougher to get through in the armored van, but far more fun. One crook drives, Kenny rides shotgun again and two others can ride in the back. Kick open the doors and you can fire outside. Your task is to try and shoot out the tires on other police cars, which sends them spinning off into other cars. Or put a few shots through the windshield and ace the driver. The more of a mess you can make on the road, the harder it will be for the cops to halt your escape.

Dave's Take: More of a set piece than a mode, The Hang Man's Noose is the closest thing we've seen to the single player GTA storyline being played by multiple people. The protect-and-extract mission gets right to the point with an all-out gun battle on an air strip. On the hardest difficulty setting the game throws an impressive number of NPCs at you.

In a few of the videos on our site you can see quick examples of how enemies move in GTA but it takes hands-on time to appreciate how the SWAT Team flanks, advances, and dives for cover. And when you have more than one police chopper and a sea of squad behind your getaway vehicle team tactics are required. The best part about the large scale fight was how it exemplified how much action can take place on the screen at once in multiplayer without any technical snags. Hang Man's NOOSE is just one story-line related multiplayer mission, I hope to play many more.


GTA Race
Hil's Take: You can't have Grand Theft Auto without the Auto. So it's only natural to have a racing mode as part of the multiplayer component. But doing standard races would be boring as hell considering GTA's scope. Instead, Rockstar made a mode worthy of the open-world aspects of the series. Sure, there are some racing standards -- checkpoints, a finish line, cars -- but this mode is much more than what I expected.

Let's say you choose a car to start the race and realize it's not nearly as good as your buddy's? Just hop out of your car and jack his. Or better yet, get in the backseat and steal a ride. Take any car or run on foot. Get through the checkpoints anyway you want. Or ignore checkpoints altogether and just cause havoc for others. Set up a roadblock, wait for your opponents to wreck, then hit them with an RPG.

You can pick up weapons and fire from inside or outside your car. But you can only hold one weapon at a time. Personally, I like using 'nades. For one, it's a whole lot of fun dropping them out the window to blow up cars behind you. It's perhaps even more fun, though, to stand in the street and cook a grenade. Wait for a couple of cars to near and sacrifice yourself for the good or blowing up your enemies. It's pretty tough to tell someone is clutching a grenade, so this tactic is amazingly effective.

If cars aren't your thing, you can try a helicopter race. This is tough. I wasn't ready for the realism of GTA choppers. The first instinct is to control them like a toy, but that just won't do. It takes a few minutes to get the hang of manipulating the chopper, getting it to respond properly and maximize speed. Many of the race paths take you weaving through the city and there is a very narrow window for checkpoints, so your flying must be precise. If you select an attack chopper, you can fire at others. Helicopters are not built for dogfights, so it's really tough to take out your opponents. The better way is to get above someone else and tap their blades with the feet of your chopper. Do this near some buildings and you should be able to take them down.

Dave's Take: Every aspect of GTA IV's multiplayer is influenced by an element of chaos and racing is no different. The host sets a few ground rules like vehicle type, location, time limit and laps, but once the starter pistol sounds it's anyone's guess what will happen next. The check point system presents players with hovering icons and map markers to guide them through the course but there are no invisible walls to hold you back from the rest of the city.

How do you define winning? Are you going to be the fastest or do you prefer the Mad Max approach to transportation? The combat portion of racing relies on two game mechanics that have been significantly retooled. Since the right trigger becomes the gas pedal pulling the trigger to shoot from a vehicle is mapped to the left shoulder. This allows competent players to maintain control of their machine and aim at the same time. A well-placed shot at someone's tire can make all the difference because while the cars handle better than in previous installments damage will significantly hamper their functionality.

If car combat isn't your forte you can always ignore the vehicles entirely, pick up a weapon, and run over to a check point and wait for an unsuspecting victim. During our race experience skirmishes regularly broke out on the race course. With enough players GTA Race is the real running riot. It's this unpredictability is what makes racing so attractive. And I've only really delved into a standard match using cars.


We wish we could tell you more about GTA IV's multiplayer, but some things are better left for you to find on your own. It's best to think of GTA IV like an iceberg. Everything you read is the 10% above the water. So if these four modes sounds exciting to you, just consider that there's a big ass iceberg floating beneath the surface that you can discover on April 29.

IGN

April 24, 2008 - The moment Niko arrives in Liberty City he is met by his cousin, Roman. This crucial relationship is just one of many you will develop while playing GTA IV. These friendships -- either with the rough and tumble men of the city or its lovely ladies -- evolve initially through the story. But it's your decision whether or not to pursue these friendships beyond the story missions. You and Packie McCreary can have a cold association with one another, but money will still ultimately bring you together. But should you go the extra mile and make Packie your confidant, you'll reap the benefits.

Friendships begin with Niko's cell phone. This handy tool, which is the thread woven through all aspects of GTA IV, is your primary contact point for buddies, girlfriends and lovers. While roaming the city -- and even on missions -- potential pals will text or call asking if you want to hang out. They may suggest a place to go or leave it up to you to decide. Roman likes strip clubs, Michelle likes to bowl and Packie is a born pool shark.

Pick them up in a car, taxi, bus or helicopter and head off to one of Liberty City's many entertainment hot spots. Taking someone to a place they enjoy is going to strengthen your bond. There aren't many places that will turn a person sour to you (unless you take the wrong girl to a strip club), but you do get an added boost taking friends to the right spots. You can check out the embarrassingly low-brow cabaret or see a comedy act if you like being entertained or choose from a variety of mini-game activities. And if all else fails, remember that everyone loves to drink.

Going out on the town can reveal new insight into some of the city's non-playable characters. On the ride to a joint, you might hear some offhanded comments about Niko or elements of the storyline. You might learn a bit more about your new friend. And this continues even after the single-player story is complete, as important characters open up to Niko and comment on the climactic events that conclude his adventures in Liberty City. These pieces of information are not crucial to missions and won't give you a leg up in the city. It's just great conversation. Think back to the conversations in Gears of War. Now imagine if the dialogue was actually interesting. That's kind of what GTA IV is like -- great action mixed with equally good conversation.

The best way to loosen someone's tongue is to buy them a drink. How drunk you end up is dependant on who you take. Dwayne isn't going to get you hammered, but Kate will have you falling all over yourself. There's nothing quite like stumbling onto the street while your date shouts to the world how she's hanging out with a murderer. Drunk driving can be a challenge as the camera tilts and the controls stiffen. And if you pass a cop while drunk, you earn a one-star wanted rating. You want a challenge? Take Little Jacob drinking and then take him home on a motorcycle. Or better yet, take a helicopter when you decide to toss a few down. Drunk flying is far more interesting than drunk driving. Just don't be shocked when you accidentally crash your chopper into the Algonquin Bridge and kill your date. Cheer up -- maybe she has a cute sister with looser morals.

It's easy enough to boost your friendship rating, but perhaps even easier to let that friendship slip. Ignore your friends or constantly reject their offers to hang out and your rating is going to drop quickly. Friends don't become enemies, but they won't feel any need to give Niko extra assistance. And you may want this kind of help.

When someone feels a bond with Niko, their special ability becomes available. Whip out your phone, select a friend's name, and you'll see an option to call in a favor. You can't call unlimited favors -- often it's a once or twice a day kind of thing -- but even the occasional assist can mean the difference between freedom and 20-to-life.

Roman can be called for free rides via his taxi service. That sounds like a minor thing, but as you get deeper into the story and your missions begin spanning the entire city, you may find the quickest way to get to a contact is via a cab. And the cost of those rides does add up. Unless, of course, you're getting them for free. Packie gives you car bombs. This special package can be placed in the trunk of a car and remotely detonated via phone. Little Jacob gives you a favorable discount on weapons and armor. Michelle gives you sex. If you can't see the benefit in this, perhaps you should spend less time playing videogames and more time trying to meet some ladies.

While at first your circle of friends and lovers is tied to the story, eventually you will be able to date a wider range of people. One of the best ways to find a date is by using an online dating service. Love-Meet is the Match.com of Liberty City. It's here that you'll find some of the city's best (but mostly worst) ladies. If a girl is willing to date Niko, she'll let you know a time to pick her up and give hints on what to wear and what she likes to do. Play your cards right and you may get lucky. And you might also get laid.

The women who befriend you may also have special abilities to offer so long as you can maintain their relationship. This may be harder than it sounds. Carmen is a little minx you can meet online. She's a nurse and a dirty, dirty girl. But she's also possessive and has a jealous streak. She'll call and text constantly. And when you do answer, she'll let you know how grateful she is that you found a moment to stop "#$%@ing your other whores" so you could pick up the phone. So why keep her at all? Because Carmen is a nurse and her special ability is a health boost. Imagine ducking behind cover during a fight, being down to just a sliver of health, and making one quick call to get healed.

The good news is that, as in real life, you can date multiple women at the same time. Just know that the more women you date, the more "cuddle calls" you'll be receiving. While we've yet to have two girlfriends intersect, it seems like a frightening inevitability.

GTA IV's friendship system borrows elements from San Andreas, but keeps it fairly low maintenance. Friends aren't meant to be a nuisance and aren't required to beat the game. But it sure is nice to know you can rely on your lawyer girlfriend to rescind your wanted level with a simple phone call. The biggest benefit from strengthening relationships, though, is the dialogue you'll hear. And once you get sucked into GTA IV's story, you'll likely want to get as much as you can from every character while they're still breathing.

"Thanks IGN"

April 25, 2008 - Criminals are an ugly, cowardly lot more worthy of pity and disdain than admiration. This is what you'll learn playing through the single-player campaign in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. The series cheered (and criticized) for glorifying violence has taken an unexpected turn: it's gone legit. Oh sure, you'll still blow up cop cars, run down innocent civilians, bang hookers, assist drug dealers and lowlifes and do many, many other bad deeds, but at a cost to main character Niko Bellic's very soul. GTA IV gives us characters and a world with a level of depth previously unseen in gaming and elevates its story from a mere shoot-em-up to an Oscar-caliber drama. Every facet of Rockstar's new masterpiece is worthy of applause. Without question, Grand Theft Auto IV is the best game since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

You play as Niko Bellic, an Eastern European attempting to escape his past and the horrors of the Bosnian war. He arrives in Liberty City to experience the American dream, only to discover his cousin, Roman, may have fibbed a bit in his tales of success. Starting from nothing, Niko makes a living as a killer and enforcer, a bad-ass foreigner who appears to have no morals. The longer we stay with Niko, the more we see that there is a broken human being inside, one who would give anything to escape the person he once was.

Don't worry, GTA's famed over-the-top action and tongue-in-cheek humor are intact, but there is a new level of sophistication in the characters and the game world that raises the story above the norm. As Niko becomes mired in the death throes of American organized crime, he begins to become more self-aware. Niko's struggles with his ruthless nature never inhibit the gameplay, but instead enhance the emotional gravity of a brilliant storyline. The more absurd the action becomes, the greater we feel the very real pathos of Niko Bellic.

Much of the credit goes to the artists at Rockstar North who created as believable a city as possible. Liberty City is inspired by New York, but not beholden to it. While there are many parallels, Liberty exists in its own universe and rightfully so. Many open-world games have cities that feel as if they existed only from the moment you first turned on your console, but Liberty City looks lived in. It's an old city and each block has its own vibe and its own history.

Drive around Liberty City and you'll be able to identify each individual block. Though Liberty is filled with brownstones and a myriad of similar brick buildings, you can tell one from the other, just as you can in New York. Go to an affluent neighborhood and the street is likely to be newly paved, the pedestrians better dressed, the cops more plentiful. But head to Dukes or Bohan and you'll find streets nearly stripped of asphalt, homeless people wandering about aimlessly and criminals preying on the weak.

Watch the people and you'll witness some amazing things. At one point, I saw a woman stopped at a light, looking in the rearview mirror right before she was rear-ended by a man ogling a girl on the street. The man got out of his car and went to the woman, checking to see if she was okay. This had nothing to do with Niko or a single action I took. These were the citizens of Liberty City going about their day. And it was just one moment in a day full of incidents.

Hang in one area of the city long enough and you'll see how traffic and pedestrian flow changes as the day progresses. When it rains, people bring out umbrellas or shield themselves with a newspaper and run for an awning. Cops chase petty thieves unaware that walking down the street is Niko Bellic, cold-blooded killer. There's a perfect balance of mumbling doomsayers to remind you that the reason this city never sleeps is because it's full of nut jobs. People go about their day, only altering course when Niko inserts himself into their lives with his crappy driving or excellent marksmanship.

Liberty City isn't as big as San Andreas, but is far denser. There's a lot to see and do and, like New York itself, very little wasted space. When you enter buildings, there are no load times -- you open the door and you're on your way up a flight of stairs to the roof. The only frustration is that there are literally thousands of buildings in the city, but most of them cannot be entered. With the exception of some clearly marked entertainment hot spots and mission-specific areas, there's nothing to indicate which buildings are open for business. So you might find yourself walking into a lot of doors trying to find which one will magically open. It's a little much to expect to have the interiors of every building rendered, but that doesn't make it any less bothersome that you can't go where you please.

The idea of a "living, breathing city" has always been somewhat of a joke in gaming. Every city in the past has felt artificial in some way. But Liberty City feels like a real place. And its history is built not only into the architecture and the people, but even in the music. There are more than 200 songs in GTA IV and many of them were recorded or remastered with specific references to Liberty City. You'll hear songs on the Classics station referencing the city, as if to suggest there's decades of history built into the culture. The soundtrack is an unbelievable blend of rock, pop, reggae, R&B and hip-hop. But more astounding is how well the songs and the DJs blend into the city itself.

It's this level of integration that makes Liberty City such a believable place. You won't just hear "America's Next Whore" advertised on the radio; you'll see posters when walking down the street and spot ads on the Internet. GTA IV takes aim at all of the modern forms of communication. Along with radio stations (a staple of the series) there are full programs and ads you can watch on TV and a fully browseable Interweb.

You could lose hours of your day surfing the 'net. That may mean sorting through junk mail, clicking on random links, using Love-Meet.com to find dates, or reading the news. There are multiple websites that cover news based on missions Niko's completed. You can read different takes on these events if you want to get an idea of how your actions are perceived in different political corners. You might never bother looking at all, but like so much of GTA IV, there are dozens of hours of content waiting to be either discovered or ignored.

To make itself more modern -- as opposed to Vice City and San Andreas which were "of an era" -- the focal point of Niko's world is his cell phone. You'll receive calls and text messages from friends and business associates on your phone. This is the mission delivery system. You may launch into a mission just by answering a call, but more often you will be directed to meet at a specific location to initiate your next objective. Or you might just have a conversation that serves no purpose other than to deepen the characterization of Niko, his friends, or even his enemies. The good news is that, just like in real life, you can talk on the phone while driving your bus through a police blockade.

The phone is also used as an organizer to remind you of critical events (dates with slutty online girls) and can be customized with new ringtones and wallpapers. And just as in modern life, the phone can become a nuisance. Date Carmen and she will constantly be ringing your digits and sending texts checking in to make sure you aren't sleeping with some other girl. Yes, there are needy people even in Liberty City. You'll also get casual calls during missions. You can always ignore the ring or you can pick up. It's most likely a friend calling and asking to hang out. GTA is a clever game brimming with hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue and Niko will almost certainly have a pun-laced response to turn down a pal if he's in the middle of a helicopter dogfight.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't give your potential friends the time of day. Throughout Niko's journey you'll have the opportunity to strengthen your bond with some of the people you meet. It's not necessary to take your Jamaican braddah Little Jacob out for a drink or game of pool when he calls, but doing so is to your benefit. If someone likes you enough, they'll give you access to their special ability. For Little Jacob, that means being able to call him day or night for discounted weapons. Packie, the angry Irish wannabe mobster gives you car bombs. Dwayne sends a pair of his homies to assist you on missions.

The benefits of taking friends out on the town go beyond these tangible attributes. Friends also provide commentary on life, the city, Niko, and the story. None of it is essential to completing the game, but all of it is fascinating. The dialogue in GTA IV is rich, funny, brilliant, insightful, and engaging. So many times your reward for beating a mission isn't a new weapon or an elaborate cinematic cut-scene -- it's just dialogue. That is often reward enough.

There are a number of places you can take your friends when you go out on the town and you should base your decision on what they might enjoy. There are mini-games for darts, pool, and bowling. But you can also check out the god-awful cabaret or watch one of several comedy sets by Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams. Perhaps the most challenging (but satisfying) activity is going drinking.

Your level of drunkenness is relative to the person you take out. Little Jacob and Dwayne aren't so bad, but take a sweet lass like Kate out and she'll have you (literally) falling over yourself. When drunk, it's difficult to walk and even more of a challenge to drive. You don't have to drive drunk (in fact, it might make you ill doing so as the camera sways as if you're out at sea), but it's fun to give it a try. Drunk friends tend to be more revealing as well. Kate will tell you what she really thinks of you with just a few drinks. If that doesn't weaken your self esteem, nothing will.

The only issue with making friends is that it's a distraction from the main story. For the first time in a GTA game, the story is actually a greater draw than city exploration. That's not to say driving around the city hunting for Easter Eggs isn't enjoyable, but the story is so compelling, you may find yourself singularly focused till its conclusion. The wild cast of characters is part of the reason things are so entertaining. The voice acting is top notch and the characters are each immediately identifiable and unique.

Some are loveable, but there are many who are despicable. There are cringe-worthy conversations, where you see Niko being sucked into the depravity of these peoples' lives to earn a few bucks or gain a long-sought revenge. That's a credit to the writing, to make what would normally just be some thug you're doing missions for earn your contempt. That's a mark that you care for Niko; that the story has gotten to you. There aren't many games that can pull that off.

As an added twist, GTA IV gives you occasional morality choices. There are people that you don't have to kill in a mission and you can decide whether or not to waste a bullet. These events don't change the plot or open new missions later on. Occasionally it affects dialogue, but more often it is simply the game asking what kind of person you are. And there are some gut-wrenching decisions you make at points that create an emotional response I never imagined I would get from a Grand Theft Auto title. There is one significant choice you make towards the end of the game that opens a new path and an alternate ending. There are two worthwhile endings to uncover and are incentive for playing through a second time just to see how much more depressing life in Liberty City can get.

There are more than 90 story missions that will take anywhere from 25-45 hours to complete depending largely on your skill level. I was certain that the missions would get repetitive at some point, that sooner or later it would get redundant. It never does. Though many missions boil down to the same basic parameter -- go to location, kill people to get to target, chase target, kill target -- it never feels repetitive. The locations of missions, the variety in the enemies, the dynamic aspects of the AI, and the dialogue keep GTA IV from ever feeling stale. In fact, this is a game that can be enjoyed with multiple playthroughs. It's just that good.

The best mission comes close to the halfway point, when you and Packie McCreary decide to rob a bank. In what becomes the recurring theme for Niko Bellic, everything about the job goes wrong. The cops have the bank surrounded and there's no easy way out. Instead, you and the gang must battle through the streets and into the subway to escape. It's a lengthy, epic fight that I could replay a dozen times and still enjoy.

A great deal of that pleasure is due to the refined combat system. Though Grand Theft Auto has always been about action, it has never provided a great targeting system. That has finally, truly changed with GTA IV. Hold down the trigger and you can lock on to an enemy (or civilian). You'll see an indicator of their health. You can adjust your aim slightly with the thumbstick so that nudging up a little can help you earn some headshots. Partially depress the trigger and you have free aim, which is great for targeting tires or specific body parts. With skill, you can take down enemies faster in free mode. But auto aim is a great help in larger battles or for those who aren't as adept with a controller.

Better is the cover system. Tap the right shoulder button and you'll take cover behind the nearest object. If you see it in the environment, you can probably take cover behind it. That includes walls, dumpsters and cars. You can aim while in cover and when you hold the trigger to fire, you'll pop and shoot. You can also blind fire rather effectively with any weapon -- including an RPG. The cover system is fairly smart, so if you want to move from one side of a door to the other, just push towards where you want to go and tap the cover button. This also works when you are fairly far from cover. Niko will roll or perform a slick slide to get to safety quickly. There is a stickiness to the cover system similar to Gears of War, but since the cover button isn't tied to your run button, you never accidentally enter cover.

While GTA doesn't have many issues, I will admit that the cover system is not perfect. There are times where you will take cover on the wrong side of a corner, leaving you exposed. These instances aren't too common, but over the course of dozens of hours, you'll certainly encounter them. You also un-stick from cover when you use your phone, which can sometimes make calling Dwayne for backup or Carmen for a health boost a little trickier than necessary.

Most games with a cover system make the mistake of turning cover into the central focus of gameplay. But cover in GTA IV is more of a natural progression needed to facilitate heightened AI. Enemies have a variety of AI protocols. Some are cowards (gotta love the fat cops running for the hills when you start killing the boys in blue), most try to avoid being shot by taking cover, and a few still stand in the open. If the AI is going to be able to hide behind cars and other parts of the environment, it's only fair that players have the same ability.

You don't have to use cover if you don't want to. I'm sure there is some way to beat missions just by running and gunning. After all, this is still GTA. There's no one right way to beat a mission. You're free to get creative. But ignoring the cover system is like never stealing a car. This is a major piece of the game. Use it often, because it works well and it's certain to keep you alive longer.

The cops aren't about to let Niko run through the city with guns blazing, even if he is capping bad guys. Sooner or later, you'll run afoul of the law. The wanted system has been revised and makes for more dynamic chase scenes. When you're wanted, your radar displays the police search parameter. The smaller the wanted level, the more local the search. Your goal is to get out of that circle and avoid being seen by the cops. Get spotted and the circle re-centers on your new location. This becomes more of a challenge when you reach three stars, because a police helicopter appears. This eye in the sky has an easier chance of spotting and following Niko -- and directing other cops to your location.

Unless you want to be O.J., you need to change directions, get out of the sight of choppers, switch cars or go on foot. Whatever you do, avoid line of sight, because once a cop sees you, you're location is reported and the search changes its focus. This makes escapes from four stars and higher incredibly intense. Pay 'n' Spray shops still exist, but must be entered when cops aren't looking. To be honest, I used this one time in 40 hours. It's an outdated idea in some ways and more a nod to GTA's of old than a great resource.

The new wanted system puts an emphasis on your driving and navigation skills. Fortunately, you can set a waypoint on the map in the pause menu and get an adaptive GPS-guided route. This same system is used to guide you through missions. There is never a point in GTA IV where you have to wonder where to go or what to do next.

I should mention that the driving has also seen an upgrade from past Grand Theft Autos. Rockstar's RAGE engine coupled with NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine creates a game world with some stunning physics. Each brand of car handles differently (you can actually see the suspension in action as you make sharp turns). What will really surprise people is that these physics work with characters while in cars. So Niko's weight shifts to one side as he makes a turn and his head snaps forward when he slams the brakes. There is also a full neurological system built into Niko so that his body knows how to react to other objects. At one point I drove an ambulance off a high stunt jump. The cinematic camera swung around to show Niko taking his hands off the wheel and covering his face before impact.

You will see the effects of NaturalMotion throughout the game, whether it's how bodies react when you slam your car into them or the way a gangbanger leaps away from a grenade. The physics system is the connective tissue that grounds the action into something resembling reality. And it's one of the main factors that makes GTA such an impressive-looking game.

Past GTA titles have had mild-to-serious framerate issues and technical glitches, because the games were trying to do far more than the PlayStation 2 could handle. While GTA IV is pushing the PS3 and 360 to the limit, it also runs amazingly well. Sure, there are framerate hitches here and there and (particularly on 360) there is some texture pop-in, but it actually runs better than I expected. That a game with great AI, an awesome physics engine and a detailed open world runs so well and with such short load times is a technical marvel. For that, I can forgive framerate issues and some noticeable aliasing.

The art team gets major kudos for creating a living world. There is great texture work in the environments, a nice field-of-vision blur of buildings in the distance, some excellently modeled cars, ball-jarring explosions, phenomenal water effects and one interesting-looking Eastern Euro for a lead character. Sure, it's not a game that runs perfectly all the time, but the technical elements almost never get in the way of the gameplay.

For those wanting to know which version looks better, the edge goes to the PS3. The textures and framerate are comparable, but the PS3 has far less pop-in. The 360 has richer colors, but the PS3 has better anti-aliasing making it look a little cleaner. Because GTA IV can preload onto the PS3 hard drive, the in-game loads are faster. Don't worry Xbox owners, the load times are rarely more than 30 seconds and don't occur very often. The slight visual edge goes to PS3, but the 360 is no slouch. Either version will do you proud.

If you're wondering which version to buy, the best suggestion is to consider what your friends will purchase. That's because online multiplayer has made its way into GTA IV and it is awesome. And, like all great things, it's best played when drunk and with as many friends as possible.

Multiplayer is accessed via your phone from the single-player game. Everything is active in Liberty City online -- the cops, pedestrians, traffic, and weather. And yes, the entire city is open to you and 15 of your closest friends.

To keep you and your pals from getting separated, GTA IV offers a party system. The party lobby is actually set in the outskirts of Liberty City. You're given plenty of guns and some vehicles to mess around with. You can stay and fight or run around the city if you like while waiting for the host to set up a match. And boy, are there a lot of options to choose from.

There are more than a dozen multiplayer modes if you count team and free-for-all variations. The bread-and-butter of multiplayer is Free Mode. This is a no-rules game that drops you into Liberty City with up to 15 other people to do as you please. You can invent your own custom games, waste time shooting one another or explore the city. As with almost all of the multiplayer modes, there are loads of options for the match. Turn on cops and each player will get their own individual wanted level. Set the time of day, weather, flow of traffic, weapons available -- there's very little you can't customize. Free Mode taps into the very core of GTA gameplay, which is to run around the city causing mayhem. Only now you can do it with 15 other like-minded individuals.

There are a number of other creative multiplayer offerings. The standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch can be interesting, since the cover system often slows the game a bit so it isn't as fast-paced as something like Quake. Unless, of course, you choose "all rockets" in which case death will become you many, many times. Mafiya Work has you and your competitors receiving phone errands from a mob boss. First to complete a mission scores some cash. Car Jack City has players vying to steal specially marked cars and return them in as pristine a condition as possible to a drop off point. Turf War is your standard capture-the-point. Or if you like vehicles you can try out GTA Race, which is like any other racing game except you can get out of your vehicle, jack your competitor's car and finish the race in any way you like -- or just blow up other people for the hell of it.

And then there is Cops n' Crooks, the best of the objective-based multiplayer games. This has two teams, one side lawmen, the other hoodlums. The crooks are trying to get to a randomly selected extraction point and the cops are trying to arrest them with bullets. This mode forces teamwork, as both teams must strategize on the fly and rely on one another to assist in navigation. It's a fun, addictive mode that will likely be the most popular of the team offerings.

On top of the various competitive modes, there are also three co-op offerings. These three "modes" are missions similar to what you might experience in the single-player game. Niko doesn't exist in multiplayer, but you still get cut-scenes and some unique dialogue wrapped around some fun missions. Co-op supports up to four players and only has some minor variables. Your objective never changes nor do the locations. You can up the difficulty and add more traffic if you want a challenge, but none of the co-op missions struck me as anything worth playing more than a couple of times. It's nice to have, but probably won't be what gamers buzz about when discussing GTA multiplayer.

As with just about every game, there are both ranked and unranked matches. Ranked matches are the only way to progress up the ranking system (from 0-10). Progressing up the ranks not only makes you feel better about yourself, but it opens up new clothing and accessories to better customize your character. There's not a lot of pull to rank up, though, because many of the modes don't use your custom character. The co-op modes and Cops n' Crooks use a different cast, so if those tend to be your primary focus, having new outfits for a character you never see isn't going to mean much.

I won't go so far as to say that GTA IV is the best multiplayer out there, but it's definitely among the best. Having Liberty City in full effect and only seeing occasional instances of slowdown is a real treat. When a few million people load hop online, it's anyone's guess how the game will hold up, but from my experience, playing with 16 people in Free Mode only caused occasional hiccups. Certainly not enough to make me stop playing.

Closing Comments
Grand Theft Auto III was a revolutionary title, one that inspired a whole new generation of 3D action games. Grand Theft Auto IV is just as big a leap forward, though perhaps in subtler ways, and sets a new benchmark for open-world games. Everything in GTA IV works in harmony. The story would be nothing without the city; the city gains realism from the physics engine; the physics compliment the improved AI; the AI would make no sense without the new cover system. And on and on. There is no one major weak aspect.

A "10" is not a score we give out very often. In fact, the last time we gave a 10 to a console game was Soul Calibur in 1999. A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect -- it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws. Certainly, GTA IV has some issues, the most noticeable being the occasional flaw in the cover system, but there are many more pieces of GTA IV that are better than anything I've seen from a game in the past decade. We don't give 10s often -- just to games that merit the score.

Another Take
from Chris Roper
It's not very often that a game comes along that turned out to be pretty much exactly what I expected, and yet also managed to wow me practically every second. Grand Theft Auto IV is a GTA game through and through, but its execution is so epic and fantastic that you can't help but be in awe at the fact that it has come together as well as it has. Rockstar North has really outdone itself and has issued proof that it is not only the founding father of open world games, but also the undisputed king of the genre.

GTA IV manages to break every negative stigma from past games in the franchise while keeping the series' core gameplay intact, albeit much more in-depth than ever before. The new aiming and cover mechanics, while not perfect, do a fantastic job of completely changing the way combat works while keeping it at least as intense as we'd seen in past titles. Mission progression is paced incredibly well, and side things like managing relationships directly impact your game.

Liberty City is simultaneously the most realistic and immersive location we've seen in a game like this. The amount of detail that you'll find here is astounding, not only visually but with regards to the things pedestrians and whatnot will do. Watching someone yank out a newspaper and hold it over their head while running for cover when it begins to rain is just one example of the personality and small touches of realism that you'll see everywhere.

But while the mechanics, side missions and other core gameplay elements are all fantastic, it's the story and overall presentation that elevates GTA IV to heights very rarely seen in gaming. Rockstar North has once again done an amazing job of walking the fine line between humor and seriousness with characters that you're immediately able to connect to. They're almost all bad people, to be sure, but each of them has character weaknesses and vulnerabilities that make them real. Characters have reasons for doing what they do, and it's apparent that they also have morals and inner demons as well. The cast plays perfectly into a fascinating story that is not only is easily the best of the franchise, but one of the best you'll find in gaming anytime soon.

I could go on and on about why Grand Theft Auto IV is one of the best games we've ever seen and why even folks who are easily offended should play it, but that would be pointless. The only thing you need to know is that you have to play this game. Period.

Check out the NaturalMotion Euphoria Capabilities HERE. and HERE

IGN

I just watched the IGN video review and this looks astounding! They say the mp is worth the price alone. Tuesday cannot come soon enough. I hope to see you guys online playing in the near future. I've been playing Frontlines way too much and need to "bond" with my clanmates more. Go watch the review. It's well worth your time.