Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV is finally going to be released. The initial review over at ign.com gave GTA IV a 10. A perfect 10. The last time a console game got a 10 was nearly a decade ago (Soul Calibur in 1999). What does this mean?? Simply put, GTA IV = (all sorts of awesome)^(epic*legen--wait for it . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . . . . . . . dary).

From what I've been able to gather from reading the seven page review, it seems that every single aspect of the game is a paragon of greatness. The single player has been revamped with an engrossing story that can very well suck you in. In fact, I'm willing to bet that this story will be better than the majority of stories found in the rest of the movies for this year (or the next, or the one after that, or the one after that, etc.). One does not need to look any further when trying to find further evidence to contradict Roger Ebert's ignorant, prejudiced, and utterly asinine remark that video games can not be art. Put GTA IV in a cage with any movie out there. 99.47% of the time, GTA IV will eviscerate the movie.

Another impressive aspect of GTA IV is just the city and all the little details added to it (watching someone rear end a woman because he was too busy gawking at a chick on the street and then getting out of the car to make sure the woman is ok is one of the examples that ign gave). Liberty City is as close to a living, breathing city that you can get short of going outside into a city. Everything is beautifully rendered and pushes the 360 and PS3 to their limits (which is saying a lot). In addition, the inclusion of Rockstar's RAGE engine and NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine makes for some stunningly realistic physics and AI.

The feature that is something that is completely new to the series is an honest to God multiplayer mode also makes its way onto the game. No more having to wait for the PC version to come out and then downloading a mod (or playing on a tiny PSP screen)--no no, you can start wreaking all sorts of havoc in Liberty City right out of the box. Having access to a whole city (and along with it, many things that go boom) to do whatever you want with whomever you want. Anything and anyone. Sometimes, I wish Rockstar would've done this sooner--but who cares now? It's finally here and the wait was definitely worth it.

In one of the video reviews, the reviewer says something along the lines of "Even if GTA IV costs $300 I would still get it." I believe him. If I ever do end up getting a "next-gen" console (probably a PS3--yeah, I'm a PlayStation fan boy), it will solely be because of GTA IV. I for one am willing to pay $460 for it . . . now if only I had that much lying around somewhere . . .