by Erin Kinter

Created on: May 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 17, 2012

Finally the long and painful wait is over, and Grand Theft Auto IV (actually the 5th in the series for those of you who are not hardcore GTA fans) is available to its adoring public. Its been six years since those of us who are fans of the series were blessed with the controversial but unarguably outstanding GTA: San Andreas and many game fans have been sitting on their hands until now. Since its April 29th release it has broken record sales in every media category outselling Harry Potter and Star Wars finishing off the first week at $500 million in sales. Is it really that good?

No one has anticipated strolling the streets of Liberty City (the games locale) once again as much as I and GTA IV doesn't disappoint in their ability to immerse me in it. The high rendering power of the PlayStation 3 shows off the high quality day/night lighting that the game has to offer slightly more efficiently than the Xbox 360 version allowing for breathtaking sunrises on Hove Beach and amazing neon lights in the evening. These are just a taste of the rich textures and lighting that Rockstar so patiently perfected for this title, although I found myself adjusting the brightness of the game during certain missions that I ran in the evening because it seemed "too dark" but the PS3 is known for "truer blacks" and those playing te Xbox 360 version shouldn't even be bothered by this sometime minor annoyance during gameplay.

You begin your adventures in Liberty City by arriving via boat where you have been working with Russian fisherman. You are Nico Bellic, a mysterious man with a hard to handle past. An ex-soldier who has seen and done some questionable things you hope to improve your life here in America as well as seek revenge on a man who wronged you. The gameplay allows for you to make various choices effecting not only the total outcome of the game but also whether or not certain missions and "perks" will become available to you. Although the game is fairly generous in the amount of events that allow you to make critical choices the game only has two potential endings both costing the life of someone you love. The story mode (originally rumoured to take several entire days to complete) is moderate in length taking between 30-40 hours to complete depending upon which misions you open for yourself with your choices.

The ability to date girlfriends is a feature found in GTA IV and it is vastly improved from the San Andreas version. You still must find a place your girlfriend likes

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