[REVIEW] Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360) The best game in history?

It's been a few weeks since Grand Theft Auto IV hit stores and anyone who planned on getting it already has it. But in case you still need to be convinced to upgrade from your PS2 or Xbox to a PS3 or Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto IV is definitely worth the move.

Once you pop in the game the first thing you notice (after the cut scenes, of course) is the details of Liberty City. A mockup of New York and its surrounding boroughs, Liberty City is a bustling town filled with traffic, pedestrians, back alley deals, shops, parks and just virtual people living their virtual lives. It's a very immersive feeling when driving or walking around the city which is gigantic. And there's so much detail from leaves blowing in the breeze to trash littering the street. What a great place to wreak some havoc!

You play as Niko Belic, an Eastern European immigrant who comes to Liberty City with hopes of living the American Dream. But Belic quickly finds out that everything isn't quite as his cousin Roman described in his letters and conversations. To make that dream come true, you find that Belic is pretty much willing to do anything. And we mean anything. Without giving too much away, you'll find youself doing simple things like being a driver to carrying out hits to making drug runs with dozens of cops hot on your trail. And it's probably the most fun you'll ever have.

As you move along in the game you meet different characters and just like previous Grand Theft Auto games, you go to that character's location to do a job and move the story forward. For side missions everything is done through your cell phone. In case you need some extra cash, you can call up one of the characters and do some quick work ranging from stealing a car to participating in street races. You can also do some of this through email at one of the few internet cafes in the city. There are just so many side things you can do that have nothing to do with the story. You can get on the internet and do some internet dating, take out the girl to a bowling alley or restaurant. You can hang out with your cousin Roman and go to a bar or shoot pool, which is a mini-game in itself. After going to a bar with your boys, you usually come out a little tipsy, making it difficult to walk and drive, but that's the joy of GTA.

The game play is improved from past games. In a shootout, there's a targeting system that works the way you want it about 80 percent the time. Sure, it's easier to aim at a guy, but if that guy is hiding behind a wall and you want to get the other guy who is in the open, for some reason you have to turn your character in a certain angle to achieve that. The cover system works great as you're able to hide behind walls, boxes, and other objects during a shootout. Driving is where people seem to have the toughest time being that you can't scream down a street at 100 MPH and turn a corner without skidding out and crashing into a building. The driving takes some getting used to and knowing your limits and the way you control the car. Each car in the game drives differently and as you move along you'll learn what you'll be able to do and not able to do with each car, like trying to outrun cops in a mini-van. Speaking of the cops, the wanted level system is a bit easier than past games. First of all you have a GPS system that tells you where all the cops are when they're looking for you and all you have to do is make it out of a "search area" and stay unseen for about 10 seconds and you're good to go.

The voice acting and radio stations are pretty good too. All of the acting is believable and  most of the time you'll find yourself distracted by a lot of the good music on the radio stations, until you get interrupted by a phone call. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek commentary on the radio as well as the television, which you can watch while chilling at your safe houses.

To add to all of that, the online multiplayer is some cool stuff that'll even add more hours to the game. You can go into Liberty City in free roam just to hang out, or you can participate in different games like team death match, cops n' crooks (where one team is the cops and the other is the crooks), races and a variety of other online modes. They're all as addictive as the single player mode.

If you were looking for a reason to upgrade to Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto IV is the best one so far. It's arguably the best game on both systems and for Xbox 360 owners you'll have the option of adding "episodic content", which some believe is another collection of missions or a side story, this fall and spring 2009. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and jack some cars!

Q's Rating: 5 out of 5

IGN: 10 out of 10

Gamespot: 10 out of 10

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gUtj4dL38r4