Seeing as I’m awesome enough to own a copy of GTA IV, I had the opportunity to beat the game and play through its wonderfulness. Though as everyone knows, no game is perfect, but the good outweighs the bad in this case. Let me take a break from playing GTA IV for a minute to give you a quick rundown.

The Good

The physics are a key addition to the Grand Theft Auto series. Running people over has never felt so satisfying until now. Whether you are shooting people, falling distances, or bouncing off of cars, everything just looks and feels right. The Euphoria engine is a refreshing update to the bland ragdolls.

The graphics have received a much needed face lift from the PS2 era. The city is dynamic, large, and impressive looking. Character models are a lot less blocky, they’re not the best, but they get the job done considering how much is going on in the game.

The story is better than previous GTA’s, considering there’s no better story than a story built on revenge. Niko’s desire to seek an answer/revenge is well justified considering his past and character. Although, it’s not immensely different from previous games, but it does suck you in.

The characters, Niko is arguably the best main character of the series. The guy is incredibly likable and his reactions to awkward situations are priceless. Niko however isn’t alone, there are plenty of additional characters that do a good job of either making you love, hate, or feel sorry for.

The multiplayer hadn’t been around in previous renditions, but now it’s here to stay. With a wide range of different game types, the multiplayer will do a good job of keeping you busy even after completing the game. Every mode allows you to be thrown right into Liberty City and access all the different islands, essentially giving you the ability to play in the city with 15 different people.

The detail is something that alone I’ve come to enjoy. No matter if you’re flying out the windshield of your car, power braking until your tires blow, or driving into water and having your radio short circuit, you will come to love the sheer amount of detail put into the game. The internet and TV in the game are great examples of the incredible detail put into the game considering how immense they are.

The Bad

Graphical cutting in was a large problem for me in a variety of different situations. A few case scenarios had me fleeing from the cops only to run into an invisible barricade, later to be revealed after thwarting my hasty retreat. It was enough to screw me over on a few different missions and anger me enough to start griping about it here.

Missions follow a familiar formula. No matter what mission, generally, you can assume it contains the following: driving to a location and killing people at that location. The standard follow through is, go to friend or employer, travel to said location, kill anyone who stands in your way, evade police or escape. This is just to say that the missions are similar to previous games, so it’s not anything vastly different from what you’re used to.

Fewer vehicles and weapons, so take back those plans of flying a plane into a building you terrorist. Vehicles like: go-carts, bicycles, and jet packs won’t be around for you to cruise in. Additionally, there is also only two of each weapon available for your arsenal. Weapons such as: flamethrowers, chain guns, and samurai swords will not be at your disposal.

The Ugly

Clunky cover system, in many ways the new cover system is a much needed addition. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not going to get you shot and killed every now and again.

Mission checkpoints or trip skips are nowhere to be found. Prepare to have to drive the same distance and complete every aspect of the mission again if you fail. This is one feature that was sprinkled on in San Andreas; it’s odd that they would abandon it completely, since we all complain about it.

Less character customization, you lose the ability to change Niko’s physical appearance. You can still play dress up with Niko, but there’s not as many clothing options compared to previous installments.