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Home : Games : Reviews : Xbox 360 : Grand Theft Auto IV
Before I go into what prevents GTA IV from being the most perfect creation ever made by human hands, let me continue on about just what makes it simply a fantastic game. The extremes that Rockstar North went to in order to make Liberty City come to life is deserving of the highest recognition and respect that can be offered.
It isn’t just the design of the city either; it’s the TV shows, the radio stations, the sprawling internet websites and communities, the various shows and comedy acts that you can visit, and how they all intertwine with each other to give the illusion that Liberty City actually is a living and breathing community. For example, after completing a fairly high profile assassination mission, go and check the Internet news websites and smile as several reports have already sprung up detailing the nature of the crime, the backstory of the victim, and a small description of a suspect of eastern European dissent. Game worlds just don’t get this immersive.
Rockstar also deserves much credit for fixing some of the major issues that have always plagued the GTA games in the past. The biggest and most welcome addition to the single player game is the ability to take a taxi cab to instantly travel to any point of interest throughout Liberty City. Running low on ammo or armor but don’t want to take the time driving all the way to the other side of Algonquin to get to the gun store? Hop into the passenger seat of a cab, skip the actual ride, pay the man 25 bucks, and you’re there in no more than 10 seconds.
Another welcome feature is the addition of a cover system. With a press of the right bumper, Niko will attach himself to the nearest piece of cover much like what you would expect from a game like Gears of War. From there, Niko can blind fire or lock on to enemies and pop out of cover to take them down.
While the cover system works great, there are still a few issues with the gun combat in general that make gun fights more frustrating than they should be. The first issue is the age old problem of having too many weapons and no good way of cycling between them. Selecting one of your weapons is a simple matter of pressing left or right on the directional pad, but the problem is that when you’re in a fire fight and one gun runs out of ammo, you need to cycle through a whole mess of weapons before you find the one you want. During that time, if someone comes out in front of you, you’re as good as dead. A button that lets you pause the action and quickly select the weapon you want to use would have been a godsend.
Problem number two comes with the targeting system which has never been a strong suit of the GTA franchise. With the new targeting system, you are able to lock on to an enemy and then use your right thumbstick to fine tune your aim and ultimately score some easy headshots. That’s all fine and dandy, but the problem comes when you’re trying to switch targets, which is done by flicking the right thumbstick in the direction of the enemy you want to target. Aside from not always targeting the enemy you want it to target, this method of switching target also feels unresponsive and unintuitive at times.
Still, these are mostly minor complaints, and for the most part the gunplay sections work extremely well. Here are the big complaints.
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