Before I get into details, there is both the regular GTA IV game, as well as a special edition that contains both the game and a bunch of accessories. I ended up purchasing the special edition of GTA IV with the extra accessories, and I thought I'd first breakdown what was in the bonus edition:
- GTA IV Lock Box
- Book highlighting the various artwork in GTA IV
- Official GTA IV Soundtrack CD
- GTA IV Duffel Bag
- Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 Game
The added bonuses you get in buying the special edition seemed like a great reason to purchase the special edition in my opinion. The lock box looks amazing sitting on my shelf, and has a very solid design to it. In addition, the GTA IV artwork book contained lots of interesting drawings and sketches relating to different aspects of the game as well. The special edition also comes with a GTA duffel bag, which probably won't be used by me when I go workout at the gym, but was a neat little add-in. Finally, the special edition contains an official soundtrack CD that was pretty disappointing to say the least, as lots of the main recognizable tracks were not on this disc (ex - Kanye West - "Flashing Lights").
Having played the game for two days so far, I am speechless as to how great this game is. At first, playing GTA IV seems weird, as the graphics/game play on the next gen console produce a completely different feeling for those playing the game. You notice such things as the realistic behavior when your driving vehicles, characters have more graphical movements to them on next-gen consoles, the overall game environment itself is much more detailed than past installments of GTA, and much much more. After about ten minutes though, I got over the weird feeling and truly began enjoying this game on the PS3, as I went around town and wrecked havoc.
Just to give you an idea of how crazy this game is, upon playing this game for the first two hours, I managed to...
- Rack up a 5-Star Wanted Level - Got killed by fire from a FBI helicopter.
- Staggered outside a bar drunk with a 3-Star Wanted Level. I then attempted to drive drunk before crashing my car and then getting shot up my police.
- Went bowling at the local bowling alley in the game.
- Crash my car so hard into another vehicle that my character went through the windshield and landed on the pavement.
Graphically, this game is simply amazing, as you see all sorts of stuff, ranging from people opening umbrellas on the street during the rain, to your car having both low/hi-beam light animations. The more and more I have played this game, suttle things continue to pop out and attract my attention, which truly makes me appreciate the next generation graphics for this game. If there is one thing for sure, Rockstar Games has taken graphics to the next level in the Grand Theft Auto series, as the graphics in this game are an overall 10 for sure.
Not only are the graphics great, but the game play itself is phenomenal as well. The way other characters act in GTA IV shows the A.I. in this game is very good and realistic. Some examples of this are pedestrians opening up newspapers and reading while walking the streets, drivers honking their horns after you cut them off, and many other actions that people on the street do in reaction to what your user-controlled character Nikko is doing.
Up until this point, I have only done a handful of missions, as I've been mainly wandering the streets of GTA and have been exploring the world of Liberty City so far. The missions I have done however have been very easy, and seemed to be "raw missions" that are getting me setup with the game's main storyline. Although these missions have been done with ease, I am positive the missions will get progressively harder as I get further in the game, so I am not really worried about the overall difficulty of this game.
Having played this game for two days, I am overall very impressed. Rockstar Games has done yet another great job in releasing an excellent installment in their GTA series, and from top to bottom this game gets 10's in my book. If you have not grabbed this game yet, I suggest you go purchase it at your local electronics store, because if your a big video gamer, this is one you must add to your collection.
When I think of video games for my PS3, I usually think of them based upon a timeframe for which certain games come out.
