Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Ambitious"

it is hard for me to review this game because grand theft auto series as a whole is my favorite. after playing and beating this game it doesn't deserve anything less than a 9. this game has the greatest attention to detail ever seen in a game, and the city really is the star of the game. greatest ambition to date as far as a city goes, the cover system and gun play at its time were adequate for a third person shooter game and the realism is a great feature that i hope they don't get rid of. the missions and story are top notch as always the graphics while when this game launched were sharp, they haven't aged to well, still a good looking game for the scale and sand box. the real problem i have with this game is while i like the realistic approach they didn't add enough stuff to do. once i beat the game there was literally nothing for me to do but get my wanted level up. gta 4 to me should of been like the ballad of gay tony, they kept the realism but added more crazy weapons and cars and stuff to do to keep you busy.

pros:
great vibrant life like city
realism
addition of cover mechanics
great physics
great missions/story

cons:
not much to do after beating the game
not enough weapon variety
not enough craziness
got rid of a lot of side activities
vehicle handling is poor