In a display of what is probably one of the geekiest things I’ve done to date, I took a day off work yesterday to get hold of GTA IV and play it non-stop from when I got in until such time as I had to go to sleep.

My verdict so far is that it’s an absolutely amazing game. It’s easy to get used to and very intuitive – similar enough to the old GTA games to still be a classic, and yet includes so many new features that you wonder how on earth you’ll ever manage to explore all of them. The list of “achievements” that you can get on the Xbox is absolutely mammoth, and I’m not far enough through the game yet to even understand how to get some of them.

A few of my favourite things about GTA IV:

• You can now get taxis to wherever you like on the map, if you don’t want to drive. This is fantastic for the times when you die after starting a mission and don’t want to have to drive there again.
• The handling of the cars is much more realistic. The Xbox version uses the analog triggers for acceleration and braking, as most Xbox driving games do, and although it takes a bit of getting used to, it’s far more fun when you learn to drive properly. Any rear-wheel drive car will fishtail its way down the road forever if you don’t release the accelerator, and you actually have to brake properly for corners now. I’ve no doubt that some people will say this is a bad move, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.
• There is a much improved social aspect to the game. After you do business with people, you can go out drinking with them, play darts or pool, go bowling, to a cabaret or to the strip club… there are a load of mini-attractions which make the game more detailed and fun.
• In relation to the previous comment, you actually get drunk if you drink. In one instance, my cousin invited me out drinking so I went with him, and we got riotously pissed. I opened the front door of the bar to leave, and fell down the stairs, injuring myself. I managed to lurch my way out onto the road where I’d parked my car and tried to drive us both home (despite my cousin’s warnings that I was too far gone), and it proved to be a bit of a mistake. Not only could I not keep the car going where I wanted to, a police car saw me drive off and chased me down for drink driving. Elements of a game like that make me smile, as they show fantastic attention to detail.
• If you do the social things with people, they will like you more. Getting certain people to like you more will unlock “special abilities” they have, which will help your progress through the game. The fact that it’s totally voluntary is great, as it means that you choose your own path through the game.
• In a similar way, you also get to make decisions which will affect your storyline. So far it’s just been me choosing whether people live or die, but it’s great to have the freedom of choice. There was also an instance where I had to choose which of two people I wished to kill to progress with the game.
• The developers have removed some of the less fun elements from previous games – for example, in GTA: San Andreas you could make yourself fat if you ate too much, and if you didn’t eat enough you would lose weight and eventually starve, losing health. Although this was a novel idea, it just turned out to be a total pain in the end, as you’d be on your way to kill someone, miles from anywhere, and suddenly the game would tell you that you were starving and in danger of death. Very helpful… not. It also appears that things such as “driving skill” have been removed, and are now down to the player rather than an imaginary scale.

I could go on about all the things I love about this game, but I think the only thing I can say that does it justice is that you really must try it. If you liked the previous GTA games you will absolutely love GTA IV, and even if you weren’t a fan, it might be worth trying to get back into this one. I’ve always usually found GTA “clunky” on consoles and therefore played on PCs – using analog sticks is not as easy as a good old keyboard and mouse combo – but I’ve actually started to get used to playing GTA on the Xbox, and I can see that console controllers offer some benefits.

I can’t wait to get home again tonight and play it :)