Dave's Mini Review, I though I'd post it here:
It sucks! Well not exactly, but it is a big letdown considering the 10/10 reviews.
GTA III was a good game, made frustrating by numerous technical glitches.
Many of these were fixed in Vice City and through San Andreas and GTA IV most of them have been ironed out while all the time the graphics and physics have improved.
However, the main problem with this game is that it hasn't really evolved from San Andreas, and they haven't really added anything really new since Vice City. It is still a good game, but for somebody who has played every title in the series to completion the tried and tested formula is beginning to get a bit stale.
The only added gameplay features are a series of mini games and a few pseudo RPG features. These are quite well integrated and my first reaction was to that they were very cool. Some of them are genuinely useful (the mobile phone, friends with special abilities) but most (girlfriends, social activities) are pretty damn boring after the first couple of tries.
One of the problems with adding features like these is that although on paper it might seem like they might add to the depth and immersion of the game, more often than not they feel like irritating distractions from what you want to do.
But of course, I'm leaving out multiplayer. It's not bad and it is a worthy addition, but it seems to have inherited the clunkiness of good old Multi Theft Auto (the multiplayer mod for previous PC versions of GTA). Team Mafia is quite fun to play, but it doesn't seem to have the crisp responsiveness that every good multiplayer action game needs.
So, now I'm done I think my copy is going on Kijiji and I'll snag Battlefield: Bad Company instead.
