Everyone Is Finally Here

The multiplayer side of the game is intense, beautiful, and straightforward. There are 15 modes total that range from 4 players CO-OP N.O.O.S.E. to complete online free roam and other modes that involve teams competing against each other and sabotaging each other’s objectives. The standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are also there. Mafiya Work has you and your competitors receiving phone calls from your respective mob bosses. Car Jack City allows players to steal specially marked cars and return them in perfect condition to a drop off point. Turf War is your standard capture the base gameplay.

GTA IV also offers a party system. The party system is centered in the outskirts of Liberty City. You are given guns and all the vehicles in the city at your disposal. You can mess around, or even run around.

To make everything near perfection, Rockstar Games opened up the Social Club which tracks stats across all versions of the game and includes leaderboards, achievement tracking, etc. The maps are all rendered fully in real time with texture streaming just like in single player. The host can control traffic, whether, police presence, and tons more. Any differences between single player and multiplayer? The only difference is very microscopic. Get a microscope and compare tree textures. A bit downgraded. But moving at 60mph in a chase against some other dude in a car make the trees of lesser importance. Aside from that, a character creation consists of great customization options, and as a first – female is included for gender. Who said they can’t be bad either?

For those who want to know which is better and are completely anal, you should consider the PlayStation 3. The textures and framerate is better and the PS3 is more vibrant with better antialiasing than the Xbox 360. The loads are faster on the PlayStation 3 console. We will not lie to you, the 360 has some issues and has slightly more load times. Either way, the game is the same game on both consoles with the 360 coupled with future DLC.

The brilliance of the entire gameplay make Liberty City and every single person in it something to care about. As soon as you start the game: the characters are real, the actions are real, and the game no longer feels like a game. The “living, breathing city” phrase gets used a lot, but GTA IV feels more vibrant and alive than anything ever experienced in a game. I have to go steal a ride now. It is along the lines of an “I have to survive” sort of thing. Life is not a game. Wait, are we still talking about Grand Theft Auto IV?