6/16/2008 - R.I.P. Niko Bellic

After playing through Grand Theft Auto 4 on the Playstation 3, I can definitely say that it does not deserve the perfect score of 10 that many game reviewers out there gave it. Besides the great technical aspects of the game there is not much that makes it a revolutionary improvement over the PS2 GTA games. That's not to say those weren't great games... they were, and GTA4 is great in its own right. I like the GTA games, but to me they all have an inherent flaw that they don't have much replay value after beating the game. Sure, you can go around doing the side missions and discovering Easter eggs, but I've never been one to go to that extreme.

At least with the other GTA games, completing the story mode again might be a chore, but they had rewarding endings. GTA4's ending is downright depressing. Even with two possible endings, each one has the main character Niko paying a deep price for his exploits. If there were a third possible ending with a happy resolution, I might be tempted to play it over again. But there isn't... so that leaves the only online multiplayer mode as the only incentive for me to play it again. It's a fine addition and there's plenty of variety, but the matchmaking system on the PS3 stinks. You don't have dedicated servers like you do in Warhawk so you're at the mercy of whoever is choosing the online game type and its options. And I swear that some of the depressing aspects of the single player mode bled over to the moltiplayer game.

Ugh, anyway, I do have to admit the technical aspects of GTA4 are amazing. I've never been to New York City, but from what I've seen in TV shows and movies, they really captured the city to great detail. Another great technical achievement is its physics engine that makes car crashes and hit-and-runs look as real as you'd expect in a next-gen game. Nothing shows this better than the next video that shows the main character dying in many creative ways: