Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360)

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GTA IV is a huge and sprawling masterpiece, at times both wildly irreverent and profoundly moving, spinning sharp satire one moment and cheap laughs the next. It is brilliant, but it is also flawed. As you might expect from a game with "Auto" right in the name, you'll spend a lot of time in the cars of Liberty City, which is unfortunate given the game's gimpy driving controls. The camera can't quite keep up with you as you take corners and it's far too easy to overcompensate, sending your car into a flailing fishtail. The fighting is equally hobbled and irritating. Niko can be quite formidable with just his fists, but the lag between your hitting the button and him actually throwing a punch makes the fights sloppy, ill-timed exercises in frustration.

Although the gunplay in GTA IV is an improvement over previous installments, it's still not great. It works well enough when you're standing still, but even with the lock-on feature, running and gunning is a bit of a mess. Perhaps in acknowledgement of this, you can now choose to take cover during shootouts by hitting the right shoulder button when you're near a convenient wall, car or doorway. Sometimes it works well, making gunfights feel more strategic and less frantic. Other times it doesn't, and your enemies fill you with lead as you tap wildly on the right bumper.

You do eventually get (sort of) used to the driving and the gunplay, but there's just no remedy for the way GTA IV handles failed missions. When you fail a mission, you are, thankfully, given the chance to repeat it immediately if you like. Unfortunately, you have to redo the entire mission, no matter how much progress you made in your previous attempt. That may sound perfectly reasonable, but most missions start with Niko driving to a particular location, and as the game world expands, that location can be very far away. Unless the mission specifically outfits you with a set of wheels at the start, you're also going to have to find a way to get where you're going. So it's get a car, take several minutes to drive to your destination, attempt the mission, and if you fail ... it's back to getting a car again.

It's a feedback loop of tedium that's especially frustrating because you can fail missions for any number of reasons. Bump into the wrong guy on the street -- very easy to do, given the game's haphazard collision detection -- and he might start a fight that lands you in jail. Perhaps your car takes too much damage en route and you wind up in the hospital after it explodes. Or maybe you just simply don't figure out what you're supposed to be doing in time. Regardless of what makes you fail, spending several minutes to get back to, let's face it, the real starting point of the mission is a drag that could have been avoided if Rockstar had simply peppered missions with success checkpoints.

Much of the fun derived from previous installments in the Grand Theft Auto franchise has come from simply running around the city, wreaking random havoc. Many GTA fans have never come anywhere near finishing the story mode, and prefer to simply steal cars, evade police, and mix it up with random passersby. As fun as that is, it's always been a bit lonely, but GTA IV solves that by being the first in its line to include online multiplayer. It could've been a disaster, but fortunately it's a well-done and welcome addition.