It’s all about the little things, the small details that bring the world of Liberty City to life. Garbage trucks making pickups at the crack of dawn, cops chasing random criminals on the street, people littering plastic cups out of their car windows, are among the countless other things. There are so many little touches, details, and elements that help make you believe that Liberty City is real living and breathing city. This aspect is perhaps the biggest evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar has also managed to capture the look, feel, and tone of the real New York City. As a native New Yorker, I can really appreciate the essence of New York that Rockstar has managed to capture in Liberty City.

          GTA IV takes you on the journey of Niko Belic, a fresh-off-the-boat immigrant that has come to America to live the dream of money, women, cars, and power. However, Niko is quick to learn that life in America isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. In comparison to the other plot lines of the earlier GTA series, GTA IV has the strongest and most meaningful of them all. Niko is also a character that one can easily empathize with, another element that was strongly lacking in previous GTA installments. From the second Niko steps off of the boat, you know you are in for a much more engaging and emotionally charged game from a series that’s been only famous for its sex and violence.

          The graphics are quite astonishing; unleashing the power of the Xbox360’s full potential. Flying over Liberty City at night will truly make your jaw drop. The amount of detail put into game is mind boggling. There is much more variety in pedestrians and locations. As you drive through Liberty City it’s very unlikely that you’ll find two buildings that look alike. The ragdoll physics helps create moments that will find yourself laughing out loud. The sound design doesn’t stand out as much, but is still well done overall. The only aspect of the game that I found to be completely disappointing is the choice of radio stations and lack of the ability to create a custom station based on your personal music library.

          GTA IV plays out like every other GTA. Receive a mission, cinematic, do the mission. The variety of missions helps keep the gameplay fresh and engaging. Technically, you’ll never perform the same type of job twice, and each mission usually moves Niko’s narrative forward. The newest addition to the gameplay is the friendship and social network. Throughout the game, you’ll encounter many friends and allies that you can partake in the many mini-games and activities, such as bowling, darts, drinking, and my favorite, strip clubs. As your friendship advances over the game, that friend will eventually offer goods and services to you. For instance, your cousin Roman offers you free cab rides, while Little Jacob can send a car to you loaded with discounted firearms. New to the GTA series is the cover system. You can use almost anything in the world to use for cover, from a car door to a street lamp post. During the countless missions that offer heavy gun battles, you’ll be thankful that the cover system has been included. It’s an actual useful element in the game and not some gimmicky addition.

          With the impressive and groundbreaking singleplayer comes a multiplayer experience, a first for the GTA series. There are 15 online modes, ranging from classic Deathmatch to the innovative Cops n Crooks. The potential for the multiplayer aspect of GTA IV seems extremely high, yet most modes tend to fall short of being great. One of the most basic ways of succeeding in Deathmatchs for example is simply crouch and shoot in order to gain the most accuracy. It takes away from the action as you’re more concerned with technique than the experience. Perhaps the most fun multiplayer mode is the Free Mode in which up to 16 players can simply run amuck on Liberty City, doing whatever they please.

          Grand Theft Auto IV is perhaps the greatest achievement in interactive entertainment. Rockstar has developed a game that not only proves the power of video games as a medium, but is also the greatest critique of modern American media. GTA IV isn’t only the best in the series, the best sandbox crime simulator, but one of the greatest video games created yet. With downloadable content being released later this year, it’s only bound to get better. Rockstar has accomplished creating the greatest virtual world ever seen in games, and is just aching to take over the MMO genre.