I bought the XBox 360 Grand Theft Auto IV: Special Edition.
(Product is not exactly like in the picture. The bag doesn’t have the yellow zipper tags, is 18" long and the CD "case" is actually a cardboard pocket like your typical magazine subscription demo CD pack-in.)
My wife, brother-in-law and I even waited in line at our local GameStop. I brought it home, opened it up and played it a bit.
The lock box will not serve any purpose in my home but I like the bag and the key chain. The soundtrack is a surprising plus. I expected a limited 4 song "sampler" but this CD has a total 16 tracks. Non of which are all that great mind you but in this day of the RIAA witch hunt, non-DRM is non-DRM.
The bag is a lot smaller than I thought. I was hoping for a bag the size of the one Niko was using in the trailer. Something big enough for your typical bank robbery cache of weapons, or Rock Band equipment. Its still about the size of a small sleeping bag so it is big enough to hold more than a couple of sweaters. Something interesting about the bag. It has the Roman Numerals MCMXCVIII engraved near the zipper. 1998. I guess this places the game date? Why engrave it on the bag? What is the significance of it? The original GTA was released in 1997 so that isn’t it…
As for the game. I see perfect scores on many websites. I don’t know why. The game is fun but it definitely doesn’t seem perfect by any means. I see some major issues already.
The game is ugly. The textures, the colors, the backgrounds, the shadows, the cars, the people…
Character control is weird. Sure the character flows more, "naturally" but that also means you have to sacrifice some responsiveness. It feels like your character is riding around on a really slow unicycle. You are steering him around, not running around. So you lose that jerkiness that comes when you would move your character into odd locations i.e. on objects like boxes and beds and such but at what cost? There is no analog control even though you use the analog stick. You tap A if you want to run.
Vehicle control is nonexistent. Claims of more realistic driving are unsubstantiated. These cars drive as if the roads were covered in ice and luke warm snot. I couldn’t possibly be going faster than 30 mph and the car couldn’t turn a corner to save its life. You have to learn to use the e-brake for nearly every turn if you want to handle these boats. I can only imagine what the terrible, terrible races will be like.
The camera seems to lag behind a few turns. Good luck taking a non-collision u-turn. This game is lauded for its indoor areas. The few that I have gone into are cramped, making the camera face a random wall most of the time.
If you played the demo (or the full game) of Kane & Lynch then you know what to expect when it comes to foul language. I’m not offended by it but some people might. At times it seems unnecessary.
The story, which is what truly matters, is GREAT. I couldn’t emphasize that enough. I am intrigued and I am hungry to experience more. I want to see what happens. The other GTA’s were great in the beginning but the storyline caused me to lose interest. Aliens? Area 51? Meh. They don’t belong here. An original Russian Mob(?) story grabbed me right from the beginning.
I hope this game keeps it interesting enough to convince me to finish this game.
