Kiss your loved ones goodbye and tell them you'll touch base in about a month: The latest Grand Theft Auto game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 more than lives up to its tremendous hype. In Grand Theft Auto IV, you're Niko Bellic, a badass Eastern European who arrives in the U.S., expecting to live the good life with his American cousin, Roman. It turns out Roman embellished a bit about his posh lifestyle in the New World; Instead of living in a mansion with beautiful women, Roman lives in a seedy apartment and is indebted to ruthless loan sharks. Even so, Niko helps out Roman with his rundown cabstand and keeps thugs off his back until he can figure out how to make money and connections in Liberty City, modeled after New York City.
As with its predecessors, this game offers "sandbox" play, meaning you can go virtually anywhere and do anything in this fully realized 3-D city with pedestrians, traffic and storefronts. This includes carjacking any vehicle, requesting services from hookers, listening to more than a hundred songs on car radios and playing mini-games like billiards, darts and arcade games. But it's the seedy missions that unravel Niko's lengthy single-player campaign, which includes taking out drug dealers, evading police cruisers or retrieving stolen money. And how you go about a mission may vary, as there are different paths you can take that'll alter the story somewhat.
For the first time in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV offers high-definition graphics, more hand-to-hand combat and optional in-car GPS to help you navigate the city. But the biggest feature is multiplayer modes, where up to 16 gamers can play online in a host of head-to-head modes, like "Cops & Crooks," or cooperative missions like "Hangman's Noose." Xbox 360 gamers will soon be able to download bonus missions, too. GTA fans can expect a lot of "bang" for their buck in this highly polished and gratifying sequel
