i came into this game with two things: a functioning knowledge of all the major plot twists in the game and very low expectations. neither prevented me from having a blast and enjoying myself. rockstar sat down and made a grounded and realistic GTA story with realistic and relatable characters that i can feel pathos for. having played previous GTA games, that is something i wasn't convinced they would ever do. i have my share of issues with the way some characters are handled (i.e. kate), but on the whole, i find the story of this game to be its best aspect.

for me, my enjoyment with this game begins and ends with Niko. Niko is by far the most interesting main character in a game that i've played in a long time, and i was invested in his character arc and narrative from beginning to end. i really adore how the game gives you so much to work with in regards to his character. rather than just being told "Niko is a traumatized man who is haunted by his past and finds it difficult to connect with people", you actually get to experience it first hand. Niko is awkward on dates and the women he dates tend to not value him as a person, more as an idea. when he opens up to them, they (typically) disregard his feelings. when talking to his friends, Niko will often say that he needs to distract himself from his intrusive thoughts or negative feelings. hell, this even extends to his combat dialogue. whereas Tommy or CJ would say snappy one liners or something stereotypically cool in combat, Niko just shouts shit like "PUSH ME, PUSH ME" and "I'LL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEART OUT". he's clearly unstable and has an unhealthy relationship with violence. this is a character that feels like a living and breathing person with complicated feelings and emotions.

on the gameplay side of things, i enjoyed myself quite a bit too. the vehicle physics take a while to get used to, but now that i've sunk an ungodly amount of time into this game, i can say that they feel pretty natural now. i almost can't even imagine what older GTA games felt like at this point. the online multiplayer is fun too, for as active as it is in 2020. i feel genuine regret in never having the chance to play some of these modes with a more active userbase, because i had a lot of fun with the nearly dead one that i did play with.

the mission structure is fairly standard if you've played a rockstar game. there are some standout missions and some less than stellar ones as well, but overall there's nothing exceptionally shitty, which is another thing i'd never expect to be able to say about a rockstar game. i will say that i don't adore the abundance of chasing missions, because the rubberbanding on the AI always being just a little bit faster than you is apparent, but that's something i take as a necessary evil to keep a game like this exciting.

however, i do have problems with this game, two major ones. the first is that there's virtually nothing to use money on in this game, both online and offline. in San Andreas, you had so much more to do and work with in terms of buying property, clothing, hair styles, tattooing, etc. meanwhile here, you have next to no clothing shops and basically nothing to spend money on besides weapons and taxi fares. i've felt every GTA game has a major problem with "there's never anything good to spend money on" in GTA games, and this one has it arguably the worst out of all of them.

the second problem is honestly more damning for me: GTA IV hates me and people like me. if i was writing a polygon/kotaku/etc. esque article about GTA IV, i would title it something to the effect of "This Game That Includes Homophobia Is Really Good Once You Get Past The Homophobia". within the first five minutes, you hear someone say "you're a fag". the only named gay character you can do missions for is called a fag by Niko in his very first mission, and then later by another NPC. every single gay character shown in the game in meaningful capacity is either a repressed closet case or a flamer who might as well have the words "stereotypical effeminate faggot" tattooed on his head. and that's not even getting into the ways in which this game seems to adore using the t slur and referencing transphobia/misogyny like it's an auto-laugh thing. i don't have a problem with games having slurs in them if there's a point to it. none of the gay men in GTA IV are good representations of what it means to be gay, and instead are just caricatures meant to elicit laughs from those who see people like me as "others". it fucking sucks.

it's difficult for me to rationalize liking and enjoying this game when i consistently feel like my personhood is a joke to rockstar. i get that 2008 was 12 years ago, but that's simultaneously not that long ago. there were several points where i wanted to give this a shit score on principle, because it's reductive and makes me feel shitty. i guess i'm in this place where like, i simultaneously think this game fucking sucks, but also i greatly enjoy it and have fond memories of my time with it. it's this compartmentalization that you have to go through with some media. it's a little weird, but what can you do?

the vibe is the best radio station in the game btw.

This was easily the best Grand Theft Auto for me. I much prefer this one over GTAV.

The Shooting Mechanics feels like they have so much more power behind them and killing enemies feels way more brutal and low key kinda fucked up. The ragdoll physics seem "Unrealistically realistic" if that makes sense. Like most video games ESPECIALLY the GTA series in general, really normalizes the visual of killing somebody. But GTAIV kinda makes it looked messed up a little bit if you think about it to much.

I know they're are a lot of people who like the way driving feels in this one and they're are a lot of people who don't. I am one of the people that do like the driving. I dunno man, weight and shit is dope, and I love the momentum physics. It makes it easier for me to judge turns kinda, plus I love barreling down the busiest bridge at fuckin mach 9 and watching the game freak out trying to keep up.

The story is also my personal favorite out of the whole series. I think Niko is probably the most unique protagonist and has the most different motivations then any of the other main character from the GTA series. On top of that GTAIV has my favorite cast of supporting characters also. Watching your friendship grow with Jacob, Roman acting like a clown on DMT, and the shit that comes out of Brucie's mouth when he's not stuffing it with 200 egg whites is damn funny.