they absolutely perfected my favorite game it still doesnt feel real. i absolutely loved the return of the classic gameplay combined with modern paper marios graphics and sound design (battle theme variations, final dungeon music continuing through battle) and really enjoyed all the additional content. personally i never had issues with the original games backtracking not to mention it was mostly skippable with glitches but im happy about how they handled it now in the remake.

i have some small issues with it tho like how you cant really mash through text which id appreciate on replays and also how youcant scroll text boxes back up to read text you missed but they arent that huge of a deal to me at least sooo overall this is a 10/10 remake of a 10/10 game in my book i couldnt be happier

absolutely phenomenal DLC, johnny is a great protagonist and while not as amazingly written as niko he's still a great character to follow through the story. seeing events of that diamonds story arc in GTAIV from johnnys perspective really adds a lot to the base game especially seeing his reactions to all the lost MC deaths that were caused mostly by niko in the original game. the mission romans holiday caught me so off guard as it added context to the mission hostile negotiations from base game. but where the game really shines it's the lost MCs main story arc with billy grey, the dynamic between him and johnny is amazing you can notice the tension between them as early as the first mission i thought that was neat and man that last mission was really hype, nothing better than breaking into prison to kill a snitch ass mf and the new gameplay elements really enhance the experience

first things first this game adds the much needed checkpoints that the base game lacked which really made getting through the game much more fun and less unnerving. the new vehicles and weapons were all pretty cool but the weapons are the highlight for me, the new shotgun and that drum gun are just so satisfying to blast all thanks to the games physics combined with amazing sound design. there's also new activities though i only tried air hockey and racing which were lots of fun, whoever thought of adding the ability to smack people with a bat on a bike is a genius.
lastly idk if it's just me but physics have been slightly altered, normally bumping into anything in a bike in base game at any speed just sends you flying it seems they rectified that a bit which is very welcome! overall 10/10 experience, looking forward to a 100% maybe

niko is a top 2 protagonist in the series and the characters in this are all just horrible people who are also lovable, the game is also brutal cause yk what's worse than your favourite character dying? having to choose between which of your favourite characters to kill. and no there's no third option like in gta5 this game is straight and pure torture but they also balance it out with humour it's just. this game shouldn't exist but here we are, the map is one of my favourites too, it's based on the greater new york metropolitan area, mostly liberty city (new york city)'s broker (brooklyn), dukes (queens), algonquin (manhattan) and bohan (bronx) (no staten island, fuck staten island Imao) while the rest of the map is the state of alderney (new jersey) that's right TWO STATES, probably the biggest GTA would've been at the time if they didn't cut out the counties, staten island and connecticut it would have been three states. the gameplay is a lot of fun, especially the gunplay this shit makes modern call of duty look ass and the missions, not as good and varied as in 5, sometimes feel repetitive but overall better in some ways especially narratively. and oh man the soundtrack and radio, perfect, vladivostok FM may just be my favourite station in the series esp if you mod back in the music from the music that got cut, introduced me to so much amazing eastern european bangers. but also other radio stations like beat 102.7 hearing flashing lights by kanye west start playing was such a jumpscare lmao. my only issues is that there's no checkpoints especially on the longer harder missions, i didn't have a problem with it until this mission "catch the wave" where you had to drive to a truck, drive the truck to another island, then get into a shootout with a suicidal AI for a partner who just kept dying on me, it was painful having to do that over and over again, also the driving is a mixed bag for me, i appreciate the weight added to vehicles and the layer of challenge it adds but at times it feels like im fighting with the game just to get a car moving. but it's all worth it tbh this game is an experience that you can't miss out on, a 10/10 storyline with 10/10 characters and some really memorable gameplay moments thanks to the physics and also the interactions between characters.