Give it to me NOW!

I’m torn between thinking that a less photorealistic presentation would be less reprehensible (since it’s easier to step back and say “Oh yeah, NOT REAL”, and continue doing awful non-plot-related things happily) and thinking that it would be more reprehensible (since it’s easier to step back and say “Oh yeah, NOT REAL”, and continue doing awful non-plot-related things without getting sick to your stomach.)

It’s clear that GTA IV is a tremendous technical achievement, in terms of presenting a realistic modern urban setting with a tremendous amount of detail. The social impact is less clear: I think a lot of people will swing each way on the point I mention above.

It’s certainly not a grand experiment in gameplay that takes the “capping people in the head and taking their lunch money” genre to new heights. But I’m not sure that there’s much you can add to the genre, in terms of new game mechanics. San Andreas tried to add character stats, with the whole fitness, skill, whatever system—and that didn’t really go over too well. I guess all I can see in GTA IV, game-wise, is that cars handle more like real cars.

In storytelling… it’s not doing anything that hasn’t been done before. But, it’s certainly no mean feat to take a man like Nico Bellic and make people empathize with him, even as he enters a downward spiral back into the crime and brutality he was trying to escape by leaving the “Old Country”.

Right now my addiction is pixeljunk: monsters on the PS3. It is very similar to Desktop Tower Defense. Very much fun!

But then I always take the Lawful Good path in RPGs, so maybe GTA just isn’t the game for me.

They added bikes, which handle a lot differently from karts and are a largely fun alternative.

Mario Kart’s infamous (and stupid) rubber-band AI is much less noticeable than before in most situations. The exception is when playing with human players of varying skill levels. The AI likes to take its aggression out on everybody when one person excels, so whoever is closest to the pack when the rubber band snaps is screwed. But you don’t need to play multiplayer with AIs because…

Online play really works. It’s also a complete blast to play with a full group of people and not have to worry about the stupid AI.

The new courses are generally very good, with a few exceptions like SNES courses that just don’t work with the four player split-screen (ghost valley).

The new weight class and kart system is a lot more fair than any other version of MK so far: all characters in the same weight class are the same, so you can’t complain about character differences.

The new items are largely on par with the old ones, except for the bullet bill and the thunder cloud. The former is a great addition, which puts people in the rear back into the game quickly and plainly. The latter is just another way for the game to kill you and is never really much fun.

Overall, I’d recommend it.

OK, fine, technically there might be other dark-haired people wearing a yarmulke who look stereotypically jewish. It’s never made explicit. Doesn’t make it better, in my book.

I don’t know what to say about this other than that I am sad to live in a world where someone probably thinks this is funny.

@peterb: To be fair, there’s a lot more in terms of (a) mini games, and (b) character development. It’s the first time in GTA history that you can at least pretend you care about the people you meet.

Oh, and of course the physics are *wildly* improved. If you care about ragdoll mechanics, it’s an astounding example.

At the same time, R* is determined to step over even more ethically questionable lines. My “favorite” so far: Killing jewish civilians yields more money than other civilians. No, I’m not kidding. Of course, there’s the usual hooker thing. There’s “hot coffee” as part of the story line. There’s the whole idea of bashing a transvestite hooker. And all that with fairly realistic looking characters.

While I’m all for free speech, GTA4 is not the kind of speech I personally want to see. This is going to be my last excursion into R*/GTA land. (The things that sold me on 3 & ViceCity were the atmosphere and the fact that it was unrealistic enough that there’s no way to confuse it with reality. 4 leaves me with a rather queasy feeling. I still bought it – I didn’t expect it to feel that way)