Grand Theft Auto IV (Playstation 3, 2008)

Stanstoreauctions GAMING department Review:

PROLOGUE: So when I first heard that GTA IV was coming out, I had a mixed reaction. I had stopped Playing GTA: San Andreas in disgust after there were simply too many... Things. Sure, the graphics were good and all that, but the storyline was relatively complicated, and there was too much ground to cover-- so the game was not really fun, it was too time-consuming, and things like going to the gym all the time beg the question as to why the makers of that game wanted us to get fat sitting on our butts lifting weights with our FICTIONAL character. Perhaps this is Rockstar's plan to incapacitate the 17-28 year old demographic, and to keep the obesity rates in the United States nice and high.

REVIEW: From the word go, I put this game into my PS3 and had to wait like 3 minutes for the game just to boot up. First it had to install software on my PS3, or something to that effect. Then, after that, I had to upgrade my software or firmware or whatever, which brought me to a screen where it asked me ot create a save file. Basically, I had to wait almost a HALF HOUR before everything was done saving, loading, uploading, downloading, sidewaysloading and inside-out-loading.

Now here's the kicker-- one of the main reasons I bought this game was for the ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAME. Now, I'm brand new to PS3 and GTA IV, so I didn't know that you have to PREREGISTER FOR PS3 Online, which I wasn't about to do because it was 1:00 in the morning when I first got this item into my PS3 at the same time, and after already wasting a half hour, I wasn't about to do it again. Plus, I figured I should probably learn some of the controls before I went and got murdered by people on Online Multiplayer.

So I start playing the game, and right off the bat, I notice the controls are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from San Andreas, GTA: IV and GTA Vice. To drive, you have to pull R2 trigger, to reverse it's L2, to handbreak it's R1, and basically everything is different. The controls and handling on this game are atrocious. To turn the car, you can't turn too hard, or you end up pulling a turn like Timothy Dalton in the movie Made Men. (You end up turned in a complete 180 degree turn, and are turned in the exact opposite way you came from.

Your character moves slow, and only with the help of the X (I believe) button you can make him sprint for a while, and go faster down stairs, but not MUCH faster. Switching weapons is awkward and uncomfortable.

Basically, I suggest to people who want this game to WAIT UNTIL IT COMES DOWN IN PRICE. This game is not worth more than 25 dollars of your money-- literally. With controls this bad, and all these save features and software installations that take a half hour, it really takes a lot of the fun out of it.

OFFICIAL RECOMMENDATION: STAY AWAY from this game until it gets to around $25.00 or less. Otherwise, you're going to feel like you've just been ripped off... Unless you're an extremely patient and understanding person...

Thanks for reading!