GTA Phwoar!

My initial reaction was unfair.

I’ve been playing this game for the past week now and my opinion has changed dramatically. Me thinks there’s a humble pie in the fridge for dessert...
I still find the numerous decisions that GTA 4 asks you to make in the opening segments of the game to be tedious. But I soon discovered that choice - the ability to indulge or ignore certain people and events - is absolutely essential to one’s level of emotional involvement.

So, what exactly do I mean by this?

Well, take Michelle for example. Yes, at first you want to strangle the neurotic, date-obsessed singleton, especially when the daft bint phones during a mission. But, if like me, you actually put the effort in and date this woman, you’ll find yourself that little bit more miffed with the revelation that she is in fact a government informant. Ok, it’s not the plot twist of the century, or even the week for that matter, but your level of involvement with Michelle leading up to this moment will certainly effect your reaction.

And how about the decision you have to make when asked to assassinate either Playboy X or Dwayne?

I genuinely couldn’t decide who to take out. I ended up murdering Playboy. And you know what? There’s been a lingering sense of doubt ever since that I just can’t seem to shake.

Did I make the right choice?

It’s exactly this uncertainty, prompted by a decision that I made, that creates the illusion of something greater, something that I desperately wanted GTA IV to be.

And I haven’t even touched upon the bloody miraculous birds-eye view of Liberty City from the helicopter you get to fly, the Heat inspired bank heist (squeal!), the motorbike chases along the coast or the squelchy footprints you leave in the sand.

You have to be bit of a tit if you can’t appreciate the gratuitous level of incidental detail that Rockstar has managed to squeeze onto one disc.

I sat and watched Ricky Gervais doing stand-up on a virtual TV within my actual TV for fucks sake.

How bloody absurd/amazing is that?