Grand Theft Auto has been a franchise that has been insanely successful without having to change too much from game to game. In the last few games the game play and story plots haven't changed a ton, most of the games have to do with drugs and gangsters. Grand Theft Auto IV keeps this tradition alive with mobsters, drug lords and police around every corner.
When you first turn on the game you'll notice right away how much better this game looks than previous versions. Granted this game is the first to be on the Xbox 360 and PS3, it does a great job showing what the engine can do on newer hardware. Pedestrians have personalities and look realistic. The city is alive and feels like its full of actual people and events. The amount of stuff going on is mind blowing considering the frame rate stays constant and rarely slows down.
The story line is fun to play and has twists and turns around every corner. Without ruining too much, your character, Niko, is from Russia and he is looking to make a fresh start in the United States with his cousin. When you arrive you quickly realize your cousin is getting in over his head with mobsters and drug lords and with Niko being a family man, sets off to make things right for his cousin. The rest is a series of events where you work with and against drug lords and mobsters to run the city. The story can take a while and I spent about 20 hours just running through the story line, and around 50 hours doing all the side missions.
Overall this is the best version of Grand Theft Auto. The graphics and storyline make this game feel like your actually watching a mobster movie. I highly recommend this game to anyone who liked the previous Grand Theft Auto games, you won't be disappointed.