Napalm Riot

Well there are two types of people in this world. GTA lovers, and GTA haters. And I can guarantee you most if not all the people who loathe GTA will say "Oh, it's so gay... You go around killing people, selling drugs, and working for gangs." Well guess what. Put your morals aside, and play... It's a god damn video game. If you're not mentally capable of discerning GTA from real life I hope your mom still wipes your ass. Nonetheless, just play. You'll the story has a little depth and you'll even sympathize with the main character a lot.

Graphics are good. I hear a lot of people call them 'too cartoony'. I really don't put too much emphasis on graphics too much unless it's a game where the try to push some next-gen graphic system. GTA is GTA... The graphics are fine... But with a lot of games you play, renders sometimes glitch and stay low quality too long. This is probably because it's loading in real time, and what not, but nonetheless, it ruins the feel.

The sound is great. It's always funny so hear what people are saying. They really went our of their way to make the dialogs and random blurts very funny and absurd, making the world seem a little less real for the people who don't know the difference between real-life and GTA. Nonetheless a lot of it is sarcastic and funny, while the radio stations are just great. The music is ok, there's probably like 10-15 songs max, but the really fun stuff are the talk shows, that crap is funny. I've had my dad laughing hysterically to the radio when he'd watch me play this morally defiling game on occasions.

The controls are wonderful. Controlling a car may feel unwieldy a first, however you master it pretty quickly. Boats are cake, and well Helicopters can be a problem if you down use the left and right bumpers. So learn to fly right or you're in trouble. Combat and movement are superb. Ducking behind cover... major plus in any game... I hate the lack of it in CoD4.

Story... Here's the controversy. Well to sum it up with minimal spoilers, you're some guy from one of the Slavic nations, who had some bad crap go down. You come to Liberty City (NYC) to live with you're cousin and start a new life. However he's in debt to loan sharks which in turn makes you do some bad things, which drags you slowly into the wonderful world of crime. Without spoiling anymore, you really begin sympathize with the main character. He's not like a bad ass serial killer, he has emotions and regrets, and what not. I'm glad RockStar put some emotional depth into the character, and made the storyline somewhat believable, beyond "I'm a bad ass who kills motherf*ckers"

Fun... It's fun. Let go of any moral objections you have to this game and have fun. The best part about this game is the absurdity of it compared to real life. Some of the funniest moments I've had in this game are things that would be horrible and atrocious is real life, but just the mere absurd manner in how it's presented and played out in GTA makes it so fun and hysterical. If anything, the best thing to do is get a bunch of friends online and play around, you'll have a great time.

Replay... Well I wouldn't necessarily replay it for the story, but it's a sandbox for gods sake... Once you beat the game you can do whatever you want, and this is where the majority of gamer points come from. Blow up 10 cars in 10 seconds... Fly under all 12 bridges with a helicopter... Place first in 20 races... Do all assassination missions... Escape a 6 star wanted level... etc... You can literally do anything since it's a sandbox, but the only replay value I see is to unlock these achievements because they give direction... Otherwise I find pointless killing of civilians to be very boring very fast.

Moral trash? Maybe... Should someone younger than 17 play this... Probably not. Is it fun? Hell yea... Just get over it, it's a game, and if people can't discern that, then go die in a ditch somewhere.