GTA IV. Now with endless daytime minutes!

So it would seem I've lost 2 1/2 weeks somehow... As if something so consuming and historic tore me away from game and website. You know there's something wrong if you keep hitting "refresh" on http://www.cnn.com/ every 3 seconds. Now everyone can return to their previous addictions. Mine is pointed criticisms of popular games.

GTA IV is a thing of beauty. And while it mesmerizes you with colorful lights and shiny cars it's stealing your wallet and groping your girlfriend. This hurts to say, the words can barely crawl out of my mouth but, I was very disappointed by GTA IV. Because in the end GTA IV is GTA: San Andreas with less player customization, less good music, and less replay value. What's wrong with going to the gym to buff up and eating burger every once and a while? If this really annoyed people the developers should have just played this down a bit. What's that? The goal of this game was to play Niko (who say "asshole" in just the best way) and embody his story & skills? Ok. This is an interesting angle but let me ask you this: Would you rather a static character with a name and background or create a character from the ground up, adding exponential replay value?

After three weeks of oogling at the graphics, I began to search for new inspiration and awe. Alas there is little. While the voice acting is stellar, all other aspects just seemed minimal. Missions? Kill guy(s), steal car(s), save person(s). Rinse and repeat. Oh and take out your annoying friends whose sole purpose in life is to call you when you're in the middle of a felony. And what the hell happened to flying vehicles!?! Two helicopters!?! THAT'S IT? Look. I know we're in faux New York but people are always going to do stupid things whether it's explicitly built into the game or not (Hot Coffee anyone?).

In the end the gameplay was just adequate. It's just sad though that a game with so much eye-candy is so depressing and drab when no missions are left. Are you really going to hunt down all 200 hidden pigeons? I think not. Although the multiplayer is very compelling. Ever since the creation of GTA someone has wanted to carjack another player. In reality this is very difficult (who would have thought?). I have to admit though, landing an RPG into a Corvette as it makes an badly-timed turn is extremely satisfying. The GTA style races are also great, but a bit unbalanced. Having to run a half a mile to get a pistol while bobbing in and out of traffic is not easy and then what is that pistol going to do for you???

The "killed by" messages are useless since they're completely random ("shot","murdered","pwn'd") and too small to read quickly. And I swear to GOD they better patch the damn game to show who's talking. Not only does it take 5 ambiguous steps to mute a player, IT DOESN'T SHOW WHO'S TALKING. Thus you rather spend 30 minutes listening to someone playing Duke Nukem sound effects in rapid succession, or you spend 30 minutes muting every player leaving you 1 minute to race.

Verdict: Good story, bad replay, basic online experience

What they should have done:

1. More vehicles (Planes, Motorcycles, Air boats, Bicycles)
2. More mini-games (Arcade classics, stunt challenges, triathlon run)
3. More rewards for achievements (Rare cars, weapons, funny outfits)
4. More dynamic weather (Snow, Sleet, Hurricane)
5. 2 player co-op/split screen
6. Vehicle Customization - So that you actually care about your sweet ride
7. Icon in Multiplayer to show who's talking
8. More things to buy with your money (Houses, Stores, Vehicles)