Firing Squad writes: "This is not your older brother's GTA. The latest addition to Rockstar's delightfully dysfunctional carjacking family is a more mature, more sophisticated experience than its predecessors in just about every possible way. Where San Andreas was a revenge fantasy swiped from early-90s blaxploitation, Vice City a nostalgia-soaked joyride with a charismatic sociopath, and GTA III a trip through the wires of a silent punk who'd do anything for money, Grand Theft Auto IV is a full-blown crime drama with aspirations to Scorsese-style cinema.
And I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. Don't get me wrong. GTA IV is an incredible achievement, and easily the most playable, most refined game in the history of the series. If you're only going to play one game this year, uh, and you're over 17, this should be it. But morality has creeped into all of the crazy carjacking and cop-shooting gunplay, courtesy of a troubled Serbian protagonist haunted by what happened to him before he escaped Europe and deeply troubled over what he's doing to make a buck now in good old Liberty City."