Liberty City has Changed! While it was different in the last two games that its setting was LC, this time it has changed A LOT!!
This new Liberty is a whole New York... I mean World... more NYC like than the Previous LC, but that was not the only change...
The game engine is completely different, but it has SOME familiarity. We got a new ability, duck and cover. The cars are handled a bit more realistically, but it kinda feels a bit like San Andreas... but more realistic, set in Liberty city, etc.
OK, let's begin with the Story of all 3 games (They intertwine)... I'll try to remain as spoiler free as possible... (It's a slightly older game, but It's current gen s I've got to keep the spoilers to a minimum!)
GTA IV: You are Niko Bellic an Eastern European who just got off the Boat on Liberty City. Your Cousin Roman has been telling you about how AWESOME America is and how he is living the dream and all that... Which is Pure BS as you find out. He has his own business, a taxi depot and then everything, in classic GTA fashion goes to Hell... Now you have to move through the seedy underworld of Liberty City to save your cousin's butt and for your own personal reasons.
The Lost and Damned: You are Johnny Klebitz, the Vice President of the Lost Gang, Alderney Chapter. The President of the Lost, Billy Grey gets out of rehab and everything goes to Hell... The shaky truce with the Angels of Death (a rival Biker gang), is no more, then the whole Niko Storyline seems to bleed into Johnny's story.
The Ballad of Gay Tony: You are Luis Lopez, bouncer of the Popular club Maisonette 9, owned by "Gay Tony" Prince. Your boss took a loan from the wrong people (read: Mobsters) and everything has gone to Hell. Now you must work with the people that are part of Liberty City's Underworld. Just like in GTA IV:TLAD, your storyline will be "invaded" by Niko's Story.
The 3 Games combined give you a better look at Niko's Storyline and see the whole picture.
Now for the score on Story: (1= awful, while 10 = AWESOME)
GTA IV: 7
I liked the Niko Story, but it takes a while for it to hook you. The biggest shocker is that out of the many decisions made throughout the game ONE has a HUGE effect on the ending... (There are two endings)
The Lost and Damned: 4
The Lost and Damned: 4
I have to be honest, the Story of TLAD was not it's strongest point. Mostly because it was the First Downloadable Content for GTA IV... That must be the reason.
Ballad of Gay Tony: 6
While it begins very late in the Niko Storyline, BOGT has some glamour and feels more like a previous Generation GTA game. It almost feels like a FULL GAME on it's own unlike TLAD
THE GAMEPLAY:
Remember that I mentioned the duck and cover, the more realistic driving? Well, that's about what GTA IV brings to the table for the action segments. You can watch TV in your safehouse, the phones have much more interaction, heck you can even surf the web on the game (useful for main missions, side missions)
The Lost and Damned has some extra tricks up its sleeve aside the normal GTA IV stuff:
-Health boosts while riding in convoy.
-Gang Warfare, where you fight to prove the badassness of your gang (and to get rid of opponents)
-Toughness stat to improve your fellow bikers and get them better weapons
-New mini games (arm wrestling, airhockey, hi-low card game)
Ballad of Gay Tony has the same stuff as GTA IV, but it brings:
-Parachutes (You need them for some of the over the top story and side missions you do here... BASE JUMPING IS BACK BABY!)
-Club Management: You do your Bouncer stuff and some overt the top missions for the club.
-Mini games such as dancing, or golf.
-Cage fighting
-Drug wars
-Most importantly Mission Replay mode! (Once you beat the game)
Now for the scores:
GTA IV: 6.5 Obviously, this one is the lowest, since it's the most bare bones of all 3 games... (The other 2 use it as their base and then expand upon) The cover system is good in theory, but the problem is that the execution is a bit buggy. It's not cool to be trapped in a huge firefight when the action of going for cover puts you IN the line of fire!
TLAD: 7 While it adds some elements to expand itself from GTA IV, the whole Convoy health boosts benefits are available in 1-3 missions. The real improvement is in the weapons...
BOGT: 8.5 Now HERE is where we see a huge jump on the improvements on gameplay compared to GTA IV. The Mission Replay mode is the key for making BOGT the best of all 3 games from a gameplay point of view.
Controls, while Heavily linked to gameplay, I study them in a separate category.
All games have the same controls so this one will be a general rating for all 3 of them:
The controls are similar, yet a bit different than previous GTA games. They take a little while to get used to. (Especially the in-vehicle controls... and shooting while driving)
6
Sounds, Music and voice-acting would be the next category to review.
The Voice acting and sound effects are about the same as expected in a GTA game... but without the huge list of Big time celebs like in past games.
Now the Music, that's a different story. I pretty much stuck to the following stations:
Vladivostok FM with it's Eastern European Music (Which suits Niko quite well)
Liberty Rock Radio with it's classic rock... Not too fond of LCHC's Hardcore Rock, although I alternated with these two while Playing The Lost and The Damned (cause it suits Johnny) I'd say may ratio was 6:4 with LCHC being the 4
San Juan Sounds: UGH! I Hatehatehatehate!Reggaeton and Bachata... guess which station has them? Only ONE sound saved this station for me in Ballad of Gay Tony... Suavemente by Elvis Crespo... but this station suits Luis Lopez. (But personally, I stick to Vice City FM)
I've heard snippets of other stations (Mostly Integrity 2.0 which is Lazlow's station) Haven't heard EVERYTHING yet...
I'd say that overall the audio department gets a 9 cause there is a bit for almost everyone... Nearly died the first time I heard Goodbye Horses while on a mission...
(thoughts of Buffalo Bill come to mind)
Last but not least, the Graphics:
What can I say about them, The GTA games are not well known for their beautiful character models, which still rings true here, but the game's beauty is in the main character itself... Liberty City. Obviously the PS3 and Xbox 360 can handle better graphics than the previous generation consoles, so GTA IV DOES look better.
and at least this time the characters don't have bread loaves for hands!
I'd say a 7...
Now for the Overall score:
GTA IV: 7.1
TLAD: 6.6
BGOT: 7.3
The Complete Collection: 7
I wouldn't say they're bad games, it's just that after San Andreas giving the player so much freedom, the more restricted world and gameplay in IV hurt the score a bit...
Ballad of Gay Tony: 6
While it begins very late in the Niko Storyline, BOGT has some glamour and feels more like a previous Generation GTA game. It almost feels like a FULL GAME on it's own unlike TLAD
THE GAMEPLAY:
Remember that I mentioned the duck and cover, the more realistic driving? Well, that's about what GTA IV brings to the table for the action segments. You can watch TV in your safehouse, the phones have much more interaction, heck you can even surf the web on the game (useful for main missions, side missions)
The Lost and Damned has some extra tricks up its sleeve aside the normal GTA IV stuff:
-Health boosts while riding in convoy.
-Gang Warfare, where you fight to prove the badassness of your gang (and to get rid of opponents)
-Toughness stat to improve your fellow bikers and get them better weapons
-New mini games (arm wrestling, airhockey, hi-low card game)
Ballad of Gay Tony has the same stuff as GTA IV, but it brings:
-Parachutes (You need them for some of the over the top story and side missions you do here... BASE JUMPING IS BACK BABY!)
-Club Management: You do your Bouncer stuff and some overt the top missions for the club.
-Mini games such as dancing, or golf.
-Cage fighting
-Drug wars
-Most importantly Mission Replay mode! (Once you beat the game)
Now for the scores:
GTA IV: 6.5 Obviously, this one is the lowest, since it's the most bare bones of all 3 games... (The other 2 use it as their base and then expand upon) The cover system is good in theory, but the problem is that the execution is a bit buggy. It's not cool to be trapped in a huge firefight when the action of going for cover puts you IN the line of fire!
TLAD: 7 While it adds some elements to expand itself from GTA IV, the whole Convoy health boosts benefits are available in 1-3 missions. The real improvement is in the weapons...
BOGT: 8.5 Now HERE is where we see a huge jump on the improvements on gameplay compared to GTA IV. The Mission Replay mode is the key for making BOGT the best of all 3 games from a gameplay point of view.
Controls, while Heavily linked to gameplay, I study them in a separate category.
All games have the same controls so this one will be a general rating for all 3 of them:
The controls are similar, yet a bit different than previous GTA games. They take a little while to get used to. (Especially the in-vehicle controls... and shooting while driving)
6
Sounds, Music and voice-acting would be the next category to review.
The Voice acting and sound effects are about the same as expected in a GTA game... but without the huge list of Big time celebs like in past games.
Now the Music, that's a different story. I pretty much stuck to the following stations:
Vladivostok FM with it's Eastern European Music (Which suits Niko quite well)
Liberty Rock Radio with it's classic rock... Not too fond of LCHC's Hardcore Rock, although I alternated with these two while Playing The Lost and The Damned (cause it suits Johnny) I'd say may ratio was 6:4 with LCHC being the 4
San Juan Sounds: UGH! I Hatehatehatehate!Reggaeton and Bachata... guess which station has them? Only ONE sound saved this station for me in Ballad of Gay Tony... Suavemente by Elvis Crespo... but this station suits Luis Lopez. (But personally, I stick to Vice City FM)
I've heard snippets of other stations (Mostly Integrity 2.0 which is Lazlow's station) Haven't heard EVERYTHING yet...
I'd say that overall the audio department gets a 9 cause there is a bit for almost everyone... Nearly died the first time I heard Goodbye Horses while on a mission...
(thoughts of Buffalo Bill come to mind)
Last but not least, the Graphics:
What can I say about them, The GTA games are not well known for their beautiful character models, which still rings true here, but the game's beauty is in the main character itself... Liberty City. Obviously the PS3 and Xbox 360 can handle better graphics than the previous generation consoles, so GTA IV DOES look better.
and at least this time the characters don't have bread loaves for hands!
I'd say a 7...
Now for the Overall score:
GTA IV: 7.1
TLAD: 6.6
BGOT: 7.3
The Complete Collection: 7
I wouldn't say they're bad games, it's just that after San Andreas giving the player so much freedom, the more restricted world and gameplay in IV hurt the score a bit...
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