ALONE IN THE DARK (XBOX 360)

GRADE: 5.0

Never in my life have I been so conflicted about reviewing a game. Even though I have reviewed literally hundreds of games, I have never been as torn as I am right now. In some regards Alone in the Dark is a masterful accomplishment that should be noticed and honored. But at the exact same time it's one of the most broken and frustrating games I have ever experienced. It's neither the best game of the year nor is it the worst, but I'm finding it almost impossible to put my pure hatred for the game on paper.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Despite not having a number next it its name or a subtitle of some sort, Alone in the Dark is actually the fifth game in this long-running adventure/survival horror franchise. While never as popular as the games that came after it, Alone in the Dark had a hand in crafting such fright fests as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. With a huge budget, some sharp graphics and an intriguing storyline, it looked like Alone in the Dark was poised to reboot the franchise and introduce a whole new generation of gamers to Edward Carnby.

Despite its shortcomings, Alone in the Dark has one of the most exhilarating first acts of all time. Picture this; you just woke in a mysterious building with a bunch of monks holding you and some old guy hostage. Before long the building starts to come alive (so to speak) and horrible things start to happen to your captures. Free at least, Edward Carnby (who conveniently can't remember who he is or how he got here) is forced to escape this building before it crumbles to the ground. But don't look now; because your adventure doesn't end when you escape this evil building ... it's only the beginning.

The set-up's tension is only made more urgent when you realize that it's not just the building that is doing strange (and destructive) things ... it's all of Manhattan! Giant roots are starting to pop up out of the ground, buildings are collapsing all around your head and the whole city seems to be in utter chaos. As far as set-ups go, this is one of the most intriguing. With the game's amazing graphics and real sense of danger, Alone in the Dark managed to keep me captivated early on. I couldn't wait to see what was going on in New York City, who those monk characters were and where this adventure was going to lead me.

And herein lies the problem with the game, from this set-up you might think that I was having a great time. And you know, for the first hour or two I was having a lot of fun. But like so many things in life, once you get over the high tension and exciting danger, you start to see how the game starts to come apart at the seams. The things you start to forgive in the first couple hours end up coming back to you and haunting you, to the point where this game feels more like a chore to play through. And this is my conflict, for everything that it does extremely well, there is at least one thing that is does so poorly that it makes you not want to go on. But then, you've come this far, don't you want to see how it all ends?

Alone in the Dark was originally designed to be an episodic release ... and it shows. While the game fits together, it's clear that each episode tells a unique part of the story and almost always ends on some big cliffhanger. On top of that, players are even treated to end credits each and every time they complete one of the game's episodes. It's a shame that Atari wasn't able to fix some of the technical problems that plague this title, because the story is solid and there's a nice sense of pace to the game. If this had been done better it would have made for a memorable eight-part game.

For me the game starts to unravel at the end of the second episode, in a sequence that had me driving through the streets of Manhattan doing my best to avoid giant roots, falling buildings and flaming busses. In total this driving sequence is no more than four or five minutes, it's an extremely brief part of the game that looks cool and does a good job setting up the next episode. But for whatever reason this short five minute long sequence ended up taking me more than an hour to beat. It wasn't my driving that was the problem; instead it was the game's rampant glitches that ruined it for me, a few that actually made it impossible to complete the level. After going through it flawlessly a dozen times, I decided to do some investigating to see why I kept dying at the end. Come to find out that the problem wasn't my driving ... but rather the game not being able to load part of the level fast enough. I literally had to pause the game and wait for a few seconds to let the level fully load, or else I died.

Sadly this was just the start of my Alone in the Dark woes. Not only does the game suffer from a couple of game ending glitches and some freezing issues, but it also has a number of curious design decisions that take would could have been a memorable adventure game and turn it into one of the most frustrating video game experiences you can have. What should have been an exciting survival horror game with amazing graphics was quickly marred by some terrible controls, an unruly camera and characters I couldn't stand.

Let's start with the most obvious problem - the controls. I don't know if it's a game developer law or what, but must every survival horror-type game have the worst controls ever? It seems like ever since Resident Evil hit the scene good developers have fallen into the mindset that big scares come before good gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately Alone in the Dark comes up short of both, but with its interesting story I'm willing to forgive the lack of genuine scares.

What I can't forgive is the controls, especially now that we have more than a decade's worth of games that demonstrate how to control both a first and third person adventure game. At this point you wouldn't think that it's rocket science, you just point the character in the direction you want and he moves there. But alas, that's not what we have to put up with in Alone in the Dark. The game tries to be friendly, it allows you to change from the first and third person perspectives at almost any time (exceptions being action sequences, such as climbing ropes and whatnot). But for reasons that escape me, the two player perspectives actually use completely different control layouts. Worse yet, there are some things you can't do in the first person perspective, and vice versa.

For whatever reason, Alone in the Dark doesn't get either the first person or the third person perspectives right. When you're in the third person perspective your movements are often imprecise and unruly. Whereas, the first person perspective is too slow and sluggish, making it hard for you to actually do all of the things you would want to do in that perspective. And that's not even the worst part, if you prefer playing the game in the first person perspective (as I did) you'll quickly become annoyed by the amount of times you will have to switch back from the third person mode. Every time a cinema hits, or you get an important call or you interact with the background in any way, you will switch back to the third person perspective. Every single time. This isn't just an annoying little quirk you have to put up with, this is something that is extremely disorienting, especially when you're in the middle of a large battle of some sort. And not only will you be switched back to the default third person perspective, but you will also be pointing in the wrong direction. So I found myself having to run away, switch to the first person, look around to see where I was, pull out my weapon and then try and kick some butt. By the time I was done doing all that I had already been hit a couple of times and forced to use the medicine spray (which, surprise, takes you out of the first person perspective). Imagine doing this hundreds of times throughout the course of the game and you'll start to understand how frustrating this game can be.

And did I mention that the button layouts are needlessly confusing? Alone in the Dark wasn't one of those games where I stumbled with the controls for the first little while, even at the end of the game I was making life-ending mistakes because of the confusing controls. As I mentioned earlier, you have two sets of controls depending on whether you're in the first or third person perspective. But it's actually worse than that. Believe it or not, this game actually has four solid pages of control instructions in the manual. That may not seem like much, but it's about three times longer than even the most complicated first person shooter. The game gives you a different button layout for when you don't have anything in your hand, when you do have something in your hand, when you're driving, when you're throwing something, when you're on a rope, when you're shooting something, even when you're using a fire extinguisher. Performing even the simplest tasks (like combining items and throwing bottles) is made needlessly difficulty by this set up.

It's also worth mentioning that for the most par the weapons in this game are all but useless. You see, the bad guys (all bad guys) in Alone in the Dark can only be killed with fire. The good news is that there's fire everywhere (and if there isn't fire nearby, you can make it with your trusty lighter and bottles of gasoline). Early on the game wants you to beat the tar out of your enemies with whatever you see on the ground, such as boards and chairs. Once you've knocked the enemy out (which is no easy task, I might add), you are supposed to pick them up and drag them to the fire. If you don't do this fast enough they'll get back up and you'll have to repeat the entire process all over again. This task is only made more frustrating when a second (or lord forbid, a third) guy shows up. Thankfully you can combine your gasoline with your bullets to create fire bullets, but even that isn't enough to kill some of the characters you face in the second half of the game. I found myself spending most of my time just throwing bottles of gas at my enemies and then shooting them to watch them (everybody around it) explode. This works ... unless your gun is out of ammo, which you wouldn't know because it doesn't actually tell you how many bullets you have. Needless to say, the process of killing enemies is made much more difficult than it should be.

But let's say you can get past these problems. Let's say the story is captivating enough to keep you going through the first seven levels. Well the developers (Eden Games) have a surprise for you ... the single most tedious task of all time. Without spoiling too much, at a point late in the game you will need to drive around a virtual Central Park in order to track down a bunch of roots and burn them. On paper this sounds okay, but in practice this becomes a multi-hour task that requires all of the patience you have stored up in that head of yours (or wherever patience is stored up). It's as if the developers realized that they had spent so much time working on this recreation of Central Park that it would be a shame not to do something with it, so they made you run around (or drive around) and kill a bunch of roots. It goes without saying that this part of the game is absolutely no fun, it would be as if Rockstar Games made you find and kill all of the hidden pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV before you could beat the game.

And did I mention that you have to do this tedious mission TWICE! That's right, just when you thought you were done spending hours blowing up plants; you're back at it again ... only this time you have to do twice as many. I can only imagine that if this was still an episodic game most people would have completely ignored the eighth chapter all together, no matter how intriguing the story was. Toss in the freezing problem I mentioned earlier and these two root killing missions may just be enough to make you stop playing games altogether.

Now throughout this review you've noticed that I've spent a lot of time talking about how interesting the story is. Outside of the ludicrous endings (there are two, neither of which really bring any resolution to the story), the story itself is really pretty good. Unfortunately the cast of characters aren't quite as interesting. Edward Carnby isn't a likeable character, no matter how many snarky comments he says. While I'm all for profanity, Mr. Carnby takes cursing to a whole new level. It's as if the script writers were getting paid by the four-letter word. Toss in some forced sexual tension, some questionably voice acting and no character development and you have an episode of Alone in the Dark. Some of that I can get over (I'm not a stickler for voice acting), but did they have to make the main character such a jerk?

Oddly enough, the best part of this game is an option that allows you to completely skip big chunks of the game. I'm not joking, even the back of the box states that you will "never get stuck" because the game's "DVD-style chapter select lets everyone reach the game's climax." This isn't just something that lets you go back and relive the levels you've beaten; it's actually something that will allow you to skip ahead. Heck, you can go all the way to the end of the game if you want, even if you haven't beaten a single level yet. It's as if the game is daring you not to skip; daring you to play through all of the painfully tedious moments for a miniscule reward. This sort of extra makes me wonder if Eden Games already knows how bad parts of their game are.

On the presentation side the game really shines. The graphics are outstanding, especially when you're in the middle of a big action sequence. If you're just watching somebody drive through the cities or run through Central Park then you're going to be wowed at every turn. The game's graphics aren't always as consistent as they could be, but when they are good they are spectacular. The same goes with the music, especially when it goes into full opera mode. I can see the music fitting in perfectly with a primetime TV drama, which is certainly what they were going for in this game.

But killer graphics and a gorgeous soundtrack aren't enough to make this game worth playing. The story itself is captivating, but it won't take long before the game's confusing controls, floaty car physics and annoying characters start to bring the whole thing down. If they could have cleaned up a few of these issues this game would have been easily recommendable, but as long as the game has terrible gameplay and that tedious ending, it's extremely hard to recommend. When the game is at its best it's amazing ... however, when it's at its worst it's an absolute train wreck. For that reason I find myself unable to give it anything more than an average score. Some people may be able to work through the pain, but I'm not so sure the payoff is worth the effort.

 BRAID (XBLA)

GRADE: 9.6

There are the kinds of games that you know are great the moment you first start playing them.  Not just because they look good or have an amazing production value, but rather because of how they make you feel.  Braid is that kind of game, a small Xbox Live Arcade title that could have been nothing more than just a brilliant homage to classic 8-bit platformers.  But it's more than that; it's one of the most compelling, intelligent and exciting games I've played in a long, long time.  Braid is easily one of the best games of the year, a stunning achievement that everybody should own.

If you just go by the photos then you might think that this is nothing more than a funky version of Super Mario Bros. played on the Xbox Live Arcade.  But you would be wrong, there's so much more going on in the game.  In fact, Braid only looks an old school 2D platformer; instead it's actually an ingenious puzzle game that will require you to use parts of your brain you didn't even know existed.  The controls, graphics and gameplay are all as simple as can be, but that's only because the puzzles themselves are real brain busters.

Braid tells the story of Tim, a well-dressed guy who resembles a shorter version of Alex P. Keaton (from Family Ties).  Over the course of the game's six levels (and epilogue) you learn that Tim is on an adventure to save the princess, a noble task that many a platform hero has attempted in the past thirty years or so.  While his quest may not be very original, the way he goes about doing it is completely brand new.

One thing that sets Tim apart from all of those other platformer super heroes (besides the suit and tie) is the fact that he only has one life to live.  This isn't like Super Mario where our favorite Italian plumber has dozens of lives and the ability to earn 1ups.  When you die, you die.  But don't worry, because Tim has one other ability that sets him apart from all of those other video game characters - he can reverse time.  That means that any time you get into trouble you can stop time and rewind it as far back as you need to, all the way back to the beginning of the stage, if need be.

As you might have guessed, a lot the puzzles Tim has to solve involve him using this time shifting ability.  The game establishes the rules right from the beginning, such as making you aware that some items cannot be rewound and that jumping on enemies will act like a springboard.  To make sure you have these basics down the game starts you out with extremely easy puzzles.  For example, one early puzzle has you jumping down into a pit to grab a key.  The trick is that the key is one of those "magic" items that is not affected by your reverse ability, so you are able to reverse time with the key still in your hand.  Figure this out and you're off to getting a puzzle piece.  It's that simple.

Obviously not every puzzle is that simple, but that gives you a good idea of the kinds of things you'll run into early on in Braid.  However, don't get too comfortable with your abilities.  You see, each one of the six levels actually has its own unique gimmick; something that is thrown in to change the way you solve that set of levels.  For example, in one level you will be able to use your shadow to help solve puzzles, while in another level you can drop down a ring that creates a barrier that slows everything down.  Perhaps my favorite twist comes in the fourth stage, where you seem to be connected to everything around you in the level.  If you take a step forward time takes one step forward.  Take a step backward and time takes a step backwards.  Stand still and, well, everything just stands still.  And just when you feel like you've grasped this level's twist, the game throws something at you that will make you rethink how you solve the puzzles.

No matter how many twists the game throws at you, the basic gameplay is always right there ready to help you solve the puzzles.  What makes this game great is that it's always playing on the conventions that it sets up, so you'll constantly be surprised at how the game sets up its puzzles and always seems to be one or two steps ahead of you.  These days it's rare for me to be blown away by a puzzle or a gameplay twist, yet I found myself constantly shocked and delighted by what I was seeing.  In some ways it took me back to a time when I was first coming to grips with what video games could do, a time when I was just a young kid playing 2D platformers on my NES.

In total there are sixty different puzzle pieces, all of which can be acquired in the game's first five levels (levels 2 - 6).  Once you've collected all of the pieces, assembled each world's jigsaw puzzle and read all of the books (which tell the story) you can move on to world 1.  It's here that the story really takes off.  Think of it like Portal, which is perhaps the closest comparison you can make.  The first bunch of levels are all about teaching you how to play in this world, while the last bit is all of the story.  And what a story it is.  It's not enough that this is a phenomenal puzzle game from beginning to end, but it also has one of the most surprising endings I've ever seen in a video game.  It's the kind of ending that will make you rethink what you just played.  The kind of ending that will stick with you long after you've finished the 5 hour quest.  It's an ending that is surprisingly mature; something that doesn't talk down to its audience.  It's honest and heartfelt, but also the kind of thing you actually have to think about.  It's so clever; in fact, that I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of gamers simply don't understand what's going on.  Braid has the kind of ending I want to see more of.

Braid is the kind of experience that is about something.  You may not know what at first, but by the time you've seen and done everything it's hard to not feel like you've really experienced something important.  Braid is important, it's the kind of game that so better than we deserve.  It's the difference between, say, Hancock and The Dark Knight, or even According to Jim and Arrested Development.  This game may play on the same system that runs Guitar Hero and Scene It, but it's on a level all its own.  Braid is a masterpiece.

It also seems aware of its place in the games industry.  It's constantly making references to classic 8-bit games, including Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong and the like.  It may look more grown up, but in its heart it's spending a lot of time playing homage to things we've grown up loving.  Some of these things are completely out in the open, such as a dinosaur that suggests that the princess is in another castle.  Some things are slightly more subtle (a Donkey Kong-inspired level named Jumpman springs to mind).  Either way, the game plays out like a heartfelt love letter to the last thirty years of video games.

Of course, the it's not the originality of the puzzles, the mature storyline, the outstanding gameplay or even the funny classic video game references that people will initially notice.  No, instead people will notice the stunning graphics.  It's not often I get a chance to rave about the visuals in an Xbox Live Arcade title, but Braid is allowing me to do a lot of things I rarely get a chance to do.  All it takes is one look at a picture and you'll realize that the game is sporting a hand-drawn look that sets it apart from everything else.  The backgrounds, foregrounds, even the enemies (which include strange looking goomba creatures) all look like somebody just drew (or in the case of the backgrounds, painted) them.  A lot of games have their own unique style that sets them apart, but Braid is one of the first games that looks so good that you could hang it on your wall and pass it off as fine art.

Oh, and did I mention that the music is also phenomenal?  I'm not one to brag about game music, but Braid delivers a score that not only fits the mood perfectly, but is the type of thing I would want to listen to when not playing the game.  And it shouldn’t surprise you that the game's music also plays a role in the game's outcome, though I will avoid spoiling that surprise for you.  If Number None (who developed this amazing product) don't release a full soundtrack, then I'm going to be extremely disappointed.  Not since Everyday Shooter have I been so impressed with the music from a small downloadable title.

Unfortunately there's a gigantic gorilla in the room that I can't ignore, no matter how many words I use to try and convince you that this is one of the greatest games of all time.  The one big complaint is the price tag, which is a tad more expensive than we're used to paying for an Xbox Live Arcade title.  The game comes in at $15, which isn't too bad for the amount of gameplay you get.  Depending on how good you are at solving puzzles the game could take you anywhere from four hours all the way up to ten or more.  I found myself going through it in around five hours, but that's just me.  Outside of a Speed Run options (yet another throwback to game culture) the game doesn't have a lot of replay.  Then again, how much replay did Assassin's Creed have?  Or what about BioShock?  These games were no more than ten hours long, yet they were four times the price.  Braid may not have the amazing 3D polygonal graphics, but it does have enough gameplay to warrant the $15 asking price.

In the end this product is all about the puzzles.  If you absolutely hate solving puzzles, don't care about a moving story and would rather just shoot Nazis in another World War II-themed first-person shooter, then Braid is probably not the game for you.  However, if you're like me and like to try out new things then you will be treated to one of the best games of all time.  Scratch that, Braid is easily one of the best games I have ever played.  It's near perfect, which is exactly why you should stop reading this review and purchase some Microsoft Points.  $15 may sound like a lot of money for an Xbox Live Arcade game, but I guarantee that this game will change how you feel about Microsoft's download service. 

SUMMARY: Braid is an absolute masterpiece, from beginning to end.  It's the kind of game that will stick with you long after you've completed it.  It's the kind of game that you'll feel the need to tell all your friends about.  It's the kind of game we'll still be talking about ten years from now.  If you don't already own Braid, then either you hate fun or simply haven't discovered this charming (and beautiful) platformer/puzzler!

[Editor's Note: You can read this review and hundreds more by checking out DEFUNCT GAMES!  We offer daily articles, reviews and enough sarcasm to make you wish you never heard of the site in the first place.  That's Defunct Games ... it's about as good for you as swimming with sharks!]

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grade: 10.0

Whenever I start one of these Grand Theft Auto reviews I find myself talking endlessly about how fully realized the cities are.  I talk about how every house looks different, the changing of tone from community to community and how much fun it is to explore (perhaps even live) in this Rockstar Games created world.  But with Grand Theft Auto IV I find myself unable to start out my review with mindless chatter about the locale.  Not because I find the city bad, but rather because for the first time ever there is something more fully realized than the game's fictional location.  His name is Niko Bellic.

It shouldn't seem weird to call Niko the star of Grand Theft Auto IV; after all, he is the lead character in the game.  But in the past entries in this franchise the main character played almost a secondary role to the city itself.  But that's not the case with Rockstar's newest masterpiece; Niko Bellic is the real reason to buy/play Grand Theft Auto IV.  Niko is perhaps the most fully developed video game character of all time, a character that has complex emotions and amazing depth.  He's a flawed man, yet we root for him because deep down we understand his plight.  If we remember this game for anything, it's going to be because of Niko Bellic.

Thankfully he's not the only star.  I don't think I have to describe the crazy amount of hype and anticipation surrounding this game.  For millions of people around the world this is more than a game, this is an experience unlike any other.  And as crazy as it sounds, maybe these people are actually on to something.  Let's face it, no so-called GTA clone has even come close to matching what Rockstar Games has been able to do.  Not just in sales, but also in quality and innovation.  Right when you think one company has the franchise topped, Rockstar Games comes out and proves that they are the king of the sub-genre.

Grand Theft Auto IV is no exception.  It has been four years since we've had a console-specific Grand Theft Auto game (regardless of how good they were the two PSP 'Stories' games don't count), and Rockstar Games is proving that they've had a lot of really good ideas in that time.  From a gameplay point of view this is not a revolution in the same way that going from Grand Theft Auto II to Grand Theft Auto III was, but there's definitely enough new here to warrant a closer inspection. 

Don't get me wrong; it's not that Grand Theft Auto IV feels like a small step up (because it doesn't).  This game's enhancements go beyond simple gameplay tweaks and a better narrative, the revolution is more about how this game makes you feel.  The brilliance of this game is in the depth of the character, the nuance of the city, the way everything looks like it's supposed to look, the way characters react realistically, the way that people actually get mad at you if you ignore them.  The brilliance of this game seems to fall into a lot of categories that I don't usually talk about when critiquing games, social improvements, enhancements with the animation and the intangible emotions.  At first glance this may look like just another Grand Theft Auto game, but by the end of the game you will feel like you've really experienced something good.  No, not good, something truly mind-blowing.

Hyperbole aside, Grand Theft Auto IV begins with Niko Bellic sailing into the harbor of Liberty City, a metropolis best known for welcoming immigrants and having really, really strong weed.  Niko has traveled all the way from the Eastern Bloc in hopes of living the American Dream.  Unfortunately he was suckered by his cousin, a compulsive liar by the name of Roman.  The huge mansion that Roman promised is actually a run-down apartment.  The expensive sports car Roman supposedly drives?  You guessed it, it's a taxi cab.  The life that Roman has talked about is all an act, and Niko is about to see the ugly side of city living.

But Niko is a complex character; he's more than just a sucker for believing his brother's lies.  He's a tough guy who has served in the military and is running from a past of illegal activities.  Unfortunately there aren't a lot of doors open for Niko when he lands in Liberty City.  His immigrant status is causing some problems and he isn't exactly qualified to work a nine to five.  Instead he finds himself taking any shady job he can get, which usually requires him to protect somebody, deliver something valuable or go all the way and kill somebody. 

Fans of the Grand Theft Auto series will no doubt recognize how this game begins, outside of the immigrant twist; Grand Theft Auto IV starts out like every other game in the series.  But unlike every other game in the series, Niko's goal is not to own the most property in the city or get to the top of some gang.  The story in Grand Theft Auto IV feels a lot more natural, it's a personal story about this one guy who has to live with the consequences of his actions.  There are still a lot of crazy over-the-top missions, but the story is a lot more intimate this time around.

Interestingly enough, the missions in Grand Theft Auto IV haven't changed all that much.  Then again, that may be a testament to how good Rockstar Games is at creating interesting  missions.  If nothing else, the missions serve as a tour guide (an extremely violent tour guide, but still a guide) to the hotspots in Liberty City.  In the 30+ hour storyline you'll find yourself running down bad guys in a fictional Times Square, shooting down helicopters next to a fictional Statue of Liberty, strolling through a fictional Coney Island, getting lost in a fictional Central Park and even scaling a fictional Empire State Building.  You'll also have a chance to see a lot of seedy apartment complexes and visit a bunch of run-down houses.  Needless to say, you're going to see a lot of real estate when you go through the story mode.

You'll also be introduced to a number of really cool characters, including an impossible to understand Rasta drug dealer, a steroid ridden car collector and a woman with the lowest standards possible.  And that's just in the first few hours, before the end of the game you'll be dealing with some real big players in Liberty City, all of which are memorable and well acted.  This is definitely one of the best Grand Theft Auto stories; it's doing an excellent job of imitating The Wire, which isn't entirely a bad thing.

Like all of the Grand Theft Auto games of the past, GTA IV generally has four or five different missions open to you at any one time.  One thing that Rockstar Games has added this time around is the ability to make a choice.  While it's not in every mission, from time to time you'll be given the choice of who to kill, or even if you want to kill somebody at all.  You'll be given social choices, too.  Do you go on your date or save your cousin?  All of these things play into the overall sense of actually being involved with this world.  There's one choice towards the end of the game that will even determine how the end game plays out for you.  There aren't enough of these choices, but this is definitely a step in the right direction for Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto.

Oddly enough the biggest gameplay addition doesn't really sound all that impressive on paper.  That's because it's nothing more than a cell phone; the little piece of technology that almost all of us have.  But here's it's more than just a phone, it's your lifeline to all sorts of personal relationships.  It's the way to get a job and get things done.  It's the way to keep up with your love life.  The phone turns this game from being you against the world to you feeling like you have a close knit group of friends and family.  This may sound like something minor, but it really adds a lot to the entire experience.

The phone is about more than just personal conversations.  You can also use your cell phone to take pictures, call up cheat codes or get quick and easy side work for a few extra dollars.  This is the kind of addition I expect to see in every Grand Theft Auto clone in the future, and maybe a few that you wouldn't consider to be clones.

As expected there's more to this world than just completing missions and advancing the story.  Like all Grand Theft Auto games, it's easy to get completely side-tracked by doing everything but the story.  Not that this is a bad thing, since almost all of the mini-games are fun.  The way you find these mini-games feels a lot more natural, too.  For example, you'll be able to bowl at the bowling alley, shoot pool and throw darts at the local pub and get drunk at a club.  And that's just the beginning of the mini-games.  There are a lot of missions you can do for your friends, including drug running and finding specific cars that people are looking for.  What's more, you can also steal a police car and get two different kinds of missions.  One of the missions has you going to some enemy stronghold and just killing everybody inside, while the other has you chasing after an escaping criminal and arresting him (well, more like beating him till his pulse stops).

And that's not all.  On top of all of those mini-games are a few different non-interactive shows you can attend.  The most entertaining of the two is the comedy club, where Ricky Gervais (creator/actor in the original UK version of The Office) and Katt Williams (Norbit, Epic Movie) do an incredibly funny stand-up routine.  If you're not in the mood to laugh then why not try the cabaret?  There you'll find everything from singing to dancing to magic tricks to a cowboy performing stunts.  It's not the best thing Liberty City has to offer, but it's a fun place to take a date.

And get this; you don't even need to leave your safe house to be entertained by Liberty City.  In a Grand Theft Auto first, Rockstar Games has added actual television shows that you can watch.  I don't know if it's a social statement or not, but there's something kind of depressing about being a guy on a couch watching a guy on the couch watching TV.  Maybe it's just me.  Either way, the hour or so of television programming is all top quality, complete with funny commercials, over-the-top TV shows and a few surprise celebrities.  The best of the television broadcasting has to be the spot-on Republican Space Rangers and the History Channel-like documentary about the birth of Liberty City.  Beyond that there's programming for guys, a show about rich people and even televised poker.

On top of all this is the internet café, where you can communicate with your family back in the old country, look for dates online, buy new ringtones and make a MySpace page.  At first this all looks like just extra stuff that you can do when you get bored of running from cops, but it won't take long before you realize that all of these elements play a significant part in the storyline.  Make no mistake about it; Rockstar Games has put all of this stuff in deliberately.  It adds a lot to the story and creates a full world that offers a lot of the same extras you would have in the real world.

But who cares about all of this atmosphere if the controls are bad.  Grand Theft Auto has always had a reputation for having somewhat subpar controls.  It's not that the games felt bad, but there was never the same amount of attention put on the controls as the world itself.  Thankfully that has all changed with Grand Theft Auto IV.  While Rockstar Games hasn't resolved all of the control problems, they've fixed enough of them to turn this from a so-so playing game to an action game that is extremely easy to control.

The biggest change comes with the shooting mechanic, which still has you targeting your enemies but also giving you a lot more freedom to aim and control your shot.  There is also a fantastic cover system that feels like it was ripped right out of Gears of War.  There are entire shoot out missions built around the new cover system, so figuring out how to use the objects in the area to your advantage is crucial to you beating the game.  And to top it all off there is now a hand-to-hand combat system, so getting into a street fight is suddenly something I look forward to, not run from.  In all the controls have been properly updated, still giving you the feel of the old Grand Theft Auto games, only now with a lot more depth to them.

The vehicles (from cars to boats to helicopters) have also received some work.  In Grand Theft Auto IV the different cars all handle differently, so you will find yourself always looking for one or two of you favorite cars.  In most cases the cars feel more natural, so even when you're skidding out of control you still know what you need to do to get out of the situation.  The boats also feel better this time around, as do the helicopters.  Some may gripe that their favorite Grand Theft Auto ride doesn't feel exactly the same, but for the most part I think all of the cars were tweaked to handle better, not worse.

And then again a lot of the time you won't even need to drive yourself around.  Because it is essentially a recreation of New York City, Liberty City is overflowing with taxi cabs.  In the old games you could steal the taxi and be on your way, but by holding the "Y" button you can flag down a cab and have him take you where you want to go.  Not only is this a time saver (for a few dollars more you can pay the cab to literally skip the trip and you'll be instantly transported to your destination), but these taxis allow you to take in all of the sights and sounds of Liberty City.

I cannot stress enough how stunning Liberty City is.  While a lot of it is cityscape, Rockstar Games has managed to do an excellent job of making every block of the game look and feel different.  What's more, the different islands (four major ones in all) are all very unique.  They come with their own atmosphere and group of people.  Heck, they even have their own unique architecture and hang outs.  They all feel like they are living and breathing, even though I know that they are nothing more than I's and O's on my Xbox 360 disc.  But that isn't the point, because Liberty City is how you feel, not how it was done.

In fact, it's better you don't think about how Rockstar Games was able to pull all this off.  It's more than just watching the countless different people walk by, it's about how they all animate and interact with the world.  And it's not just them, it's Niko too.  The attention to detail is staggering, especially when it comes to body movements and facial expressions.  You really get the emotion from these characters, and that turns out to be a crucial part of selling this world.  Grand Theft Auto IV isn't about selling you a big "sandbox" world that you can play around in, it's about selling you a world that you actually care about, a world you will want to come back to time and time again.

Part of the appeal of this entry has to be the graphics, which, for the first time ever, don't completely suck.  In fact, I would go as far as to say that this is a spectacular looking game.  No, it's not as detailed as Gears of War, Call of Duty 4 or BioShock, but considering the scope of this world I don't see how you could fault them for it.  It's clear that Rockstar Games had to cut a few corners to make everything work, just like they've done ever since Grand Theft Auto III back in 2001.  There are a number of glitches and imperfections (background pop-up, disappearing cars, etc.) that seem to dog this franchise no matter what system you program them for.  Thankfully none of these issues impact the overall enjoyment of the experience, but it is funny to see some of these problems still rearing their ugly head seven years later (on new hardware).

But in my excitement to talk about the story, the city, the improved controls and the greatness that is Niko, I have forgotten to mention one of the most substantial additions to Grand Theft Auto IV.  It's this improvement that takes this game from merely a 50 hour experience and turns it into something you'll spend hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours playing.  It would have been easy for Rockstar Games to take the easy way out and give us only a few different game modes, all of which are half-baked and pointless.  But that's not what they did here; they turned Grand Theft Auto into an online experience that feels like no other game on the Xbox 360.  This isn't just another online third-person shooter, the addition of cars, people, cops, huge buildings and helicopters make it all magic.  It's not as streamlined as Call of Duty 4, but it's one of the best online multiplayer games you will play this year.

Believe it or not, this game comes pre-loaded with 15 different online modes, including everything from free-for-all shooting to races.  At their best these modes are extremely rewarding and exciting, even if you'll sometimes complain about cheap deaths and bad starting locations.  A lot of the game modes require teamwork, especially when it comes to play cops versus robbers and things like that.  Even something as simple as an online race can turn into all out warfare with the addition of guns and grenades.  What could have felt like a watered down Midnight Club sequel is given a unique twist that makes you like it even more.  On top of that, you will be collecting money for every person you kill and race you win, and as that money adds up it will level your character up and allow you to customize your character even more.  It's not nearly as deep as the Call of Duty 4 system, but it's not bad for being something tacked on to a 50 hour video game.

Grand Theft Auto IV is an event.  It's like that major blockbuster movie that you absolutely must read or that TV show that everybody keeps talking about.  I don't think it's too much to say that this is the game that Rockstar Games will be remembered for years from now.  It's a massive game full of great locations, a fantastic story, a ton of online modes and one of the greatest video game characters of all time.  Even if you're not the kind of person that normally likes these Grand Theft Auto games, I have a hunch that once you meet Niko Bellic you're going to fall in love.  After putting dozens of hours into this game, I have no problem calling this game an absolute masterpiece, easily one of the greatest action games of all time.

SUMMARY: It's easy to talk about how amazing Liberty City is in Rockstar Games' newest action game, Grand Theft Auto IV.  But this time around the city isn't the real star; instead that part goes to Niko Bellic, one of the greatest video game characters of all time.  This is an event game, the kind of thing you simply need to own ... even if you don't consider yourself a Grand Theft Auto fan.

Cyril Lachel

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