Pros: It's GTA! Great graphics, great sound, great storyline, great characters, cars from previous games
Cons: Awkward controls, slower pace than previous versions, dark environment
The bottom line: Get it. It's GTA IV! It's a bit different, and thoroughly enjoyable.
The new GTA IV is the latest installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Released on both the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the same time on 4-29-08, consumers can access the game regardless of the platform they have.

This is a great game and showcases nicely what the current generation of gaming consoles can do.

One general note about this game: It is much more realistic than previous versions, which affect gameplay by slowing things down where people move at more natural real-life speeds. This affects several aspects of the game as you will see below (this is a good thing!)

Graphics in General: Very good! As expected, they are even further refined from the previous generation of consoles. You will experience several instances of photo-realistic graphics, primarily in cutscenes, but also a few tnmes during actual gameplay. See below for more detail.

Buidlings: The buildings are higly detailed, with no noticed use of repeated facades. Each area of town has its own distinctive "feel": The light-industrial area of town called Broker is vastly different from the skyscrapers of Algonquin. The game still has its "fake door" syndrome, which has several buidlings with doors, but only a few buildings may be entered. This isn't a huge issue, but does detract from the immersion in the game experience, IMO.

Cars: Many of the car models from previous installments are available in GTA IV, with the same names, slight style enchancements and greater detail. Cars now show exhaust fumes, bumper stickers, water kicked up from going through puddles/rain, and more detailed damage.

People: The people have more natural movement, and a greater variety in clothing, body types, faces, walks and stances. They still have the cartoonish rag-doll physics. The people look more natural and their lip-synching is greatly inproved; it is still lightly lacking, but a definite improvement over older versions of the game. One interesting feature: if you kill a person who has a gun drawn, they will drop it and sometimes it will go off when it hits the ground. Nice touch!

Draw distance: Quite far. Rarely do you see the "show silhouettes then fill in detail" effect. Instead, you see the buidlings/landmarks off in the distance immediately. Once in a while, you will see lag in objects drawing up both near and far (IMO, the 360 has serious unresolved performance issues and should never have been released in its current state).

Cutscenes: Better detail, shows as photorealistic up to 25% of the time. Lip-synching good, but far from perfect. Characters move much smoother than before.

Physics:

People: Rag doll physics still lends itself to a cartoony feel. People move much more naturally and react more naturally to stimulus (pushed, hit, shot, run over). ***You can get thrown from your car if you are involved in an auto accident, a la Saints Row.

Cars: The cars move VERY differently than in previous GTA versions. They accelerate slower, bounce more and do not corner as well as before. IOW, they drive more realistically. They are very easy to spin out and it takes farther for them to brake. I equate the cars' physics as similiar to (but more sophisticated/realistic than) The Getaway. The harder you push on the accelerate/decelerate/steering stick buttons dictates the force your character is applying to the pedal/steering wheel in the game.

General Environment: Things react close to how they would in the real world. Doors swing open when you push them, curtains billow when you brush them aside, papers blowing in the wind eddy when you disturb their travel.

Gameplay:

Controls: I've never owned an XBox before, nor have I played on it before. I have owned PlayStations exclusively over the last 10 years. Personally, I find the controls difficult to get used to and I much prefer the PS controls.

Shooting: One new control that has great potential is the Cover button. This allows you to take cover in a fight and shoot from behind it. Shooting has an auto-aim button and you can switch betwen targets using one of the control sticks. You can also Free Aim by halfway holding down the Auto Aim button (usually one of the controller's triggers) and moving the reticlue by moving a control stick.

Fighting: Fighting is a bit more involved now, with a punch, alternate punch, kick and block button, which can allow you to do combos. Fighting is a bit more challenging and more complex as opposed to just mashing the Punch/Stab button like before. Put simply, fighting isn't as easy as before and it takes considerably more effort to do it well.

Missions: To be honest, they are still similiar to previous versions of GTA. They are still fun, and the increased capabilities of the XBox 360 allow for more depth of missions, but they are still basically the same: drive here, kill this person, go here in X time, find Y item, etc.

Character Development: Building on San Andreas, not only can you can date women, but you can also make friends and do activities together (go to a cabaret show, shoot pool, go bowling, go to a Gentleman's Club, etc.). Certain activites have different effects on different people you do them with. Once you become good enough friends, new missions and resources (read weapons) become available.

Garages: Yep, you can still have them. You can even park cars on the street and they will be there for you to pick up when you want.

Video Games: Yep, they are still here.

Wanted Level/Cops: This is a bit different. Once you get a star, the cops will chase you like before, BUT if they cannot see you, your wanted level will go away after a while. Here is an interesting thing: there is an area immediately around the cops where they will spawn more aggressively than if you were out of this area. Once you get out of this "Alert Zone" and the cops don't see you, your wanted level will go down. If you trigger a helicopter on 3 stars, the Alert Zone is HUGE (it is based on the field of vision of the police- helicopters obviously have a large field of vision) and it is much more difficult to get out of it to lower your wanted level. The FBI don't bother to arrest you, they just shoot you to death from their cars without getting out. There are 4 FBI to a car.

Sound: Multiple radio channels available. Everything from classic rock to talk radio. Jury is still out on 5.1 being available. Sound effects of weapons fire seems pretty good, not much different sounds previos GTA's- that's not a bad thing; it's a testament to the sound quality of the GTA franchise. Miscellaneous banter by pedestrians is much more varied and deep; they make and receive cell phone calls and have conversations with one another.

Cell Phone: Your character also has a cell phone he can use to make or receive phone calls. You can use it to ask girls out on dates, invite guys to do activities and call people for missions.

Overall, I'd give this game an 8.5/10. As I play it more, I will amend my score.