Grand Theft Auto IV [PS3]

''My only concern at this point is how well the game will wind up running when it's finished. Rockstar has always tried to push consoles to their maximum with every release, and it looks to very much be doing so again with Grand Theft Auto IV. The demo ran well when Niko was alone and wandering, but during shootouts it slowed down quite a bit. The Rockstar reps on hand seemed confident that everything would be fine in the end, and I really, really doubt the company would release anything that wasn't as polished as possible, so hopefully everything will run smooth and peachy when we have it in our hands.

We have less than three months before we find out first-hand, and I can't wait.

Hil's Impressions''Grand Theft Auto fans are in for a shock. This is not your typical GTA game. It's not over-the-top and it's not filled with sly movie references. That isn't to say GTA IV won't have moments of the ridiculous. During our demo, we saw that Rockstar's sense of humor remained intact, despite having a game more grounded in reality. In the span of an hour, I must have laughed at least a half dozen times. But more impressive, was that I actually gasped in shock.

And what was it that could get an old, jaded GTA player like myself to be surprised? Believe it or not, it was when Niko pulled out a pistol in public and shot a guy in the face. No, his head didn't explode as if Gallagher had smashed into a watermelon. That single act was jarring. And that kind of reaction is exactly what Rockstar wants. What was once a casual public killing suddenly has some weight to it. Much of that is due to the fact that the replica of New York Rockstar has created is as real and as believable a city as any I have ever seen in a videogame.

There are potholes on the street, weed poking up between the cracks in the sidewalk, and pedestrians that don't look like cardboard cut-outs. The buildings have age to them. That's one thing many who recreate New York (even if it is given a different name) fail to get right. This is an old city outside of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The streets and buildings of New York have a history to them. And Rockstar has -- at least from what I've seen so far -- managed to infuse that sense of age into Liberty City.

The special attention paid to the physics also adds to that sense of reality. Niko has some weight to him. He shifts as he walks. He appears much more substantial than CJ or past GTA stars. And that cars, wow, the cars have suspension. You can see the weight distribution shift to one side on a turn. It's impressive little details like this that really brought Liberty City to life for me. For the first time, I can see a GTA game as something other than a giant arcade world.

Of course, it wouldn't be Grand Theft Auto without some violence and the threat of the police. All of the realism I spoke about works to create new tension in combat. Niko can take true cover behind pretty much anything. And the moment I saw him blindfire, I knew GTA IV would give me things no other Rockstar game has. The final fight to escape the cops is intense. And yes, there's still lots of bullets, tons of death, and plenty of mayhem. But it seems a more visceral experience. It's almost like past GTA's kept you pulled back from the violence, as if you were some puppeteer controlling the action. Now it's as if Rockstar has brought us to the ground level and every time Niko's gun fires, we're the ones pulling the trigger.

One thing Rockstar did not show was the possibility of a rooftop escape. Fences and other obstacles can now be climbed. So conceivably, you could run into a back alley and try to find an unexpected avenue for escape. The new line-of-sight system sounds promising, but it's definitely something we need to see more of (and to fiddle around with) to see if it truly pays off.

I won't lie, I got bored halfway through GTA: San Andreas and gave up. From what I've seen of GTA IV, it has a better balance between action, story, and exploration. Will that make it the best GTA yet? I'd imagine that will require several dozen hours of hands-on time to determine. In other words, I'll find out October 16, just like the rest of you. But after seeing the extended demo of GTA IV, that's a date now circled on my calendar.''