Recent reviews by CynoxxZ

GTA III has set the basis for many of triple A games we see today. Coming out in 2001 the game is still fun to come back and reminiscence of the good ol days of blocky textures, wacky animations, arcadey gameplay and overall basics of a game of that time frame. The game is rather short and small but for it's time it is mad impressive what a developer could do coming from the Top-Down gameplay of GTA 1 and GTA 2. The same concept of those past two games has stayed the same yet with the aspect of a 3D world.

Note: I did have to install a few mod's to make the game enjoyable as the steam version does have a few issues. There are plenty of guides on how to install them here on steam.

Story wise it lacks in length as I was able to complete it in a mere couple hours. However looking back I could've done the side stuff for a few bonuses. It's not my first time playing it either so that also could account in how I was able to beat it in such time. Gameplay was simple enough yet was a little unforgiving gunfight wise. I found myself failing missions here and there, mainly when it involved the police (May I say the police in this game are BRUTAL). Countless times I was almost in a panic as the cops tried to ram me off the road constantly. Some of the gunfights with the enemies felt rewarding as it required you to be cautious as your HP/Armor can be shredded in a mere few bursts of gunshots, so over exposing yourself in fights was definitely a no go.

Overall there really isn't much to GTA III other then it set a very great and very high expectation goal for other game developers. Including itself. Almost cementing itself as one of the reasons why we have such good games now. Definitely going to be returning to it again eventually as it serves as a reminder of the simpler times.

Grand Theft Auto IV is what started the HD era of games and set yet again another benchmark for visuals, game-play elements, and overall story telling, much like Grand Theft Auto III did back in 2001. Taking place back in a newly revamped Liberty City, One of three main characters Niko Belic is fresh off the boat in a gritty mock up of New York. Destined to start afresh much like many people who come to the city. That and his cousin Roman who convinced him that he was living the american dream. Niko finds himself getting dirty like he once was over seas working his way up from being some Russian mobsters goon to finding bigger and better opportunity with such likes of even the Italian mob, much like Claude in GTA III. Along the way he makes contacts who later become friends of Niko and as such in a sprawling city its hard to find. Overall the story of Grand Theft Auto IV is one of my favorites in video game history. Straying away from the neon lights and Kingpin of Vice City or the beaches and vast west coast gangs of San Andreas. The way the story has such grittiness and realistic expectations for our main character, is one of the reasons it has such a high praise and the fact that the story intertwines the following episodes is amazing and almost too good for a game of that time.

Overall mechanics have improved such as vehicle handling and gun play. Many people complained about the vehicle handling and said it "felt like they were driving a boat" I personally loved how every vehicle handled as it was much more paced and rewarded if you took a corner slower rather than mach 3 speeds. Gun play it THE BEST I have ever experienced when you shoot someone it actually feels like the gun has a effect on the person especially with the amazing ragdoll physics they had introduced. No more shooting a sponge waiting for his health to deplete.

One of the amazing things they also tried to incorporate were DLC addons called Episodes, both The Lost And Damned and The Ballad Of Gay Tony. Both of which have their own themes much like base game IV did. While they are much much shorter than IV itself they introduce two new characters well... sorta new. See in IVs story they had already introduced them under our noses. That being of Johnny Klebitz and Luis Lopez.

The Lost and Damned protagonist Johnny is Vice president of The Lost MC and first additional character with the timeline starting shortly after Niko's story. The Lost has a internal conflict when Billy the chapters president comes back from rehab. Johnny actually goes on to work with Niko in a couple missions in the DLC and vice versa if you play the base game, which is a neat little detail showcasing what plans Rockstar had for this title. Johnny isn't really a character you can relate to much, while he does mean well to others that he surrounds himself with he just seems to outta touch with his surroundings and doesn't realize actions have consequences which is probably what Rockstar was going for in TLAD. The DLC introduced a few new weapons and vehicles to which my favorite was "Auto Sweeper Shotgun" While short and not so much sweet I like the tone TLAD was trying to set being all biker gang outlaws and brotherhood definitely could've done better but overall not a bad playing experience.

The Ballad of Gay Tonys protagonist Luis is a nightclub bouncer and personal bodyguard of Tony Prince a drug addict and nightclub owner who is in debt to the Liberty City mafia families. The story starts about midway through GTA IV unlike TLAD which starts almost as the game begins and intertwines just like TLAD did. Again more new weapons and vehicles. It also introduced secondary targets for missions and the mission replay system. Like gun accuracy and head shots or certain ways a mission was done. These were totally optional with the only impact being the game percent completion and achievements. Luis is probably my fourth favorite character of all the Grand Theft Auto games much reason for his quick and witty attitude which I found funny in the games cut scenes. Unlike what I said about Johnny I find Luis most relatable out of all three protagonist. He's trying to just live and stay out of trouble which honestly nowadays its more of a struggle.

Overall these games are honestly a blast to go back to now and then and I'll continue to do so for years to come. I'd recommend at least trying it once for the experience. However I do also recommend looking up a guide for modifications to make it stable as the PC Port is pretty rough. I rate this a 9/10.