From my 1up blog: http://rmsk8r05.1up.com

It's been six hours since I have beaten the last story mission in GTA IV and my completion percentage stands at 65.00% more or less. Right now I'm focusing my time on finding cars for Brucie and delievering packages for Jacob. There is still alot to do from doing Assassination missions to helping the police find their 10 most wanted (sound like an improved Vigilante mode). Also I have decide to mess around with the game's internet; it allows you to check your e-mails, buy ringtones and themes for your phone; read the news and finally to some online dating. Yes, I have decided to check out the online dating service in the game just for laughs but like in real life I have to wait for a response from a woman who calls herself "lickingood" (she sounded nice lol). Every once in a while I get a call from either Roman or any other of the people you meet in the game and do something together. These activities range from going to strip clubs, eating and drinking; if you do get drunk you'll get to see Niko stumble around uncontrollably with blurred vision. However drinking and driving isn't so fun, since the screen constantly shakes and Niko can hardly control the vehicle anymore; also if somebody should see you get into a car while drunk they will call the police on you. Funny sure but it's a hassle also since getting away from the police isn't so simple anymore; I suggest that you take a cab instead.

Like I said in last blog the characters in the story are no longer one dimensional psychopaths/wackos/weirdo’s of GTA's past. When you go hang out with your buddies/girlfriends they will talk to Niko about themselves and ask how he is doing. Rockstar is really pushing how you interact with characters in their game now; you almost feel an emotion connection with the characters that you encounter. In addition to the well written story there are small "friend" side missions which don't really tie-in to the overall story, just little things that happen to Niko along the way. Take for instance I decide to walk into a park and accidently trigged one; there Niko meets a teenage girl name Marnie who has become a street walking junkie. She tries to solicit sex from Niko but he refuses; however Niko does offer to help out buy driving her to a dealer. After a few days of playing the game I found her again; she has had enough of the life and wants to go home. So Niko drives her to the train station and gives her some money in order for to leave the city. Later on I decide to check my e-mail and I have learned that she has indeed gone home and is no longer abusing drugs. Upon reading that e-mail I felt better knowing that she had turned her life around.

Making choice is also new to the series, but I don't really think it adds to make to the game. The ending that I earned was the "good" ending and there is still the "bad" ending to get. However I feel that they don't evolutionary enough because they don't really affect how the story progress, only how they dialogue is handled. It would be nice to see the series have a branching storyline; say if I don't want to work with the mob for the entire game but wanted to work for the Yakuza. The story would branch out with Niko hanging with the Yakuza will making everything difficult for the other gang factions. There could be a point where you can betray your employers and make the story branch out into more interesting out comes.

GTA4 stand as Rockstar's greatest effort so far but I feel that they can take it farther. That there is room for more improvement such as the ability to talk to anyone in the world, walk into any building, really affect the world within the game. Become more mature without all the 69 stuff, all while retaining it's satire and humour that is the GTA trademark. We can only hope for the next GTA game to come out to wait for these ideas or maybe until the Downloadable content that will come out this August (maybe next year for the PS3 owners). Until then I still have a lot to do within the game, maybe replay it again and seeing how killing certain people really changes the game.

Note: I have the PS3 version and it has yet to lock up on me. Maybe it was because I was logged out of the PSN during the install.