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We managed to play through GTAIV and get our review out on time for its release date. It’s our first 10/10 and the game truly deserves the praise we, and the community have lavished on it. In case you missed our review, make sure you catch up and read it here. To quote ourselves, we said; “We haven’t touched the multiplayer yet, and our impressions will be along shortly,” and shortly it has been. We’ve been playing GTAIV online on Xbox Live for the past week and feel as though we’ve only scraped the surface. Read on to find out why we think GTAIV has finally encompassed the term ‘Next Gen.’

You can’t produce a blockbuster game in today’s market unless you’ve got multiplayer, specifically Online Multiplayer. It’s essential for a financial return, and unless it’s a rare, single player only franchise, the game dive bombs. It’s hard to argue the typical discourse as to why GTAIV required the longevity of multiplayer. The main aim for internet gaming is to increase the lifespan of a game. In GTA’s past (and it’s also obvious in IV’s case), the series has always dealt with such a problem by simply creating a believable, tangible world where you can play anyway you want. There was no need (and no possible net infrastructure) in the past games to actually invest the time in creating an online space. Times have changed and with the advent of Xbox Live and the PSN, there’s now a stable technological platform in place for such an endeavour.

Rockstar’s first attempt at official (as we’re excluding modded PC versions of past GTA’s) multiplayer consists of 16 players, 15 game modes, a ranking system and the entire city to explore. Gone is the restrictive muddled dual player mode tagged onto San Andreas. Liberty City is finally accessible with friends, voice communication and minimal lag. Once you’ve customised your character with a restrictively low amount of options (expect to see some clones), you can jump online in either Ranked or Un-ranked (Player) matches. Simply call up the in game ‘cellphone’, select the mode and then it loads you into the game within 30 seconds.

If you’re hosting there’s a variety of gameplay options available, from turning on or off police, selecting the amount of traffic, pedestrians, and weapons. You can choose all three islands or simply stick with one, set the spawn distance, whether voice chat is enabled and a few other tweaks. GTAIV lets you create the game you want to play, only restricting you by your choice of game mode.

If you’re feeling generic you can decide from Deathmatch (both free-for-all or team). There’s Car Jack city, (again, both variations) which has you stealing cars for cash. There’s (our personal favourite) Mafiya Work which provides players with a variety of missions to complete within a set time. Cops n’ Crooks lets you play the GTAIV version of the old playground game. Extraction style; All for One or One for All, Turf War, a gangland reproduction or Race (or GTA Race which provides weapons) which is what it says on the tin.

If you’re not the competitive type then you might prefer the co-op style modes; Hangman’s Noose (a escort-avoid-the-cops routine), Deal Breaker which recreates a construction site assault mission, Bomb da Base II where you’re tasked with blowing up a ship, or simply the juicy, aptly titled Free Mode, where there aren’t any set objectives, scores, aims or restrictions. Free Mode lets you create your stories, your experiences, just like the Single Player portion of GTAIV, but with others. It’s pure sandbox gaming, a Rockstar interpretation of the Half Life 2 sandbox, Gary’s Mod (minus the construction tools).

If you’re competing in a ranked match, then winning, completing an objective or simply killing an opponent grants you cash, which in turn utilises a loose levelling system. It’s nothing like Call of Duty 4’s rank system, but it gets the job done. Character customization unlocks would have been nice, but that’s highly possible in an update.

Running online, the game does suffer from slowdown on occasion, and depending on who you’re playing with, can lag. Hopefully a future patch can fix any of the teething problems, but at the moment it’s easily ignorable. If you’re not an ‘online-gamer,’ there’s much incentive to have a go. The Playstation Network is free and the Xbox360 version of GTAIV comes with a free month’s subscription to Live, so there’s no harm done. It’s great fun, enthralling and gets you laughing quite often. From impromptu shootouts, races, cat and mouse, Free Mode offers the most, but without structure, it can get tedious after extended play sessions. When that happens, there’s plenty on offer and GTAIV’s online component does a fantastic job at completing the package. It definitely justifies it’s 10/10 status and shouldn’t be missed.

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