great reviews if itz not the Game of the Year something's wrong....

Nice, maybe then we can find out if any other reviewers care enough to mention the pop-in issues? I hope IGN was just nitpicking.

 because pro-reviewers have a history of letting significant flaws slide in the face of grand theft auto?

clunky driving? Perfect controls, clunky action? perfect gameplay, frame rate issues? perfect graphics!,

lasting appeal, shooting cops ftw! 

frankly I'll remain sketical about

plus ultimately every reviewers big draw about the game comes down to

"I get to pretend I'm a criminal, oh boy I'm such a toughy, this game is for mature people like me, cause nothing is more mature than pretending to commit crimes" all the flaws are simply glazed over for the crime lord fantasy and in the end that is grand theft auto's claim to fame

@ tres

lulz.

did that sting?

I said I was probably wrong...

@ me hating on Wii always

check my post history. I do quite a bit of MS hating and some Sony

Hmmm... as a Wii-fanboy, I have to say, I hope these review scores are accurate.

Before I ever played on the Wii, I loved video games, dating back to before I even had my NES. I like the medium -- I like playing them -- and I want there to be great games out there. In my opinion, every time something new and terrific comes out, it benefits the industry as a whole. It shows what is possible, creates new standards, raises the bar.

I've never been a fan of the GTA series, really, for reasons that are probably more about me than the games. (In part, I find them frustrating because the central story never grabs me, and so I spend my time just causing havoc, and then feeling like I've wasted my time w/o advancing the story; Bully was much better in that respect, because I was compelled by the main story-arc.) I hope that GTA4 hooks me, should I ever play; I hope that it forces me to buy one of the other consoles, should I ever be in the market.

I have no understanding, or sympathy, for a view that would hope for the game to be a failure because it is on another console than the one I've chosen, and in all other ways support. Instead, I hope for another great video game experience, because that, beyond all partisan allegiance, is truly what I love, and why I'm here to begin with.

Now, all that said, I do get a little nervous with these early reviews because I can imagine reviewers buying into the hype of a game. I felt the same way when my friends came to me saying how Michael Bay's Transformers was teh best movie evar... and unfortunately, I was right to doubt in that case. I'm going to wait for the dust to settle before I buy into any general consensus of the game, and then that will always be tentative, subject to my own assessment. In every event, it is far too early to start talking about "Game Of The Year," etc. I think we can already say with some degree of certainty that this will be in the running... and let's suppose that this is the greatest game released so far this year (and it might be). Does that mean that something superior might not be ahead?

Here's hoping that GTA4 lives up to the hype -- and these reviews -- but also that it is not a shoe-in for GOTY; as a lover of videogames, I just want to see them get better and better.

@ DMeisterJ

You're over-using "lulz". Infact, you've killed it for me.
Thanks a lot, now I'll have to find another word to express humour in my posts >_>

OT: It took ten years, but it looks like we finally have something worthy of dethroning Ocarina on Gamerankings :)

^ lulz

DMeisterJ said: I wonder... Would people care so much if this were SMG getting a ten? Or WiiFit? Seems the only people angry are people whose allegiance lies with the blue and white box... but that's pure speculation, I could be wrong... Matter of fact, I probably am.

This comment was out of line. I read all of the post before you posted this and none of them were people bashing the score, there were no WiiFanboys dissing GTA4. I consider myself a Nintendo Fan, but I have no problem with GTA4 doing well, in all likelyhood I will get it sooner or later. I suspect that it will end up above 97% on GR.

So nice attempt at trying to start a flame war here. Now I will read the rest of the topic and see if you accomplished your mission.

gtaiv will not have under the score of 9/10,this game is epic

I have serious doubts that this game is worthy of such accolade tbh, I'm sure its both fun and engaging but 10/10 games must offer a unique and almost spiritually deep experience imo.