I got my copy of GTA IV on Friday, I noticed when I took it out the the disc had a scuff. I put it in anyhow and it appeared to start playing fine even though framerates seemed a little shoddy. It started to freeze after a bit of play and I was ticked. Tried it in every 360 I own and had the same result. Decided to take the disc back and get a new one. Started playing last night for an hour. Everything is fixed and the game runs at full framerates and smoothly now.

My assessment also was that this is not a perfect game. It is excellent and like CoD4 probably deserves 9.0 - 9.75 ratings but should not be scoring 10 everywhere. Graphics are good but not great (Hopefully the NextGen consoles can improve it again), driving is good, but some things I thought I could mow through I can't (and the suspension euphoria action on the vehicle is over the top), speed of the game is a bit slow, story is good, gameplay is fun, I found the voice sounds to be too low (have to turn up several notches to hear voices properly whereas CoD4 I can hear the voices at a much lower volume which makes GTA IV night play with household asleep harder), value wise it will be perfect as I think 30 hours will be a minimum, and innovation is solid but not overly exceptional like CoD4.

I felt after Mario Galaxy (it is nothing compared to CoD4 and Halo 3), Halo 3 (receiving higher scores then CoD4 even though I think CoD4 is slightly better), and the GameSpot incident with Kane and Lynch (guy canned for low score given to K&L) that game reviewing sites are bought infomercials for games and hold very little credibility for reviews. GTA IV is a definately a 9'ish game. It is not perfect though, we will have to wait at least another generation of consoles to see that.

PRoD = Pink Ring of Death? I thought it was RRoD? Is there some specific reason that you're using a P?

 yeah i was confused about that too

I'm about 10 hours in myself (have only been playing an hour at a time) on the PS3 version. The controls keep annoying me, they seem too sensitive and fiddly to me. Defiantly a fun and engrossing game though, I'd give it a 9.

i love it im about waitt *checks 17.44% in and 11:29hours in* Its wicked as i just hanvt had to much time to play it recently been really busy, controls take a little getting used to, but ill still get used to fps on consoles.

Have fun with your new console!!!

OH GOD SORRY ITS NOT A FPS SORRY its a 3rd person same thing

I think the 360 controls take some time getting used to, but that's only because I'm used to playing GTA on my PS2.

 are all the buttons in the same place? (i.e. get in car is the top one?)

In the PS3, you can hit the select button to change the view. What I do, is use the main view, and the right analog stick to adjust the view. If you pull down a little on it, you change the angle.

I am sure there is something similar on the 360.

I love the controls myself, I really like auto-lock on multi-player (you came turn them off so no one can use them). With auto-lock on, it's less of a twitch game, and you have to use a lot more strategy. Where you position yourself, take cover, and how you approach the fight is where the strategy moves to, not how good you are with the controls, like a FPS game would be.

It's why I actually like playing this game online better then MGO. MGO, while is tactically a great game, the learning curve to master the controls is steep. Very steep. If you make the "smart" move in a fight, yet your opponent has a better understanding of the controls, you loose every time. I will just get MGS, and after the single player, I will probably have mastered the controls for online. in GTA4. I mastered them in a few hours.