This is the game everyone has been waiting for. Being the sequel to an already popular franchise, I honestly sorta hated the other games before it because I thought they were a bit sloppy and simplistic. Shit, I was surprised when I started playing this, and it has become my new crack.

Right off, this is a nice Next Gen game. Excellent soundtrack, great game-play graphics and open-world exploring. One thing that really stuck out for me was how well the storyline was created. It’s crafted in a very nice “choose-your-own-adventure” style. You can pick and choose what missions to do, and when and how to interact with people. This game also differs in the sense that you have to build and maintain social relationships with certain characters in order for them to help you. I thought this was a great nod to Second Life.

Another part of this game I loved was how well the driving mechanics worked. No matter what vehicle you stole, you always had a variation in that vehicle's controls. My ride of choice, the 70s GTO, handled like a muscle car should. And then top that off with great radio stations edited by some hot real world DJs ( DJ Premier kills it on the Classics station), you have a match made in heaven to outrun cops or plow over pedestrian.

The one flaw of this game for me, and mostly because it is on the PS3, is that the cut scenes looked choppy and sloppy. The voice acting is great but when God Of War has better cut scenes on a PS2, then you know this is crap. I really hoped the characters would have been rendered better. Specifically when you go to the strip club, nobody wants a dance from a boney-butted girl…

Overall this game is going into heavy play mode for me. I will probably play this every day until Metal Gear Solid comes out and I have no complaints about that. I'll just make sure I don’t run out of ammo or get sick of working for the Russian Mob...then I’ll be fine.