GTA IV, or The Reason You Own a Next-Gen System, is almost here. The fine diehards at NeoGAF have posted details from the first review released for the game from The Official Xbox360 Magazine (UK). For those who consider this type of thing spoiler, leave now, others can check out some highlights from the review after the jump.

Here’s the scoop, again courtesy NeoGAF:

10/10

GTA IV First Review (OXM UK) #1
Amazingly realistic world
Stunning action set pieces
Geniunely engrossing storyline
Hugely entertaining multiplayer
Vast in every respect

Awesome things from the review
360 DLC is apparently 10 hours long.
Your ingame mobile creates radio interference.
Thunder Storms.
The Stooges on the soundtrack.
In some missions you have to decide who lives and dies. ‘more time agonising over one particularly tough choice than we did over harvesting Bioshock’s little sisters’
Headshot drivers who fall on the horn and the accelerator.
In one screenshot, I count 21 cars at a set of traffic lights, and I can’t see behind.
Achievement for assasination missions called ‘Assassin’s Greed’

About the mobile
‘You start out with Roman’s cast-off mobile, good only for text and calls, but a later upgrade is much more useful. You’re sent photos of assassination targets, can snap photos of your own to check on any police car computer, and can buy new ringtones and themes from your computer’

Cabs
‘Being able to take cabs everywhere is a huge time-saver. albeit not cheap. The authentic view of the back of the dirver’s head and the city through the window…’

Grumbles (pre-final build):
‘Cover system stumbling in box-filled environments’
‘Slightly over-enthusiastic target lock-on’
‘The occasional pop-up’

Video Games