Grand Theft Auto IV Review

Over the past week I’ve been playing GTAIV and I’ve gotta say, as someone who hasn’t ever bought a GTA(though I rented Vice City repeatedly) I think it’s the best GTA yet. It’s got some fairly large differences from the past games such as cars which handle more realistically, but once you get used to them they really do make the game more immersive. It seems fairly minor, but most cars handling like real cars rather than expertly tuned sports cars does make the game better. The plot is also the best yet, though it’s more serious than any of the past plots. That’s not to say the classic GTA humor is gone, because it’s not. There’s still the Get-A-Life building(parody of the Metlife building), parodies of talk radio, etc.

I also have to commend Rockstar for not backing away from the controversial aspects of the game. MADD(Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has already attacked the game, saying that it glamorizes drunk driving(which is ludicrous since it becomes nearly impossible to drive when you’re drunk in GTAIV.) I’m also 99% sure that we’ll see Senators Clinton and Lieberman as well as many other people who know nothing about the game other than a series of talking points renew their crusade against GTA when they learn that you can see vague simulations of sex when you pick up a prostitute(as opposed to the car simply bouncing up and down.) Of course, hopefully cooler minds who understand that a game explicitly labeled for people who are 18 and older isn’t a game for kids.

Obama scolds Clinton over saber-rattling and gas

Today on Meet the Press with Tim Russert, Sen. Obama pointed out the danger in Senator Clinton’s aggressive Bushian language towards Iran:

“It’s not the language we need right now, and I think it’s language reflective of George Bush. Senator Clinton during the course of the campaign has said we shouldn’t speculate about Iran, we’ve got to be cautious when we’re running for president, she scolded me on a couple of occasions on this issue, yet a few days before an election, she’s willing to use that language.”

However, Senator Clinton defended her saber-rattling when George Stephanopoulos, former Clinton employee asked her about it:

“Why would I have any regrets? I’m asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally … and, yes, we would have massive retaliation against Iran,” Clinton said. “I don’t think they will do that, but I sure want to make it abundantly clear to them that they would face a tremendous cost if they did such a thing.”

The debate however also turned domestic and focused on Clinton “Gas Tax Holiday.” Obama released an ad
which calls Clinton a political opportunist:

More low-road attacks from Hillary Clinton. Now she’s pushing a bogus gas-tax gimmick. Experts say it’ll just boost oil industry profits, Clinton aides admit it won’t do much for you – but would help her politically.”

Senator Clinton of course denied that she is going to help the oil industry like Senator McCain’s plan will:

“Senator McCain has said take off the gas tax, don’t pay for it, throw us further into deficit and debt. That is not what I’ve proposed,”

She continued to explain her plan to use the windfall profits tax to pay for the holiday, though of course this is the 2nd thing she has said she’d pay for using the windfall profits tax. Economists support Obama’s claim that it wouldn’t really help your average consumer which left Senator Clinton coming up short when she was asked to name an economist who supported her plan:

“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists because I know if we did it right … it would be implemented effectively,”

Obama wins Guam

Sen. Obama has broken Clinton’s winning streak in the wake of Rev. Wright by winning the nominating caucuses in the US territory of Guam. However, Sen. Obama’s campaign must be taken aback by the fact that he only won by a small margin in the format that they usually do better in as Senator Obama only won by 7 votes. The delegate Guam also has 5 Superdelegates. One is for Obama, one is for Clinton, and the two other have yet to declare. Obama’s victory seems fairly surprising though when one considers that Sen. Clinton has pledged to fight to give Guamanians the ability to vote in Presidential elections. Guam’s day in the sun will be overshadowed quickly by the more significant primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.