[A SpecialFriend]

At about 12:36am EST time I arrived back at my house with the package, and promptly put the disc into my X-Box. Excited like a little boy on Christmas morning, I knew I was in for some fun. To my somewhat surprise, the game loaded up instantly with no menu and just thrust me right into the story mode. So far, so good.

I played a few missions, all of which seemed easy enough, however, my main concern was the multiplayer, I just couldn't find anyone to play with, until I got a Game Invite from Wiseguy. Within 10 seconds I was in the land of multiplayer with Wiseguy and one of his buddies. My Cell Phone rang. (In the game) The caller ID showed Wiseguy. I was kind of confused but hit "A" any way, and actually answered, "Hello?" It was indeed Wiseguy! Calling me from the other side of the map. How cool is that?! Apparently, you can call anyone of the players in the game, just for fun or maybe to stratigize. Neat stuff.

Anyway, the multiplayer was a blast. Although we couldn't figure out how to customize our characters quite yet, and Wiseguy ended up being female. We only had about 4 or 5 guys in the room just running around free roam, but still, it was a lot of fun. I noticed really no lag whatsoever and the framerate seemed okay. Weapons are all in the form of Old School Pickups, at least in the mode we played, and are all marked on your map, along with armor. I played well over 3 1/2 hours last night and had ZERO issues unlike a few reports so far. The controls seem easy enough to understand, but I did have to refer to the manual a few times to figure some things out.

Driving. Hmm. Driving. Not the best part of the game. In my opinion it seems pretty difficult. The cars do not corner as well as in previous GTA's and the handling I feel could use a little tweaking, but the physics are great! Wait until you hit that first corner of a wall and your car spins out like it really would if you hit the corner of the wall at that angle! Good stuff.

One thing that bothers me just a little bit, and I know it's petty, is the way that Niko leans right or left depending on which way you turn him. It's almost like he's walking on a tightrope and it bothers me. Again, that may just be me.

Multiplayer is going to bring a lot of good times, especially if we get a room filled up, and some of the minor things I mentioned will be nothing to worry about.

Right now, I wouldn't give it a 10 out of 10, but it's close, and I'm sure once we get this thing rollin' and we start to get some rooms filled up, it will be something we will be playing for quite some time.