There are also missions that are entirely optional: hit missions, package delivery missions, race, and grand theft auto missions. I found the hit missions the most fun; they stripped all the encumbering layers away. You simply go and assassinate a target; you do not have to deal with the rest of the rigmarole you do in story missions. The other optional missions I did not enjoy as much, but some might. The package delivery missions and car-stealing missions felt too much like chores. The races would have been fine if they were not so long.

Liberty City is a stunning re-creation of New York City. The sheer size and amount of variety in architecture is something never seen before in game rendering of the Big Apple.  The amount of detail in the buildings, parks, people, and objects is amazing. Liberty City has approximations of New York’s Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, and Statue of Liberty that are instantly recognizable. People wander the street acting like real people and there is a massive amount of them. You do not often see a background character that looks or sounds exactly like one you have seen before. The character models are very good; they are realistic with just some slight stylistic touches.  

The voice acting also helps make the game feel more like the real world. The cast list for this game is immense, there is easily over 100 speaking parts in the game. Very few of them are done by an actor who does another voice in the game.

The soundtrack I found incredibly weak. There are a number of radio stations, but each station only has about five songs on it. They are mostly good songs, but still a small amount.

Another way the game reflects America is through media parodies. The radio stations, TV stations, billboards, and a fake internet are all comments on American entertainment. The parodies are stupid; they writers clearly think they are cleverer than they actually are. America’s Next Top Model is parodied by a show called America’s Next Top Hooker. Elsewhere American liberals and conservatives are parodied by having outrageous talk shows. For examples there is the Weazel news service whose slogan is “It’s not news, its propaganda”. Satire is not funny when it is completely outrageous, it is funny when it just a notch above the truth. The game’s developers just do not get that. It is a shame they made this cartoony version of American life, because it totally clashes with their gritty story of Niko.

After finishing the game, there is some replay value. There are multiple online modes that I cannot really discuss, because I did not play much of them. I will say that during my short experience I managed to find all the jerks on Xbox Live at once. You can also try to complete 100 percent of the game. This requires finishing all the optional missions and meeting all the characters. If you liked the regular game missions you will probably enjoy doing that. You could also go back and replay the main story and make different choices and see how they affect the story.