I had some extra cash this week so I decided to give this game a try. I had low expectations (after playing one terrible GTA clone after another) and assumed that this game wouldn't come close to Grand Theft Auto 4.
Without spoiling anything for anyone, I have to agree that this game doesn't even come close to GTA4...... it's way better! In fact, this is what GTA 4 SHOULD have been, with over-the-top violence, a wide variety of diversions and some absolutely hilarious missions, this is by far my favourite PS3 game. I'm only about a quarter of the way through but this may well be an A+ title for me.
The graphics and sounds aren't going to win any awards, but the developers remembered what Rockstar forgot: we play games for some good mindless fun, not reading emails and other everyday things. I highly recommend this game as a sequel to GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas.