I got about 3 hours in last night. My thoughts:
There's nothing better than being able to get away from the big city. One of the first things I did was drive north as far as the road would take me to get a feel of the size of the map. I like that undiscovered are remains hidden from the pause menu map. What a beautiful and varied sandbox they gave us to play in!
One thing that bothered me in GTA4 is that Niko seems somewhat of a sympathetic character, not the type of sociopath who would plow through some pedestrians (unlike Tommy Vercetti, he fits the bill). Well, that accidentally happened quite early in the game thanks to the handling and from then on it felt like my actions in the game weren't fitting for the character of Niko. In this game, I have not once hit a pedestrian yet since I have had better control of these vehicles right from the start. With this control, I feel like I have better control of the character I want to be, if that makes sense.
I found an interesting glitch. When you first come to Michael's house as Michael, apparently you are meant to enter through the front door to trigger a cut scene. Well, I just parked in the garage and entered the house from the door in there. Inside, Michael's wife was standing in the corner of the kitchen, on the kitchen counter, and with a bottle sticking through her hand. His daughter stood on the living room couch. Neither could be interacted with. When I tried to leave through the front door, the cutscene triggered and presumably all is well.
I look forward to getting another 3 hours in tonight.
