Well, we reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV on Saturday and it was given a perfect 10, the first 10 since we started V3 ages ago in January.
But if you have a PS3 and Xbox 360 and dont have the game (Why the hell not!!!???), which verison should you get? The Playstation 3 verison or the Xbox 360 verison?
The bombs are about to drop, fanboys and Xbots, this one aint for you.
We’re going to try and deal with a normal comparison, not the high spec one that, as of writing this, Eurogamer has just released (You can see that here), just a normal opinion of things…including…the boxart…yes…the boxarts are getting compared as well…
Lets go, shall we?
Boxarts:
- Front boxart the same bar the size of the boxes (PS3 is smaller)
- On the side of the boxart on the PS3 verison, there is no Rockstar logo while the development code is there (BLES 00229 meaning it is the 229th game to have gone gold and been released
- While the description for the game is the same for both verisons, there are different screens for the back of each cover.
Playstation 3
Xbox 360
The special editions of the game features 2 different characters on the boxes of the special edition. For the Xbox 360 verison, it’s Niko and for the Playstation 3 verison, its lollypop girl.
Gameplay:
- While we haven’t noticed a massive gameplay feature in the Xbox 360 verison, the Playstation 3 verison has motion sensitive gameplay via the motion sensors on the SIXAXIS.
- Both control options for the PS3 and 360 handle well but to be honest, the PS3 controls handle better. But if you are umcomfortable with the default controls, you get 2 control options, the Standard (Default) and Classic.
- Otherwise, both verisons are the same on gameplay and story until August at least when Grand Theft Auto IV: Episode One appears on Xbox Live Marketplace but at PS Day, David Reeves said that DLC for the PS Store is very likely.
Graphics:
- Both verisons of Grand Theft Auto IV on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 run on 30FPS (Frames Per Second)
- Both games are HD but the 360 has true HD of uip to 720P but can be upscaled to 1080P while the Playstation 3 verison can only run at 630P but there are solutions around the internet which enable you to run it at 1080P.
- Otherwise, both verisons are the same except minor differences. However, on personal opinion, I find the graphics on the Playstation 3 verisons to be alot better then Xbox 360 verison (Thats not to say the 360 verison is shit looking, it ain’t. Just personal preference)
Misc:
On the TV in the safehouses, all programs and advertisements are the same in the game for both verisons. However, there are different views for it. While both verisons have 2 views, one from far away and one in which you can see Niko, the PS3 verison has an extra view, a full screen. The 360 verison does not have this, most likely due to size limit’s on the DVD-9.
- The PS3 verison has more of a widescreen feeling to it then the Xbox 360 verison.
- Both verisons in the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have different variations of how we see cutscenes. The PS3 verison has black borders while the 360 verison has full wide screen in the cutscenes as shown below in the introduction of the game.
Xbox 360
- For your phones, your answer and reject buttons are color coded to each verison’s controller. Green and Red (A & B) for the Xbox 360 and Blue and Red (X & O) for the Playstation 3.
- Both verisons of the game were promised to have radio stations play off your phone as well as custom soundtracks for the 360 verison but neither made it into the game. But the Xbox guide does allow you to play music off it so you can, in a way, play custom soundstrakcs on the Xbox 360 verison.
Pros & Cons – Playstation 3
+ SIXAXIS is featured
+ Controls hand better
+ The graphics are, in our opinion, better the Xbox 360′s
- No In-Game XMB means no custom soundtrack
- Lack of DLC (for now)
- Only runs at 630P instead of 720P unlike the 360 which naturally runs at 720P.
Pros & Cons – Xbox 360
+ 2 new episodes worth of DLC coming this August
+ No In-Game soundtrack from 360 but there is the Xbox Guide
+ Runs at 720P, unlike the PS3 verison, with upscaling to 1080P
- Controls ain’t as good as PS3′s
- DVD-9 limits a fair bit
- In comparison, the graphics ain’t as good as the Playstation 3 verison.
Final Thoughts:
Simply, put it this way. If you want a good looking game at 720Pm are very interested in DLC (2 upcoming episodes starting August 2008) and, in a way, like your own music via the guide, the Xbox 360 verison is for you.
But if you dont really care for all that just want a great game to play with as well as a good control system in the SIXAXIS, the PS3 verison is for you.
Other then all that, there really is quite literally nothing to tell them apart. Rockstar said they’d be the same game, like Infinity Ward did with both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 verison’s of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and they’d be right, it is indeed the same game.
Winner: Nobody. It’s a draw. Ask again come August when Grand Theft Auto IV: Episode One comes out.
