Daily Mail gives GTA IV top marks

British "newspaper" the Daily Mail - famed for the now-removed Anne Diamond anti-games review piece - has awarded GTA IV a five-out-of-five score.

"Whether you believe that this represents a new low in sick and corrupting entertainment or is simply the finest game ever seen, you will find plenty here to support your case," said reviewer James O'Brien.

"Critics had feared that Grand Theft Auto IV would be a sickening glorification of gangland savagery. Yet if anything, that turns out to be an understatement.

"Prostitution, drug-dealing, criminality and breath-taking levels of casual violence do not so much punctuate the action as constitute almost every second of it.

"The knifing of one GTA enthusiast, queueing up to buy his copy this week, has only reinforced the belief that such games are a deeply malign influence on society.

"There's no denying, however, that this latest version of the Grand Theft franchise is a phenomenal technological and creative achievement that is set to generate more money for its British designers than any Hollywood release in years."

Full thing through the link.