A look into this month's blockbuster hit Grand Theft Auto IV, and it's direct adversaries.

The Grand Theft Auto Effect

There is no way to be fair about this. With only a few titles released this month, the staff, like a jury after 5 minutes of deliberation, had their answer immediately but respected the other month's releases. As if anyone couldn't guess, Grand Theft Auto IV makes our Game of the Month.

Grand Theft Auto, a series adored by gamers, hated by politicians, cheered on by underage youths leading them to being grounded by their parents...has finally outdid itself. Since GTA3's release back in late 2001, the series has grown formidably, changing with each new title.

However, this isn't a history recap, nor is it a review (which will be posted as soon as we can get off our couches and write it). This is a list of reasons why it made GotM.

Honorary Mentionables

Let's begin with the month's releases that are worth mention. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (also to be reviewed shortly) came out exclusively on the PlayStation 3 and is the first full-fledged Blu-ray title to play at 1080p natively. It features over 50 cars on over a dozen tracks that, without going into great detail, didn't last. It pales in comparison to GT4, which sported cars in triple digits and nearly every single racetrack on the planet. When developer Polyphony Digital gave it the name Prologue, they meant it.

For non-US gamers, this shouldn't come as a surprise. GT4 also had a "Prologue" title released in Asia and Europe which was similar in featuring few vehicles and maps, but showing off what the full title would be capable of. Indeed, GT5P is more than a taste and has certainly wet our appetite for racing, but it simply is not enough. Lacking many things such as online play with friends, full options for vehicle upgrades/changes and a short, short single-player mode, it's hardly a full game at all.

The only other game that we considered, was Mario Kart Wii, which has certainly found itself in the hearts of some of the staff members here at GWN. Featuring the cartoon-ish racing we've all come to love from the original Mario Kart, not much has changed.

Nintendo's love affair with stealing our money (and us handing it over so generously) has made us less than pleased though. With each Wii Wheel costing $10, playing the game as it was meant will cost you and three friends $80 (one "Wiil" comes with the game, a sort of insurance policy that you'll buy three more).

Satisfied that our wallets were lighter than expected, the online multiplayer was again a disappointment, mostly due to the Wii's utter failure in that department. The gameplay isn't revolutionary and in fact is nearly identical to the original, but it is plenty of fun with friends.

Finally, though it wasn't actually released this month, we gave a very short mention of Crisis Core, the prologue to Final Fantasy VII released at the very end of March. That was a mistake and we deeply regret having not discussed it more, since it has been a fantastic title. With its story intertwined with FF7's, any fan of the game will be overjoyed to see their favorite characters once again, in younger form, as well as learning the mysterious past that was last mentioned ten years ago in FF7.

If you haven't played FF7, it isn’t a big deal; Crisis Core plays excellently as a stand-alone title. Some things might be confusing at first, but in time all questions are answered, all plot points leading somewhere and more supposed endings than you can possibly imagine. We recognized that God of War: Chains of Olympus was the runner up for Game of the Month, though we question which is the better game. Crisis Core, which while not as epic an adventure as CoO, fits the PSP's gaming style much better with a long campaign, multiple difficulty levels, hundreds of missions and lots of playtime.