Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Rockstar Games
• Released on: 2008-04-29
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.co.uk
What does the American Dream mean today?

For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don't.

Beginning with the 1997 release of the original Grand Theft Auto, the GTA series has been one of the most prolific, controversial and down right entertaining franchises in video games history. This pedigree of success guarantees that the highly anticipated eleventh game in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, will garner at least as much attention if not more.

Return to Liberty City.

The dream as Niko expected it. View larger.

There's always a catch. View larger.

But some skills are international. View larger.

The Plot
Grand Theft Auto IV is a brand new adventure in the GTA universe following the experiences of Nikolai "Niko" Bellic, a new immigrant from an undisclosed eastern European country whose troubled pa st and the persuasion of his cousin Roman have brought him to the fictional Liberty City. Unfortunately, Niko's search for the American Dream and a much needed fresh start, hits an immediate snag when the rags to riches story Roman spun to pique Niko's interest is exposed as not only a complete fabrication, but a ploy to enlist Niko's well-known skills as a tough guy against the ample list of enemies clamouring for Roman's debt-ridden blood.

Because Roman is the only person Niko knows in Liberty City he begrudgingly accepts his role as Roman's protector despite the deception. But as time goes on Niko comes into his own, and his experience on the wrong side of the tracks proves more valuable than he could have ever imagined as he fights for survival and later supremacy on the crime ridden streets of Liberty City.

Game Environments
Based on several of the boroughs of New York City and parts of New Jersey, Liberty City, familiar to players of previous games in the series, has been entirely redesigned for GTA IV. Players can expect visible detail down to the weeds growing in the cracks in the sidewalk, cars and buildings of visibly different ages and a much greater level if verticality in the buildings and bridges that they are able to explore as Niko moves through the city streets. In addition, pedestrians in GTA IV are much more realistic. No longer simply moving cardboard cut-outs, these NPCs are intelligent, modern, human representations that laugh, cry, eat, drink, use cell phones and ATMs, and talking amongst themselves regardless of Niko's interaction with them.

Gameplay
Historically GTA games have focused heavily on mission-based play, requiring successful completion of fixed tasks in order for players to progress through the game, but this has changed to a great extent in GTA IV. Players will experience an entirely new and exciting emphasis centred on the blending of on-mission and off-mission play, resulting not only in an increased sense of realism, but more interesting and unrestricted gameplay.

Features
Aside from the car jacking and a detailed city environment here are the new features for GTA IV:

• Improved combat system - Now you can use cover and also a target lock system, which allows you to take out targets with greater ease and accuracy. Plus, you can engage in some hand-to-hand combat if you can't get your hands on a piece quick enough.
• Cell phone - Not just for basic phone calls anymore. Use your in-game cell phone to receive missions via SMS, snap photos, and ZiT (tag) songs that can be downloaded exclusively on Amazon.com/mp3.
• Free time - In between missions you can take advantage of "me" time. There are gentleman's clubs, comedy clubs, bowling alleys, and bars, which all house unique activities.
• Take a break from the storyline - A variety of side missions allow you to help run a car service, "borrow" cop cars, assassinate targets, help solve problems for those on the street, or take to the air with stunt jumps that are scattered all over the city.
• Control your own fate - Throughout the game choice moments will arrive causing you to make a decision that will affect relationships and money.

Multiplayer
Give Niko a rest and create your own multiplayer "hero." GTA has added multiplayer modes allowing you to take your creation out to play online in competitive, co-op, and free form modes. Competitive mode has you fighting against the cops, jacking cars, or racing to finish odd jobs. Co-op challenges you and your friends with various tasks including Hangman's NOOSE where you are responsible for escorting a wanted kingpin to a safe extraction point. Freeform lets you and 15 others lose on Liberty City. Use this mode to hit up the bar and play virtual darts versus each other or head out to the streets and set up your own drag races. If you can dream it, you can do it in Freeform mode.

Customer Reviews

Excellent...while it lasted
I got GTAIV as soon as it came out and played it as much as I could in between work and university. It wasn't the best time to release a game right in the middle of coursework deadlines but still I made time for it.

I enjoyed the game and loved every minute playing it, I decided to play the story through and did so, in 11 days I completed the game 100% and loved it. The movement of the characters is spectacular, there would be moments of opened mouth amazement, for example the first time I crashed a car and went through the window, it is realistic and I liked that. if you drive a rubbish car the handling and speed will be rubbish, however if you drive a brilliant car then it will be brilliant.

However, I gave the game 5 stars for fun as it is but 4 stars overall because after I had completed the game I found myself moving back onto COD4. The online function on GTAIV for the 360 is a real joke, I was only able to connect twice and on those occasions I died almost instantly as I hadn't got a clue what to do. I then thought well so what I can still play around on the game itself but because the police are so stupidly strict I couldn't really have any fun unless I wanted to be arrested every two minutes so I moved back onto COD4 online.

Overall the gameplay is incredible, the game is incredible and online it is poor.

Not as good as some people would have you believe....
I love groundbreaking games. You know, the sort of games that are fresh and succeed into making the audience love it. GTA 4 tries to do this, to be a groundbreaking game, it's clear from the start. But have they succeeded? The answer to that is 'meh'.

Ok firstly, I'll have to mention the fantastic scripting on offer in this game. It includes probably the most clever dialog ever in a video game, as well as that, the plot is intriguing and rather gripping and it's filled with countless memorable characters. As well as that there's more swearing in this than in Gordon Ramsay's house. I think my favorite moment in GTA is when, Niko Bellic (the illegal immigrant you play as)visits his friend Patrick McReary to get a job. Patrick tells Niko the job and says:

"Now are you going to do this job, or are we going to have to kill you?"

Niko replies:

"Well, since you put it that way...."

There are plenty of smart moments in the game like this that just manage to put a grin on your face. Now enough about the fantastic scripting, how is the actual game? The quality of the game is split in two. Every aspect of the game has a good side and a downside. The gameplay has been much improved since the previous GTA games. taking cover helps, and so does the auto aim feature, but these new features haven't been polished enough to be called amazing. You see, taking cover, although very handy it might be, doesn't stop some enemies you haven't spotted from easily circling around behind you and killing you almost immediately. It's a shame really because it actually fits into the game well. As for the auto aim feature, it's much better than taking your time to aim at the enemies, but once again comes a downside, sometimes you want to aim at another guy but you can't because the auto aim feature doesn't always let you. Which kinda sucks.

As for the driving, it's also improved, but because the games taken a more realistic turn, some annoying things can happen. Say if you slam into a wall or a lampost for some reason and it happens a lot, you begin flying out of your vehicle and lose a lot of your health. It's very annoying when you're in the middle of being in a chase in a mission because if it happens once, you might as well give up because by the time you try and get another vehicle to continue the chase, the guy your chasing's already escaped. It's the most frustrating thing in any game that's ever existed.

And that leads me to the mission structure. It's poor. The fact is, the difficulty curve is unbelievable. Now I'm probably what people call a veteran gamer. I'm usually very good at playing games. And to be honest, I'm pretty damn good at GTA 4. The problem is, missions can sometimes be too easy, or way way too hard. Or sometimes it can be even worse and start relatively easy and then suddenly just attack you on an unbearable difficulty level when you least expect it. This is probably the most disappointing aspect of the game. But there are still plenty more to mention.

The friends system is unnecessary. It's boring, it's not very rewarding and it doesn't improve the already great character development. It's not essential to do it but it's just a stupid idea. You know, crime lords can still have a good time going bowling!!

I've been moaning too much about GTA 4's downsides but the truth is, it IS fatally flawed. That's the same with the graphics. Now, the graphics have lovely cinematic effects to them, but the textures are god awful. Some of the textures look as if Rockstar games copied and pasted some of the textures from Baldur's gate into GTA 4. Although lip sync is good, I can't say that the character models are very impressive. And the cutscenes can range from good to bad. Some animations seem very stiff, not that it takes away the enjoyment of the fantastic plot. As well as that, no matter what camera perspective you use, it's always slow and annoying to try and rotate the camera.

So after all my whining are there any other great features to GTA 4? Yeah, a couple. Multiplayer is good and has a wide variety of games. The problem with the cover system I mentioned before has been removed here because instead of having annoying AI circling around to kill you from the back, it seems that for some strange reason, it doesn't happen in multiplayer which is great. And having the whole map of Liberty City to explore with your friends is a great option. Only trouble is, my friends hate GTA 4 and prefer to go on COD, so I can't really ever see GTA's multiplayer to it's full potential. But of what I've seen, it's good.

Some of the critics reviews have been ridiculous for this game. IGN gave it a 10/10 and probably made the worst review I have EVER seen.
I might be too generous giving GTA 4 four stars, but then again it's obvious a lot of effort has been made into making this game possible. And the scripting alone deserves 4 stars anyway.

GTA 4 is art, but it's the art that's good, not the game.

A little word for the decrying fanboys.
I was at first a bit sceptical about getting this game. A lot of reviewers claimed that it was less addictive than the previous games, that the driving was terrible and the story slow. I can now quite cheerfully throw those misconceptions out of the window.
I have been playing it for about three days averaging a few hours each day and I am still not even 25% of the way through it. It is just huge there is no other way of putting it. The sheer detail that Rockstar have put into this game is staggering. From being able to look at your cash balance on ATM's to using binoculars on the beachfront you will constantly find reasons to just say 'wow'.
A fair few people claimed that this installment just wasn't as fun as the others and having owned or played nearly all the GTA games I am in a position to judge and the key word that all the critics are failing to take into account is Realism. Yes realism, that little thing that means you can't walk onto an army base and steal a tank or stand in a huge crossfire with your health very slowly decreasing or just take a jet from an airbase and fly off in it.
I love realism. The way I can see the bullet holes in the side of my car and the beautiful, living city you are immersed in. If you want ridiculous scenarios and over the top gameplay then buy San Andreas. If you want one of the most gripping and enthralling games you will ever play then buy this.
The driving is actually quite easy to handle. There is a noticeable difference in handling between vehicles and when you get used to it then it becomes really enjoyable. The gunplay is a bit stiff and the auto-targeting has an annoying habit of locking onto civilians in the middle of a shootout, there is a decent selection of guns to choose from and they all have their strengths an weaknesses.
I've played a few online matches and they were surprisingly fun. The character editor was pretty basic but the sheer joy of driving a sports car down a main street with bullets pinging off the sides and an SMG poking out of the window is unparalled.
The story is admittedly a bit slow starting but that is deceptive. Even as I write this I just took part in a huge shootout in a construction yard so make no mistake. The action does heat up.
Overall, you really should buy this game because nothing else can quite match up to it and it is a decision you will not regret.