Product Description

The most anticipated game ever, Grand Theft Auto IV will revolutionize gaming. You play as Niko Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant to Liberty City with a murky, violent past. Hoping to start a new life in a new country, Niko arrives on the docks and is met by his cousin, Roman. Roman’s promises of ready wealth and easy women turn out to be exaggerations and Niko must quickly adjust to a hard life. But this is America, and Niko wants his slice of the American dream. With perseverance and hard work, he just might grab it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #551 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
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Features

• Welcome to Liberty City!A city in which the American Dream still exists at least it does for NikoBellic, freshly arrived from Europe. Accordingto his cousin Roman, everyone can make their fortune here - because in Liberty City, anything's possible. Your missionis to help him escape his past and succeed in his dream in this thrill-packedgame.As the two become embroiled in a world ofdebt, fraud, bandits and a load of other shady dealings, they quickly see thereality of their dreams. In a city whe
• re only money and appearances matter, oneperson's dream can be another person's nightmare! Explore the five neighbourhoods of Liberty City through the same freestylegameplay that has helped make the GTA series so successful! The game features 15 mulitplayer modes for up to 16 players!
• ROCKSTAR GAMES Grand Theft Auto IV XBOX 360 Action XBOX 360
• XBOX 360 Action

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.

First Episode of Downloadable Content for Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned. (Downloadable content that is not included with the actual shipped game) Available exclusively on Xbox LIVE from February 17th 2009.

The Lost and Damned will feature all new content and is the first of two episodes announced for Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360.

Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, The Lost and Damned features a new main character and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles; and a diverse soundtrack with additional music – all with the incredible production values that are the trademarks of Grand Theft Auto.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned requires players to have the full version of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE membership to download.

Customer Reviews

Been there, done that... but there was no T-shirt to buy
Ah, Grand Theft Auto... If you enjoyed riding your bike through GTA:San Andreas, swinging your katana or your chainsaw, going on a rampage with your tank, wasting oodles of money on clothes and stuff, flying a plane, investing or bodybuilding... then stick to GTA:San Andreas. Because all of this has been removed from GTA IV. While graphically it is quite a feast (initially at least, it does rather wear off after some time), and the physics engine has been improved (car damage is now much more diverse; but prepare to spend a lot of time watching your car spin out of control, even when driving at a walking pace), interactivity has taken a huge step backwards. After approximately 40% of the game, I realized I had more money than I could ever spend, even though I had maxed out all my ammunitions reserves (there aren't that many weapons, anyway, and only a bat or knife as melee choices). There are only four clothes shops, two of which are identical. And that's a problem. Sure, there are additional side-missions, like taxi-driving or similar. But since all they get you is more money, but no additional places to spend it, they are rather pointless. Watching TV, strip or comedy shows is no replacement, since they repeat themselves quickly. The included minigames (Darts, Pool, Bowling, and a Tetris-clone) are not good enough (Darts is laughably easy, there's no real way to control the strength of your strike in Pool).
In addition to that, a big flaw of earlier games was not adressed: the targeting system. It still happens that, when surrounded by gun wielding enemies trying to cut me down, I found the auto-targeting system locking onto an innocent bystander running away (even though I wasn't even looking at him). It's also annoying that the auto-target stays and locks on enemies even after they've died, so instead of quickly taking out a room of enemies I frequently found myself battling with the lock-on system more than with my opponents themselves.
But there's online multiplayer! That makes up for everything else, doesn't it?
Not really, since it's quite buggy and laggy. During one match of cops'n'crooks, both teams started as cops (making it unplayable), during a deathmatch with bazookas (should be a blast, right?) I found that the projectiles didn't explode on contact with the ground, but rather progressed into the street and exploded about a second later. And it often happens that enemy players and car skip frames, jumping from one place to another like a bad stop-go-animation, a fatal flaw in a game requiring precision shots and driving. And there are (apparently) no safeguards to prevent unbalanced teams, so if you play turf war, you might suddenly find yourself in a minority, which prevents any real sense of fun.
It's a pity things turned out this way. The characters in this installment are a lot better than the previous games, three-dimensional and more likeable, but the story is too episodic and disjointed. And without any means to personalize the experience (through favourite clothes and weapons), and no way to interact with this huge city (apart from driving over and shooting bystanders. Oh yes, and occasionally buying a hot dog!), the long term motivation is a lot less than the initial size of the game would suggest.

I don't know... I just don't know.
The most eagerly awaited game ever? Well it's certainly up there in the top five, rubbing shoulders with the Master Chief which ever way you cut it.

Does it look amazing? Yes of course it does. More gritty and less cartoonish than it's predecessors, detail aplenty, pop-up and draw-distance problems controlled if not entirely removed, cars that look as good as a racing game, characters that look as good as a third person action game. It's all here.

It looks and feels fantastic, but...

If you've been there since the beginning there is just a tiny nagging feeling that past all the glitz and glamour, beneath all the media hype it isn't really that much of an advancement from GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas.

You see, when GTA III came along it replaced a crude but addictive top-down scroller. It took that world and used the newly minted PS2 to blast it into full 3D, defining that platform and ushering in the era of the sandbox game.

As I stare at GTA IV in 36 inches of HDMI beauty I simply don't feel quite as excited as I did when I hit the streets of Liberty City the first time. There's a tiny voice inside me that keeps saying that all the glowing reviews in the mainstream media are only written because those reviewers weren't there to see how incredible it was when the series first went 3D. Struggling to come to terms with a form of media that they neither understand nor respect, they are only written because they feel they are expected to crow about how great it is.

I try to put my finger on what exactly has disappointed me but it isn't easy. Perhaps it was the fact that Saints Row really made a feature of the car modifying thing, that San Andreas gave you a whole county to explore, perhaps I just like the playlist less this time or perhaps its just one sandbox too many?

Don't get me wrong, this still beats most games by a country mile. The voice acting is beyond reproach, as are the character models, the level design, the cell phone system. In short, it oozes quality from every pore and yet remains a bizarrely muted experience.

Of course you'll buy it. Everyone will. But twenty years from now, will we talk most fondly about this one? Or will it be one of the previous three?

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!
This game is excellent in so many ways and there is just so many things to do. In my eyes, the cars in this one are fantastic and despite what people are saying, the handling is actually fantastic and varies with each car.
What people dont seem to understand is that the cars work on a hierarchy (sort of) which means that if you pick a roughed up car, it wont drive as well (and the steering is a lot worse) whereas a nice car is much better to drive (great steering) just like in real life which I think is a fantastic feature. Furthermore, it makes you feel a lot happier when you end up driving a ferarri or something flashy because you can notice the difference.

I think the main problem people are having with the game is that their ''expectations were high and it didn't live up to the hype'' In my mind, this just doesnt mean anything. I think it surpassed my expectations and the game really is a lot better than San Andreas in so many ways. I reckon that the people who wrote these reviews never really got very far with the game. It was designed to start off slowly and to get a lot more fun as you progressed through the game which I think the blokes at Rockstar pulled off really well. For example, parts of the city open up as you go along and there are more things to do in other parts of the city which makes the game more fun. Also, the missions get a lot better further on in the game too. I happen to have only got about 20% through the game so far and am already starting to notice the difference.

I'd love to say more but I think its worth mentioning lastly that the Xbox live with this game is just too fun for words. I was playing free roam where you can just walk around the city doing whatever you want to BUT WITH 16 OTHER PLAYERS. This is where the game really shines. It just makes the game so much more fun and it takes away the sense of loneliness. Its the sort of thing I dream of in a game and it really does make it ridiculously fun. We went around the city trying to get as many stars as possible-great fun! If you get this game and give it some time, Im certain you wont be disappointed. Thanks for listening.