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: #36 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Rockstar Games
• Released on: 2008-04-29
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.65 pounds

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

PS3? BUY IT!
Gta is fantastic ride around in boats cars choppers and walk throgh a massive detailed new york city wich in the game is called liberty city, you can visit statue of liberty ride around the empire state building or blow someones head of with your combat shotgun, gta is positivley the best game ever and is worth buying for any console.

Best in the gta series and graphics and realism have been taken to the next level uses the physics engine and cell processer tirelessley, while mentaining complete glitch free gameplay.

There are much more missions than in the past, and the drama between characters is amazing the cars now have suspension when you go up curbes or stop the car, and now it's more realistic and harder the way you turn corns.

Online wow wow but the ps3 has glitches like car jumping or floating and is especially irratating when you run over someoe and turns out you didn't run over them at all, also there's problems like diconnection from other players or signing out of psn, and for that I would recommend XBOX, but don't take like a big problem it's very small, sometimes doesn't even happen so buy ps3 version for actual better graphics but purchase XBOX for downloadable content and best online connection and with all the hold backs and delays I expected it to be much better and some veichles have been taken out including the plane all thanks to microsoft telling them it couldn't handle the graphics.

If you have a PS3 or XBOX! There's also a guide book a bundle with PS3 and a special edition one with art and music ect.

GTA 4. The latest GTA in the series. Does it improve the series or not?
You will inevitably be drawn in by this game whether you are a die hard fan of the GTA games or not. I have played the 3 major GTA releases (GTA 3, VC and SA) and there is one thing that struck me the most as I played through them: content progression. As each game is released, it brings out new content by the bucketload - VC included bikes and planes, which number 3 didnt have. SA included hilarious additions such as mini games (pool), rpg elements and ways to customise your character. The GTA series is effectively a ladder, constantly climbing up to the golden roof of gaming heaven, but I believe that GTA 4 is a step down, let me explain why.

The very first thing that will strike you upon entering Liberity City for the second time is how incredible it looks. Sure, distant structures look cloudy and textures can look foggy, but this is a major step forward for the otherwise ageing GTA engine. Word of warning: The night time in this game is VERY dark to enhance the realism. Although this looks nice and fancy I will explain its drawback later on.
Niko Belic has a past! Yes, in the other GTA games you can consider your character to be a blank slate, looking to build up a reputation. In GTA 4 you have a dirty slate which isn't hidden from you, the gamer, which you must work hard to clean. It brings over a slightly more compassionate bond between you and Niko. However the story isn't fully developed enough, and some elements just seem to be thrown in to make it sound more plausible.
You may think that the game sounds good right? Well now its time to take a much more cynical view of it.

If you played GTA: San Andreas and utterly loved it, like I did, and played it endlessly until completion. And played it again, you may be dissapointed by number 4. You see, I made reference to the series as a step ladder to greatness BECAUSE of the constant content additions, GTA 4 falls over itself because so much of what made the series what it is, isn't there anymore. Pay n sprays are rare! As one mission giver wants you to constantly get him cars and the price he gives you drops if its condition is bad, you will find yourself making ludicrous trips across the map to get to that one pay n spray, and then back to the mission giver.
Same story with Ammunatio.....oops sorry, it isn't called Ammunation anymore, now its an underground guns dealer in a tiny room in some dark alley. Prices there are high, and guns dont come in stock until much later in the game. This will remove your option of even paying him a visit at all, because you get plenty of guns through missions anyway.

Time to get harsh. Mission running is what has made the GTA games so incredible. The climactic build up of mission importance and your rewards spurs you on as you build your very own empire (SA nailed this perfectly I reckon). However, GTA 4 has you running silly errands for someone else, without expanding your own power. Content at the end of the game is on the low side. This is undoubtedly because there is so much less to do! No hair dressers, no mod shops for your cars, no race events. Clothing shops have such a limited array of clothing, and most of it looks crap. Reminds me of going to Primark.
The missions themselves remind me of World of Warcraft, as they are effectively grinding missions requiring you to go to the mission site, find bloke, kill bloke, chase other bloke down in car, chase half way across map, kill bloke, drive all the way back to the mission giver. The shooting system isnt much good either, as you lock on to your targets and you just have to spam the button as he stands there in the open. The cover system isn't great, and this sucks as the AI can be brutally accurate at times.
Remember what I said about nights being dark? Well this is where it becomes an utter pain. If you have the severe misfortune of ending up doing a mission in the dark, then you literally cannot see a thing. I failed some missions a bunch of times because my target got away because I couldn't find the damn door. You could turn the brightness settings all the way up, but once it becomes light again, you have to tune them back down. It becomes a mission of repetitiveness.

Overall I would score this game on a percentage of 80%. It does take some previous areas of the other GTA games and improves on them hugely (graphics being the main one). However it does take a LOT out too and it makes you wonder...what really is a GTA game? They are meant to be about smashing people up and going hilarious missions! GTA 4's more realistic and serious take now requires a far more patient approach to things, and therefore I no longer classify it as a GTA game, more like True Crime: Streets of LA, on the dark side.

Drive and Shoot
Drive.

Shoot.

Drive and shoot.

That's the game. Nice graphics, good characters. Boring and repetitive game play. Press hyped it for money.