Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22 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

A masterpiece in hype
Choppy framerates and boring missions. still full of the annoying "quirks" that have plagued previous incarnations, such as awkward aiming.
an average, over-hyped game.

Nothing special
Oh dear, this game sports a dissapointing framerate, uninspiring visuals and a distinct lack of originality. The amount of fun features has been cut down from san andreas and the violence has been toned down; the blood looks like grey paint. Dissapointing.

Different, but better
Now, you may agree or disagree with my title but for me it was a better game. There were just certain things which made it feel like a much more solid product than the other GTAs. I remember when I played the 1st GTA, it was quite fun though it never felt like a very grown up game, this one feels like it's more for the guys rather than the boys.

Graphics: It's not hard to see that this is the best looking Grand Theft Auto title produced, everything looks more solid than any of the others and the bullet holes and scrapes on the cars helps to make them look more real.

Story: Another strong point of GTAIV, the story has a more gritty feel to it as such and (I don't think I need to explain it since it has been already several times) yet again feels more like a real story rather than the more fictional ones of the past, though it does present the game with a problem.

Gameplay: For me, my idea of fun in a game wasn't racing around in a ambulance or a taxi, it was more about the more basic things such as how the cars handled and how combat was. It's good and bad news on this front. Get a decent car and the handling is pretty good (In the beginning it is a problem but it is easier to get use to I found) but it can be annoying at the start and some of the car chases are annoying later on. The combat has too been improved quite a bit though still isn't trouble free, I found hand to hand combat more awkward this time so never really bothered with it and the lock on sometimes doesn't do what it should.

Audio: The music is good with a large variety of styles for all different tastes, however I got quite fed up of it as the radio stations seem to be shorter than they use to be. The voice casting is really good and does help the story to be one of it's strongest points.

Lifespan: Now, this is probably GTAIV's main problem. Extra chapters will be available sometime in 2009 however could I see myself keeping this game for that long? Probably not, since there isn't much else to do other than the story and get more money which you really don't need, and money is what proves a weakness in the story. I find it hard to see Niko as a poor, Russian immigrant who kills people as he has no other options when he has $500,000 in his bank account. I think having large amounts of money to go missing from it would help to make the story more believeable since he claims Roman gambles it all away and this would help to make you more careful with what weapons you buy with your money.

Also, making it so that you can put 9mm bullets into a Desert Eagle means there is no reason to be careful with ammo and no reason to buy it, it is quite an old problem with the GTA series but it would help to flesh out the combat a bit more than just being able to blind fire with a Desert Eagle for ages.

All in all, a good game though to an extent a disappointing one. It can be difficult to get into, but it can be worth it if you stick it out, it's just a shame that it's lost out on part of it's soul (the ambulance and taxi missions weren't exactly my favorite missions, though I appreciated why they were there) as it could have appealed to the boys and the guys/men. Would I suggest buying it? Possibly not, maybe a rental then buy it if you really like it.