[REVIEW] GTA IV

From London to Vice City to the grand State of San Andreas, this is Liberty City. Welcome to the land Of Opportunity (and rats).

The first GTA game in the HD universe made an impact. It throws you into a highly detailed Open World right from the get-go. You start off as Niko Bellic, a veteran of an unnamed war in Eastern Europe. He has arrived in Liberty City for an unknown cause (fellow character repeatedly ask about his 'cause', yet they aren't correctly answered. THough later in the game you'll find out, which is the main theme of the game). You're greeted by your cousin Roman Bellic at the harbour, and ride to his home.

Grand Theft Auto IV, graphics wise, was a great game. Though because of optimisation, you'd have needed a great PC to play it at the Max settings. The rag-doll effects of IV were one of the best I've seen, and the car physics and the car damage detail was outstanding. Those tiny scratches and blood splashes really hit me. 

The story of the game follows the life of Niko Bellic and his cousin Roman, before Niko arrived Roman had a nice little Taxi business, but because of Niko, it all went downhill, and some 'angry' folks burned down his house and his business. Which forced them to take revenge, one thing led to another and finally you're both running for your life, from some Russian dude.

The humour is the game is nothing unexpected, GTA games have always had such humour. The open world of the game is nice and detailed. Travelling from one corner to another does feel to empty and boring, you're seeing new things everytime you play. Though the exclusion of flyable planes was a disappointment, helicopters are still present. You can even have a guided tour, by going to the Helicopter Tours.

There are several cars to choose from in GTA IV, though you can not customize them. There aren't to many Kinds of vehicles, either. The motor bikes are a pain to control at high speeds. And the missions which include them are frustrating.

The game does include a fake internet option (available in game), and also includes a cell phone, which can be used to take photo graphs, send and receive calls and texts. Though you can't save these photographs, or even view them.

There were a total of 88 Missions in GTA IV, then there we're a bunch if side missions like delivering cars or helping friends. You could also indulge in a few mini-games, like bowling and darts.

Then there was Multiplayer, GTA IV was the first game in the series to include a built in muliplayer mode. It was the best thing after the you've finished the story. It consists of several 'modes' to choose from (racing , cops 'n robbers , free roam etc). Multiplayer was lag free and fun.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
Memory: 1.5GB

Free Hard Drive Space: 16GB

Video Card: 256MB NVidia 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

DirectX 9 compatible Stereo Sound Card

Keyboard


Mouse

-Recommended-

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
Memory: 2GB (Windows XP) 2.5GB (Windows Vista)

Free Hard Drive Space: 18GB

Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

DirectX 9 compatible Surround Sound Card

Keyboard

Mouse

GTA IV can be heavily modded to to make it look much better than what it originally looked like. The mod shown in the picture above is the Icenhancer Mod.

OVERALL
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GAMEPLAY: 8/10
SOUND: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 7.5/10
OVERALL: 8/10