Grand Theft Auto IV

 PC
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3664 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,227 out of 3664
  2. Mixed: 760 out of 3664
  3. Negative: 677 out of 3664
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  1. TimJ
    Sep 6, 2009
    4
    Ok. This is a major step in the GTA series. The graphics are amazing and the storyline is actually quite good. The missions are fun, and randomly blowing up stuff around liberty city is amazing.

    But there's a HUGE downside. Optimization, very demanding on your system, not that enjoyable unless you have a new and expensive computer. You have to have a top-of-the-range computer to    Ok. This is a major step in the GTA series. The graphics are amazing and the storyline is actually quite good. The missions are fun, and randomly blowing up stuff around liberty city is amazing.

    But there's a HUGE downside. Optimization, very demanding on your system, not that enjoyable unless you have a new and expensive computer.

    You have to have a top-of-the-range computer to be able to run this game properly. When running it on medium to low settings, it looks like you're running GTA san andreas with slightly improved graphics. This game just has to have high settings to be played properly (IMO.) Rockstar rushed this, and just forgot about making it playable for people who don't have an Intel Core i7 and a 4870 X2    … Expand
  2. GooneyBird
    Dec 10, 2008
    4
    If not for bugs this rating would be a 9. Poor performance on PCs, even when the machine outclasses any of the console systems the game was released on by orders of magnitude. Graphics glitches abound, you can drive mere minutes before the whole city disappears and you are floating a meter or two over the bottom landscape. Textures totally disappear frequently, happens both on foot or in If not for bugs this rating would be a 9. Poor performance on PCs, even when the machine outclasses any of the console systems the game was released on by orders of magnitude. Graphics glitches abound, you can drive mere minutes before the whole city disappears and you are floating a meter or two over the bottom landscape. Textures totally disappear frequently, happens both on foot or in a vehicle. This game was NOT READY for PC release. Stupid me for pre-ordering. Other than that I love what I've been able to play of the game so far, but quite frankly the graphics glitches make the game unplayable. -Gooney… Expand
  3. SergeyRubin
    Dec 6, 2008
    4
    Game is quite ok...

    If you don't count amount of useless, not needed stuff you have to install (Microsoft Live, Rockstar Social Club <--WTF?, DRM Securom), awefull performance on top end PC, bugs and other signs of awesome console port. Great job Rockstar. Good to see that your earned millions helped to make such a wondefull game. Too bad I can't get my money back and    Game is quite ok...

    If you don't count amount of useless, not needed stuff you have to install (Microsoft Live, Rockstar Social Club <--WTF?, DRM Securom), awefull performance on top end PC, bugs and other signs of awesome console port. Great job Rockstar.

    Good to see that your earned millions helped to make such a wondefull game.

    Too bad I can't get my money back and wait for proper release.

    And too bad times, when picking folder where to install game was only thing required from user during installation, are gone.    … Expand
  4. WarrenJ
    Dec 6, 2008
    4
    Stop giving this godawful port such lofty praise. Regardless of the quality of gameplay, the optimization and overall porting job is pathetic, and shouldn't be tolerated.
  5. SimonM
    Feb 23, 2009
    4
    The appalling drunken heaving of the cars feels like you are riding a heaving hovercraft. The slightest tap on steering on the car lurches about like a bouncy castle. Pretty much destroys the main point of the game. Do not even attempt to play this without a controller. Apart from that it is a reasonable game, not great looking, but the driving is so bad that I just got bored and gave up S.
  6. JamesF
    Jun 3, 2009
    4
    The game itself simply amazing, as anyone who has played it for 10 minutes should know. However, PC user have again been screwed over. The late release, the mountains and mountains of bugs and glitches along with the terrible frame rates and useless patches really give a bad edge to the PC version of GTAIV.
  7. ColbyA.
    Dec 13, 2008
    4
    I have not played the game myself on PC - though I have on Xbox - but I have done some research on the game, and thought it would be good to explain the likely reason GTAIV has such low scores here. In case you're reading this and haven't done your research, GTAIV for the PC is a poorly executed port and is riddled with glitches and bugs. The game is as good as the 360 version, I have not played the game myself on PC - though I have on Xbox - but I have done some research on the game, and thought it would be good to explain the likely reason GTAIV has such low scores here. In case you're reading this and haven't done your research, GTAIV for the PC is a poorly executed port and is riddled with glitches and bugs. The game is as good as the 360 version, but wait until some patches come out to repair the poor programming!… Expand
  8. FotisJ.
    Dec 25, 2008
    4
    This is supposed to be a satire on capitalist greed, and it is but not only in the way the creators intended it to be: Rockstar is bent to create its own community channel and everybody who wants to play has to join them. The same goes for Microsoft's Games for Windows live. You cannot even save your game without being logged in both 'clubs'. Not to mention the technical This is supposed to be a satire on capitalist greed, and it is but not only in the way the creators intended it to be: Rockstar is bent to create its own community channel and everybody who wants to play has to join them. The same goes for Microsoft's Games for Windows live. You cannot even save your game without being logged in both 'clubs'. Not to mention the technical problems etc. In the end they will blame the pc as a difficult platform for games instead their own incompetence.… Expand
  9. JasonL.
    Dec 3, 2009
    4
    GTA IV on the PC could have had the potential to be an amazing game, but there are a slew of problems that prevent it from reaching classic status. I'll only bother to list my biggest gripe about this game: the controls, whether you're playing with a keyboard or gamepad, are easily the most poorly implemented I've ever seen in a computer game. Unresponsive and needlessly GTA IV on the PC could have had the potential to be an amazing game, but there are a slew of problems that prevent it from reaching classic status. I'll only bother to list my biggest gripe about this game: the controls, whether you're playing with a keyboard or gamepad, are easily the most poorly implemented I've ever seen in a computer game. Unresponsive and needlessly complex, they are an invitation to a migraine headache every time I try to play. Want to explore Liberty City? Good luck with that if you're using a gamepad. The camera scheme (auto-follow) prohibits you from viewing the surroundings by instantly snapping back to the default position unless your character or vehicle is standing still. And you can't change any of the camera options or buttons if you're playing on an XBox controller. WTF were RockStar thinking? Follow my advice and purchase Saint's Row 2 instead. Even with its faults, at least that game is playable.… Expand
  10. jimjim
    Dec 28, 2008
    4
    What a disappointment. This game is a lazy effort to bring gta 4 on to pc. It fails miserably.( WARNING. If yothink you will be able to run GTA 4 well because you can run crysis you are wrong. Apparently that rule no longer counts!) Unless you have a very new rig i would not advise buying this. The frame rate is ridiculous and it is the most recourse hungry game ever. It is a shameWhat a disappointment. This game is a lazy effort to bring gta 4 on to pc. It fails miserably.( WARNING. If yothink you will be able to run GTA 4 well because you can run crysis you are wrong. Apparently that rule no longer counts!) Unless you have a very new rig i would not advise buying this. The frame rate is ridiculous and it is the most recourse hungry game ever. It is a shame because i know from ps3 and xbox 360 that this game deserves 9 or 10.… Expand
  11. lildanny
    Nov 13, 2011
    4
    Gameplay, storyline, and multiplay is incredible. Graphics...well I suppose they COULD be good, but this game was coded SO poorly, it's impossible to tell. With a computer that surpasses the minimum requirements 10-fold, I was still forced to put all of the graphics settings on LOW in order to play with minimal lag. Keep in mind, there was STILL lag, and the low settings made graphics lookGameplay, storyline, and multiplay is incredible. Graphics...well I suppose they COULD be good, but this game was coded SO poorly, it's impossible to tell. With a computer that surpasses the minimum requirements 10-fold, I was still forced to put all of the graphics settings on LOW in order to play with minimal lag. Keep in mind, there was STILL lag, and the low settings made graphics look like utter sh*t. Had Rockstar put more effort in perfecting the coding, this game would have been amazing. Looks to me like another rushed out pile of ...… Expand
  12. Previous
    Sep 30, 2010
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A very poor example of a game coming onto the PC port instead of trying to stabilize the games the game company tries to improve the graphics only to make much worse for people with low-end gaming rig, see I'm a person who owns a high-end rig but it still lags to about 15-20 fps I had to turn off all the textures setting only to find out that the game gets about 23-25 fps

    Even then analyzing the story and the gameplay itself is nothing special and that 95% of the mission have nothing to do with the story which is about Niko Bellic trying grab the man who's betrayed his squad in the previous war, the mission feel like a set chores unlike in GTA San Andreas which most of the mission relating to story and trying to get back to the CJ once had in the hood.
    The only other thing about this game that seems like something to praise is the cover-based system and that the only fun thing to do most of the time is to camp at the Bohan safehouse and kill some police officers having six stars but even then you can't do that because this game LAGS to much.
    Lack of variety I see too can't get stronger, ridiculous clothing or getting fat which was the fun part about GTA SA.
    Overall if you have the most powerful gaming rig in the world that us poor can't buy than GTA IV is up your alley but even then so is Crysis.    … Expand
  13. Everyone
    Mar 26, 2012
    4
    The graphics are amazing. The music is amazing. The game itself? It's awful. Terrible. Horrible. Here's a summary of the missions. Spoilers ahead:

    Mission 1: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people. Mission 2: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill a person Mission 7: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people Mission 29: drive to forgettable dirty city    The graphics are amazing. The music is amazing. The game itself? It's awful. Terrible. Horrible. Here's a summary of the missions. Spoilers ahead:

    Mission 1: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people.
    Mission 2: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill a person
    Mission 7: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people
    Mission 29: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill some people
    Mission 72: drive to forgettable dirty city area, kill person

    That is the entire game. I am trying to play through it for the second time, and I just can not make myself finish. I'm at the last sequence of missions, and it's miserably boring due to the repetition. They made a beautiful game. A masterpiece of videogame art. But they forgot to make it fun.    … Expand
  14. NormalGuy1996
    Jan 23, 2011
    4
    WARNING: REQUIRES A LIGHTNING-SPEED COMPUTER. I have a Windows 7 from a few months ago. It came with a great video card, which could run almost every game I put on it, like Bad Company 2, COD, and Mafia 2. Every game, except, GTA IV. The file size is like 14GB, and it runs slow as a bad server on COD Black Ops, even on the lowest settings. What's even worse is that you need to get aWARNING: REQUIRES A LIGHTNING-SPEED COMPUTER. I have a Windows 7 from a few months ago. It came with a great video card, which could run almost every game I put on it, like Bad Company 2, COD, and Mafia 2. Every game, except, GTA IV. The file size is like 14GB, and it runs slow as a bad server on COD Black Ops, even on the lowest settings. What's even worse is that you need to get a Windows Live account in order to SAVE. The Windows Live thing hasn't been fixed in over 4 years, and Microsoft doesn't even care about it anymore. DON'T GET THIS ON PC. GET IT ON PS3 OR XBOX 360… Expand
  15. Glic2003
    Jan 9, 2022
    4
    Truly one of the worst open-world games I've ever played. Gameplay consists of drive to location, watch cutscene, then sometimes engage in a gunfight with some of the worst controls I've ever seen. There is SO MUCH driving in this game. Hours and hours of it. It just never ends. In some missions you have to follow a car - very slowly - without getting too close. In other missions,Truly one of the worst open-world games I've ever played. Gameplay consists of drive to location, watch cutscene, then sometimes engage in a gunfight with some of the worst controls I've ever seen. There is SO MUCH driving in this game. Hours and hours of it. It just never ends. In some missions you have to follow a car - very slowly - without getting too close. In other missions, you have to make sure the target car doesn't get too far away. Neither type of mission is fun, as it's not like you can really tell how close/far you need to be. There's traffic EVERYWHERE and everyone drives SO SLOWLY. Your best bet is to just drive on the sidewalk. Even if you drive perfectly, you'll still get in accidents because there are so many unmarked intersections, and the other drivers don't really follow the rules of the road. It's like the developers of this game saw a city in a movie, but have never actually been to a city in real life. The story and characters are complete cringe, like there was a quota for the number of F-bombs they had to include so it would seem like a tough gangster story. The game also looks like muddy crap, and does that awkward thing where it zooms in close to the characters' horrible-looking faces. It doesn't even have anti-aliasing, unless you manually force it on. I did enjoy driving the cars. The car physics are great, and smashing them up is very satisfying. I recommend doing that instead of the story missions, because they're terrible. I know this game is fourteen years old but it feels like it's forty years old.… Expand
  16. mthrl
    Oct 25, 2011
    4
    A decent game, but marred by bugs, graphics glitches and a STUPID anti-piracy system that punishes the customers rather than the pirates. I don't want to have to register and log in to several services just to play a game - it was cracked a few days after release anyway and, of course, those who pirate the game don't have to jump through all of the hoops that the honest customers do...A decent game, but marred by bugs, graphics glitches and a STUPID anti-piracy system that punishes the customers rather than the pirates. I don't want to have to register and log in to several services just to play a game - it was cracked a few days after release anyway and, of course, those who pirate the game don't have to jump through all of the hoops that the honest customers do...

    Rockstar, if you're going to treat paying PC customers like criminals and then give them **** ports then don't bother.    … Expand
  17. OneVoice
    Nov 20, 2012
    4
    This game was a disappointment to me. I really enjoyed GTA III and GTA:San Andreas, but just couldn't get into this one. The characters weren't as interesting to me, and the missions where just not as fun as some of the earlier GTA games. Hopefully the next installment of GTA improves upon this.
  18. Shrugnick
    Apr 27, 2013
    4
    It's GTA. Nothing terribly new, nothing terribly revolutionary. Not a bad sandbox setup but I expect more from a sequel and not just more of the same old, same old. Missions get pretty boring and repetitive. Gun play is so-so. Sadly this game is marred by not breaking from the herd enough and re-invigorating the series in light of Saints Row and Just Cause coming out and putting togetherIt's GTA. Nothing terribly new, nothing terribly revolutionary. Not a bad sandbox setup but I expect more from a sequel and not just more of the same old, same old. Missions get pretty boring and repetitive. Gun play is so-so. Sadly this game is marred by not breaking from the herd enough and re-invigorating the series in light of Saints Row and Just Cause coming out and putting together similar concepts. Oh, and yes, playing it on PC can be a mess depending on your hardware specs and that it is a half-cooked port.… Expand
  19. biggranny
    Feb 27, 2013
    4
    The game was looking good at first, the graphics and textures are okay, although it's extremely laggy even if you have a PC much above the requirements, which I don't quite understand, so it does not work properly on computers. The cars are cool and the damage engine for them is great. Although there is some bugs with cars such as getting stuck or not seeing any sport cars which oftenThe game was looking good at first, the graphics and textures are okay, although it's extremely laggy even if you have a PC much above the requirements, which I don't quite understand, so it does not work properly on computers. The cars are cool and the damage engine for them is great. Although there is some bugs with cars such as getting stuck or not seeing any sport cars which often happens. The game is quite boring and the missions have no point and it's repetitive, I had no money in this game, then a mission where you rob a bank now I'm rich with nothing to do with the money? The only thing you can buy in this game is clothes and guns. This game is overrated. You are very limited on what you can do, there is no upgrades or level up systems, and it's extremely repetitive, the map is a decent size. The story is very bad, which is linear and repetitive and it's not interesting at all. I would not recommend this game.… Expand
  20. frankbilders
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    My initial opinion of the game was high but I soon began to see it's flaws. First the campaign is pretty good but drags on too long, and go here and kill this type missions get repetitive. The game also holds your hand for too long, with tedious tutorial missions. The main character Niko Bellic is a really cool character, almost too cool to the point where he feels manufactured and not aMy initial opinion of the game was high but I soon began to see it's flaws. First the campaign is pretty good but drags on too long, and go here and kill this type missions get repetitive. The game also holds your hand for too long, with tedious tutorial missions. The main character Niko Bellic is a really cool character, almost too cool to the point where he feels manufactured and not a believable character. The buddy system where friends call you up wanting to do activities is incredibly annoying and unnecessary also they punish you for not doing stupid things with your "friends." Onto technical issues, oh where to begin, the frame rate dips often, texture pop-in and blurry textures are everywhere. The controls are pitiful they are so unresponsive and unnecessary, it's incredibly frustrating. So in my opinion buy the game just not for PC.… Expand
  21. post_hardcores
    Sep 30, 2012
    4
    this game is great in some aspects, such as the story (the most mature history in any gta) the characters, the graphics and A.I. but the port of this game for PC is such a bad port, its like rockstar made it in one day... the poor controls, the awful bugs (specially the one on the **** last mission) you have to do wonders to repair a broken port like this and in top of that the musicthis game is great in some aspects, such as the story (the most mature history in any gta) the characters, the graphics and A.I. but the port of this game for PC is such a bad port, its like rockstar made it in one day... the poor controls, the awful bugs (specially the one on the **** last mission) you have to do wonders to repair a broken port like this and in top of that the music isn't as good (good thing for the personal radio) and the game isn't that challenging, so if you are a fan of gta try this, if you are not, go and play San Andreas and avoid this one… Expand
  22. Speed4Runs
    Dec 16, 2012
    4
    Very good game, but worst port that has ever made to the PC. Bilions of bugs, very bad optimized, so very "heavy" game, and very bad FPS. The game isn't protected very well from cheaters.
  23. Vyrotix
    Jan 12, 2015
    4
    Grand Lag Auto Bore : Modders Poopy

    In all seriousness, the game is still as bad as it is on consoles, including the fact that anything can go wrong at anytime when you start to install mods.

    The fact that this game lags almost all the time, despite having an expensive video card, brings this game to a 4.9/10
  24. JTJSGamer
    Nov 25, 2016
    4
    Gta 4 is a great game on the consoles, but the PC port feels rushed. Where do I begin, well for starters the game would not even launch, no matter how many times I tried, I had to download a mod that fixed that problem for me. But when I first played the game the setting were on the lowest possible, and the game looked terrible, and it wouldn't even let me change the settings. Again I gotGta 4 is a great game on the consoles, but the PC port feels rushed. Where do I begin, well for starters the game would not even launch, no matter how many times I tried, I had to download a mod that fixed that problem for me. But when I first played the game the setting were on the lowest possible, and the game looked terrible, and it wouldn't even let me change the settings. Again I got a mod that fixed that problem as well. The game also suffers from constant frame-rate drops, and crashes that become annoying after a while, and there is no way of telling when the game is going to crash, so make sure you save at all times. I know it is not my PC, because I have the best graphics card, and processor currently available. Until Rockstar decides to fix these issues, I can't recommend the game to you on PC. Just buy it on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3… Expand
  25. Thorbir
    Aug 30, 2020
    4
    This game is boring af. For me it's the worst game of GTA, the driving is awful, Nico is boring, missions are the same.
  26. SHIMMER_CODE
    Dec 5, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. this have a lot pf problem. low fps when speed up your car. the game still glitchy. when pause the game 10 time the all city, props, peoples will be gone why? my pc start over heating and lot and start problem from my soft wear this is good but still have some major and small problem.… Expand
  27. ksejoshot
    Jul 16, 2020
    4
    Juego que disfruté en PS3, en PC se disfruta también por sus posibilidades como los mods pero no por su mala optimización, y yo personalmente lo disfruté más en PS3. El modo historia está bien, ya que se centraron en esto y sus físicas estaban adelantadas a su época. No lo recomiendo por su mala optimización y porque vale 20 euros a día de hoy, yo pillé una key, y para los años que tieneJuego que disfruté en PS3, en PC se disfruta también por sus posibilidades como los mods pero no por su mala optimización, y yo personalmente lo disfruté más en PS3. El modo historia está bien, ya que se centraron en esto y sus físicas estaban adelantadas a su época. No lo recomiendo por su mala optimización y porque vale 20 euros a día de hoy, yo pillé una key, y para los años que tiene ya es excesivo, los mods no te hacen olvidar el campo anterior. De las peores optimizaciones que hay en PC sin duda. Y hay que descargarse archivos externos para poder ejecutar esta mierda, Rockstar en pc a veces la caga man. GTA V que lo tengo en su plataforma me dió este mismo último error. Tengo casi todos los juegos importantes de esta compañía comprados en pc, unos en steam, y la mayoría en su plataforma, pero no todos, la gran mayoría ya me los jugué en su época en consola.… Expand
  28. Bushido95
    Sep 27, 2021
    4
    Мы любим GTA за веселье за какое-то безумие и GTA IV лишена всего этого. Чуть ли не черно-белый фильтр и я понимаю зачем это было сделано, но не могу этого принять.
    Не могу назвать себя большим поклонником серии, но это определенно самая отталкивающая часть.    Мы любим GTA за веселье за какое-то безумие и GTA IV лишена всего этого. Чуть ли не черно-белый фильтр и я понимаю зачем это было сделано, но не могу этого принять.
    Не могу назвать себя большим поклонником серии, но это определенно самая отталкивающая часть.
  29. tillas
    Aug 12, 2023
    4
    i don't understand people who like this game. Really.

    Missions is just: Go to point A kill a dude after that go to point B. Mission end. And a boring car physics made it even worser. Also PC port is absolute **** Especially in 2008 with a ton of bugs. The main character. Niko is just random fool that is doing other people jobs. Very rarely he is having his decision. Game is just    i don't understand people who like this game. Really.

    Missions is just: Go to point A kill a dude after that go to point B. Mission end. And a boring car physics made it even worser.

    Also PC port is absolute **** Especially in 2008 with a ton of bugs.

    The main character. Niko is just random fool that is doing other people jobs. Very rarely he is having his decision. Game is just boring.

    And some people telling this game is better than GTA V lol. GTA vice city is even better than that ****.

    Also there is no autosave in this game. Game relased in 2008 and there is no autosave? Seriously? Some people telling this game is better because there is a serious story... In GTA... Who even needs a serious story in GTA? Especially with so boring missions. Btw whole story is boring and not interesting.

    "very nice game"    … Expand
  30. IanJ.
    Dec 4, 2008
    3
    What Cool-Aid are all of these reviewers drinking? Did they have to fuddle with the install like everyone else? People who meet the recommended system requirements subjected to watching Niko do the herky-jerk all over Liberty City. The game in this state eats my CPU for breakfast and all it can display is a stuttering slideshow. Do you want to play online? Well then you have to install What Cool-Aid are all of these reviewers drinking? Did they have to fuddle with the install like everyone else? People who meet the recommended system requirements subjected to watching Niko do the herky-jerk all over Liberty City. The game in this state eats my CPU for breakfast and all it can display is a stuttering slideshow. Do you want to play online? Well then you have to install the R* social app and Games for Windows Live if you intend on doing so. More process going on in the background are always a plus! I would rather wait longer to have a playable game over just shipping in out the door and fixing it later because of the holiday season frenzy. The game will be fine, come six months and a couple of patches later.… Expand
  31. erei
    Jan 4, 2010
    3
    This GTA is a real GTA, no problems with it. The characters we meet and the hero are fun, and are still the GTA spirit. But the port is probably the worst never seen, we have lots of inexplicable FPS drop, crashes, various bugs,... Even capcom did better port. You need a high end Graphic card to play the game, with low settings. The game is very long, probably too much, there is a long This GTA is a real GTA, no problems with it. The characters we meet and the hero are fun, and are still the GTA spirit. But the port is probably the worst never seen, we have lots of inexplicable FPS drop, crashes, various bugs,... Even capcom did better port. You need a high end Graphic card to play the game, with low settings. The game is very long, probably too much, there is a long beginning, and many "useless" missions. The friends, and social thing we have ingame are quite fun and new, but sometimes get boring. You want to call friends NPC all day, and have dinner with them, and enjoy sending mail ? Buy sims3, we are in GTA... Conclusion : Pro : -NPC and hero are cool, as usual with GTA -story is interesting enough -the awesome amount of extra content is really cool (from cinema to tv show and internet) -graphism are not too bad, but not specially good con : -FPS drops on most graphic card (i have a nvidia 275GTX and i need to play on very low to keep my fps above 20) -bugs, bugs, and sometimes, bugs -the "friends" system become more and more boring further you go in the game. Expect to do something with one of them at least once by half an hour to keep them friendly. Spending about 10m to do so. So it make 1/3 of the game involving social things with IA. -many repetitive missions, slow beginning -all the copy protection there is, rockstar social club + windows media live,... Honestly, i guess there is far less trouble if you hack it. Advice : buy it, and download an illegal copy for installation purpose. I guess on console i should have note 6 or more, but im PC user, and your port is total garbage.… Expand
  32. PhangW.
    Dec 5, 2008
    3
    Horrendous port. Rockstar did not even bother to take us PC gamers seriously, by giving us such a HIGH DETAIL of technical and graphical glitches. I have been a long supporter of the GTA franchise and i must say, Rockstar has certainly pissed us PC gamers off.
  33. nosajman
    Jan 2, 2009
    3
    This game runs like crap on core 2 duo, 4 gb's of ram and a 9800 gts. Having to log into windows live to save is cumbersome and if you want to save and you don't have internet you have to create a new account that's offline. Good luck trying to figure that out I guarantee it will frustrate you. The driving isn't nearly as smooth as the x-box. I wish I could get my This game runs like crap on core 2 duo, 4 gb's of ram and a 9800 gts. Having to log into windows live to save is cumbersome and if you want to save and you don't have internet you have to create a new account that's offline. Good luck trying to figure that out I guarantee it will frustrate you. The driving isn't nearly as smooth as the x-box. I wish I could get my money back. I was a longtime Rockstar supporter but this is ridiculous.… Expand
  34. Dirtman73
    Dec 5, 2009
    3
    The good? Compelling story, awesome voice acting, realistic physics, superb audio on 5.1 speakers, attention to detail, Liberty City is big! The bad? DRM, RockStar Social Club (mandatory sign-up), Windows Live (mandatory log-in), shoddy PC port and coding, runs like crap on my high-end computer, subpar graphics, overly realistic car physics, unintuitive and unchangeable gamepad controls The good? Compelling story, awesome voice acting, realistic physics, superb audio on 5.1 speakers, attention to detail, Liberty City is big! The bad? DRM, RockStar Social Club (mandatory sign-up), Windows Live (mandatory log-in), shoddy PC port and coding, runs like crap on my high-end computer, subpar graphics, overly realistic car physics, unintuitive and unchangeable gamepad controls (possibly the worst I've ever experienced), lengthy learning curve, bugs & glitches galore (even after latest patch), the radio stations are entirely uninspired, horribly implemented camera modes, sparse documentation, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on. It looks like RockStar have gotten way too big for their britches. They obviously don't give a fig about the PC market, so why bother releasing atrocious console-to-PC ports anymore? Spare us computer owners the pain, please!… Expand
  35. OlaL
    Jan 11, 2010
    3
    I dont know if the professional critics actually played the game or just copied their reviews from the consoles. Or if they got some magical copy that wasn´t the worst optimized game in history of mankind. When I bought this game I had the second fastest single GPU on the planet and I got a fps between 18-28. The only game I cant max is Crysis but this is not even close to Crysis on I dont know if the professional critics actually played the game or just copied their reviews from the consoles. Or if they got some magical copy that wasn´t the worst optimized game in history of mankind. When I bought this game I had the second fastest single GPU on the planet and I got a fps between 18-28. The only game I cant max is Crysis but this is not even close to Crysis on the Graphic department or Physic. And Crysis I can paly on much higher settings, then this broken game. And all the people who think they play this on high settings have probably no checked their fps or screen resolution. + it´s still GTA + it looks okej for a GTA game + the cabs are great - Worst optimized game ever released - I hate the friend/ girlfriend thing - All the bloatware - The cars are handeling like crap A game that is broken cant get higher then 5. I give it a 3 because it´s not even close to the other GTA games and because of the bloatware.… Expand
  36. Mr.Toad
    Jan 13, 2010
    3
    I'm not a very technical person, but my computer IS above average and yet it still ran into many issues. Liberty City is undeniably beautiful, you can't find a more realistic city in any video game. The story is also a good strong point, for while in a lot of the other games I found a few plot holes and other events that don't make sense, I couldn't find any of that in I'm not a very technical person, but my computer IS above average and yet it still ran into many issues. Liberty City is undeniably beautiful, you can't find a more realistic city in any video game. The story is also a good strong point, for while in a lot of the other games I found a few plot holes and other events that don't make sense, I couldn't find any of that in GTA 4. However, Rockstar failed at the very core, the gameplay. This *isn't* a fun game, but more worringly still is that you are denied most of the freedom a sandbox game is supposed to give. For instance, you are denied about 3/4 of the whole map until you completed a certain amount of missions, and that certain amount is a LOT(and even then, you still have a third denied until you do some more). It also seems that no matter how long you wait the weapon stores never sell any new guns. But the greatest flaw is that GTA is *too* realistic. The average gamer doesn't want something completely realistic, he plays games because he wants to escape reality for a while. On one mission for instance, you need to approach a target by a job interview. To do so, you need to send a job application by email, get an answer by phone, receive a time for the interview, and be there on time. It's completely unnecessary and many other aspects of the game (such as the social interactions) are a chore. In the end, after my game crashed oh-so-many times while I was trying to finish a very exciting mission, I said to myself "do I really care about what happens next?" As soon as I thought "No", I disinstalled it immediately and now its new job consists of being a dust accumulator.… Expand
  37. GuessAgain
    Dec 4, 2008
    3
    I don't mind that this game came out almost a year later on PC's than it did on consoles. I don't mind that they may have had to make some sacrifices to "port" this back to PC. I don't mind that it may be a lot more fun to play it on a couch with your friends on a big TV, while I sit in front of my measly 22". What I do mind, however is that Rockstar are actually I don't mind that this game came out almost a year later on PC's than it did on consoles. I don't mind that they may have had to make some sacrifices to "port" this back to PC. I don't mind that it may be a lot more fun to play it on a couch with your friends on a big TV, while I sit in front of my measly 22". What I do mind, however is that Rockstar are actually expecting to get any money for this game. They might have as well released this game to the torrents and told us to take it for free, because honestly, the gameplay makes you feel like you should get paid for every minute you waste in this game. I understand the publishers/developers want YOU, the paying consumer to have the complete experience uploading your gameplay movies for other people to watch and share. What better way to do this than install 2 extremely obtrusive pieces of software like games for windows and rockstar social club on your computer and telling you the game will not run without them. At all. It is somewhere at the level of Internet Explorer (the piece of garbage it is) costing 39.99 and then making you install 5 toolbars or it won't connect you to the internet. Under their EULA you never really "own" the game, so I guess they can make you do whatever it is they want. What I didn't understand before was why are they trying to delay you from playing the actual game with their ridiculous activations and obtrusive mandatory soft/spyware. And here's why: the game itself is garbage. It is on many levels a rehash of GTA 3 vice city and san andreas, with some parts taken out and new ones added in. The mechanics are all the same, although vehicle physics are now horrendous albeit slightly more realistic (thanks, I guess you wanted us to have realistic driving in a VERY REALISTIC GAME where the PROTAGONIST can run around shooting civilians and then trying to get away from the cops, but FAILING because of the new driving model). Sure there may be a storyline in there somewhere, like other reviewers say, but I'm not here for the storyline, it is merely a means to unlock parts of the goddamn city for me. Do you honestly care about "criminal A arrives in a big city B and tries to carve out his destiny by killing off gangs X, Y and Z?" they did in the whole GTA 3 series? The graphics. They really deserve rants of epic proportions but I'll try to keep it short. They are horrendous. Around the level of 2004, maybe worse, definitely worse than some games from that period, maybe better than some. But the really astounding thing is that the game manages to run like shit on all but the most ridiculous setups that cost thousands of dollars. CRYSIS, MOVE OVER PLEASE, someone over here wants your title as the most unoptimized game of the DECADE. The game will run like a paraplegic up a mountain even if you have a decent dx10 capable card like 8800gt, although it should really be running fast enough to give you a heart attack just watching. The game won't even allow you to increase your graphical settings in the most retarded attempt to "be helpful in selection of fitting graphical options". Thanks Rockstar. Not only do you fail to make the game run properly, you restrict us from looking at the highest quality visuals possible, even at 5 fps. But I have a feeling why. Because even the higher quality settings look like shite. Rockstar must be the last game producer in the industry that did not realize that PC gamers are quite a bit more discerning than the rest, so you have to release something that's at the very least tolerable. I'm truly happy for Rockstar's sales on PS3 etc. But please, for the love of god, keep this garbage off PC's out of your sense of self-respect. Or at least have the decency to put it into playable shape.… Expand
  38. AlanG.
    Dec 6, 2008
    3
    Despite several drawbacks this game presents a cooperative multiplayer experience the likes of which have never been seen before. While many games include multiplayer team combat, this game stresses teamwork and tactics beyond beyond what games like TF2 and CS:S are able to deliver on a consistent basis. The four player team creates a dynamic where cooperation is an absolute necessity for Despite several drawbacks this game presents a cooperative multiplayer experience the likes of which have never been seen before. While many games include multiplayer team combat, this game stresses teamwork and tactics beyond beyond what games like TF2 and CS:S are able to deliver on a consistent basis. The four player team creates a dynamic where cooperation is an absolute necessity for success, especially so on the harder difficulties. Gameplay revolves between periods of relative calm and times of extreme duress. The most fitting word to describe the latter is intense! No matter the skill of you and your comrades, there will be moments when the survival of your group is far from a certainty, especially given the random nature of the director. The intensity of the game tends to only increase as the level progresses, as wounded survivors are often met with an uncomfortable lack of medkits when they are most needed. The sound and graphics are thoroughly polished, and despite the age of the source engine its upgrades ensure that the game looks great and has plenty of eye candy. Once again, Valve's trademark attention to detail has made for a vibrant and immersing atmosphere. The ability to blow holes in or destroy doors is a fun new addition that also significantly alters the gameplay mechanic. While the story is underdeveloped, in game chatter between the characters reveals a great deal about their personalities, and makes them seem very real. There are some drawbacks, however. The game is relatively short, especially if played on the lower difficulties, and the weapon selection is somewhat minimal. These should not be a major issue, the game is meant to be played on expert in order to prepare a player for the even more difficult versus mode (which is an absolute blast), and the guns that are present are finely crafted and simply feel right. The replayability of this game is excellent, and is only compounded by the director and versus mode. As is, this game is very exciting and will keep many players hooked for an indefinite amount of hours. Given Valve's devotion to updates and the enthusiastic mod community, I only expect this game to improve as time goes on. I give this game a 9.3 out of 10.… Expand
  39. Alex
    Dec 7, 2008
    3
    It could be a good game, but it's really bad because of terrible porting to PC. For such a high system requirements graphic is poor, and whole game is one big bug. It often crashes or shows errors durnig loading. It took them more than half a year to port to PC, and result is very amateur stuff.
  40. AMoffatt
    Dec 7, 2008
    3
    It's a shame about the bugs, the crashes, the way it crawls, the way it only gives you the option of loading up the most recent game from start, the 'social club' nag screen, the load speed (gah - the load speed!), the car handling, the poor reward for exploration and doing side-quests. It is a shame, because I'm sure that there's a good game in there somewhere.
  41. YerkK
    Oct 26, 2009
    3
    I've had no problems running the game - and I thought the graphics looked pretty good. That's the only good thing about the game though - well, that and Nicko intimidating his enemies all the time.. playing through it felt more like performing a chore than actually playing. Sure, cars react more realistically. Not a good feature if you ask me - I want to have fun, not play a I've had no problems running the game - and I thought the graphics looked pretty good. That's the only good thing about the game though - well, that and Nicko intimidating his enemies all the time.. playing through it felt more like performing a chore than actually playing. Sure, cars react more realistically. Not a good feature if you ask me - I want to have fun, not play a crappy real-life simulator where you drive around crappy cars that spin out of control if you're making a 90 degree turn while driving 40 kmh... As I said, the gfx looks good, but the environment is gritty and colorless. You have to maintain social relationships all the time, which is a complete downer - yet the game expects you to go bowling, darting, dating and all manner of lame, dumb things, just to keep your friends (of which you soon get way too much) interested in you. The motivation of the main protagonist is vague at best; he keeps trying to get money, but you can't do much with it... there goes too much time in learning how to play, how to operate vehicles, guns, phones, etc... it's not intuitive. I didn't have much fun playing this game, but I still played it just to see the storyline unfold and because I have some weird completion phobia - the reward, seeing the story unfold, certainly didn't justify the playthrough. I advice the shoddy buggy pc version of Saints Row 2 over this game a millions times over this sorry excuse for a game. At least Saints Row 2 was fun. And isn't that what a game's supposed to be, fun?… Expand
  42. Joel
    Feb 28, 2009
    3
    This game, regarding game-play only, is a strong 7. That gets halved thanks to the Rockstar "club", Microsoft Live "club", and technical issues. Average, but there are better and more extensive sandbox games out there. The PC implementation of this game is HORRIFIC. Truly terrible in just about every way imaginable.
    Completely unplayable out of the box. Required re-installation of    This game, regarding game-play only, is a strong 7. That gets halved thanks to the Rockstar "club", Microsoft Live "club", and technical issues. Average, but there are better and more extensive sandbox games out there. The PC implementation of this game is HORRIFIC. Truly terrible in just about every way imaginable.
    Completely unplayable out of the box. Required re-installation of video drivers, special tuning and de-tuning just to get textures and shading to look like something half resembling the Xbox 360 version. Frame rates are terrible even on modern high end PCs.

    I can see no reason for this to have a metacritic score above 75 for game-play, or above 40 once you account for the failed PC conversion. Unbelievable.    … Expand
  43. KurtS
    Dec 24, 2008
    3
    The actual game is pretty fun and entertaining, and at this point I expect to continue playing it. I have not had any severe technical problems. However, the overall product is awful and frustrating enough I had to vent by writing this review. The graphics and performance is terrible. Rockstar has claimed this is a "next generation" game and current generation hardware is only capable of The actual game is pretty fun and entertaining, and at this point I expect to continue playing it. I have not had any severe technical problems. However, the overall product is awful and frustrating enough I had to vent by writing this review. The graphics and performance is terrible. Rockstar has claimed this is a "next generation" game and current generation hardware is only capable of playing the game on "medium" settings. If that is true, the game should at least look and perform like a current generation game on current generation hardware, but that isn't the case at all. It uses DirectX 9. There is no anti-aliasing. Shadows flicker and look horrible. Textures and character models lack detail. Frame rates are sub-25 on recommend settings. Options to customize graphic detail is limited. Aside from graphical issues, this game requires you to join two online networks (Games for Windows, Rockstar Social Club) for full functionality. There is no option to turn off "mouse-look" when driving a car, which makes driving extremely difficult. You must manually turn the camera using the mouse at the same time you are steering the car. Loading times are rather slow compared to other games. Purchased through Steam, the game does not include a manual and there is no easy reference for all the instructions, moves, and tips that only come up only one time in-game. To sum it up, it looks, feels and plays like a bad port of an older console game. I'd give the game itself at least a 7, but this as an overall product deserves no more than a 3.… Expand
  44. FrancescoP
    Dec 5, 2008
    3
    Somebody have already called this the WORST PORT EVER, and I can just, sadly, agree... My pc (athlon X2 2.8Ghz, 2Gb ram, ati HD3850 512Mb, XP sp3) can run fairly well games like crysis, grid, fallout 3 and anything else, even with AA turned on, and believe me, gta 4 graphic is not even close as shiny as that of those games... But somebody must have rushed things a little too much to Somebody have already called this the WORST PORT EVER, and I can just, sadly, agree... My pc (athlon X2 2.8Ghz, 2Gb ram, ati HD3850 512Mb, XP sp3) can run fairly well games like crysis, grid, fallout 3 and anything else, even with AA turned on, and believe me, gta 4 graphic is not even close as shiny as that of those games... But somebody must have rushed things a little too much to deliver this game before xmas, and the result is this embarassing alpha release of a game which will take a long long time to fix and still, I guess, will inexplicably suffer from poor performance... Too bad rockstargames. Tomorrow I'm taking the game back to the store.… Expand
  45. MichaelG.
    Dec 8, 2008
    3
    No support for any other controller but microsofts...What BS is that?!?! Required to install C0ckstar social network and winblows live just to play single player?? Not to mention i get a fuzzyness with my ati card, and with my current machine crappy performance with low settings!!!! there isnt anything that looks so system intensive!!! I'm very disappointed with Rockstar on this No support for any other controller but microsofts...What BS is that?!?! Required to install C0ckstar social network and winblows live just to play single player?? Not to mention i get a fuzzyness with my ati card, and with my current machine crappy performance with low settings!!!! there isnt anything that looks so system intensive!!! I'm very disappointed with Rockstar on this one.... The only saving grace is the acting is astounding, AWESOME. Cool story and the characters make it believable. Best I've seen in a game so far.… Expand
  46. BrianL
    Jan 16, 2009
    3
    I bought this game on the back of widespread praise from the gaming press and online review sites, where it was a 10/10 game, 5 stars, game of the year etc. Well I don't know if any of those critics actually played this game or were just reviewing the rock star press release, but this is most definitely not game of the year, disappoinment of year perhaps. Lets just start with the I bought this game on the back of widespread praise from the gaming press and online review sites, where it was a 10/10 game, 5 stars, game of the year etc. Well I don't know if any of those critics actually played this game or were just reviewing the rock star press release, but this is most definitely not game of the year, disappoinment of year perhaps. Lets just start with the install, the retail box carries the "games for window" logo, nothing remarkable in that, I guess M$ is trying to lock in the PC games market in a pincer movement against Sony, unfortunately it's we the PC gamers who are being cut down in the crossfire. You need a windows live account to play the single player, you can't even save a game without windows live installed. But I hear you cry, we don't need no stinking windows live account, Rockstar begs to differ, install windows live or else buddy! Also you have a game controller (I personally roll with the Logitech Rumble Pad 2), wrong answer! You can only use the microsoft approved controller, there is a work around but why the constant whoring to the M$ dollar, the PC is an open platform, microsoft may provide the OS but they shouldn't have the final say in what games controllers/multiplayer accounts you may or may not use when gaming? The biggest problem for me though, after I jumped through the M$ hoops, clicked no I don't want to login to Rockstar social club, am I sure, good question, why don't you ask me another million times before you let me start the freaking game? Where was I, oh yes, the number one gripe I have with this game, not the only gripe, but the biggest is the driving physics, how the hell can you make a sandbox game and make getting from point A to point B such an exercise in frustation? Time and time again you're asking to chase someone down, quick he's getting away jump in your poorly handling jalopy! This will crash against every pillar, lampost, and cop car in the course of your pursuit of said fleeing villian who will sail effortlessly into the distance, obviously rubbish car physics are just something for the player to worry about. Playing this game of the past two weeks I'm constanly reminded of the game Driv3r, a game mercilessly parodied by various grand theft auto games in the past, but for all its faults I actually enjoyed Driv3r, sure it was hyped by the gaming press before it's release, was chock full of bugs, the car handling was rubbish, bikes even worse, but it was a laugh, this is something that I cannot say about Gra4d th3ft Aut0. For shame Dan Houser, for shame!… Expand
  47. dosse91
    Aug 20, 2010
    3
    this game is simply a piece of **** but it's not just regular **** it's that kind of **** that sticks in your toilet and remains there after flushing it 2000 times! it's by far the worst PC port of a console game i've ever seen.
    after trying the game on 4 different high-end computer, i still haven't been able to finish the first mission, because rockstar's "advanced" (i've put those    this game is simply a piece of **** but it's not just regular **** it's that kind of **** that sticks in your toilet and remains there after flushing it 2000 times! it's by far the worst PC port of a console game i've ever seen.
    after trying the game on 4 different high-end computer, i still haven't been able to finish the first mission, because rockstar's "advanced" (i've put those quotation marks on purpuse) game engine is simply the worst looking, most buggy next-gen game engine. horrible textures, missing 3d models, object that pop out when you crash on them with your car, massive memory leaks, and so on. after playing it on my friend's xbox 360 i have to say that the story is the only thing that saves this game from being one of the worst games ever. it's actually a good game from that point of view. but please god tell me, why can i run 4 instances of unreal tournament 3 or crysis on ultra-high specs getting really good performance, but when i run gta4, i NEVER get more than 35 fps, with an averege of **** 20! that's UNPLAYABLE! and what i just don't understand, is why the **** do buildings, trees, and even STREETS pop out of nowhere when i move the camera? WHY??? THE GRAPHICS ARE SO ****TY IT SHULD RUN AT 200 FPS!!!
    and what can i say about the sound effects? try shooting a gun in real life, and tell me if the sound it makes is the same as the one you hear in this crap of a game? i doubt. and what about radio stations? these radios take gigabytes of space on my **** hard drive, and most of the songs suck ass! HOLY **** where the **** was the quality control team when they tried the PC version of gta4? where they takin a **** or did the programmers put some drugs in their coffee, so they couldn't see all the **** on the screen?
    what pisses me off even more is that some IDIOTS who reviewed this game gave it a 10/10! DID ROCKSTAR PAY YOU FOR NOT TRYING THE GAME??? OR WERE YOU JUST DRUNK AS **** WHILE REVIEWING IT?
    in conclusion, after wasting 70 euros (that's like 90 mother**** dollars!) for this miserable piece of **** after downloading and installing almost 1 gb of crap that did nothing but slow down my computer, all i have to say is **** YOU ROCKSTAR for wasting my **** money! die!

    In conclusion, ratings:
    -graphics: 4.5 (could've been 6.0 if the game ran at 60 fps minimum)
    -sfx: 4.0
    -ost: 6.0
    -gameplay: n/a
    -story: 8.0

    final score: 3/10 (not a **** average!)    … Expand
  48. Zeph
    Sep 25, 2010
    3
    Absolutely not worth it. The download took a very long time, and unless your PC is running well above the minimum specs (which are already pretty high, and easily knocks out any non-gaming built PCs), then this game will lag terribly with severe glitching and control issues (and yes, I am talking about rock-bottom bare-minimum visual and audio effects). Sadly, I was unable to get pastAbsolutely not worth it. The download took a very long time, and unless your PC is running well above the minimum specs (which are already pretty high, and easily knocks out any non-gaming built PCs), then this game will lag terribly with severe glitching and control issues (and yes, I am talking about rock-bottom bare-minimum visual and audio effects). Sadly, I was unable to get past the 4th cutscene before my computer gave in on me.… Expand
  49. Mantriur
    Jun 23, 2011
    3
    It beats me how this game received a metascore of 90. It seems to have potential, I'll give it that, but the abysmal controls, bad dialog, and boring starter missions made me drop it after 2 hours. I might have been a bit annoyed with it to start with, because their lame attempt to market that windows gaming platform with the saving mechanism and random crashes.
    Sad thing is, they emulate    It beats me how this game received a metascore of 90. It seems to have potential, I'll give it that, but the abysmal controls, bad dialog, and boring starter missions made me drop it after 2 hours. I might have been a bit annoyed with it to start with, because their lame attempt to market that windows gaming platform with the saving mechanism and random crashes.
    Sad thing is, they emulate the cars physics pretty well, which unfortunately is completely pointless with digital 0/1 controls. Again, there seems to be potential, but for me it had way too many flaws to get that far.
    P.S.: Hardware requirements are a bit ridiculous considering the release date and the eye candy you get for it, but for a modern (2011) gaming rig it's very playable.    … Expand
  50. duckypwns
    Oct 5, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. GTA IV was a big step back to me. Look at the massive array of vehicles in San Andreas. Bicycles, dirt bikes, quads, tractors, different types of helicopters and airplanes, the jetpack, etc. Why take all that stuff out?

    GTA IV also completely **** up the physics of the game. Driving is half as fun as it was in the previous games. And people generally respond to this by saying that it's "realistic", but no. It's not realistic in any way. Making it slow paced and boring doesn't make it realistic. It just makes it slow paced and boring.

    The shooting was improved a bit, but still needed a lot of work. The people who defend this game will claim that sticking your arm up while behind cover will cause Niko to shoot inaccurately, but it certainly hasn't worked that way for me. It seems to shoot wherever I point, regardless of the fact that Niko isn't even looking or aiming. Also, when you do choose to aim from behind cover (for whatever reason), it will cause your cross-hairs to move up a bit. Not a serious issue, but it's stupid that you have to keep in mind to aim a little bit below their head.

    The weapon variety was also significantly reduced and simplified compared to San Andreas. Of course San Andreas also had weapons that were just flat out better than others, but GTA IV's weapon system operates by "tiers", where you have tier 1 weapons, tier 2 weapons, etc. One tier being completely better in every way than the other. It leaves no room for options and determining which weapons are best for you personally. Of course, SA had SOME weapons which were flat out better than others, but to a much smaller degree than GTA IV.

    Niko is a walking contradiction, he speaks out against violence, but he's perfectly willing to kill if he gets money for it. Meanwhile, the guy he's trying to track down ends up telling him that he sold him out for $1,000. Niko acts all surprised and offended by this - but he does things like that all the time. The cheesy attempt to include a "2deep4u" story winded up backfiring. Rockstar should have stuck with the classic humor based, light hearted style story, rather than what was the equivalent of a B movie written by some emo kid.

    Ultimately, my dislike for GTA IV can be traced back to one thing - Lack of variety. Look at all of the content from SA that they just flat out REMOVED. Just look at the build up of content and gradual perfection of concepts from GTA 3, to Vice City, to San Andreas. I thought Rockstar would continue that system. I was under the impression that what we saw in SA would be perfected and build upon, just as they had done in the past - Not just completely thrown away. I really thought Rockstar was on to something. I thought they had it figured out. I guess not.    … Expand
  51. Booswishous
    Jul 30, 2012
    3
    If your gonna get GTA IV get it on consoles This game is amazing but frame rate issues due to poor optimization make this the most un-fun irritating experience I've ever been forced to play aside from batman dark tomorrow
  52. Sid551
    Jan 7, 2013
    3
    Decent game but wayyyyyyy to many glitches. I find myself redoing missions over and over again because of getting stuck or some weird sh** going on, isn't why there is game tester before you release a game?? I mean seriously it's rockstar shouldn't they know how to flush out these bugs before hand...Also the graphics aren't that great the gun people look choppy I have a great graphics cardDecent game but wayyyyyyy to many glitches. I find myself redoing missions over and over again because of getting stuck or some weird sh** going on, isn't why there is game tester before you release a game?? I mean seriously it's rockstar shouldn't they know how to flush out these bugs before hand...Also the graphics aren't that great the gun people look choppy I have a great graphics card and all gtx 560... car's look good buildings look great as will, story line isn't bad it get real annoying when you gotta pick up your friends and do things with em so often get old...… Expand
  53. Gamer147
    Aug 5, 2013
    3
    Don't know about the whole buggy aspect, I ran this for over fifteen hours of gameplay without any trouble on a win7 32bit. It's pretty fun, but pales in comparison to GTA San andreas, or better yet, Saints Row 3.
  54. v0id19
    Jul 26, 2013
    3
    Maybe the console version is a great game, but (for me at least) the PC port is borderline unplayable. The controls are horrendous and the cars drive like greased bricks with an inexplicable tendency to flip over at the tiniest bump in the road. Your character moves like he's 300 lbs and fights like his arms are 2 inches long.
    Really what kills it for me is the control of the vehicles    Maybe the console version is a great game, but (for me at least) the PC port is borderline unplayable. The controls are horrendous and the cars drive like greased bricks with an inexplicable tendency to flip over at the tiniest bump in the road. Your character moves like he's 300 lbs and fights like his arms are 2 inches long.
    Really what kills it for me is the control of the vehicles (or lack thereof). It's supposed to be a driving game, yet I'm pretty sure no one who developed (or ported) this game has ever driven a car. The cars barely turn at any speed unless you powerslide, at which point you will inevitably over-slide your turn and continue sliding until you hit something or do a complete 180. Also, all the cameras except the on-the-hood one lag behind the turns, making it impossible to see oncoming traffic or obstacles for a few seconds when you make a turn. Oh, and the cars flip over at the slightest hint of an elevation change.
    This may be unnecessarily critical, but one of the things that bothered me the most was the menus. The mouse moves abysmally slowly, even at the highest sensitivity. This is infuriating when setting the GPS: you have to painstakingly move the mouse to the region you want, but when you click, it recenters the mouse and you have to move it back to the spot again to set the GPS. I know this is nitpicking, but when your mouse moves at one pixel per hour, it worsens an already frustrating experience.
    All in all, I was extrememely disappointed with this game, and I don't see me giving it another chance, at least on PC.    … Expand
  55. Sakilla07
    Aug 20, 2013
    3
    GTA 4 is a good game, but by no means 10/10 perfect, game of all years. It is let down by it's clunky cover, shooting and driving controls, repetitive missions, unnecessary plot points and frankly, an overrated story which really only gets good half way through. normally, this game, despite all its faults would have warranted a 7.5/10, but the PC version of the game is absolutely terrible.GTA 4 is a good game, but by no means 10/10 perfect, game of all years. It is let down by it's clunky cover, shooting and driving controls, repetitive missions, unnecessary plot points and frankly, an overrated story which really only gets good half way through. normally, this game, despite all its faults would have warranted a 7.5/10, but the PC version of the game is absolutely terrible. Why? With my relatively recent and powerful GTX570 and AMD 6-core CPU, i expect a game as old as GTA IV (at this point, 5 years old), to be able to run at a decent frame rate on highest settings. Unfortunately, due to the horrible optimization, I manage a meagre 15 fps on highest settings, whilst looking much worse than newer games such as Just Cause 2 or Saints Row 3. On top of this piss poor optimization job, Both the Rockstar Social Club and Games for Windows Live layers just add another layer of annoyance to the game. Clearly, PC is not the platform for this game, and even then it is highly overrated. If you want game similar to this, invest in Saints Row 3, or play San Andreas.… Expand
  56. J583
    Jan 5, 2014
    3
    Very late review, but I felt a sudden need to say that this game was an utter disappointment. Flat out boring story and characters, but worst of all, I didnt have fun doing the good old GTA about in the world stuff. It just didnt invite me in...
  57. frhanhanif
    Jun 14, 2016
    3
    as a gta franchise fan, i didnt enjoy this game much. gta 4 didnt give much impression like when i play gta sa. maybe because i expect this game like gta san andreas, but its not. i have more fun playing san andreas rathe than gta 4
  58. notBOB
    Jul 30, 2017
    3
    Pros:
    -love the voice acting
    -story is OK -runs well on my system Cons: -BORING! Chase with car, or motorbike, or... kill the target to get a little money that can't actually be spent on anything - mindless driving. If I was too young to have a licence this might be fun but... - repetitive quests with no real point to them whatsoever. Starts out with a guy I thought was trying to    Pros:
    -love the voice acting
    -story is OK
    -runs well on my system

    Cons:
    -BORING! Chase with car, or motorbike, or... kill the target to get a little money that can't actually be spent on anything
    - mindless driving. If I was too young to have a licence this might be fun but...
    - repetitive quests with no real point to them whatsoever. Starts out with a guy I thought was trying to better himself but instead becomes a mindless psychopathic thug... who kills for money that can't be spent on anything
    - GTA 5 is funny. GTA 4 is boring.
    - installed it for the third time intending to force myself to finish it. Just couldn't bring myself to do it. It is BORING!    … Expand
  59. Yarry_Toodessky
    Nov 4, 2021
    3
    Именно 4ая часть GTA вышла просто не в своё время. Игроки конца 2000х годов ждали от игр онлайн, а изначально в GTA 4 его небыло, а то что подгрузили потом, можно назвать  - стыдом и позором Rockstar.
    Так что это конечно полный провал в серии, хотя игра супер. Просто вышла не в своё время.
    В одиночные игры в конце 2000х играли только, извините за выражения - бомжи и нищеброды. Так что,    Именно 4ая часть GTA вышла просто не в своё время. Игроки конца 2000х годов ждали от игр онлайн, а изначально в GTA 4 его небыло, а то что подгрузили потом, можно назвать  - стыдом и позором Rockstar.
    Так что это конечно полный провал в серии, хотя игра супер. Просто вышла не в своё время.
    В одиночные игры в конце 2000х играли только, извините за выражения - бомжи и нищеброды. Так что, если ты играл в гта4 в актуальное время, то ты сам можешь определить кто ты =)
    Единственный провал Rockstar.    … Expand
  60. Czechinator
    Jul 25, 2023
    3
    At first, I enjoyed the game. I liked the driving model, which was not as braindead as in other gta. I also enjoyed the shooting mechanics. However, the game lost its appeal to me fairly quickly. (I did a run of all GTA games from the first to the latest part, and no other gta left me feeling disappointed like this one.)
    GTA 4 is incredibly long and boring, with uninspiring repetitive    At first, I enjoyed the game. I liked the driving model, which was not as braindead as in other gta. I also enjoyed the shooting mechanics. However, the game lost its appeal to me fairly quickly. (I did a run of all GTA games from the first to the latest part, and no other gta left me feeling disappointed like this one.)
    GTA 4 is incredibly long and boring, with uninspiring repetitive missions and no checkpoints!
    Around mission 40, I just wished for it to be over, after that i only wanted to know how the story ends. I'm playing it in 2023 on a powerful PC (GTA 5 on max settings is no problem, but this one lags on medium ,experiencing graphic issues, texture flickering, and so on.). Uninstalled and i have no desire to play any DLC content and would rather watch a story compilation on YouTube.    … Expand
  61. MarkG
    Jan 1, 2010
    2
    Worst PC port ever made. The game runs horrible on my high end desktop. Its unbelievable that a huge company like rockstar could produce something like this.
  62. Em_JW
    Jan 20, 2009
    2
    I was tempted to go on an angry rant, but I want to be objective and fair here. Overall, there will be one thing I will *never* forget and always associate with this game. It has one supercritical flaw: -It runs like sh*t- I'm not exaggerating one bit. Ive been building and repairing pc hardware for over 10 years now, and have always been an avid gamer. I play many brand new titles I was tempted to go on an angry rant, but I want to be objective and fair here. Overall, there will be one thing I will *never* forget and always associate with this game. It has one supercritical flaw: -It runs like sh*t- I'm not exaggerating one bit. Ive been building and repairing pc hardware for over 10 years now, and have always been an avid gamer. I play many brand new titles and have few problems, often able to play 1900x1200 with every option enabled including antialiasing and plenty of texture post-processing on other new titles such as All source games (including L4D, TF2 etc.), Fallout3, Mirror's Edge and the list goes on... Obviously this is not because my hardware is not up to task. This is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever encountered. The game is very, very, VERY poorly programed. To boot, GTA IV doesn't even look good. The graphics look very dated in comparison with titles released recently. It crashes... alot. This program has managed to generate more faults and errors than any other application I have ever installed. I'd even go so far as to say known malware runs more stably. I wish I was exaggerating, but this is the sad, sad truth that is GTA IV for PC. I attempted for days to improve the performance and stability of this program using every workaround and trick I know of including: 1) trying over a dozen different combinations of drivers 2) both versions of the game 3) manually editing nearly every configuration in the program directory 4) multiple OS's (vista and XP pro) 5) multiple bios and firmware combinations 6) alteration of my OS (killing services, disabling/enabling access, security, automatic memory remapping apps, cache utilities) 7) I even cleared out enough room on my scsi 15k rpm HDD... No effect on performance. (Oh let me add that the install directory is rediculous. 15 gigs!? of *what* may I ask?) 8)multiple brand new graphics cards including an ATI 4850 overclock addition (asus) and XFX nvidia geforce 9800. Did any of this work, at all? Actually, somewhat. But the performance is unbelievably bad even when I take the best results from all of the above. Given the Xbox 360's hardware, (http://hardware.teamxbox.com/articles/xbox/1144/The-Xbox-360-System-Specifications/p1 if you're curious) most modern PC gaming rigs shouldn't break a sweat running this software. However, my problems with this awfully coded mess are not isolated, but rather the typical experience. Ludicrous. How did rockstar miss these problems? Greater than 50% of users are having awful issues, how many different pcs did they playtest this on? One? None? Grand Theft is an apt title. I feel no better than grifted, swindled and conned for purchasing this garbage. The programmers should be truly ashamed. Rockstar has also made no attempt to repair their broken software nor have they even *acknowledged* that these severe issues exist to this degree. The finale of this ridiculum is that once I was able to stabilize the software to the point that I could play through an appreciable portion of the game, it was really pretty average. The gameplay is alright... Pretty similar to san-andreas, with the notable exception that the animations are vastly superior. You are able to traverse objects a little better, and the cover system does add some substance to combat. I'd give the gameplay a 7/10, its decent, but still sort of the same old thing. Vehicle mechanics are really very good, with notable attention to realistic traction, but the general physics still have a very toy like, very poor quality. They really didn't think outside the box too much, alot of the mission content is completely rehashed from the original GTA III engine titles. The plot is actually pretty good, and the voice actors seem to be above average. Its pretty entertaining plot wise. Nearly all of the new content additions are terrible though. The cellphone is an abomination. People bother you on your cellphone too much. I hate this in reality, let alone in a leisure activity. I don't want people calling me all the time and being obligated to do what they ask me. I can only play the stupid ingame pool once or twice before it becomes extremely tiresome. To make it worse, you're punished for not doing this by losing reputation. Dating a computer character? Give me a break, this doen't even resemble fun. A virtual internet complete with virtual spam? What the hell did they bother spending time on this for? Does anyone actually appreciate this? Its really *not* clever, I wish they would have spent this time play testing this garbled up mess of code. -Bottom Line- This software is almost completely broken, and riddled with issues. It barely works. To quote the great philosopher James Rolf (AVGN), "What a sh*tload of f*ck" It comes packaged with all this bloatware that makes irritated as well. I don't use 'windows live' for anything, and its nothing but a marketing ploy with no substance. 'Rockstar Social Club' is equally useless or worse, as I suspect these applications present very serious security flaws. They run scripts and leave open ports, and I feel there is a high likelyhood that these applications will be exploited as entry points. Its really just the insult added to injury.… Expand
  63. ChaseEvans
    Mar 5, 2009
    2
    DON'T DRINK THE COOLAID! This game is down right terrible for PC. Does Splinter Cell: Double Agent for PC ring a bell to anyone? If so, then you already know what I'm talking about.
    If not, believe me when Joel and I tell you that this is a terrible PC port of the game. Do not buy it!! I AM WARNING YOU!
    I give it a 2/10. The two goes towards the marketing team for doing    DON'T DRINK THE COOLAID! This game is down right terrible for PC. Does Splinter Cell: Double Agent for PC ring a bell to anyone? If so, then you already know what I'm talking about.
    If not, believe me when Joel and I tell you that this is a terrible PC port of the game. Do not buy it!! I AM WARNING YOU!
    I give it a 2/10. The two goes towards the marketing team for doing such a great job at over hyping this craptastic game. If it wasn't for marketing doing their job ridiculously well, I would have rated 1/10.    … Expand
  64. alskib
    Jan 10, 2010
    2
    What a shame! I have a i7 oc to 4.4ghz and a gtx295 oc by 24% and the game graphics glitchy, the only game I have that does this. Even if I reduce the oc's or remove them altogether its still the same but worse. Nice idea, controls are poor and very clunky. Its as if you were a puppet master controlling strings that actually control the controls....if that makes sense, as if you are What a shame! I have a i7 oc to 4.4ghz and a gtx295 oc by 24% and the game graphics glitchy, the only game I have that does this. Even if I reduce the oc's or remove them altogether its still the same but worse. Nice idea, controls are poor and very clunky. Its as if you were a puppet master controlling strings that actually control the controls....if that makes sense, as if you are far removed. Not so bad when you're walking but fighting is a joke and driving is unrealistic. Completed 4 missions then deleted it, waste of £5.… Expand
  65. AndrewR.
    Dec 3, 2008
    2
    Terrible graphics because of lack of AA. Jagged edges everywhere. Your vid card, no matter how high end, is useless. This game has NO option to enable AA, which it so desperately need.
  66. ColinL
    Dec 3, 2008
    2
    It sort of works in single player, multiplayer doesn't work at all so far. Was finally looking forward to being able to mouse/keyboard this sweet game, but they botched it pretty bad. And since i bought it on steam, I need my steam ID, windows live ID AND rockstar social club ID for multi (which crashes when logged into social club).
  67. GrenadeMagnet
    Dec 4, 2008
    2
    bugs bugs bugs. thats treyarch for you. connection problems(internet gets disconnected when u start game, if youre using vista you cant join xp games in coop and there arent much vista users compared to xp users, you get disconnected by the server randomly in multiplayer games, unhandled exception caught disconnection problems), sound driver conflict problems, disapearing favorite server bugs bugs bugs. thats treyarch for you. connection problems(internet gets disconnected when u start game, if youre using vista you cant join xp games in coop and there arent much vista users compared to xp users, you get disconnected by the server randomly in multiplayer games, unhandled exception caught disconnection problems), sound driver conflict problems, disapearing favorite server problems, startup problems, internet disconnection problems(COD WAW tweaks the network settingsand you have to wait 5 minutes to reset the modem) installation problems, hardcore mode overpowered dogs, and did i mention bugs? congratulations on your bugfarm treyarch. i wasted $50.00.… Expand
  68. MrBear
    Dec 9, 2008
    2
    Buggiest release of a major game I have seen on PC in as far back as I can remember. I can't play it more than 3-4 minutes without it crashing and I can't get acceptable frame rates on a machine that exceeds the requirements. The only reason to rate this game a 2 and not a 1 is that it might eventually be fixed. Rockstar has been extremely unhelpful in the meantime and their Buggiest release of a major game I have seen on PC in as far back as I can remember. I can't play it more than 3-4 minutes without it crashing and I can't get acceptable frame rates on a machine that exceeds the requirements. The only reason to rate this game a 2 and not a 1 is that it might eventually be fixed. Rockstar has been extremely unhelpful in the meantime and their press releases have been full of doublespeak.… Expand
  69. DougS
    Jan 24, 2009
    2
    As a software engineer at a company that makes software quality assurance products, I feel I can speak with some authority when I say the PC release of GTA4 is a colossal failure by either Rockstar's QA department or management. The game itself is quite good, but the workmanship is by far the worst I have ever seen on a game I have beta tested, much less a final product.
  70. MaikM
    Jan 6, 2009
    2
    Its just a shame what Rockstar did to his good old pc-community. i bought it, but it defenetly was my last gta i paid for. Why are they making that deal with Windows? Why realasing an unfinished port? The game feels old and isnt working smoothly, on a high end system. the steering isnt adjusted to a pc-steering with mouse and keys, u cant really handle the car, because its impossible to Its just a shame what Rockstar did to his good old pc-community. i bought it, but it defenetly was my last gta i paid for. Why are they making that deal with Windows? Why realasing an unfinished port? The game feels old and isnt working smoothly, on a high end system. the steering isnt adjusted to a pc-steering with mouse and keys, u cant really handle the car, because its impossible to control the speed proberly. what makes it even worse is that it just support the x-box controller (Microsoft!!), those bold capitalist doesnt deserve the money!… Expand
  71. Slayer_27
    Apr 16, 2009
    2
    I heard nothing but bad things about this game. I have a pretty high end computer and it runs like crap at medium high settings. You have to have a card with 6846541867MB of texture memory to max out the draw distance. The install took years, even compared to GoW(one of the longest game install I have had). Your graphics card almost has no effect on the gameplay, no SLI/X-Fire support, I heard nothing but bad things about this game. I have a pretty high end computer and it runs like crap at medium high settings. You have to have a card with 6846541867MB of texture memory to max out the draw distance. The install took years, even compared to GoW(one of the longest game install I have had). Your graphics card almost has no effect on the gameplay, no SLI/X-Fire support, more bugs than an insect exhibit at a zoo and needs a 12GHz quad core to handle the terrible excuse for a port of sloppy coding that was likely done overnight. I could only get ~20 fps on mediums settings with a 3.2GHz quad core at 1024*768. This game is terrible. I was so disappointed by the game performance, install time, size and 1300 things I had to sign up for I uninstalled the game the same day. I might consider purchasing it later if they can fix the bugs, add multi GPU support, fit it on one disk and clean up the sloppy code. Just because people are using quads and 4+GB of RAM is no excuse to make sloppy pitiful ports. Rockstar has lost a lot of support from this port. I think they should have not have hired chimps to code the game. The graphics are nice and that is all I can say positive bout the game.… Expand
  72. NickG
    Aug 18, 2009
    2
    I feel sorry for the poeple who have paid for this game (like my friend Steve). They are the only ones penalised by the DRM. Visuals are a bit better than San Andreas, but its a con. All of the great features of San Andreas were removed (no training, no silent kill). Too dumbed down.
  73. RobertC.
    Dec 19, 2008
    2
    Unplayable. Apparently the "critics" are more than willing to give high marks to a game that barely functions due to bugs. The fix is in between the "professional critics" on this site and Rockstar games...sad.
  74. AlexandruG.
    Dec 5, 2008
    2
    This is one of the worst ports ever. I know they have a deadline but you can't treat your customers like this. We have waited for so long for this game to come on the PC and a few more months wouldn't kill us. Now that i have the game and i can't play it the frustration is even bigger. I really hope that for the next GTA title R* will wake up and realize that in the end the This is one of the worst ports ever. I know they have a deadline but you can't treat your customers like this. We have waited for so long for this game to come on the PC and a few more months wouldn't kill us. Now that i have the game and i can't play it the frustration is even bigger. I really hope that for the next GTA title R* will wake up and realize that in the end the satisfaction of the customer matters and we deserve some respects especially because we bought this game and didn't run to pirate bay to download it. I hope a patch comes that will fix this problems before new year...… Expand
  75. JonEwing
    Jan 18, 2009
    2
    I've played this for a couple of days but now it's listed on ebay where I will try to recoup as many of my losses as poss. I finally gave up after the 10th crash to desktop. I wasn't even enjoying the bland missions anyway so it wasn't worth the hassle of rebooting the game every time. Avoid- even with a high end PC.
  76. Clare
    Jan 25, 2009
    2
    Fantastic game. If you can actually play it. Don't dignify Rockstar with paying for this if you can help it. They don't deserve to be paid for such horrendous optimization. "Ah, but I want to play multiplayer!" Says the one whom would rather buy it. Knock yourself out - too bad everyone you'll be playing with will get consistently dropped from the game due to having a poor Fantastic game. If you can actually play it. Don't dignify Rockstar with paying for this if you can help it. They don't deserve to be paid for such horrendous optimization. "Ah, but I want to play multiplayer!" Says the one whom would rather buy it. Knock yourself out - too bad everyone you'll be playing with will get consistently dropped from the game due to having a poor framerate on their quad-cores.… Expand
  77. EikCorell
    Jan 3, 2009
    2
    I haven't bothered trying to play the game beyond the very start because the performance is just so abhorrently bad. This is as far as I know the only game in existence where lowering resolution and textures does virtually nothing at all for performance.

    In addition to that we have securom and nagging applications needed for the game to even function.
  78. KennieKennie
    May 23, 2009
    2
    The game presents inferior quality compared to the ones prior to him. There is a feel of emptyness from the start to the end. You dont have half the choices you had in San Andreas, the world is smaller, more boring, the story is far worse, there are so many characters that you end up forgeting who is who and missing half of it. It feels like San Andreas story is more non-linear than The game presents inferior quality compared to the ones prior to him. There is a feel of emptyness from the start to the end. You dont have half the choices you had in San Andreas, the world is smaller, more boring, the story is far worse, there are so many characters that you end up forgeting who is who and missing half of it. It feels like San Andreas story is more non-linear than IV's, even though IV's is supposed to be made non-linear in some way. It is incredibly repetitive. The whole game end up being "going from point A to point B", there is no other reason to do anything else. Graphics are good, but at what cost? hell, they are not only incredibly heavy but also incredibly buggy! The radios are awful, they cannot be compared to any of those of any GTA that came before this one. Another thing that is just outrageous is the quantity of stereotipes there are in the game. From the main character, a russian immigrant, to radio programs talking about terrorism and stuff and the "american dream". Also, DRM protection ends up screwing up all the rest of the things the game had. Let alone all the things you have to do in order to play it (*cough social club and windows live cough*). The only thing done right in this game are the little details. Cars not turning on, deformable cars, etc. Although as i said, some of them are absolutly useless. (like taking a cab, the stupid shows you can go watching, etc). However this is not nearly enough to make IV a good game. All of what this game is made of is hype. A major step back from San Andreas.… Expand
  79. TuureO
    Dec 18, 2008
    2
    This game doesn't deserve anybody's money. I had to download 5 different applications, register to many clubs before even being able to play it, and after that i still got a error message. Then when i started the game, and changed the resolution and refresh rate (1600x1200, 85 Hz) The screen went black saying "Sync out of range", so clearly, my screen can't handle that much This game doesn't deserve anybody's money. I had to download 5 different applications, register to many clubs before even being able to play it, and after that i still got a error message. Then when i started the game, and changed the resolution and refresh rate (1600x1200, 85 Hz) The screen went black saying "Sync out of range", so clearly, my screen can't handle that much of refresh rate, but the thing is, i couldn't not change them back since all I could see was black. Absolutely ridiculous. After few weeks when not getting any useful help from rockstar, i had to think of something. Then, i thought maybe i should take few screenshots of the menu, and it worked. The screen was black, but i could take screenshots of it. This way i was able to navigate through the menu with sounds and pictures. The game itself is great, buggy and heavier than crysis, but after that much of trouble, it doesn't matter how good the game is. 2/10.… Expand
  80. RegretfulB.
    Dec 4, 2008
    2
    I have every reason to believe there is a great game in here somewhere. Unfortunately, the ludicrous system requirements that in no way justify ok-but-not-better-than-everything-else-out-there visuals render the game almost completely on playable on all but the lowest settings, which makes the game look even worse. Don't buy this game. It's insulting to think people are changing I have every reason to believe there is a great game in here somewhere. Unfortunately, the ludicrous system requirements that in no way justify ok-but-not-better-than-everything-else-out-there visuals render the game almost completely on playable on all but the lowest settings, which makes the game look even worse. Don't buy this game. It's insulting to think people are changing money for a product that was clearly unfinished by uncaring designers.… Expand
  81. MattS
    Dec 5, 2008
    2
    Words cannot describe how disappointing and annoyed this game has made me. Not only does it have the most painful install experience I have ever encountered, it takes 10minutes to load every time you play. Then the textures and buildings dont show up. Unplayable. It is also necessary to navigate through the awful rockstar *social* club interface each time the game is loaded. The social Words cannot describe how disappointing and annoyed this game has made me. Not only does it have the most painful install experience I have ever encountered, it takes 10minutes to load every time you play. Then the textures and buildings dont show up. Unplayable. It is also necessary to navigate through the awful rockstar *social* club interface each time the game is loaded. The social club is also set by default to load on startup. Avoid until this is patched. I cannot emphasis this enough. Really, what went wrong? Not cool Rockstar.… Expand
  82. JohnS.
    Dec 5, 2008
    2
    I have a 9800 GX2 OCX, a Liquid Cooled Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 3.6GHZ. 4 gigs of Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500, and a EVGA 780i motherboard, and i cant seem to get over 14 frames per second. And for some reason the game wont let me use all 1 gig of video memory my card has, it says i only have 498mb?! And it restricts me from putting any of the settings higher if it uses over that I have a 9800 GX2 OCX, a Liquid Cooled Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 3.6GHZ. 4 gigs of Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500, and a EVGA 780i motherboard, and i cant seem to get over 14 frames per second. And for some reason the game wont let me use all 1 gig of video memory my card has, it says i only have 498mb?! And it restricts me from putting any of the settings higher if it uses over that amount. So all i got was a big laggy city with cars that drive like they are airboats.… Expand
  83. SergeyR.
    Dec 5, 2008
    2
    I played this game on xbox 360 but i wanted it to get on pc only beacause of the playability, the highest resolution and the ''more fps'' but i was really disapointed. the game itself is awsome but i currently have xp professionnal 2.5 g of ram a sli 8800 ultra and a quad core 3.6 ghz and i have BIG troubles get more then 40 fps in mid graphic settings. THE GAME IS I played this game on xbox 360 but i wanted it to get on pc only beacause of the playability, the highest resolution and the ''more fps'' but i was really disapointed. the game itself is awsome but i currently have xp professionnal 2.5 g of ram a sli 8800 ultra and a quad core 3.6 ghz and i have BIG troubles get more then 40 fps in mid graphic settings. THE GAME IS MORE HEAVY THAN CRYSIS!?!?!?!? and there is no, even in max graphic settings, comparaison between the two games in term of graphics.… Expand
  84. ademills
    Dec 9, 2008
    2
    Game may be good but the crap you have to join and the waste of time working it all out is beyond stpid. Spend an hour loading everything before getting to play, and then it wouldnt save my game becasue something hadnt gone right. Sheer stupidity, though more likely arrogance
  85. briannielsen
    Jan 18, 2009
    2
    I had fun at first, but before it ended the game became tedious and annoying. This coupled with the amount of glitches and technical flaws that the PC version is littered with makes it almost too frustrating to play. I'm a fan of the series but I'm very disappointed in this instillation.
  86. foxstranger
    May 23, 2009
    2
    Yes graphics and physics good, but ability, scenario much worse than SA, never buy this game, do not made the same mistake! Try pirated version at least, there is nice working crack with some bugs if you want!(AND majka not mother in russian LOL(you dumb polska) there are no NO problems(in word translate)"without problems in russian" either!).
  87. JK
    Dec 13, 2008
    2
    This game is undoubtedly fantastic on XBox 360 or PS3, but don't buy it for PC! It has inane copy protection, no customizable keyboard controls, and ridiculous system requirements to run at a decent frame rate. It is thoroughly disappointing! Don't buy it!!!
  88. JJJ.
    Dec 19, 2008
    2
    Game looks bad on a Phenom w/ATI 4850. Same on Rockstar for releasing this game in the state it is. Look around the web and you'll see I'm not alone in having severe issues. I can run Fallout 3 in all its glory on my Samsung 226BW without a hitch but GTA looks worse than a PS2 game.
  89. Rossos
    Mar 23, 2014
    2
    Very Disappointed

    They've messed up real life simulation and fun game play. The whole game feels like a drag. Emotionally unstable protagonist which most of the times does not represent what the player wants/feels. Story-wise everything feels schemed. Majority of the characters are being killed/disposed off before you even know them. You play for around 20hours into the story to find    Very Disappointed

    They've messed up real life simulation and fun game play. The whole game feels like a drag. Emotionally unstable protagonist which most of the times does not represent what the player wants/feels. Story-wise everything feels schemed. Majority of the characters are being killed/disposed off before you even know them. You play for around 20hours into the story to find out the real story behind it all, which in fact, is very poor. Thinking about spending time and building relationships/friendships? Absolute waste of time. Girlfriends are getting discarded like flies through "Storytelling". Constant drama and personal-family affairs are just horrible representation.

    Game-wise. Graphics are mediocre at best. They've pulled this strange, and rather unwanted, dirt-brown filter onto everything, to simulate a dirty (real life?) city. To say the least it all fails. The game was designed for a console. With limited resources and computational power in mind. And this version of the game in just a port, and a cheap one, they didn't even bother implementing anti-aliasing into the game. No matter that, knowing it's 5years old game, and the availability of graphical enhancers around this is all semi-fixable, and can be disregarded by majority.

    Mechanics. The physics, AI, and other inner mechanics are very poor designed, if they were designed at all. Vehicle controls are as crappy as ever. Especially every other car that you aren't driving. Motorcycles flying into the air like balloons on every impact. Inflammable cars with a touch of a finger. Cars no longer have fuel tanks apparently. You have to shoot the rims of the car for it to get a blazed and explode. Forget about flat tires. Firing at tires does nothing. Shoot the rims for effect. which goes in three stages apparently. Flat tire -> broken rim -> car in flames. No purchasable safe-houses. No property ownership with benefits. Just story set crappy apartments forces upon you. I recall parachutes and jet packs in previous game installments, non of that here. No "gang members" recruitment. You can't call out for someone to help. Missions scripts are more broken than ever. Sometimes it feels like you have to perform brain-surgery operation to get in place for mission to progress.

    Overally. Having played Vice City, and getting very amazed back in the day, it was improved and topped up with creativity with San Andreas. But, as it seems, they decided to literally downgrade the game for "reality feel". They've removed so much it is unbelievable this game was in production so long. No car customization, no garage, you can't call a ballet to bring you your car. They've spent so much time and effort into rag-doll simulation and animations things just fly by while you are trying to enter a vehicle. Muscle, stamina have been removed. Character customization is just non-existing. You have Niko Bellic as he is. You can buy him a nice suit. That's about it. The whole experience feels like stripped down game. It is rather ironic that throughout the game there are multiple references and mentioning of Vice City, and how much better things are there.

    Conclusion. This review is based on completing the game. I am not one of those who played couple of hours and made their conclusions. Being GTA fan for a decade it is really a shame that such a franchise ended up in such state. It is all down the hill from now on. I am really afraid even taking GTA5 in my hands. Thinking that it will be just like GTA4 with three Niko Bellics running around. Not recommended.    … Expand
  90. lunix
    Sep 26, 2013
    2
    I tried valiantly to get into this, since I have been a devote fan of the GTA franchise since I first fired up top-down GTA ever so many years ago. However, I have some fairly sizable complaints. And I feel they're likely shared by others...

    While the in-game graphics are lovely, and my rig handles in-game play with ease even at higher detail I noticed immediately that the cut-scenes    I tried valiantly to get into this, since I have been a devote fan of the GTA franchise since I first fired up top-down GTA ever so many years ago. However, I have some fairly sizable complaints. And I feel they're likely shared by others...

    While the in-game graphics are lovely, and my rig handles in-game play with ease even at higher detail I noticed immediately that the cut-scenes are the herky-jerkiest mess of nausea-inducing graphical horror imaginable. If my machine can handle maxed out graphical settings in-game, why in the world are cut-scenes such a dreadful chore to render?

    Vehicle controls are not just modestly too realistic, they're OVERLY realistic: Making the game feel more like work than an escape probably wasn't the best course to take here. The higher-end cars would seem to be the way out of this quagmire, yet they actually magnify this effect. They're not stogy and unresponsive, no, but they're overly twitchy and even less fun to pilot.

    I've played some disappointing Rockstar games in my time, but this one easily tops the list. I say this only having played for a few hours, but I can't honestly think of anything I'd rather continue doing less than muddle through this fiasco.

    If you're eagerly awaiting GTA 5 for the PC and are seriously thinking of purchasing this to fill your wistful, empty hours until it is finally released to us PC plebs, I implore you not to bother.

    I'd honestly rather replay one of the decent GTA releases, GTA:VC including the impossible RC helicopter missions and ridiculous "try until you want to cry" boat missions all the way through again, rather than continue with this shambolic offering an hour longer.

    For shame, Rockstar. For shame.    … Expand
  91. ZazaTR
    Apr 3, 2012
    2
    Grand Theft Auto IV represents one of the worst attempts to make even mildly serious game in completely psychedelic franchise. Good job R*, you just ruined GTA.

    Buggy PC port is also a serious issue.
  92. hwarming
    Sep 16, 2013
    2
    I don't get it. I just don't get it. This game does not deserve the 98/100 critic score on 360, even without the problems of this horrible PC port, the game isn't that great. Is Rockstar paying off reviewers for high scores? This game is boring. Sure the story is engaging, but 90% of the time you're just driving around a city. It takes itself too seriously, sure the world has some goofyI don't get it. I just don't get it. This game does not deserve the 98/100 critic score on 360, even without the problems of this horrible PC port, the game isn't that great. Is Rockstar paying off reviewers for high scores? This game is boring. Sure the story is engaging, but 90% of the time you're just driving around a city. It takes itself too seriously, sure the world has some goofy stuff, but the story of the game is too dark and serious, look at Saint's Row, it's cheesy and over the top, that's funny. And now GTA5 has a 98/100 too, and that's depressing. People go after CoD for this all the time, but every GTA game is the same, you drive around, kill people, do missions. There's so many better games out there that just came out that aren't getting any attention, Rayman Legends for instance, that game tries so many fresh ideas, and it works. But gets no attention. This is truly sad for the gaming community.… Expand
  93. Mykwon
    Dec 8, 2012
    2
    Nicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
    However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, after    Nicely done but becomes a little repetitive after a while. There should be more around the story, or more interesting missions than just go and shoot a bunch of people to steal something. Yet, it's addictive and characters are quite developed with clear cut personalities (Little Jacob is AWESOME!).
    However, after playing for 60 hours, I'm struggling real bad with some missions, after retrying them for like 20 times. No way to skip them, no help, it SUCKS! I'm so fed up to redo the same things again and again and have Nicko not respond to what I ask him to do, ending up dying in the most retarded ways ever. I give up. It ruined my game experience so bad that I now hate the game. Well done Rockstar for not putting any save-points for the long missions and force the player to do the same things during 30 minutes every time, again and again, for nothing.    … Expand
  94. superherointj
    Feb 2, 2013
    2
    First I had problems installing it, it had a bug in the installation proccess, I 've had to open a support thread. Only then after one month I was told that I was forced to install Microsoft Marketplace manually, I had to create two accounts. One "RockStar Club" and a Microsoft account. It found it very annoying.
    I expected more for this game. I found the controls too hard to grasp at    First I had problems installing it, it had a bug in the installation proccess, I 've had to open a support thread. Only then after one month I was told that I was forced to install Microsoft Marketplace manually, I had to create two accounts. One "RockStar Club" and a Microsoft account. It found it very annoying.
    I expected more for this game. I found the controls too hard to grasp at first. The graphics is still very good. But I didn't have as much fun as I had with previous GTA. It is for sure a worst GTA. I'd say the experience was bad.    … Expand
  95. ZombieWhosoever
    May 30, 2014
    2
    Points for the fantastic graphics, but unfortunately, the game is so painfully laggy that it's beyond the point of being playable. Even after trying everything to fix the situation, this game just doesn't want to cooperate with my PC. Hopefully, Rockstar is able to avoid these kind of bugs in future games.
  96. SMBW
    Feb 21, 2020
    2
    Кусок тормозного дерьма, убогий, забагованный порт для тупорылых васянов. В это дерьмо невозможно нормально играть, лучше на мылостейшене пройти этот кал и забыть его, чем мучиться на пердимонокле с вылетами и фризами.
  97. atom608
    Nov 3, 2013
    2
    First off. terrible port even with my core i5 4570 and amd 7870 the game lags like The textures are just so bad same with meshes in doors. And the story line is just the same over and over do this go do that bla bla all you do is drive there do that then do it again its boring as hell. I hope they actually optimize GTA V for pc this time instead of spending 2 mins porting it to pc
  98. Hexus80
    Apr 19, 2018
    2
    WARNING: the game was ported to PC badly and contains HUGE amount of bugs. Some even may prevent you from finishing the game!

    Don't waste your time and money.
  99. arcizlo
    Jul 5, 2015
    2
    not sure about the game, but if you want to play, you have to spend at least an hour getting behind some drm crap, creating microsoft live profile, rockstar games profile, restart the game 5 times, authentize mail and so on. definetely not recommended to anyone who just want to play.
  100. GameComplete
    Sep 30, 2014
    2
    It's bad. It's boring. It's broken.
    Now, autumn of 2014, i7-2700 (3,4GHz Quad), 16 GB RAM, Geforce 970 (Maxwell 2), Win8.1-64, SSD: The game does not stutter anymore. Maybe unless you use the X-Box-controller, that is.
    Now, you can see GTA4 in its full glory. And it is bad. Graphics? Dated. Well, they were already dated when the game was released in 2008, but hardly anybody noticed that,    It's bad. It's boring. It's broken.
    Now, autumn of 2014, i7-2700 (3,4GHz Quad), 16 GB RAM, Geforce 970 (Maxwell 2), Win8.1-64, SSD: The game does not stutter anymore. Maybe unless you use the X-Box-controller, that is.
    Now, you can see GTA4 in its full glory. And it is bad. Graphics? Dated. Well, they were already dated when the game was released in 2008, but hardly anybody noticed that, as nearly everybody was just overwhelmed by the sheer size of the city. Music? No, just awful noise. Dialogues? Do you consider F-words and S-words a bearable dialogue? In that case you do not have a problem with the game. You do have a problem with your life. Missions? Try to navigate a horrible car through a horrible mess of horrible AI and kill someone. Repeat.
    The good news is: The triggers in the game can be broken, so you cannot start the next mission. What about other savegames? It is GfWL - no escape here. The game essentially gives you a "Game over" for free. Thus the game has a useful message after all: Go and play something else.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best PC Game of 2008
3
#3 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. PC Gamer UK
    92
    It's the peripheral distractions of both going out with Roman, and meeting your girlfriends, that really make your virtual life so worth living. Although incredibly simplistic, they're oddly touching...One of the finest videogames ever. [Christmas 2008, p.87]
  2. PC Format
    89
    The most grown-up GTA and the best realised, but it doesn't respect the PC much. Enjoy the multiplayer madness if you can. [Christmas 2008, p.96]
  3. Eurogamer
    90
    A genuinely ground-breaking blockbuster in videogame history. There were moments playing GTA IV that I thought back to my initial experiences with games, and realised exactly how far we've come. There's never been anything quite like GTA IV in the world. That there makes me genuinely happy to be a gamer.
    Read full review
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