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.

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

I just can't believe that users are giving this game a low rating. Yes there are some bugs with getting the game running on your pc. Yes it comes with an intrusive and slow game launcher. Yes it forces you to use games for Windows Live. Does it have high minimum specs to play at a smooth frame rate? Sure does. Are these issues a major pain in the butt? Sure they are. But none of those issues changes the fact that this is one of the best games ever to come to a PC. If you are looking for a PC game for the holiday season - this is it. Period. This game is incredible, it offers dozens of hours of gameplay - and because of its scalability, it will look even more incredible on your next PC. It would be a shame if someone didnt buy this game because of all the whiners taking out their frustation by giving it a low score. If you are smart enough to read and know how to use google- you should be able to get this game running in a few minutes without any problems. One of the best games I have ever played on the PC. Right up there with Bioshock, Half Life series, Crysis, and Doom series. Just buy it now and be happy.… Expand

The port is not so good as it is on ps3, well yeah. but still it's one of the most breathtaking games. i love it. rockstar, failing too much can cause you out of business, next gta will not be wanted so much as this one, this is for sure now.

horrible horrible horrible (x20) port. My computer meets the recommended requirements, yet when i finally got to play the game (used 2 days to get around different crashbugs) the fps were so low even though i had set the graphics to the lowest (it was first at my 5th try to change them that the game didn't crash here). Seriously i feel cheated like whore who never get paid, for paying for this garbage game. tottally useless… Expand

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

I usually find it unfair for a game to receive "0" because it rarely deserves such a rating but for this game, I'll gladly make an exception. Why? Because of the way Rockstar have been treating us PC gamers from day 1. First of all, they kept us hanging, hoping we'd buy the console version first which I did. When they thought most people had already bought it, they announced the PC version, knowing that die hard PC gamers would want the PC version next to the console version. A dirty move if ever I saw one. But now that it's finally here, it's even WORSE than the horrible launch of GTA3 which was bugged and failed to run on many PCs as well. Have they learned NOTHING? No, they have learned something: they have learned that crappy, buggy, crash-prone ports sell regardless of their problems. And GTAIV is the pinacle of crappy ports. Horrible performance on top end systems, instability, many people being unable to load the game, graphical errors, tons and tons of bugs, etc. etc. This is UNACCEPTABLE. I don't give a damn about the game behind this when the attitude of Rockstar is so smug, so arrogant, as to admit spending $200k on copy protection instead of getting the thing beta tested! Not that you'll give a damn after having paid off all those reviewers to give you high scores.… Expand

I like the game the gameplay is realy nice and it makes lot of fun Its a nice map , nice and dinamic story / world and the multiplayer is fuckng nice too
I know there are lot ofs proplem with instaling the gam and and and.... but thats has nothing to do with the gameplay so 9 points - and I didnt had any proplems with the installing and I didnt get One error message

I feel I have to defend against some of the negative views here - I'll try to present a more balanced review. In short, GTAIV, if you get it running, is a fantastic game, and I would rate it 9/10+ if it were not for the technical issues. The city is amazing, the cars handle brilliantly, the story is interesting, the characters are entertaining and the humorous dialogue regularly has me laughing out loud. There are bugs, but nothing close to game breaking for me. The bad: Fortunately I upgraded not long after getting this, but my old PC (1.86GHz Core 2) would not run it in any playable way. My new comp (3GHz core 2, HD 4870) runs it at 1680x1050 without any problems. So basically, unless you are well above the min specs, or are planning to upgrade, it's probably not worth getting just now. To me the worst thing is having to sign in to windows live (horrible system, doesn't always connect - and why should i have to always be onl) and rockstar social club to play. It is a rubbish system and I hope sales are hurt by it and rockstar seriously revamp things for their next release. So there you are, I'm sure it could have been many times better than it is had more time/resources been spent on the port than on the copy protection, but if you can get it running, it's a great game.… Expand

Why a 4? I tell you they said in most reveiw That you need a good computer to run well. I dont agree. Since a pc 2.40mhz 4GB ram and 1GB grafic does not help the issues the game has. Small graphic glicthes. They said. Major Graphic problem I say. I say I have seldom got so annoyed when I playd a game. In apartment after save I always have to tab out and in the game again since the screen goes all blur. Same in Internet cafe, some times under the bridges and I think it is the wheater motor in the game, its when its raining and sunset time. And the game lag if I have more then 1600-1200 and max out on the rest. And the fact no patch for dual graphic cards its s big time. And the game play. Sorry I'm not in to have to play some one that cant even speak proper English I'm a Swede but playing a Bos-Serb does not make me goo Who! And have to look like potato nose guy. Give me a plastic surgen in the game, and not have the good stuff to look forward in the old games like buying property. What is this? Its not GTA. … Expand

The game is great. It has brilliant graphics, but it is a rubbish port. It doesn't support SLI, and it needs a very high power computer to do what is only above average by modern standards. It's almost as if Rockstar couldn't be bothered with the PC market.

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

A disappointing mess of a game, undecided if it wants full-on realism or diverse fun (See San Andreas). Though a very well done game, GTA IV falls short of all expectations, with boring and repetitive missions and badly done gameplay elements. The PC version, also is by far the worst PC port ever, if not the worst PC game ever.

Let's start out with the good things, the game looks absolutely brilliant, there it has not disappointed. The Gameplay is not bad, but there's something missing that GTA: San Andreas had, it's the whole atmosphere. The Single Player campaign is certainly worth the money. The Multiplayer is very dull, especially for those who have played SA: Multiplayer, which was a mod. Of course i thought rockstar would be inspired by the great concept, but because the game is a console port with very few changes, they even left the "weaknesses" of consoles in, that's why you cannot have Multiplayer servers with lots of players, and the game is very hard to mod. Even worse than that is that you need a Microsoft live account to even just save.… Expand

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

Grand theft auto IV is a really good game, story is great, graphic is great, overall the game itself i would give 9,5 score.. GTA IV actually runs great IF you have a triple/quad core CPU, even a 9500 GT could do high/very high and runs it smoothly IF you have a nice CPU. BUT The DRM, rockstar social club, windows live, and all the must install things just to play the game kinda backs me off from giving this game a 9 or 10 score. if you could get by the ANNOYING installation, the game is very very good and enjoyable. :)… Expand

It's just one of the best GTA games. The storie is the best of all GTA games. The graphics are phantastics and don't overheat my PC. Sometimes there is a bug but if I restart the game it's away and they are only bugs which aren't relevant for the Gameplay. I don't know what the other have but I vive 9 / 10!

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

This is game really good if you have an AWSOME COMPUTER and that may cost a bit but i can run it great but my comp is really good Intel i5 2.7ghz GTX 260 4gb ddr3. Everything is good except that when you have an sportscar the car you have comes up everywhere but when you change car you just cant find more when you change car idk if thats an bug or something but its bad... And i have a really weird bug cant higher my shadows in graphics or view distance anyone know why?… Expand

I'm giving this game a ten, because it needs it. Many people are giving it 0s because they're too stupid to check system requirements before they buy. GTA 4 is a stunning game. Liberty city is probably the most realistic city ever realized. Many people are complaining about the city being too realistic, that really isnt so true. You can turn your phone on snooze, if you dont want any annoying calls and want to just have fun in the city. You can skip any driving by taking a cab (and if you're too stingy you can call Roman.) But overall, the great thing about the city is that its so alive. You can take a break from all of the carjacking for comedy, minigames, anything. The controls aren't that hard once you get used to them, and adds some extra challenge to driving. Overall, GTA 4 is a fantastic game.… Expand

Wow, lots of negative reviews mostly based on the technical flaws. I just bought this off Steam for 7.50, installed it, fired it up and was pleased. For PC specs, I have an AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4Ghz, 4GB of DDR2 1066Mhz, HD 4770 512 DDR5, 1TB WD SATA harddrive, and an AM2+ motherboard. It cost me a bit over $500 to build it, so a fairly high end PC isn't that expensive if you look for deals on parts. AND GTA4 runs great on it with Medium textures and with all view distances maxed with 50+ FPS on the benchmark. I'd like to try higher textures, but it wouldn't let me for some reason. I've only played about 3 hours, but it's all I need. It's classic GTA in the vein of 3, VC and SA. The controls are a little different from the earlier games, but that's because they are more realistic. I personally like driving a car with bad brakes and bad suspension as it keeps me on my toes when cornering. Even sprinting is a little tricky because of your own momentum running around corners. It's excellent physics. The landscape is beautiful and the realtime shadows give it the feeling of a living, breathing environment. Standing under a railway while a train is going by and having its shadow go over you was quite impressive. The people on the street are lively and you can even eavesdrop on someone having a conversation on their cell phone. And from little of the story I've seen, it seems like classic GTA goodness. The only qualm I have is to be forced to install Windows Live to save. I also should mention that there was a recent update (13 Apr 2010) that was to fix some performance issues.… Expand

This is a very great game,I recommend this game to those who like a open world action game. I was a little disappointed on how you could not mod your car or play some b-ball like in GTA San Andreas.But the city feels alive I also love the the story line.

Numerous graphical, gameplay and stability problems mean this game only gets a 6. It's hard to shake the feeling that it was rushed out in time for Christmas. But if you can get playing and look past all the uneccessary garbage included in this game you will find the best GrandTheftAuto game yet. Alas quality control has let the team down which means it can never reach the perch it deserves.

Had already played and beat this on my brothers xbox.Should of just bought a 360 and took his game.Without a high end gaming machine,you'll most likely not be impressed.Wish i could return it for a refund. Cant play online without getting the MMA10 error which i have already found to be common among the community.

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.

Huge disapppointment - this is a prime example for a sloppy PC port. This is the kind of product that is the reason for a dying PC market. Graphics look rather aged, even on high settings. No antialiasing (thus very jagged edges), paintspray-like shadows, no reflections on cars etc., no blur effects, blurry textures (even on high settings) - and to top this, poor performance even on high end systems. Game review sites were supplied with "black boxed" PCs running GTA IV, allegedly running pro-level GFX's - this might explain the huge discrepancies between all the user generated screenshots that do not look even close to the ones on game review sites in terms of visual qualities. Loads of crashes and problems, plus you have to sign into BOTH Games for Windows Live AND Rockstar Social Club to play online and/or even save a game in singleplayer mode. 8 points from me for the gameplay, but -7 points for the inexcusably bad port - what were Rockstar thinking ?… Expand

This game could be awesome, but sadly it is not. Another game SecuROM enabled game, with numerous bugs and flaws: * First of all, you have to create two accounts in order to play the game (Windows Live & Rockstar Social...) * SecureROM keeps me from playing the game by just not letting it start (emulation software? I've got none...) * After I reinstalled windows (!) and the game (which takes more then 30 minutes) I got to start it after 5 tries (reproducible). * And, last but not least, the framerate is really crappy. Changing the resolution doesn't help, and my systems not that bad (Q6600, 8800GTX, 4GB Ram) So please, do NOT buy this game, hoping that the folks at Rockstar realize what a piece of crap the released.… Expand

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).

Having been a fan of the GTA series on the PC since GTA III I had high hopes for this after the somewhat unfocused sprawl of San Andreas. Unfortunately it has not transferred well to the PC with Securom DRM causing many users, including myself, to have problems running the game. Having played the 360 version to death I was very disappointed that my system was considered to be only able to manage similar graphical quality. The game would not let me get past 1024 resolution on a system that can play FarCry 2 in widescreen with settings high. It feels like someone has been lazy. The gameplay does not have the fun and variety of earlier versions. Vice City remains the jewel in the crown and whilst it is eclipsed by the physics of GTA IV, this version is essentially joyless in mood and gameplay. The reviews of GTA IV and console continue a proud tradition of over-rating a big release. If you have this on console then don't bother with the PC version, much as it pains me to say it. If you don't have it already then don't expect to be blown away.… Expand

Are none of the reviewers going to mention that this game IS BLOODY BROKEN. Who cares if it COULD be a good game IF the engine was optimised and IF you didn't have to install FOUR bloody applications that you never asked for. And that excludes the notorious SecuROM DRM. As a customer experience, it is at best broken, at worst the most frustrating, anger-inducing insult of a game I have EVER had the misfortune to pay money for.… Expand

Simply brilliant game, let down by absolutely woeful performance issues. On a system that either meets or exceeds the recommended requirements, the game suffers random crashing roughly every 15 minutes requiring a full restart, terrible pop up, and a draw distance that very often doesn't update fast enough. The graphics are also largely unpolished, with heavy amounts of jagged edges. The controls also feel disconnected and unresponsive, either on foot or in car. Beyond all that, it is an outstanding game in terms of design, and most importantly, it's the game that GTA3 should have been. But at least GTA3 worked (eventually).… Expand

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

I usually find it unfair for a game to receive "0" because it rarely deserves such a rating but for this game, I'll gladly make an exception. Why? Because of the way Rockstar have been treating us PC gamers from day 1. First of all, they kept us hanging, hoping we'd buy the console version first which I did. When they thought most people had already bought it, they announced the PC version, knowing that die hard PC gamers would want the PC version next to the console version. A dirty move if ever I saw one. But now that it's finally here, it's even WORSE than the horrible launch of GTA3 which was bugged and failed to run on many PCs as well. Have they learned NOTHING? No, they have learned something: they have learned that crappy, buggy, crash-prone ports sell regardless of their problems. And GTAIV is the pinacle of crappy ports. Horrible performance on top end systems, instability, many people being unable to load the game, graphical errors, tons and tons of bugs, etc. etc. This is UNACCEPTABLE. I don't give a damn about the game behind this when the attitude of Rockstar is so smug, so arrogant, as to admit spending $200k on copy protection instead of getting the thing beta tested! Here's your 0/10 Rockstart. Not that you'll give a damn after having paid off all those reviewers to give you high scores.… Expand

On top of incredibly buggy game, insanely hardware demanding game, securom drm, it rams another 2 "social" networks down your throat (3 if you use steam) - games for windows live and some rockstar branded social crap. And you do need them if you want to do as basic things as save a game progress in a singleplayer game. This is beyond absurd.

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.

This should have been one of the greatest games of all times but it's actually a test of how much you can screw the PC user before driving him to the console. It installs SecuROM even though I've bought it through Steam. It requires umpteen logins to play online... if you can get it to launch at all. The game was rushed to launch so it can make the most of the holiday season and rake in the cash, the only problem is that you would have to be stupid to pay money for it right now. Wait for SecuROM to be removed (at least from the Steam version) and for the showstopper bugs to be ironed out.… Expand

This game is the first I've purchased in many time, and I cant even evaluate it because It dosent start once downloaded by Steam. I pass the recomended config by large and it dosent run. It is very very desapointing. I urge rockstar to prepare a patch to solve this problem.

I bought this game on Steam. I am unable to run it in a playable fashion on a Pentium D/GF7800GT with 4 GB RAM (a somewhat aging setup, I know, but it runs Fallout 3 comfortably and without any hiccups). The graphics are horrible, and not just due to the abysmal optimization - I'm experiencing plenty of clipping issues and objects suddenly appearing right in front of me, not to mention that with all sliders set to minimum it looks far uglier than GTA:SA while still offering worse framerates (naturally, I've tried a number of GFX drivers, including the very latest ones). The HUD flickers on and off. Frequent crashes to desktop. Unable to redefine controls (the game assumes that I have an XBOX controller, which is beyond ridiculous - this is a PC game, remember?) Moreover, Rockstar blackmail you into installing some sort of community software - otherwise you cannot save the game (their insistence makes me believe that they're desperate to acquire your personal info for commercial purposes). My recommendation avoid like the plague (get a console version instead, if you like GTA).… Expand

Do not buy the PC version! GTA IV on PS3 and Xbox 360 is a must have but the PC version is garbage. If you thought Crysis was demanding, think again. You will need a Quad core Xtreme and an ATi 4870 X2 and 4GB ram just to play medium settings at 25fps (Not very playable). I just hope a patch will fix this game. Do not waste your money on this like I did! Buy Left 4 Dead or Fallout 3 instead!

It's like a bad port from a bad PS2 game. But it's 2008 and they had a good DirectX version. What they did? They destroyed a good game: DRM, RSC, GFWL, bad graphics (worse than San Andreas in my computer), etc. They spent several months to achieve only one thing: Fail.

It does not pay to buy pc games before the first patch is released; I had hoped Rockstar's port would be different, more fool me. After a tricky install (why must I be forced to turn off a standard Vista service [not mentioned in the GTA documentation] and sign up to 2 online services- Rockstar Social Club and Windows Live- in order to get through the damned install without it crashing?). I find I can run the game now, but it won't recognize my gamepad (the same one which worked great in GTA-SA) and the control scheme/camera viewmake near impossible to drive properly using just the keyboard & mouse. I'm hopefully these problems will be resolved in the future, but if you are planning on buying this for PC, DON'T, at least not untill a patch is issued. Constantly paying to be a beta tester is going to finally drive me to consoles, I stare at my new laptop with Nvidea 9800GS M video card, and it mocks me- I could have bought a PS3, an XBox 360, a WII, and a heap of console games for what it cost me.… Expand

I feel cheated by a massively buggy game. ok, the underlying game is great. But if the graphics keep crashing what's the point, because it becomes unplayable. There are other bugs too, but these pale into insignificance next to the terrible graphics problems.

Great game with great detail. It would have received 10/10, but 2 points are removed for a bad PC port. The graphics look like they came straight from a console (which they did,) the shadows are horrible, and no FSAA support. NVIDIA released a snap beta driver to correct some of the FPS problems so kudos there. There is no wheel support. When you view the controls in setup, it shows an XBOX 360 controller.. wtf? Some of the mapped keys that show up in the beginning demo do not work correctly on the keyboard. Overall Rockstar has abandoned its PC roots and pissed off a lot of loyal fans.… Expand

4.2... How is that? Is it all the lame "It's a port" rubbish again? This game was, is and forever will be a great game. I love everything about it. From the gameplay to the graphics and physics; everything about this game is as close to perfect one can get.

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

The game performs like absolute crap and it's not even a next gen game! Graphics are terrible. Shadows are grainy and looks like crap. These critics who gives it a high score must have been payed off since i can't believe someone could actually ignore such a major flaw in this game. Before you even can start the game you need windows live and Gta social club which in my eyes is just a resource hog. The latest patch didn't solve any performance issues. Physics in this game needs some tweaking. Missions feels repetitive. The social relationship you have with other characters in this game is annoying. If you don't go bowling with them then they will hate you. If you get hit by a car then it will take forever for you to get up on your legs and when there's cops after you then they will shoot you before you get up. So if cops are after you and you fall down then "GAME OVER BUDDY!"… Expand

GTA IV is one of the best games of all time! Despite all the technical issues on PC, you cannot help believe the fact that its a great experience. The free-aim with the mouse, ability to play your own music, better graphics and numerous other advantages makes the PC version superior to console. Eat your heart out 360 and PS3!

I can't even offer a gameplay review for this pos game because I can't get past the crashing, stuttering, and missing textures that deplete any potential enjoyment. With a 2.5Ghz cor 2 duo and 9800m GS I would hope to at least be able to execute the game. Not the case :(

This would easily, easily be a 10 if it wasn't for the innefficient programming. The game is framey even on the console versions. Luckily I managed to get it going with an oc'ed quad-core phenom , and underwater oc'ed 1GB Radeon 2900. The only other quibble is that there doesn't seem to be as many submissions and random trivial activities as previous (e.g. skydiving, turf-war, RC helicopter missions etc)… Expand

Using the steam version, I have an Nvidia GEForce 9500 card with 512 MB (Min is listed as 256) I have 2 gigs system memory, an ASUS motherboard and a 3.2 Ghz Pentium D chip. I was under the impression that qualifies as a dual core. THIS game runs like crap. The graphics are flat, and frankly a step back from San Andreas which I loved, and still load on occasion. The entire half life franchise runs brilliantly, any number of online games and other high graphics application run fine. None of this, however, compares to the aggravation of both the Rock Star Social Club and being forced to sign on to a Windows Live account. I could swear up a blue streak about being forced to pay $50 for the game AND be forced to take their version of "community" with it regardless of what I want, but..... suffice it to say I neither need nor want anything else trying to force it's way into my start up menu, and if I wanted to engage in social interaction with my gaming I would get world of warcraft. GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas all had me anticipating GTA 4 when it was announced. I don't think I'll be very interested in GTA 5.… Expand

Doesn't work on my PC (a very good one). Much more important than this game though is what the paid 'critics' are saying about how good the game is. Real people think it's junk but the paid 'critics' think it's excelent! Look at the paid 'critics' scores above to see what sites are worth visiting and listening to in the future. As the 'critics' paid 'reviewers' will 'review' this before it is posted I doubt you'll get to read it.… Expand

Biggest dissapointment of the year! Don't get me wrong, this is not a horrible game, it's a solid average game. But that's it. All these reviewers giving it 9s and 10s are either never played the previous GTA or they are paid off. Let's start with the technical problems. This game requires XP SP3 to run, so I tried to install SP3, but for some reason it won't install, I wasn't going to reinstall my OS for just one game, thankfully I found a registry hack that'll allow me to play the game. Now the game loads, but I had the missing texture problem, so I downloaded the patch, now it has the spinning camera problem. After many tried, I found out that I had to unplug the controller when the game starts, then plug it back it once the game is fully loaded. What a pain in the 455. There's no AA option in this game. This is a really big step back. I mean come on, even GTA:SA have AA. They developed this brand spanking new engine for this game and it can't do AA? Come on, that's bs. I know they are giving the defferred lighting bs, but if engines like Source, Schimitar, and Dunia can do HDR with AA, this is no excuse. I don't understand why they didn't just use one of the existing engine anyways, they clearly can't make a good engine. Now on to the problems with the gameplay and game mechanics. As everyone said, the cars' handling sucks. If I want to play a sim I'd go to play GT4. The cars handles worse that the cars of NFS. The friend system is ultra annoying. I don't mind having to gain their thrust and whatnot, but having them constantly calling me to go out and if I refuse the thumb down me, that's so damn annoying. They too out the planes, the car mods, the ability to buy properties, to own hoods, to level up your character's gun skills. Another thing is earning money is so hard in this game, I couldn't just blast everyone because the rockets and grenades are so expensive, sometimes I come out of an mission losing money. That's rediculous. Overall I think GTA:SA was a much better game. This game is very frustrating at times, and when you finally completed a mission, the rewards just doesn't feel like it's worth the effort. There are a few positive about this game though. The graphics looks better than the previous GTAs. The radio stations are great, and the ability to integrate you own music in the radio is awsome. The city feels pretty alive, especially at night. My advice, if you're a GTA fans, wait for this to hit the bargain bin, then pick it up for $20.… Expand

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

GTA IV for PC has so many errors its not even worth trying out. I hade over 15 errors in this game and it ended up in me sending this shitty game back to the store saying it was broke. If you whant GTA IV buy it for the PS3 or 360 otherwise its not worth one single penny.

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.

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

Even just installing the game i ran into all sorts of problems i kept on getting a corrupt media error message after buying a legitimate version, it happened so often that i just decided to hit ignore and then thought that running the setup again and select repair would fix any issues..wrong!...after about 30 minutes the game crashed and popped up with a fatal error message Zlib20 which apparently according to rockstar means that i need to reinstall the game!! i did, got install error messages again so figured....i have a mate whos got the same game "i'll just borrow theirs and then just use my key" installed fine no error messages so i figured the game would be good to play....wrong!!....the game crashed before i even got to the second mission with roman!!, I've been patient and reinstalled the game few times (maybe 6 in total). But now i have had enough They have released a 2nd patch already to fix the issues that they (rockstar) added too the game in the first patch! I installed the patch (second one) and now the game just freezes after 5 minutes of being in a car! I really would have liked the game had it have worked im sure of that but the issues, bugs, and problems with it are far to numerous and widespread for me to recommend this game to anyone!... the thing that is frustrating is that the mate i borrowed the game discs from is having no issues with the game and their PC specs aren't as good as mine so no i not only have a game that doesn… Expand

One of the best games of the year, if you can't install it on your computer somthing is seriousy failing on it. I hvae a 3Ghz Duo Core, 8600GT, 3GB of RAM, and it works PERFECTLY fine. So to all the people that give this game a bad score, stop having a winge because you can't even install it on your fail-computer, and stop saying the c ritics were 'paid' to give it a good review, they obviously know how to build a computer properly.… Expand

Come on Metacritic. This game doesn't deserve any near of 89! You should listen what the players have to say, and just calculate the score from players and critic reviews together. Reading these critics' reviews makes me ask did they even play the game, or spend 50 dollars of it!? The game is horrible, including all the problems and the fact that you need a supercomputer to be even able to play it. Finally a game that deserves 0.… Expand

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

Took me 2 hours to get this game installed and the amount of other software you have to sign up to is ludicrous. I've tried to play the game and haven't lasted more than 2 minutes without bsod or lock-up. I've been gaming since speccy days and I've never paid for something so obviously poor and broken as GTA4. I've got a pretty decent spec machine, but what can you do with such a poor conversion. I only paid £10 for the game, but still feel ripped off! This kind of thing should not be allowed to happen and I definitely will not be buying another Rockstar game again.… Expand

The best Game I ever seen for PC Don't mind with the other people that says that is crap or something, if you have a powerful PC with a good VGA you will be amazed with the game! PS: GTA IV uses much CPU Power because it uses the Euphoria engine that uses more CPU power to physics.

This game probably has one of the largest criticsusers score difference. Completely undeserved. Alright, maybe not completely but it definitely doesn't deserve 4.2 user score i can assure you. Only reason for that is game's instability on SOME systems. I've played it for a month and it only crushed maybe 2-3 times. I have Core 2 Quad 2,4 Ghz, Nvidia 9800 gtx, 3 gb Ram, Xp sp2 (changed in registry to sp3 because the game MUST have sp3 lol) and the game is running smoothly on everything MAX except AA (off). I have all the latest drivers and patches. It's one of the best games I've ever played both graphicsaudiostoryhumoreverything is top quality. Just 3 advices before you decide to buy: 1. The game takes really long time to install so be prepared. Have minesweepertetrissolitaire in background :) 2. Even after install it requires some ridiculously complex things to install alongside with the game before it will start. When you buy it may still be wise to scout the net for "alternate" ways to start it :) 3. As others have mentioned, the game requires quite a machine to run smoothly. If you don't have it, don't buy the game. Wait for a couple more years and then try it, You wont regret it, believe me.… Expand

i don't know if the game is good or not becouse simply I cannot play with my computer. and actually i can play to any other game,it's not a bad computer. i would like to know what machines did the people use that sored it as a 10 (or magazines with 100).

this is not a game, is a no-game.

I really don't understand why so many people hate the PC version of GTAIV. I still have an 8800 GT (which is obsolete) and I can still run the game on graphics high enough that the game doesn't look terrible. I bought the game off Steam, so I can install the game as many times as I need to. The only things that bug me are how some of the achievements require a lot of thinking to get (like One Man Army), and how the Social Club maximizes every time I play another game and won't open up if I accidentally hit the close button instead of the minimize button.… Expand

OH NO THIS GAME DOESN'T RUN ON MY 4 YEAR OLD LAPTOP! 0 STARS because micro$ucks is gay and hates us all the the illuminatii will take over the world if you bye this game also I think that the world will end in 2012 and also Deus Ex IW was a good game. So 0 stars for this one.

One of the best games I have ever played. Worked well for me with a slightly under par CPU AMD64 4400 which was my 20-25 ish FPS bottleneck (9800 GTX+ graphics). Only had an occassional lock up (always within the scripted sequences and never whilst driving etc). Registering Games for Windows and Rockstar Club - a relatively minor inconvenience. I have since re-installed upon a higher spec machine I7 920 CPU with 295GTX card and so far not a single problem and over 60FPS.… Expand

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

I don't see why people hate this game, good graphics, and I can even play it on my laptop which has a GeForce 9200M chip in it and it plays fine, i also have this on PS3 and i think the PC version is better. The only problem i have is that on my PC which has a GTX 260, GTA wont let me turn the graphics up any further, and i think my PC could handle a lot better graphics, but apart from that, no problems at all.… Expand

I have been waiting to install this.Believe me! Its a crap.I dont care what others say.Car Control is awful.I dont know why they dint give an option to turn off steering with mouse.Bloody thing. I wonder why this game uses much resources.I admit the physics is unimaginable and excellent.I experienced this myself.Why do they add much small details?so that it resembles the living?But this is pain in the butt.It has an excellent graphics.But at what cost?Completely buying a new PC?… Expand

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.

People who give the game 0 because of problems with their pc are just being plain ridiculous. The game has so many merits. The characters, especially the protagonist, are well done. This game has a lot of satire and pokes fun of a lot of American culture. Playing the missions gets a bit samey after a while, but the game's got tonnes of extra material including hours of hilarious tv, comedy shows starring ricky gervais and cat williams, etc. Driving around is a pleasure as are the crashes with the rag doll physics: you can find as many fun ways to die as you like - throwing urself out of helicopters, crashing into trucks and being flung out of the windscreen for not wearing your seatbelt are just some of the possibilities. There's lots of bonus content and many side stories to follow. After each chaotic mission, there'll be a mention in the news on the internet or listen out on the radio about it. Make sure you patch up to the latest version (1.4) before playing, it makes a huge difference to the graphical optimisation of this game and it's virtually unplayable without the updates. I would recommend this game to anyone who doesn't mind violence in games.… Expand

People who give this game low ratings must be really, really stingy, or have computers that do not satisfy the high system requirements... It has been a long time since a game with such an expansive world and interactive interface has been released.. and do not be fooled by people who insist that steering can only be done with a mouse, because you can use the keyboard.. As for the issue people are complaining about having to having to sign up for the RGSC to save the game, you only have to sign up once and when you enter the game, you can choose to have an offline profile, and savegames can from then onwards be done offline and without signing on to RGSC.. However, it is true that GTA IV has relatively high system requirements, but even at low texture details, and low resolution, the game looks great, so maybe people can try turning down the graphics, unless one's computer is really a stone slab with an "on" button... >.< If one's computer can run the game smoothly, the person would undoubtedly be amazed by the sheer fun this game has to offer, so... DO GET THIS GAME!!! (pardon my english, i'm not a british or american...)… Expand

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

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

really badly coded... horrible graphic glitches game runs bad even when PC and game are configured correctly. Multiplayer is extremely poor, the modding community on gta:sa managed to make a perfectly good multiplayer mod, that outshines Gta4 by far. Singleplayer is boring and repetitive, doing exactly the same thing over and over again, while spending 3/4 of the total time just driving to the locations.… Expand

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

Great game, story and all that stuff is good, but it's just unplayable. They really, really screwed up the optimization. I'm running a quad core with an 8800GT graphics card. I can run UT3 at 1280x960 max settings and get 40 frames minimum on the most resource-heavy maps. Call of Duty 4 max settings, I never go under 50 frames. This game? Lowest settings, same resolution, I get 24 frames in the safehouse. I get no more than 18 frames in the city.… Expand

First of all how come this game is rated with a solid "9"? No doubt, rockstar gave them a pile of money to do so. This game is utterly crap on the PC. I mean, i rarely rate a game with a 0, but this game sux so much that I stoped playing it after 30 minutes. everytime you start the game you get all that highly annoying windows Live crap + you it is mandatory to create an Live account where you have to give your email and personal info. I mean seriously... I bought the freaking game and just want to play it without all that stuff. Also you have to first start the story mode before you can go in MP mode, don't get that really... why not just give that option on the main page. It plays like crap on my decent dual core, controls are retarded, driving is a load of bull with these controls + you constantly adjust your camera with the mouse with every corner...so no auto camera lock, sux too. I tried MP, but the game freezes half the time + I have to wait like 10 minutes or more for other people in the lobby. Securom is also freaking annoying and unwanted... I mean you can't stop pirating so don't try, securom only makes it annoying for the people that actually bought the game............. I really liked san andreas on the PC, well it had issues as well, but it still was an enjoyable game, with GTA4 they made it 10 times worse.... So 1, I will never buy a game anymore with that windows live crap and securom and 2, I will think 3 times before I buy an other Rockstar game. Like many big game (infinity ward for example) companies they went in the wrong direction and made games that could gave cool sequels that are even better... they made it 10 times worse. I'm getting sick of buying games where I feel ripped of and let down.… Expand

Best game ever! Clueless punks giving this game a 0 when they should jsut play it on console then. For real PC gamers that understand the hardware and know how to configure their systems this game is a 10 all the way. I have been playing it since it came out and i will probably still be playing it after 3 years or so when GTA 5 comes out. The DLC pack even finally came out for PC so i hopefully will be experianceing Liberty City again. This game is a technological marvel on all accounts so OFCOURSE you will need a PC capable of running it. This is not the same game as on the consoles! The PC version looks MUCH better even on low settings( i play all high with everything MAXED OUT at HD resolutions) and the CPU power needed is immense. At least a quad is required as this game is higly multithreaded and a decent GPU (video memory is important). My only complain is the lack of Multi-GPU scaling but maybe with a better cpu the scaling would be better. Maybe a x64 bit version of the game could help boost things but perhaps it would just double the memory requirement. Anyways thank you ROCKSTAR for bringing GTA4 to the PC and doing it so that its much much better then the console version.… Expand

I would right a nice review, I am sure, if the game actually worked. Have heard it is a great game when working, but I have failed to get it to do so. Have tried numerous different things to get it work and nothing has helped. I have finally given up.

So they're just giving out perfect reviews nowadays, huh? Must be nice being a game reviewer - the game publisher writes the review and you just sign your name to it. Wonderful!

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

This is a game with some nice graphics, unfortunately it's buggy as hell. I have some serious issues with the controls. First, there are too many control keys and it's difficult to map to my liking (in part because, Return, Backspace and Home cannot be used). Also, having to drive with mouse-look is extremely annoying - this is a killer for me, it takes all the joy out of driving fast and recklass - you can't take a corner without mouselook messing it up - "Mouselook" means you need to control your view with the mouse all the bloody time (in the car). What finally killed my interest in the game, is the totally lacking first "date". Combining this with the rest of missions you get in the start, you realize the game tries to make it out to be so serious, but it's so lacking it just get's annoying. Previous GTA games where much more fun.… Expand

Unplayable, a complete waste of my entire day downloading. Forced to install tons of crap and register for yet ANOTHER spamming social network. Forced to go through hell to get Service Pack 3 installed, all for nothing.

Buggy, unoptimised rubbish. Graphics a step backwards in quality due to the poor blending and over-emphasis on realism. The fun in the game that used to exist in previous GTA games just isn't really there this time around. Such a shame, such a missed opportunity.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with these people. Are they really so shallow that they let something as minor as having to turn down your graphics settings overshadow the unbelievable game in question? Yes, the graphics were poorly optimized, and no, I don't care. This game is simply too engrossing, too well-written, and too masterful for me to notice.

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.

Ok first off, the game is a horrible PC port done by Rockstar Toronto (the ones responsible for the "Bully" PC). The graphics are nothing special, yet players with 4870X2 and 260GTX are having trouble getting any decent frame rates REGARDLESS of resolution and quality setting. Obviously, there was minimal testing done by Rock*. Yet the reviews are raving , slapping it with a 9/10 or 10/10... did they even play the game? Maybe Rock* just paid them off again like they did back in the X360 and PS3 release when just about every1 gave the game 10/10 that it doesnt deserve. I am really dissapointed since i was waiting to play this on pc for months now. I'm returning my copy tomorrow.… Expand

Couldn't get more than 20fps... every other new game I can run on the highest settings, and the other games look WAY better also... Rockstar used PC gamers as a footstep to the gaming world, and now they just opened the door and spit right on us... I'm boycotting Rockstar unless they release some serious fixes!

It is not a PC game. It is the console game emulated to the PC. Do you remember the PS2 emulators and how bad they ran? That is what I am talking about!

It's a sad thing, really. The platform, that has made R* what they are today are left to a sad port of bad performance and loads of bugs. The game is absolutely great, even with the 8-10fps I'm left with, I have lots of fun just roaming Liberty City, which is, truely, alive. Something as simple as a car crash is highly entertaining due to the amazing physics. I would have given this game a 10 for it's gameplay and 0 for it's quality in programming, leaving it with a 5, but judging a game on its initial port job seems unfair to me. It's worthy of an 8, and if R* had done a proper job with the port, and I had an idea people with good PC's are able to run it, I would have given it a 10. But the fact, that someone with a state-of-the-art PC with an i7 920 CPU, GTX280 GPU and >8GB of RAM isn't even able to start the game (as I read on the Steam forums) is enough for me to pull 2 points from the score. I hope, truely hope, that they fix the port issues, and the show a greater respect for the PC in the future.… Expand

Horrendously bad port. The number of hoops to jump through just to install and play the game is ridiculous, and then the bugs within are numerous and crippling. As yet Rockstar haven't done anything to geniunely help and until they do I strongly recommend passing on this.

This is a huge step back for rockstar's games, they made a huge step forward to a world which you can truly control in San Andreas but when I lost my choices and wasn't even unable to stop my character being a sleazy russian stereotype it destroyed all their attempts at making a solid story by forcing your hand every step of the way, and for everyones sake make the whole world accessible much faster so you dont need to suffer the same monotonous missions we have been doing since GTA 3.… Expand

Well, im playing it on a 2.2ghz Core 2 duo and a Sapphire 4870 toxic and im getting 30 fps at 800x600 with everything at lowest you can tell there is a slight problem here which is why im gonna deduct 5 points buuuut look past the graphics and all the errors and shizzle and you get an excellent game. Its taken San Andreas taken the best out of it and made it smaller and focused more.. it works well and i find myself somewhat addicted to all the missions. The Vehicles handle well the taxi's are a great addition and I actually think the controls are somewhat decent. Shame they took out airplanes tho. they were my favourite things ever =( also.. im not sure about replayability after the missions are finished ive heard there is not much to do and the game grows dull quickly as the thrill of the physics and other new features wears of... So, I gave it 5 for gameplay and 0 for Graphics and bugs etc.… Expand

With Core2 Duo (3 Ghz Wolfdale), 2 gb and Geforce 8500 the game is generally playable, though the framerate can drop to a stutter once in a while. There also appears to be a memory leak that requires a reboot every so often. The two background processes are annoying. Other than that, it is standard GTA fare, with superb cutscenes, lots and lots of interesting characters and a superbly designed model of New York City. The missions are solid, if somewhat unoriginal. We've seen this game before, but it still offers far more gameplay and story than anything else you can buy.… Expand

Look at the comparison of all the scores up here. It's obvious what reviewers obviously BOTHERED to test this port out. Sorry, but when I can run Crysis fine on high settings I expect this game to be somewhat playable on my rig. Somewhat. The lag is so atrocious and the game is so buggy even at low settings that I ended up dropping 50 bucks for an unplayable box. Sad.

Extremely buggy and bad port. I'm surprised at Rockstar's terrible choice with using Games for Windows and SecuRom. They screwed it up so bad that even retail buyers have near-unusable installations and performance issues.