• Summary: [Metacritic's 2008 Xbox 360 Game of the Year; Also known as "GTA IV"] What does the American Dream mean today? For Niko Belic, fresh off the boat from Europe. It's the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them an a living nightmare for those who don't. [Rockstar Games] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 86 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 86
  3. Negative: 0 out of 86
  1. GTA IV may not have the best graphics, gunplay, A.I. or driving, but few other games have ever combined so many elements so successfully. It excels in creating a genuinely cinematic atmosphere, with writing on par with anything Hollywood can produce and action sequences that would sit comfortably in any movie.
  2. 100
    Almost everything you do in Liberty City would be good enough to drive its own game, and the best parts would be good enough to outrun the competition, but the reason it works so well is that Rockstar has made a game that requires no patience to play. This, as much as its usual coherency and the best script in the series, is what makes GTA IV the best openworld game yet, and why it will take something miraculous to rob it of game of the year status.
  3. Yes, there's still the freedom to cause havoc, and inevitably you do; the difference is that you're no longer impelled to toy with GTA IV's world in quite the same sadistic way - you live in it. [June 2008, p.82]

See all 86 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 83 out of 765
  1. StephenL.
    8
    This is a good game for all types of gamers but it wasn't a big enough improvement on the last game to get an 9 or 10. Moving around on foot is clunky and most of the buildings are like cardboard cut outs, people dont die as satisfyingly as in the previous games, the feds are on your case in the airport and you cant blow up planes. The is plenty of good tho, the soundtrack, the characters and the drinking missions. Gameplay wise its just as good as the previous games but I was hoping for more. Expand
    • 3 of 3 users said yes
  2. GTA IV wasn't as good as people were making it out to be. The game lost it's sense of fun and humor for the sake of realism and it ended up being boring. The cars drove like a ton of bricks, the graphics while good made areas of the game way too dark, even with the brightness turned right up. The multiplayer while fun at first became very boring after a few weeks. I play games for fun and GTA IV is not fun. I recommend playing Saints Row 2 & 3 instead. Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  3. strebsb
    4
    Style over substance methinks, missions become repetitive, not much else to do in the admittedly beautiful world. recommended for rental, i enjoyed saints row 2 more than this. what a disappointment, san andreas was awesome! Expand
    • 3 of 4 users said yes

See all 765 User Reviews