Grand Theft Auto IV

Meristation

Grand Theft Auto IV means the matureness for Rockstar, abandoning -though not completely- all its insane humor and arcade action, this chapter of Niko Bellic captures the essence of the american society with black humor, great narrative and the characteristic 'sandbox' gameplay that the franchise has featured all this years. For the PC version all stays the same: only the great technical optimization, the original video-editor and the 32 players online modes are present as news. But, when you leave a masterpiece exactly the same, its a right move.

Cynamite

This game is a masterpiece! We have never seen such a harmonic virtual world before. The story is as good as a movie and the graphics offer tons of incredible moments. GTA IV is more than a game.

GameSpy

A game that could keep anyone busy for a long, long time. Although it's got plenty of excellent features, it's ultimately the storytelling that makes it an instant classic, a game unlike any we've played before. As is the case with many great books and movies, you'll want to know what happens to the characters after the game ends, and one can't help hoping that all of their American Dreams comes true.

VideoGamer

If you've been waiting for the ultimate version of GTA 4, then this is it, providing you can put up with a fair amount of hassle to get the game running well and all the services you need to sign up to in order to play the game in the first place.

BigPond GameArena

The gorgeous graphics, proper radio customisation, the much better multiplayer and the phenomenal video editor and what it boils down to is... Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC is the definitive GTA IV experience. You haven't played GTA IV before now - not properly. I guess what I'm really saying is... PC Supremacy.

Gamer.nl

We can talk hours and hours about it, but it won't change the fact that Grand Theft Auto IV is a very good game. The brand new video editor will offer tons and tons of extra gameplay and makes up for a lot of the waiting time the PC-gamers had to endure. Gamers that still aren't satisfied can wait for the hundreds or so mods that will appear after the release. And with that enough gaming material to last at least until Grand Theft Auto V shows up.

Total PC Gaming

There hasn't been a better game this year. [Issue#15, p.55]

3DJuegos

PC receives, finally, its own version of a game that will remain, Grand Theft Auto IV. For those who dream about living different lives, with doing what the society bans or considers immoral, and with becoming the darkest guts of the worse human beings, GTA IV is their game. As a great trip to the lowest and the shadiest passions of men, the new game of Rockstar is an epic tale, with a scope never seen before in a videogame.

Gameplanet

The multiplayer alone makes it a must-buy.

InsideGamer.nl

GTA IV delivers on the PC, as it did on the next-gen consoles. The game breathes quality from start to finish. The story remains interesting and entertaining, visually it’s a new milestone in the series, and the gameplay just as good as it was on the console. The added video-editor and extended multiplayer-modes make for an even more complete experience, which no PC-gamer should be allowed to miss.

Computer and Video Games

Impressively bumped-up visuals, more multiplayer carnage and a well-built video editor; this is the ultimate version of 2008's premier sandbox game. If you've got the specs to run it.

GameStar

The basics are still the same, but GTA 4 is a masterpiece. The game world created by Rockstar North is simply amazing. The shootings, radio, TV, the story and the characters create more than just a sandbox game. It's almost a parallel world.

Games Master UK

A violent, giant triumph; shame about the performance and login fascism. [Jan 2009, p.79]

Play.tm

It loses a few marks for being so technically daunting, but if you haven't had the opportunity to play GTA IV yet, and you've got a PC that can handle it, then this is probably the best version of the game.

PC Gamer

GTAIV works well as a multiplayer game. [Feb 2009, p.70]

Computer Games Online RO

In short, the best Grand Theft Auto so far and an interesting platform for a sequel in the spirit of Vice City or San Andreas. A pity that its launch on the PC was eclipsed by so many technical issues.

PC Games (Germany)

More than six months after the console-launch GTA 4 hits the PC. With better graphics and the teriffic replay-editor the story about Niko Bellic will arrest your attention to your PC for weeks or even months... promised.

PC Gamer UK

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]

IGN

The overall GTA formula has been refined and retooled in this version to be more convenient, more realistic, and ultimately more mature, though it still gets stuck on brambles held over from games past.

PC Zone UK

The PC version brings enough additions and improvements to the fundamental GTA IV experience to make it an essential purchase for anyone who hasn't played it yet. [Feb 2009, p.74]

Pelit (Finland)

Even the shoddy conversion can not destroy this fine game. But as agme, GTA IV shows worrying tendency slipping towards oversripted missions. [Jan 2009]

YouGamers

The PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV is definitely the best version of the game and almost a must-buy if you haven't already seen it all. Just don't underestimate the hardware needed to run it properly - a quad core CPU is almost mandatory for acceptable performance as is a high end video card. PC-specific Video Editor is a nice bonus but the gameplay is untouched and just as good as on the consoles.

GamePro

A demanding port of an excellent game, GTA IV PC is only worth a look from gamers that missed Niko's venture to America the first time around.

Gamers.at

Even though GTA IV is enormously hardware-hungry, it remains one of the prime examples for a console-game that only got better by releasing it for the PC. [Issue#17]

Eurogamer

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.

GameZone

Grand Theft Auto IV is a solid port, adding in some compelling features to reward PC gamers for their patience. However, they’re going to want to sit tight and wait for Rockstar to issue a patch to fix the game’s stability problems.

GameSpot

Performance issues prevent this lazy PC port of a superb console game from being the best Grand Theft Auto yet.

PC Format

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]

NZGamer

Grand Theft Auto IV is very much a console-friendly game, and the PC port brings enough problems – albeit ones that won’t apply to everyone – to make me hesitate to recommend it over the original.

Absolute Games

It's basically a remake of GTA 3 with a bigger budget, a new cast of characters and solid storytelling. And it's still incredibly captivating.

Gameplayer

If you’ve already conquered Liberty City on PS3 or Xbox 360, there really isn’t enough extra stuff to demand that you fork out more money for the PC version. But if you have yet to savour the GTA IV experience, this is a must have because of the unforgettable single-player experience and frantically fun multiplayer as well as the extra PC features.

Gamer 2.0

As it stands, Grand Theft Auto IV is a rather poor port, but a fantastic game all the same.

PC PowerPlay

GTA4 is what it was always going to be: an expertly fashioned port. If you've clocked up 100 hours on the 360, there's not much point picking it up now. But if the idea of the video editor intrigues you, or somehow incredibly you HAVEN'T played the game yet, GTA4 is a must-buy. [January 2009, p.45]

Play (Poland)

This game is like a beautiful girl who stutters terribly and often wanders off topic - you want to be with her and talk to her, but sometimes the way she speaks drives you crazy. And even leaving the frame rate fiasco aside, the compulsory Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club login just to save your progress is an enormous nuisance. [Feb 2009]

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

Splendid but old-fashioned. Excellent characters, video editing tools, and multiplayer are the greatest pluses of this new arrival to the GTA franchise. Now focus on story and intelligence of friendly NPCs. [Issue#173]

Game Over Online

At the core, GTA 4 is a pretty good game in the GTA series, hindered by the “bromances” and bloated by 15GB of television shows I’ll never watch, joke Internet sites I have no interest in surfing, extensive and lengthy cutscenes, a mediocre bowling game, a downright poor darts game, and a middling pool game.

AtomicGamer

It's kind of a lose-lose for Rockstar at this point, and it's too bad, because GTAIV is a wonderful game that doesn't deserve the problems this PC port has.

1UP

The game design is often thoughtless and shortsighted. Rockstar treats Liberty City as a backdrop...when it should have been the stage itself.

2404.org

Overall, I’m simply disappointed with Rockstar when it comes to Grand Theft Auto IV. PC gamers already get shafted with the slow GTA releases compared to the consoles. To have all the bugs at launch that it did makes me wonder what happened during the testing period. It’s also missing a lot of great features that were included in San Andreas.

Worth Playing

The entire game has a feeling of misdirected effort, as if Rockstar sat down to rejuvenate the franchise without knowing particularly how and simply stuck every idea, gimmick and cliché they could think of into one big ball, like some sort of Katamari of game elements with the old GTA feeling at the core.