Grand Theft Auto IV reviews

ugh…Where to begin, after spending well over an hour with installing the mandatory and potentially harmful side-junks that comes with the game it turns out that a computer running a quad core 8800gtx SLI and 4 gigs of RAM can only manage to get a steady 20 frames per second performance on the absolute lowest graphical settings. This coupled with very frequent texture glitches and no anti-aliasing makes the game worse than unplayable.

Rockstar is well known for making horrendous PC ports of their console games (Bully and GTA3 anyone?) but they certainly took the piss when they ported this one, from what i can tell this was ported by a team of 5 baboons with reading glasses.

Don't expect for a patch to come out either as Rockstar is also known to be famous for not flushing the toilet after doing a number 2 in the PC toilet section, although if it does come out expect it to fix absolutely nothing.

Terrible disappointment.

XP users take note – this game needs service pack 3, and gives you a cryptic “Fatal error RMN40” error if it isn't installed. Even once installed, it seems to be fairy buggy.. I can't change the control keys.. menu options don't work.. etc… hope there's fixes for this soon!

I have to agree will all the negative feedback. I would definitely advise everyone thinking of purchasing this game to browse the reviews, and then think very carefully before stumping up a hundred bucks for this game.

Firstly, I feel absolutely insulted that I am not allowed to determine the graphical settings for a game that I paid for. To have a game insist that I play it on lower specs than I know can run it on is totally infuriating. My computer will run Call of Duty Modern Warfare on 2560×1600 with 8× anti-aliasing. Rockstar have determined that I can only run their game on 1440×1200 with ‘Detail’ set at LOW, and the drawing distance about as low as it can go. And it looks rubbish. Can't really comment on the gameplay yet as I (much like a lot of the other reviewers) have spent so long setting up accounts and other crap, just to get blocked from running it at reasonable graphical settings.

Previous GTA games have been near-perfect and SO much fun, this is just a kick in the crotch from Rockstar. Get it on PS3 if you have one, at least then it will run on 1920×1080 without all of the other ‘account’ nonsense.

I was so looking forward to this game, but having now spent hundreds of dollars on a new graphics card, and literally hours working through the install, registration, windows live signup, social club skipping, then finally starting the game, it's as stable as an east european county, and crashed 5 minutes into the game. Did rockstar fire all their play testers after GTA3 ?

This is a really good game, although it does require a good graphics card to run to its full potential, at first I had to run it on low settings, but later I got a new graphics card and now the game works perfectly. Over all I think this game is a lot better than the previous Grand Theft Auto's as it has great graphics and missions, I like the missions for the police (where you get into the police car and press"e" to open the police computer and go from there) This game has endless possibilities and that why I rate it 4 out of 5.

After having a week or two, of not being able to drive down the first street without losing all the textures, the drivers for the graphic cards came out! I downloaded my Nivida new-driver for GTA IV.. and what a awesome experience. It totally fixed the bugs. Although after about 4 hours of game play, I get a system error, I just use that as a timer. Lol.

Point to this 2nd review of mine – UPDATE your driver for your graphics card! It is extremely important, and even if the game works well for you, updating it will enhance the performance and fix the bugs!

The driver news is located on the Rockstar Social Club, or you can download it from here:

http://www.rockstargames.com/…t_detail.php?…

This is certainly a must play and buy!

Do not even think about buying this game. Installation and activation is a two day long nightmare. The Securom rootkit will make Vista unable to shutdown (who knows what else). Frame rates are appalling, texture do not render, you cannot change settings and even saving games is a problem. It is graphically inferior to GTA3 and thats when its not crashing to desktop. Save your money for a good night out. It will be more entertaining and cause much less frustration and hairloss than this dog of a game.

Ever since GTA left its original format in favour of consoles, PC gamers have had to suffer through lackluster performance, poor controls and bug-ridden code in order to get their fix of satirically violent sandbox mayhem. While still hampered by the aforementioned issues, the PC incarnation of GTAIV is the most successful port of the franchise so far.

First of all, the game features improved graphics. Traffic density, draw distance and detail distance can be changed on a scale of 0 to 100, with the console values being locked at around 20 according to Rockstar. An option new to the PC is shadow density, which adds dynamic lighting specific shadows on objects in the game. Theoretically, these options allow for far better graphics. In reality, even the most tricked out gaming PCs struggle to maintain a smooth framerate at high resolutions, and enabling everything takes a whopping 1.5GB of VRAM – my modest 512MB 8800GT only allows for medium to low settings. Shadows still look a little odd, and the game lacks motion blur unless a hideous blur filter is enabled but even so, the game is better looking than its console counterparts.

While powerful, the included video recorder and editor is little more than a gimmick, but will no doubt appeal to the machinima enthusiasts out there.

Gameplay is essentially unchanged from the consoles (definitely a good thing) but for the first time in a GTA game for PC, the controls are simply superb. Running, fighting, shooting and driving feels fluid with the mouse and keyboard and I especially found shooting from a moving vehicle to be far easier. For those who feel at home with a controller simply plug in your Xbox360 gamepad and youre away.

Now for the bad news. As stated above, the game is a resource hog. If your computer only just meets the minimum requirements, forget about buying this game for PC. Secondly, the game requires you install both Rockstar Social Club and Windows LIVE, both of which run when the game starts and are known to cause problems on some systems. Lastly many issues from the consoles have survived the port intact, such as blurry cutscenes, late texture pop-in, no mid-mission saves and the occasional crash. That said, Rockstar has already promised that a patch is on the way to solve some of these issues.

If your computer can handle it and you havent yet played the sublime console version, GTAIV for PC is an absolute blast and a worthwhile purchase – you may just want to wait a little until its creases are ironed out.

My Specifications:
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q6700 (4 CPUs) ~2.7GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 3D

I was looking very forward to this game. However, the installation was easy to follow and quick there wasn't any issues with that. The registering on both Xbox Live and Rockstar Games Social Club was easy enough. Register on both sites, and then link your Rockstar GSC account to the Xbox live account; that's fine, no problems, just time consuming.

Then there was at least half an hour of downloading for both of the miniature programs; that was fine as well; I just watched Shortland St.

But then it's all about the graphics- Bad, bad, bad! The default was already set at a high amount – I knew it couldn't run on that, so I reduced it to the lowest settings I could to see what would happen (That includes my resolution from 1400×1200 to 800×600). Tiny lag, but guess what? My screen starts frizzing, and I see all the textures in the buildings, my man disappears and I see cars driving by without people in them. Crikey! This is like Star Wars Empire at War; the way the game as been made is just un-compacted, sluggish and bug-filled. I can tell their will be lots, or huge patches for this game!

I was going to send it back, but hey, it's Xmas & and I'm working so I'll have enough money to upgrade my graphics card to 1G! ($700+)

So, people, if you haven't got a decent graphics card like the “Wonderful” and “Fantastic” people above in their reviews, I suggest you buy a new graphics card or wait a few years till GTA 5 comes out, then buy a beast of a machine for that!

My advice for recommended specifications:

Operating System: Windows XP SP3/Vista
Processor: Dual core processor (Quad is even better for this game, as that was what this game was made for at top-notch) (Intel Pentium D or better – Core 2 would do nicely) at least 2.7Ghz
RAM: 3GB (Speed of: 800Mhz+)
Hard Drive: 20GB free hard disk space – remember all the patches, mods and fixes that will come out eventually!
Video Card: 728mb(With all the shading and 3D, but those come with it anyway) – unless you want to run the game on low, have occasional spikes, and perhaps texture and building graphic issues.

Heed the advice from the others and me; try the game, sure, but don't expect it to run well on your just average-upgraded PC. If you haven't upgraded in ages, I reckon now is the time to do so. GTA IV is an awesome game, its well worth spending money for in the long run. Just be patient & save it'll be cheaper in a month or two.

After reading all of the negative reviews about this game, I finally decided to give it a shot without high hopes, and was not disappointed.

The city is smaller than GTA SA, which could be considered a good thing, meaning you won't be left stuck in the middle of no where with no way of getting back to civilization.

The graphics are good, the gameplay is fun, and the story is interesting. The radio stations offer the usual satire, which is developed further into the in game's web and email systems, with amusing scam websites, and spam mail.

It would have been nice to see a greater variety in outfits to buy, and it would have been nice if forklifts could lift their forks. But the biggest downer is the controls for the helicopters. The default keyboard/mouse is unbearable for flying, and unfortunately the game didn't allow me to configure my logitech gamepad I used to use for GTA SA.

I personally would have also preferred if you could fly planes as well, but that isn't really a big deal.

GTA IV has simplified itself, focusing on the story, mindless criminal activity, and entertaining the player.

It's a really cool game, and this is the uncut version, unlike the ones that have been edited, more realistic. The graphics are great if you've got a high performance computer. The story is great, and everything in the game seems real. Love this game!

The Good:

Superb character-driven story Liberty City feels alive Multiplayer modes that let 32 players go wild across the entire city Genuinely funny radio and TV shows, comedy acts, and character dialogue Customizable radio station and video editor are great additions for PC.

The Bad:

Occasional problems with friendly AI Some minor visual quirks Windows Live account needed to save progress Mouse and keyboard controls aren't nearly as good as Xbox 360 controller.

This game is more trouble than it's worth. Patch does nothing to fix errors, infact they didn't even address the biggest issue of textures not being displayed on the screen which makes the game unplayable. Support forums are useless everybody seems to have different issues with different hardware Wouldn't even bother with it.

Along with everyone else I waited with much anticipation for the PC version of GTA 4. I even resisted the strong temptation to buy a console to play it because I thought the PC version would be far superior – I was wrong. I feel cheated the R* would release GTA 4 in such a state as it is. Amongst the long list of complaints are:

• Textures flickering/not rendering properly
• No anti aliasing
• Hi spec machines can only run at medium settings (if they are lucky)
• DRM is over the top
• Need not one but two online accounts to even play the game
• Keyboard/mouse control mapping is absolutely the worst I have ever come across. In fact the control scheme in general is cumbersome and difficult to use.

I hope the second patch will address at least some of these issues. Check the forums and you will see that there is a large amount of ill feeling toward R* Toronto for rushing this shoddy port out too soon,

Specs:

Core 2 Duo 6600
6 GB DDR2 667 dual channel RAM
Vista x64 Home SP1
GeForce 8800 GTS 768MB

This game is very good, although some features were not carried over from previous games there are new better ones. It however has stunning Graphics on PC =).
But BEWARE you will need a GPU with 1.5GB for fullest settings, And it is very CPU intensive I have an AMD 640 X4 CPU at 3.6GHZ and can only run at 30–40 FPS med-high with no shadows, when there is lots of traffic, buildings ETC.

My EVGA 560ti is only at 60% usage so CPU is More IMPORTANT. If you want to have high detail and FPS.

The game is excellent but it gliches a lot, shuts down in the middle of gamepley, has FPS issues constantly and cant run on high quality without it becoming very slow. I thought my brand new $1400 computer would be able to handle it a bit better. The game itsself is awesome

Grand Theft Auto IV (4) would have to be the second best GTA game ever, San Andreas being the first. As a lot of people have said and i will say again yes it is quite a long and painful install but after it is installed that's when the fun begins. Unlike all of the other GTA's this one probably has the best story-line to it. This has realistic graphics and even more guns than you could ever think of. Great game and please don't take this offensively but all you whiners out there who whine about the long install it's only about an hour to many hours of great gaming.
5/5

It is not as bad as I thought, the istallation wasn't really long as people say, Crysis Warhead takes longer, I don't even have that good a graphics card and its still playable, make sure you update it to the latest patches to be able to run better, and the mods that are being developed with it are great! The video editor is good, story great, the world in it is great but unfortunately you would really need a good computer to run it on high graphics which was a let down but I still play it everyday!

great game, runs very well had very few issues with the game crashing or running into bugs, in my opinion well coded but be prepared to possibly buy a new video card, i run this game on a 8600 gt with 256mb ram and it barely has enough to load the lowest setting textures, this is the first game I have come across that uses a large amount of video ram for textures.

This is quite a good game. When in high quality the graphics are brilliant although to run the game smoothly I had to turn the quality down although this is due to my computer not the game. The game has a good story line that is addictive, once you start playing its hard to stop. The gameplay is very realistic and gets you involved in many different scenarios.

Great game, much better graphically than the console versions plus you don't have to use those horrible controllers! mouse and keyboard is where its at!!
My only complaint is that it was a real mission to get working at first, but Rockstar have ironed those bugs out now.
Love the new movie making tool and online is heaps of fun too. Thanks Mighty Ape, once again you shipped on time and at a great price (I preordered it for the special price of $84.95)

So far “suprisingly” critics have got it right this game is good, the amount of complaints from users because it “doesn't run the way they want it to” is over the top because most games that release today are tech-future proofing i.e crysis, and if your a game enthusiast you should have the hardware to play this. With the current patches it works fine, single player, well, amazing as ever and the multiplayer, thats where it's at. The lack of non-dedicated servers or no anti-cheat system does bring it down at times but driving around Liberty city with a packed car blasting out the windows is godly. Physics are great here, textures are nice (1GB VRAM to run a High+) and the sounds are superb. Recommended to any GTA fan.

I LOVE THIS GAME! They have really stepped up in this one. I've been a big fan of all the Grand
Theft Auto's.

Wish game was a little bigger – meaning bigger open world, and better graphical options. Other than that – great game

Can spend hours alone hours playing online and just running round the city causing mayhem.

Works well, great graphics, music and story line.

My Specs

Vista x32 Hp sp1
Core 2 Duo E6550
2 GB
GeForce 9600GT XFX 512mb ,Way Better than my old Geforce 8800 GT

A game that you simply have to play. The single-player game, which you can still play long after you complete the story, is the series' best by far, and the multiplayer features are good enough that you'll likely have no problem finding people to play with for many months to come.

I was lucky enough to only have a couple of insignificant bugs affect my gameplay from day one but I can understand other people writing harsh reviews on forums everywhere. However, bypassing the issue of DRM and bugs, the game itself is great. It took me awhile to like being forced to use the mouse while driving but now it's like second nature and works incredibly well. I haven't sampled the multiplayer but the singleplayer campaign is up to the usual GTA standards. I think they only thing missing is a bit of the humour. I've waited all year for this and it more than meets my expectations. I can't wait to see how they add onto this game in future.

Even better than I expected, the storyline is encaptivating, the humour is hilarious. Great game play, just a well thought out game all round.

The one gripe I had is the video settings automatic limiter. I know my video cards can push this game to much higher visual settings, but the game won't allow me to set the settings higher. Not cool. Despite this it still looks really good. Perfect example of why a console will never compare to a PC. The console version of this game doesn't do it justice visually at all. Prepare for more detailed faces, more types of trees, buildings and other doodads. This is how GTA4 is supposed to look.

First of all, I have had no problems with the game. YES it seems to only run smoothly at low to medium graphic settings – Rockstar have said that they are future proofing the game for future machines to play at higher settings. I'm playing with everything on the default medium setting and it looks great (using a mid-range 9600GT) running at about 35fps.

However, I'm not fussy about graphics, I want solid gameplay and GTA IV really shines here. All your favourite GTA ingredients are here but this game goes for a far more realistic approach than the cartoony Vice City and the Over-the-Top San Andreas (lucky oysters anyone?). Vehicle handling is more realistic (you actually have to use the foot brake), and the combat system is much more engaging (and nailing those headshots is easier with a mouse).

Anyway, I could go on… The story is fantastic, mulitplayer modes are fun, and the video editor is really cool for showing off your best stunts. But, yes it took forever to install and you need to install Windows LIVE and Rockstar Social Club software to run the game.

Still… I recommend you buy this game now, have some fun. I'm sure there will be a patch soon..

While a few bugs will certainly be fixed with future patches and drivers you should still buy GTA4 now.
I received my game very quickly from Mighty Ape and highly recommend you buy it.
Wonderful story, graphics, physics, humor, everything you could want in a game. So much to do, hundreds of hours of offline gameplay and then theres 32 player multiplayer in about a dozen modes. Buy it!