GTA IV is finally here and stirring up some high ratings. Some might call it the worlds most successful release for a game, others might blame it for all the worlds violence, and others just plain despise the thought of GTA altogether.

From what I have seen they have improved just about every aspect of the game. They added multiplayer, made the women and cars look and sound more real, and have added some pretty interesting features such as email and websites you can visit within the game itself.

Sound/FX: 8
Sound is pretty dang good except for the excessive cussing on the radio stations and from everyone in the game. I like how they improve the police sirens and made em go wowo woooooooowowowow lol.

Music: ?
I'm not sure what music they got and I really don't care. If I want to listen to tunes I'll put on my headphones and listen to what I want.

Graphics: 9
Very good graphics especially the explosions! One thing I noticed during someones game play is the horrible 2d(Maybe not 2D but thats what it looked like) bushes they got which don't sway as you run them over with your car.

Gameplay: 9
Gameplay seems the same but looks much more fun then the last GTA game. The cars operate better and your able to take cover behind anything you can find. But most likely will get dull after days of playing it.

Multiplayer: 8
This might sound good but come on... 16 players only? That is nothing. They should have made it at least 50 then it would be more fun and interesting. They do have some cool game types but the fact that only 16 players are allowed at once in such a big area will get kinda dull if you can't find them.

Storyline:
Not sure what the storyline is about and I'm sure no one really cares. All they care about is causing havok in the streets.

Overall: 8
They have done a very good job with this game but they could have done better. Improved graphics, sound, features is the good things about this sequel. Sticking to one state though is a pretty bad idea, if they made it GTA World it would have been better for many manyyyyy reasons.

For someone to give this game a perfect 10 needs to think straight. Theres always room for improvement and from what I have seen stuff needs improving. For one, multiplayer needs to support more people as 16 people isn't enough to keep adrenaline pumping making it not that difficult. When there are 50 people around you stuff get's crazy, but 16 is what I call a dead server.

Boundries kill a game, and it killed the ratings on this one.

I probably would only play this game for the multiplayer or single player havok mode. But other then that, same old stuff...

I LOVE THIS GAME!

How have you seen this game? Someone else playing it, trailers?

Explosions have been awesomely upgraded, graphics in general are like the old GTA3 smooth graphics (GTASA seemed a little blocky to me).

Radiostations are pretty good, they have are pretty good (in my genres anyways).

The cars handle more like real cars now. Cant put my finger on why there is 3 brakes though.. (one might be the same as a break, but it dosnt turn on your lights... ), and there are much more improved physics. Especialy that of people (which Ill come too soon).

I highly doubt the GTA4 multiplayer will take the whole map. 16 people is plenty enough, when you think about all the mahem they will get up to. I can agree with the 16 people thing, otherwise game will lag, and then people will complain about that. Maybe patch in the future?

I'd give it 10/10.
I have played it for about 2 hours, and almost all of that time I spent either:
a) hitting people with my car to look at the new 'rag doll' physics of people. (I am not a violent person.. its just funny..)
b) flipping my car over onto its roof and crushing it in. I crushed the roof of a hummer so badly my head was sticking out.



You also didnt mention the main character is european. Russian or something like that.

Glad you like the game, I'll have to see for myself. Hopefully I get the chance to play it today. I really like the mob storyline (since I'm Italian lol) from the previous GTA game(s), not the last GTA. This one also has interesting characters although it's not why I like the game. I like it cause you can do pretty much anything you want.

Hopefully I can test out multiplayer mode, I've heard the servers are jammed packed.

Oh this reminds me... is this for Xbox? If so, I expect a lot of banned accounts since people love to cheat online.

I havn't seen anyone get shot in the game but I hope it's Soldier of Fortune style lol. If your making a mature game, might as well throw in as much mature content as possible lol.

Can't wait to try the rag doll effect

How did you write the review? Just summerising other reviews?

16 Player will be awesome, there are HEAPS of different online game modes to play.
I'd still love to play a GTA style MMORPG

Yeh, this was xbox 360.

I based my reviews off game play on youtube as well as playing the previous GTA games.

what i have seen on x-pay GTA IV will be good, there is a lot better multi player as well eg street wars with players and car raseing

The only problem about the multi player is you feel really lonely when you play, because the online play is just with StarFace997 from Russia, sometimes talking through a microphone, but usually text, and it just feels emotion-less most of the time. Just kinda feels like you're playing against a CPU AI opponent but with emotions.... Which kinda sucks. I like to invite friends over so we can play DDR multiplayer instead of online though wires, because it adds to the party element. While GTA IV is definitely fun, it still falls short with the most common multiplayer problem ever: Lack of real, deep interaction (and no, shooting StarFace997 in the arm does not count as human interaction).

That's my stand on it, at least.

Yeh, local multiplayer, a LAN mode would have made a massive improvment to this game.

I've gotten a chance to play GTA IV finally! I stick by my previous ratings... I got a chance to play online and it definatly needs improving. One major problem with this is waiting, you have to wait for host to start the game and it get's old waiting. I like how my favorite game has servers running 24/7 and you can join when ever you want, even halfway in the battle. Connecting is the worst didn't impress me at all as it froze 3 times while trying to connect to a host. I got good connection so it could have been the host or something causing those delays.

What makes great multiplayer?
1. Text Chat or live microphone chat
2. Stats such as who killed you, whether it was a double kill or shot to head after each kill.
3. Awesome connection
4. Ranks, this is a good one and keeps you busy. The game I play takes 6 months of playing all day long to earn a 5 star GOA (General of Army). Ranks are usually based of experience points/ levels.
5. Good maps, game types, ...
6. Waiting, the only waiting should be while loading a map or joining a game. Waiting for a certain amount of players in order for the game to begin is the worst idea ever.
7. To prevent stat padding, have stats enable when a certain amount of players are in the server. By stats I mean recorded stats used for leveling up or used for ranking.

Those are just a few but those are what make multiplayer great in my opinion.

Also the game was just impossible to read since I don't own a high definition plasma tv.

I'm in the same boat Jig. Haven't gotten the chance to play it, but from what Ive heard and seen it's just GTA 3 but bigger and better looking. They already released GTA 3 four times (GTA 3, GTA VC, GTA SA, GTA LCS) So I was annoyed to see it getting 10's because everyone was like "ITZ GTAZ, YEAHZ" or whatever.

JigSaw, what console? There have been alot of reported problems on PS3. Few problems on the 360.

I played it on a PS3. With 100 million dollar budget you would think they had enough to solve issues with connecting, instead they blow it all on advertising and perfect 10.0 reviews

I'm in the same boat with both Jigsaw and Michaelvash (that makes 3 of us).

GTA 4 has got to be the most over-rated game in history....seriously.

Almost every game website and magazine gave it a 10. Why? There are so many better games out there like the Zelda games and the Final Fantasy games, I can't believe they'd rate a fad like this higher than those games.

I'll stick with my Wii where I can enjoy real fun and avoid the immoral stuff.

The new GTA is probably the best in the series, and it really has lived up to all the hype. The graphics,controls, system, everything is perfect.

sammyboy said it best, everything is perfect .

I'd choose GTA4 over any game to play at the moment.

Anyway, this review is worth 250 Viz.