Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Rockstar Games
• Model: 15782621
• Released on: 2008-04-29
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

Features

• Carry on the Grand Theft Auto tradition playing through the single player campaign as Niko Bellic
• Get cars and other modes of transportation anyway you can
• Interact with various colorful characters who give you various missions to engage in
• Engage in multiplayer challenges ranging from cover matches to shoot-outs
• Game Rated 'M' due to Intense Violence, Blood, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Partial Nudity, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Amazon.com
What does the American Dream mean today?

For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is 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 and a living nightmare for those who don’t.

Beginning with the 1997 release of the original Grand Theft Auto, the GTA series has been one of the most prolific, controversial and down right entertaining franchises in video games history. This pedigree of success guarantees that the highly anticipated eleventh game in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, will garner at least as much attention if not more.

Return to Liberty City.

The dream as Niko expected it. View larger.

There's always a catch. View larger.

But some skills are international. View larger.

The Plot
Grand Theft Auto IV is a brand new adventure in the GTA universe following the experiences of Nikolai "Niko" Bellic, a new immigrant from an undisclosed eastern European country whose troubled pa st and the persuasion of his cousin Roman have brought him to the fictional Liberty City. Unfortunately, Niko’s search for the American Dream and a much needed fresh start, hits an immediate snag when the rags to riches story Roman spun to pique Niko's interest is exposed as not only a complete fabrication, but a ploy to enlist Niko’s well-known skills as a tough guy against the ample list of enemies clamoring for Roman’s debt-ridden blood.

Because Roman is the only person Niko knows in Liberty City he begrudgingly accepts his role as Roman’s protector despite the deception. But as time goes on Niko comes into his own, and his experience on the wrong side of the tracks proves more valuable than he could have ever imagined as he fights for survival and later supremacy on the crime ridden streets of Liberty City.

Game Environments
Based on several of the boroughs of New York City and parts of New Jersey, Liberty City, familiar to players of previous games in the series, has been entirely redesigned for GTA IV. Players can expect visible detail down to the weeds growing in the cracks in the sidewalk, cars and buildings of visibly different ages and a much greater level if verticality in the buildings and bridges that they are able to explore as Niko moves through the city streets. In addition, pedestrians in GTA IV are much more realistic. No longer simply moving cardboard cutouts, these NPCs are intelligent, modern, human representations that laugh, cry, eat, drink, use cell phones and ATMs, and talking amongst themselves regardless of Niko’s interaction with them.

Gameplay
Historically GTA games have focused heavily on mission-based play, requiring successful completion of fixed tasks in order for players to progress through the game, but this has changed to a great extent in GTA IV. Players will experience an entirely new and exciting emphasis centered on the blending of on-mission and off-mission play, resulting not only in an increased sense of realism, but more interesting and unrestricted gameplay.

Features
Aside from the car jacking and a detailed city environment here are the new features for GTA IV:

• Improved combat system - Now you can use cover and also a target lock system, which allows you to take out targets with greater ease and accuracy. Plus, you can engage in some hand-to-hand combat if you can't get your hands on a piece quick enough.
• Cell phone - Not just for basic phone calls anymore. Use your in-game cell phone to receive missions via SMS, snap photos, and ZiT (tag) songs that can be downloaded exclusively on Amazon.com/mp3.
• Free time - In between missions you can take advantage of "me" time. There are gentleman's clubs, comedy clubs, bowling alleys, and bars, which all house unique activities.
• Take a break from the storyline - A variety of side missions allow you to help run a car service, "borrow" cop cars, assassinate targets, help solve problems for those on the street, or take to the air with stunt jumps that are scattered all over the city.
• Control your own fate - Throughout the game choice moments will arrive causing you to make a decision that will affect relationships and money.

Multiplayer
Give Niko a rest and create your own multiplayer "hero." GTA has added multiplayer modes allowing you to take your creation out to play online in competitive, co-op, and free form modes. Competitive mode has you fighting against the cops, jacking cars, or racing to finish odd jobs. Co-op challenges you and your friends with various tasks including Hangman's NOOSE where you are responsible for escorting a wanted kingpin to a safe extraction point. Freeform lets you and 15 others lose on Liberty City. Use this mode to hit up the bar and play virtual darts versus each other or head out to the streets and set up your own drag races. If you can dream it, you can do it in Freeform mode.

ZiT: We'll Spot The Song For You
When playing Grand Theft Auto IV, if you hear a song that you are interested in buying as an MP3, all you have to do is dial ZiT-555-0100 on your in-game mobile phone and a text message will be sent to you with the name of the artist and the title of the track. The next time you log in at the Rockstar Games Social Club, you will find 30-second previews of all the songs you have ZiT'ed while playing the game. You can add them to your basket there and click to purchase at Amazon MP3, or you can find them all at www.amazon.com/gtamusic.

Customer Reviews

Evolutionary with room for improvement
Ok all the hype has died down. How good is this game for real?

Well for starters, its fun but it takes a while to get to that point. The story line is fantastic. Who doesn't like Niko Bellic? The visuals are good and there are tons and tons of laughs, big ones, all throughout the game. Rockstar has gone to lengths to immerse you into a real living city. From the new radio stations and good weather effects, to the seemingly endless parade of street characters, GTA 4 has a true unique feeling. But its not without some clear faults.

GTA 4 takes awhile to get rolling. The first chunk of the game is slooooow going. The early pieces of the game are really a snooze, many times feeling like a SIMS rehash until you can start doing some real damage with larger crime. I would have hoped they could have started the storyline and gameplay with a lot more of a bang.

The helicopter, cars, boats and stuff are nice to have around but while the controls are improved in someways, you still feel as if your thumbs are treading up hill through mashed potatoes. The cover system is welcomed, but doesn't work very well sometimes. Definitely not as well as the cover system in the GTA rip-off, and now ancient, Godfather game. Seriously, it can't be that hard to get a smoother and more responsive set of controls in this game. Is it really necessary to make crappy controls part of the necessary game experience? Some of the vehicle controls in particular, with or without SIXAXIS, can be incredibly frustrating.

Sure the game can be a blast in places. And Niko's story is one you just keep wanting to see unfold. But despite the traditional fun of running errands for crime bosses and smashing into people on the sidewalk with your car or motorcycle, Grand Theft Auto 4 still could use some work. Its fun, but feels unfinished and is by no means a masterpiece.

There is some real value and replayablilty in the sheer amount of things to do, and on that basis, I recommend the purchase. However, if you are looking and some stunning piece of polished work. Forget it. The best reason to pick up Grand Theft Auto 4, is simply to hang out with Niko Bellic. He's a bad dude but he's also funny and surprisingly sympathetic.

Spoiled
A very good game but perphaps I`ve been spoiled by its precursors... by the fact that there is nothing outstanding from the previous generations of the game, the only difference to me is the storyline incredible graphics online connectivity and everything that this platform offers but other than that more of the same!

Weak game, Cheap graphics. Play WoW instead.
I love playing WOW. It's so fun!

WOW helped me get the follow accomplished with my life:
1. Helped me earn college credits from home! Yes, Blizzard is now accredited Regionally. You earn credits in Information Systems, Math, Alchemy, Physical Education, Military Science, and Time Management. Incredible huh!
2. Helped me get chicks. Being on a computer all day helped me become a chick magnet! Girls were asking for my myspace URL left and right!
3. Helped me learn time management. Instead of being like the losers that I went to high school with, I spent 80+ hours a week doing something that will help with progressing in my life. and to think all these losers joined the military or went to State Universities.. LOL!
4. Helped me learn foreign language '1337'. Leet is very useful these days.. especially in the IT industry. LOL!

Plus, the game is just so fun! Funner than Call of Duty 4 and the GTA series!