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| From: Rockstar Games
Category: Video Games
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $45.00
You Save: $14.99 (25%)
New (58) Used (13) from $45.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  110 reviews
Sales Rank: 3
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: 39012
UPC: 710425390128
EAN: 0710425390128
ASIN: B000FRU1UM
Release Date: April 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: one of the hottest games of the year
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| Customer Reviews:
 I gave up and went console May 10, 2008
I have played PC games for as long as there have been PC games.That is until thy quit making games for the PC and started making games just for consoles that were adapted to play on a PC however very badly.That and my 1yr and 6mo old Dell XPS video card became obsolete for playing the newer games.Then thy came up with GTA 4 made only for consoles.That is when I decided to turn traiter to the PC game market and go Bigameual.I bought a 26in Samsung HD TV,Xbox 360 pro,HDMI cable and The GTA4 game for just a little more than the cost to upgrade to the top of the line video card.Also I would need to upgrade to Vista OP system.I am now playing GTA 4 and it looks better than any game I have ever played on a PC.It would take a top of the line gamming Pc with all the extras costing thousands of dollars to match this game play and graphics.Now if I can ever master this game pad I will have it made.Oh YES,my total cost for this rig was $825.00 including the game.WISH I HAD SWITCHED YEARS AGOE.
The Devil In The Detail May 10, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The release of "Grand Theft Auto 4" has been handled like an epochal event in world history: there have been queues outside games stores at midnight on the release day, a welter of 100% scores, and this new iteration in the series has even made news headlines due to its violence and subversive humour. You could be forgiven for thinking that "GTA 4" is the greatest achievement of Western Civilisation. All this hype could quite easily obscure a lesser game. Luckily, GTA 4 is not a lesser game.
Developers Rockstar have wisely chosen to ramp down the insane size of San Andreas and in return greatly increase the detail of Liberty City (New York in all but name). And the detail is amazing. One of the first things I noticed were how non-playing characters react believably to stimuli, talk amongst themselves, and even natter on their mobile `phones. Hot dog vendors shout out double entendre spiel. The porcine policemen strut around, asking their buddies to buy them doughnuts. In other words, as a character you are just one among millions making their way in the violent, hedonistic world of Liberty.
This attention to detail is emblematic of the whole game environment: just walking through Liberty as main character Niko Bellic you have the eerie impression that the game is living and breathing without knowledge of your existence either as a character or as a gamer. The already cliched take on the game, that Liberty City is the true star of the revamped GTA, is true insofar as you could almost imagine its continued and thriving existence outside the focus of the main character's story. Critics of the game's smaller scale in relation to San Andreas tend to miss the extraordinary detail that makes the smaller world somehow seem so much bigger than its PlayStation 2 predecessor. You can watch TV, go online (and the brilliant online modes are a whole new review), and date women; in a word live in a city which is so much more than a simple background to story missions, car chases, and shootouts.
The main character's moves have had a welcome overhaul; the targeting and cover system is really on a par with most dedicated shooting games -an impressive achievement in itself. Again, Rockstar have cut back on trinkets such as customisable costumes for Niko and trips to the gym to buff up in favour of a more believable and rounded appearance for someone who is, after all, someone you are meant to sympathise with. This cutting back from myriad different paths of appearance and choice of tasks has again been answered with a story mode which makes Niko a tangible and emotive human being whose decisions are actually of consequence.
Of course, the game does have its faults. I own both the XBOX360 and PS3 versions, and find that pop-up is more pronounced on the former console, while jagged lines tend to be worse on the latter. It may take the appearance of the PC version (rumoured to be coming in November) to iron out these technical issues and do justice to the magnificent game engine. The lack of `planes to fly, things like gang wars, along with the restrictive customisation options, are certainly not to everyone's taste, as is the more conservative choice of music on the (still excellent) radio stations.
Someone once said of "Citizen Kane" that if films could do this, they could anything. GTA 4 is the equivalent in video games. It's that good. There are moments when the game approaches the grace and sadness of Shakespeare (if only to snap back into its preferred modus operandi of admittedly very funny black humour and smutty jokes). There are even moments where even the whole "greatest achievement in Western Civilisation" bit doesn't seem so far-fetched. Game developers that are not Rockstar are probably very, very worried about how they are ever going to follow this: that is, after they've stopped playing the thing.
 Please, don't believe the hype! May 10, 2008
Now, everyone will have you believing that Grand Theft Auto IV is the single greatest game ever made, or that it's hands down Gane of the Year, or that Rockstar has reinvented the wheel with GTA 4, here. Well, as a HUGE San Andreas fan and an owner of most Rockstar games out there (except for Manhunt), I'm here to tell you that Grand Theft Auto IV is about 90% overrated hype and about 10% gameplay. No, GTAIV isn't outright bad or anything. It's just not what it used to be. Mostly, I mean, fun. At face value, this is Grand Theft Auto on the new gen systems. But besides that, it's a more-realistic, but less fun GTA.
I guess, that's the biggest problem with GTA IV. Set in an alternate universe New York City, Rockstar strives to make GTA about as real as an experience as it can be, but in reality, it's not. Really, what it is, is a better looking version of GTA with a bunch of new "more realistic" features. I'll start with the positives, first. GTA looks very, very good. Not even close to Photo-realistic, but good. The graphics and lighting and weather effects are good enough to warrant being on the 360 or PS3. Now, while I was expecting "Gran Turismo" style realism here, that's not what I got, but still, the game looks nice. But now, for everything else.
There are many "improvements" to the game that supposedly enhances the experience, but they really only suck the fun out of the game as I mentioned earlier. Just about everything is "enhanced" to have the realism effect, but it only makes the game frustrating. Breaking into cars is a pain and now takes almost as much time as it would in real-life. You have to break open the window, unlock the door, climb inside, and hotwire the car from the inside to get it going. While I was surprised to find this task quicker than I expected, it still hurts you in desperate situations when you need a car right away, which are in many missions. I hated the "system" so much, I never bothered to steal a parked car more than once in this game. The system is actually more of a theft deterent than anything!
Next, we come to the driving. Good God, the driving is probably the most *frustrating* thing EVER! Acceleration is simple enough, especially on the 360 controller. But just about everything else is horrible! Driving in this game, I can say honestly, is MUCH harder than actually driving in real life. The brakes are crazy and I don't know just how long it takes the average player to get used to driving, but I'm still struggling not to crash into people and walls and stuff! I have to drive like an old lady just to avoid bumping into the police cars which are quite literally on every other block in the game.
And when you DO get in trouble... oh man! GTA IV has a slight improvement on the old system in which you can now evade the police by simply outrunning them, even if you are beyond one star. In the old games, you could outrun the police with one star, but not with anything higher. In GTA IV, you have a circumference area that the cops chase you in. Drive out of their circumference, and you escape them. But it sounds simpler than it is. The more wanted levels you get, the larger the area the cops chase you in. And with simply two stars, the "area of pursuit" becomes hard to get out of. By a full-on six, the circumference is literally the size of an entire Liberty City borough! I found this out when I tried to sneak into Algonquin (Manhattan). They have Pay N' Sprays still, but they're virtually useless now. The time you'll need them most, you won't be able to use them cause if the cops see you enter one, it's effect becomes null and void. And over two stars will have police swarming on you. And make no mistake, Liberty City's finest are three times as vicious as those San Andreas donut-munchers. The police are vicious on you, and their A.I. is quite enhanced and far more intelligent than before. Heck, a cop will shoot you even if you're unarmed and only have one star! To make matters worse, your car no longer provides you with adequate protection. Cops and other enemies can shoot you THROUGH your windshield! Before, your car just got damaged some. Now, you can quite easily die even in your car, and there's no real way to duck for cover inside, either. This is what I mean when I say the fun is sucked out of the game in favor for "realism."
The controls of the game are often needlessly complicated, even with all things not involving cars. Doing a simple thing like running while trying to keep the camera fixed on you involve all your available fingers. The shooting is supposedly "improved" but it's not. I actually never found issue with GTA: San Andreas' shooting and targeting system, but many people did. Either way, the auto-targeting in GTA IV is flawed, at best, and as you'd expect, the targeting itself has no idea who you actually want to target. It's more like you targeting whoever *IT* makes you target! Yeah, it's a problem. What's worse is how much stronger the enemies are now. It takes a minimum of six shots with a pistol to take down ONE guy! And it's not like you get a lot of ammo with that pistol! You can't afford to waste a single bullet. What's worse is, limb-specific damage seems to be gone, entirely. Whether you aim center mass, or go for the head execution style, it'll still take the same number of bullets to take down a guy. Well, doesn't that just suck?
Now, some more things about the game. The story, itself, is pretty subjective. You'll either get into it, or like me, become quickly bored with it. It's like the same old GTA-style story missions, only it's more "Been there, done that", which is disapointing considering the use of the foreigner Niko Bellic opened up a lot of storyline possibilites. But about your first hour into the game, you'll already be playing guard dog to a bunch of people you just met. Your cousin, Roman, is a pain in the butt, but everyone else is even worse. Why do I have to take orders from all these people I barely know? I expected more out of GTA IV, but this is the same old crap, man. What's worse is, the main story seriously ruins all of the "free roaming" fun you used to have in GTA! Because of your new, stupid cell phone (with the questionable gray background and black text color scheme which makes it hard enough just to read messages) you'll constantly be getting calls from people and will have to drop everything to help out in vital missions that are important to the story. You'd think a guy with no real job would have more free time. The only real side quest you'll get to have in the beginning is dating the cute and lonely Michelle. If only nice-looking women were this desperate and easy to please in real life. The dates have been upgraded a little bit, giving you the control in what to do, which includes fine dining, playing games like bowling and pool, the arts & theater, going drinking, and other activities. Sadly, the dates are pretty boring and have a "what's the point?" feel to them. As much as I like Michelle, even "Warm Coffee" isn't worth driving all around Broker all day long boring myself to death.
The size of Liberty City is about maybe half or one-third the size of San Andreas. But considering Liberty is all city, it's pretty impressive. Like I said, you'll often be so busy helping random people, you won't have to much time to explore around (without purposely avoiding missions because you know you aren't going to save anything.) You start off in crappy Broker (Brooklyn) and will have to earn your way to Algonquin and the rest of Liberty City, just like before. That sucks though, because I expected this time to be different, and I wanted to explore everything right away. Rockstar before had said they were taking out all bikes and air vehicles from the game, but I guess, have changed their mind since then. There are a few number of bikes, one speedboat, and the rare, single helicopter in GTA IV. There are also lots of cars in the new Liberty City as well, but quite honestly, most the vehicles have very little relevance in this game and they take a backside to the story. The feeling you had in San Andreas of "Ooh! I like that car! Lemme go steal that and add it to my collection!" is gone entirely from this game. Anything you drive is about as equally important/unimportant. Maybe it's because you don't have any garages to put them in? Or any money to afford really modding them, if that's even possible in this game? Or maybe it's because trying to get them is such a pain, even if you manage to avoid the police catching you? At least, they have talking GPS in them, but (and I can't believe I'm defending THIS game, but) I personally like the GPS system in Saint's Row better.
Liberty City now has a huge amount of radio stations (like, 18, I think), but none of the music is on par with the older GTA's. I guess that's because GTA IV takes place in 2008, and it's hard to know what current songs are guaranteed hits in the present. Or maybe it's because music is such crap, nowadays? So, you have a wide variety of music, but no history of what's "good" or not helping you out, here. To sum it up, the music just isn't that good, but at least, it's very, very diverse. There's everything ranging from the familiar Hip Hop and Rock stations, to Latino Music and International Funk. And yes, the parody Talk Radio stations are back to, but to be honest, there aren't NEARLY as funny as they were on the West Coast in San Andreas. There's also custom TV and Internet sites in the game, as well, but to be honest, I never quite got around to checking them out. I mean, all that extra crap is great, but it's really just a distraction and it's utterly pointless to have in the game. It's not like it helps you DO anything. And just to bring it up, there's almost NOTHING in all of new Liberty City to remind you that this is a Grand Theft Auto game. All of the GTA staples and landmarks are gone. Well, at least they kept Cluckin' Bell around, but other than that, there's no familiar names or chains or shops from the GTA universe. It's like they all started going bankrupt in the 16 years since San Andreas, and went completely out of business in the seven years since GTA III. It makes the new Liberty City that much more unfamiliar, but then again, I guess some people would call that "enhancing the experience" for Niko Bellic, new to Liberty City.
So to recap, GTA IV is a new, more real experience in the GTA world, but that sucks any and all fun and excitement out of the game. No, Rockstar did not reinvent the wheel here, and this is, without a doubt NOT "Game of the Decade" or the "Game of Our Generation." The little 13-year old boys posting reviews on here need to stop saying that! It's not true! Let's just all call this what it is: GTA on the new consoles. It's no greater or better than simply that. Everything they tried to "enhance" for a realer experience just makes the game tedious and tiresome, including your stupid behind cell phone, which I hate! I wish I could just chuck it somewhere! The controls are complicated and confusing, especially for driving. The graphics and interactivity in Liberty City are nice, but not exactly "on the next level" of anything. Free roaming is just about dead due to the story constantly keeping you busy, and the missions are old and familiar, but not in a good way. The weapons system is bad with it's targeting, and even fist fighting is a real pain. Fighting was simple and effective in San Andreas. Here, you're looking at three minute fights just to take down one fat slob. I mean, three minutes??? See, that's TOO realistic! The music is so-so at best, and just about everything in the game feels more like a chore than fun. I think because in older GTA's, the storyline wasn't as relevant, leaving you space to do whatever you felt like inbetween, sort of like the weekend from the work week. But now, it's like, everyday is a work day, and I think it's because Rockstar tries to push the story as being SO important and such a driving force in GTA IV. Yeah, I can tell that it was carefully crafted and polished, but it does NOT rank on the level of The Godfather or Scarface. So, no. This isn't an "interactive movie," as some overzealous fans of the game posting reviews will have you believe. The story's okay for a video game, but it's a video game story. It's not exactly good enough to stand on it's own. I really dislike it.
I SO wanted to believe the hype, but I also knew that not having a GTA game in four years would leave a lot of people expecting and wanting more (and believing they got it with this). All GTA IV is, is Grand Theft Auto: Part Four. It's not the Second Coming of video games, or anything rabid fanboys and fangirls will have you believe. Personally, it's not really worth the four year wait or anything, but it's not like it's a horrible game. It's just not that fun, anymore, and the ones who'll play it days on end, will buy it, no matter what anyone tells them. But if you're on the fence, like I was, I would have no problem at all telling you to wait a few months till it drops down in price. It's not THAT spectactular.
Don't believe the hype and don't drink the GTA Kool Aid. If this game REALLY did have a budget of $100 million, than I'm betting $75 million of that went to advertising, feeding the hype machine, and paying off notable gaming sites for unjust Perfect 10 scores. This ISN'T a Perfect Ten game, and I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10, if Amazon had that kind of scale. This is easily the most realistic out of the GTA series, but FAR from the most entertaining, no matter how many fake TV shows and websites arre in the game. The main content is what matters most, and GTA IV fails on all accounts when it comes to this.
 Great game, but get it on the PS3 May 10, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful game, perhaps THE game of this generation (MGS4 may be better, but may not sale as well). This game looks and sounds better on the PS3 with HDMI than on the 360, I've compared them side-by-side and the reports are true.
If you want the stellar experience of this generation you need to play this one on the stellar machine, otherwise you're getting a half-baked experience and will miss out on this generations "must have" game.
So so game compare to GTA San Andreas May 9, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
In general, the game is more realistic and it a lot more difficult to play than GTA San Andreas.
These are the things that I don't like about this game. I've finished about 25% so far.
Gameplay:
1. No turf fighting? -> more difficult to get weapons and money.
2. No difficulty setting.
3. No skip trip in the mission. You can take a taxi to skip trip, but you need to pay.
4. It's hard to tell which door can be opened. In GTA SA there's a big triangle for entrance.
5. Enemy got shoot at can fall down and come back up. Making it very difficult to kill.
6. You can't tell if a random person has a weapon. So you can't ambush someone to steal his weapon.
7. Weapon swapping is difficult. I can't quickly put the gun away and fight with fist/knife.
8. Swapping takes time during a fight. It's true in real life, but it's no necessary in a game.
Character:
1. Walking is super slow.
2. Character properties (HP/Stamina/etc) cannot not improve by training.
3. No double stun rewards? What's the point of doing jumps?
4. Cannot swim under water.
5. Will die instantly when catch with fire.
6. Cannot sit on someone's pick up truck as it moves.
Cellphone:
1. Why using a grey background and black text. It's very hard to read the text.
Map:
1. I have a 42 inch EDTV, and map is too still small to read in a distance.
2. No floor plan map when you're inside a structure. Even in a mission.
Cops and crime:
1. Cops now shoot at you even if you have one star and not holding a weapon.
2. When you shoot a cop, you can get 3 stars.
3. Cannot drive around in the airport, you'll get 4 stars.
4. Cannot remove wanted level by buying new clothes in the store.
5. Cops now carry shot guns, which has a lot more damage than hand gun.
6. No stars to pick up on the street to reduce wanted level.
7. I can run over as many people as I like without getting wanted level, except running over cops.
Vehicles
1. No tanks
2. No planes
3. Vehicles skids like driving on ice.
4. No gas tank door to shoot.
Shops
1. Cannot remove wanted level when cops sees you. It's real but it makes it harder to get rid of the cops.
2. To few pay-n-spray and gun shops
3. No gym.
4. No tatoo shop nor hair salon.
5. Cannot get into police office to take weapon/armor.
Safehouse
1. No safehouse for purchase??
2. Only one safehouse?
Control
1. Autoaim sucks. I cannot unlock the aim to other non-target objects.
2. Fist fight damage is too little to enemy.
3. Can't learn more fighting styles in GYM.
4. It's hard fight with a gun in very close range with enemy without guns.
5. Take cover feature sucks. When you shoot while you're taking cover, the aim will move (when auto aim is off). How am I suppose to aim?
Money
1. No casino, where can I get rich?
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