Grand Theft Auto IV for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

Great game but not a 10. I'm a gamer, not a gta zealot that will spew on about this is the best game ever.

If you are a fan of the GTA series, you will probably love this game and think it is the best one yet. If that is the case go buy it and be happy.

If you are not a big fan of the series or new to the series, it is a great game. I would recommend that you get it from gamefly first.

It is a sandbox game but it is not an open world sandbox game like Oblivion. Overall it is just a notch above Assassins Creed. You have to progress the story mode before you can go certain places such as parts of the map and even shops. You can not enter into every building as some have said. You also can not customize your vehicles or your house. You can change Nikko's clothes (not much variety) and the theme of your cell phone along with $100 dollar ring tones...but that is about all you can customize.

Not sure what people are looking at when they say the graphics are ps2 quality. Maybe they don't have an HD TV? The city itself is probably one of the best pieces of art ever. The actual characters face and hair aren't anything special, but when you shoot someone in the leg they react accordingly. The animations are pretty cool. Nikko does walk like he has a load in his pants and you will find yourself always running because of how slow he walks. The driving takes a bit to get down...but don't be afraid to change the views. The hood view is pretty good for high speed getaways. Make sure to take a helicopter ride around sunset or at night over the city to see just how beautiful it really is.

The game does get repetitive at times...but there is one mission that is worth playing over and over again. It is the 3rd or 4th mission you do for Packie Mcreary called 3 leaf clover. Save your game before doing this so you play it over and over.

Great game...hopefully they make the next one a true open world sandbox game and allow you to customize just about everything.

This is an excellent game in many areas, most people agree on that. I've had a great time playing it. But the professional reviewers embarrassed themselves by handing out all those perfect 10s. These guys pick apart games and complain about the slightest microscopic flaws, but all of a sudden they crowned GTA IV one of the greatest achievements in human civilization. Very suspicious.

-The dialogue is interesting and occasionally funny and the voice acting is mostly great when compared to other games. The story kept me interested. However in the middle Niko as a character stops progressing and he doesn't have much to say of substance when the NPCs are talking to him. Some of the characters and scenes are great and dramatic, they did a great job of adding tension in some scenes, and humor in others. However, some of the characters are over-the-top stereotypes and buffoons.

The city is incredible. Especially Algonquin (Manhattan). Driving through Times Square at night and seeing all the lights is fantastic. When I first saw the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island it was amazing. However, it's all style no substance. There's nothing to do except the side missions like bowling and the main missions. The comedy/cabaret clubs were great though. I don't understand why they didn't put little stuff around the city that you can find besides pigeons. At first I loved walking around the city looking around but after awhile I realized it's mostly an empty shell.

Gameplay is good when you get used to the awkward cover system. However, this is reason #1 why this game in no way deserved perfect scores. The cover system and control is not next-gen. Uncharted had a superior cover system. Niko controls very awkwardly. Reason #2, the missions get very repetitive. Rockstar should have added a stealth system. That would have been great sneaking around inside buildings!

There are more great things and flaws. One thing I'm sure about, there's no way this game is a perfect 10.

This is a great game graphically. Its got over 100 unique landmarks that are generic replicas and the lighting system is great. This game is end all be all graphically.

That being said

It lacks

1. Property Ownership.
Safe houses are run of the mill especially when you have no control over where they are. Vice City was such a great game because you could have tons of house and Playing legit in this game still leaves with a huge surplus of cash. so it seems to be a waste.

2. Car Storage.
What happened to being able to park your awesome cars in a garage. Safe houses only allow for 1 car per slot and it really doesn't feel like it did when we had big garages.

3. Modernized Missions
It seems like they did no brainstorming on how the missions worked. Its the same go kill this guy type of deal. They removed missions from alot of things liek ambulence fire trucks and a bunch of other things aswell.

4. Alot less shops
Finding a clothing store is dam near impossible when u start and the selections suck even at the end. there is very little verity in the clothing lines.

What makes GTA4 such a great game are all of the various things that it does good. Sure, it doesn't have the handling or crash physics of Burnout Paradise, but it comes close. GTA doesn't have the excellent shooting control of a Rainbow 6 Vegas, but it comes pretty close. GTA doesn't have the robust online that Call of Duty 4 has, but it comes close. Mass Effect may have a better story and the Sims 2 has better social interaction with the AI, but GTA comes very close to matching both blow for blow. GTA may not be the best in any one category, but it is very good in many of them. When one game can be compared to 5 upper echelon games, that's saying something. GTA, however, still has much more to offer; mini games, puzzle games, an unseen physics engine (Euphoria), and unparalleled AI make GTA4 one of the deepest games to ever come out. Judged on just one category, GTA4 is not a perfect game, but the fact that it has so many different types of game play options all of which comparable to the best games in each genre makes GTA4 simply the best game you can ever play hands down.

This game has been dramatically overhyped. Is it a very good game? Yes. Is it the best game that's been released for a console in the past decade as IGN (among others) would have you believe? Not even remotely close.

First, let me say that I am ONLY reviewing the single player portion of the game. I can't play the multi-player because Rockstar screwed up -- the only way I can get the game to load instead of freezing is if I have the Internet turned off to my PS3. That alone is a major problem, but I'm ignoring it for the sake of this review.

The game looks good. The player models aren't the best, and the overall graphical quality isn't on the same level as something like Assassin's Creed, but it certainly looks like a next-gen title.

The story is mediocre. It starts off great, and has a very good ending, but most of the middle of the game is filler that doesn't do much to advance the story and introduces you to characters that have little depth. This game had the potential to have a fantastic storyline, but as it is it's nowhere near as good as other recent games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune or Bioshock.

The missions are incredibly disappointing. Nearly all of them involve you going to a building and killing 20 people, or chasing someone down in a car. There's none of the variety we had in San Andreas -- you can't even purchase apartments/businesses like you could in SA and Vice City. One of my friends put it best when he said, "I'm getting sick of going to a warehouse and playing 3D Contra."

Even with all of that, GTA IV is still a good game. But it's not as good as ANY of the major GTA titles on PS2 in my opinion -- it lacks the novel factor of GTA III, because the gameplay is basically the same. The story and characters aren't as interesting as Vice City. And the mission variety falls far behind San Andreas.

GTA IV is a solid title, and certainly worth playing, but it's not even close to what I was expecting from Rockstar.

I <3 GTA!!!!! I have played every GTA out there, and I love them all, GTA IV isn't any different, but I stopped playing it pretty soon after i beat the story mode...
Then on a hot summer's day, i found myself craving Ice Cream... and flinging myself off of motorcycles and into on-coming vehicles...
SO I PICKED UP GTA IV!!!!!!
Now I have fallen back in love with GTA IV, I play it everyday just because I can, I know you guys can see I love this game and I bet most of you do, or will soon, but I'm still gonna make my list....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PRO'S
-Rag-doll Physics, I love any game with it
-Fast Fricken Cars, the faster, the more fun to jump out of
-The Graphics are a BIG +
-Replay Value, who gets tired of mugging virtual old lady's... NOT THIS GUY
-Multiplayer, mmmm, i can taste the chaos now :)
CON'S
- Seemingly pointless Story, butdo you really need a point when you have fast cars and big guns... kinda
-Lack of a certain kind of airship, planes would be epic
-Annoying Cops, if Rockstar put in a cop system like Mafia 2, this would be a better game all around
IDEA'S FOR A BETTER GAME
-Plane's
-New Law System
-FASTER CARS... I...NEED...FASTER CARS o_O
Anyway, Thanks for reading,
GamerGuy OUT!!!!!! :)

This was the absulute best grand theft auto ever. It was very realistic, I loved this game.

I don't understand the appeal of this game. Once you get past the novelty of being able to pretty much do anything in Liberty City, you realize that the game is incredibly repetitive and dare I say, boring. If you're a fan of the GTA/Bully franchise then this review will have no bearing and you'll enjoy GTA IV.

The graphics are awful, they look moderately better than the PS2 versions and the controls are clunky. Handling Niko is a chore and never does what you want him to smoothly. The pace at which he walks is horribly slow. You can make him run by holding down X (which you will always do so why they didn't make this the default speed is beyond me) and make him sprint by repeatedly tapping X. The SIXAXIS controls are no better either, the only useful one is the reload maneuver, all others are better left disabled.

The only thing this game has going for it is its voice acting and storyline. Unfortunately, the annoying initial load time every time I power the game on kept me from playing more than ten hours. Intermittent, smaller load times would have been a better choice than making the player stare blankly at the screen for a minute upon starting GTA IV.

Virtually going bowling, having a girlfriend, driving, and etc seems like a stupid idea considering most people can do this for real and actually have more fun. Games are supposed to be fun and this one just seems like a tedious chore, not unlike keeping a house plant alive. Maybe I just don't understand the rage over simulation-type games.

Verdict: Don't rent. Instead, play fun games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ratchet & Clank Future: ToD, Call of Duty 4, and Resistance: FoM.

GTA 4 has to be the game of the year. It's perfect it has everything you expect from GTA and more. I won't ruin the fun for anyone by giving game details. PLAY IT BUY IT NOW.

This game has everything and more. A massive single player campaign fueled by an award worthy script read by amazing voice actors, a compelling and challenging multiplayer experience that will compete with the likes of CoD4 and Counter Strike, and enough of a sandbox element to offer replay value the likes you've never seen!

The graphics are gorgeous and run at a native 720p, though some resolution counters (specifically, those that upscale) may count higher. Regardless, I've never seen such a realistic world. Every building you encounter is available for exploration, every person you kill retorts with a new and witty quip, and every beam of light that glistens off a freshly ganked vehicle offers a new and exciting view of our favorite city.

Gameplay is where this game truly shines. Each character you encounter is as memorable as the last and offers different side quests that you may choose to partake in or not (and doesn't effect the final outcome!) When your Jamaican friend calls as your gunning from a rooftop, you may choose to hang out with him in order to receive a benefit later in the game. Of course, you could always just get a call girl and have a nice night in. The game is open to your liking and whims. Enjoy this massive city!

I can't say enough about how awesome GTA IV is. I wasn't planning on buying this game and typically prefer RPGs. The release date was fast approaching, so I reluctantly added it to the queue. I own it now... I couldn't help myself. This is a near perfect experience. If you add this to your queue, go ahead and prepare $50 dollars for the Keep It Now. I would bet you'll need it.

Over the course of this game, you will love and hate Liberty City with all your heart. The one thing that makes this game great is the amount of freedom that you have. No one forces you to do missions, you can take your sweet time doing it. Besides doing the regular story missions you can call up your friends/girlfriends and hang out with them. You can go get food, go bowling, play pool, watch shows, go to the strip club, go boating, go on a helicopter ride, and go drinking. Also, it's always fun to get into a car chase and have the police and swat teams chasing you. As for the graphics, well, Liberty City is a big place, so there is some pop ups, that you have to deal with. As for the story itself you play as an immigrant named Niko Bellic, in search of the American dream. He might seem like an ice cold killer but toward the end of the game he does start to show some regret for what he does. Some people might find the gameplay repetitive but honestly it's not that repetitive and the only times that you will be bored are when you fail a mission and have to start it over again. So, all in all, this game is well worth the money and for those parents who think that this game will ruin the minds of their kids, they are wrong and I'm living proof of that. :)

If you've played any of the previous GTA installments beginning from GTA III onward, then, you'll know the gist of this game. I prefer a little originality in my video games, and while this game has plenty of refinements, it's still the same game. In fact, playing through GTA IV is a lot like work, and I quickly lost interest. Frankly, the hook to GTA has always been the vastness of the environment, and the freedom to do whatever you want. Both of these features are present in this game, but this is hardly innovative anymore. I'd much rather play No More Heroes where I can just jump into the game, decapitate my enemies, and watch geysers of blood spew from their dismembered corpses almost from the start. In GTA IV I had to buy clothing to impress women, and chauffer these ladies around Liberty City...real fun. Ultimately, I think guys purchase this game as an obligation to their masculinity. To me, reality is boring. So why imitate it?

I can remember playing GTA games and immediately having fun. Not sure where that went on this one...

After suffering through GTA 4's wonky controls, aggressively re-centering camera and more limited game scope (especially compared to all that you could do peripherally in San Andreas), I have to say that this one is a terribly weak entry into the series--and certainly not as much fun as any of its predecessors.

Driving is a real chore, with the e-brake acting more and a spinout=launcher. And good luck adjusting the camera to a comfortable angle at any time; it always snaps back to where it wants to be. The main character's cam on foot suffers from much the same, but at least you don't slide all over the place like while in a car.

For me the control pretty much kills the game. Everything felt like a real task--and not a joy to play, which I expect out of a supposedly "next gen" game. I won't even get involved in a discussion over the graphics, except to say that they aren't as great as everyone is saying they are. Just compare it to any other next gen title critically, and you'll see how they fall far short.

Perhaps I'm just being too critical myself . . . but I expected more from this game. Definitely rent before you buy.

They cut out alot of stuff from vice city and san andreas but who cares. You cant customize your character or cars and there are only 4 clothing stores, and a few food places not counting the hot dog stands and such. The girlfriends are still in the game and they are alot better, plus you can get drunk, which is hilarious. The story is the best one in the series, now you have choices which is new and exciting. You can choose to kill your target or let him go, its nice but it doesnt change the story at all. You have an option which decides the fate of the last mission, which really it doesnt matter what you choose, the second to last mission blows, and the last mission blows as well, only difference between the two alternate paths, is you go after a different guy, and you have to drive a boat or a sanchez, big whoop! awful, granted its fun, but if your going to play just to do the opposite of what you did the first time, DONT no point. Online is fun although it gets lagged up and you seem to hit someone in a car on your screen but you dont on theres. And usually it leads to you dying, Or someone will be infront of you, then across the map then back, it gets wierd and frustrating if you care about stats. The cell phone is used for missions, dates, activites and such your whole life is in that phone, and its not as tedious as people say. The graphics are gta graphics you should know what they are. Driving becomes second nature and fun after a little bit. Side missions wow if you want 100% good luck, im at 96% right now and i have spent more time on side missions then the 94 story missions. The animations and physics are so much better, people will be injured based on where you shoot them and your car will take damage depending where you damage it. Less customization = more real physics and such, and i will take that any day of the week, i didnt even use half the stuff in san andreas anyways, so bravo on getting rid of them and giving a more complete gaming experience.

I honestly don't know what happened here. The controls are absolutely horrible. Just walking Niko around is frustrating. He turns in half-circles and this makes it very difficult to get him to climb stairs, go up a ladder, or just quickly jump on a motorcycle for a chase mission. Even worse are the controls for driving. I have always been slightly annoyed by the control (or lack thereof) when it comes to driving in ALL of the GTA series, but this is by far the worst. It is an absolute chore to keep the car from spinning out of control and there seems to be no real braking system for handling corners. Simply pressing the handbrake will automatically send you into a 360 while pressing reverse has very little effect other than stopping your turn and sending flying out of control into whatever is straight ahead. I also have on several occasions not been able to get Niko to fire. I am in the middle of a gang fight, I'm getting drilled and all Niko will do is push the gun forward as if he is pointing at the enemy but not firing. After losing half my health, I usually run away and then continue pressing R2 until finally, Niko shoots his weapon. I now get to return to the fight with a working gun, but very little health. The graphics on this game are also sub-par and that's on my 50" HDTV. Another problem is the save points. You often as a result of failing a mission, have to start back WAY across the city. this would not be that big of a deal if driving were not so infuriating. Plus all of the relationships that you enter and try to maintain can get to be a hassle VERY quickly. I agree with another reviewer, early on this game starts to feel more like work than play.

First let me say that I'm a huge fan of the series. I've completed every version since III, including the annoying VCS. But seriously, we waited four years for this? None of the charm and playability from the old PS2 version are here. The game play is quirky, the story is droning and the main character walks with a fresh load in his pants. The car engines rev like the devil, but then go nowhere in no hurry... and don't even bother with the handbrake (ie: instant donut feature.) Rockstar clearly spent too much time on the graphics (which are average at best) and no time what-so-ever on game play and storyline. If this was a car, I'd leave the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked.

This is not what I expected. Decent graphics. Greatly improved aiming system is wonderful. Wide open spaces. Plenty to do. But missing LOTS of things from GTA San Andreas. You would think they would just build on one of the best games ever. No jet pack - no harrier - no planes whatsoever - no gang control. The gameplay IS much improved. I purchased this game assuming it would be amazing, but was very disappointed and haven't even finished playing it. I lost interested with the repetitive tasks. Such a shame.

its perfect, you cannot have a ps3 without this game,

The graphics are nice, the game is long ( you will enjoy every hour), that cars, guns, missions.....there are a huge variety of options u can have in this game. and oh my god the exploring is just so amazing and realistic

i recommended having this game in your top 1 list even if you already have it :)

Rockstar mailed it in. This game lacks most of the fun factor of the previous GTA. Rockstar is getting lazy and it really showed in this game.
I'm playing this game in full HD and the graphics still look murky. I expected much better graphics.

This game is quickly headed towards the Bargain Bin! Under twenty bucks soon.

Well, when i first got this game it was a bit boring, but then later got interesting once i used cheats. As i got farther in the game it was getting more and more boring. I noticed it was mostly the same thing over and over again, so i was unhappy about that. But overall it was a good game but like i said kind of boring. Really good graphics though.

okay so this game has been built up not just by a stream of well done games bearing the same title but by the ones who reviewed it and i found it to be a game that has no fun value to it what so ever. I am a huge GTA fan it was the game i looked forward to most on the ps3 and it is easily the biggest let down so far.

1. graphics they are a 7/10 they aren't the best ever but they look good

2. storyline is not great, i liked all the other games and the character you get to play this one i am happy every time i die just cause i don't care about my character i hope i find a way to kill him permanently one day

3. online content is nothing new it is just a bunch more games available with the same thing over and over again like all ps3 online games are.

4. mini games were something others had praised the game for and i think i should mention that i hated them and they added no fun to the game

5. the driving is nothing like the previous games and to be honest makes me angry the whole time i played.

this game is a failure on so many levels to me i can say thanks to gamefly cause i used to buy GTA games as soon as they came out i am truly glad i rented this terrible game first so i can mail it back. i feel like they took all my favorite fun things about the GTA series and put together a game to bore the masses. i sincerely hate this game and hope bad things upon the creators of it.

AWESOME! If you like gta games GET THIS, if you dont, you probably wont like this one either. I crashed and the other driver died, his head fell on to the stearing wheel and made the horn go! Can you say details?

In reality this game is at least a good 8.0 maybe 8.5, however since the score is overrated i rated it a 1 to get the score down. First of all many items were removed such as airplanes and A LOT of weapons. Modifying vehicles is not available in this version when San Andreas has this feature and is on a PS2. You've gained some but lost more, stats to make your character dual wield or learn better fighting skills are gone. It seems as though many of these potential greatnesses have vanished without a trace. If you played San Andreas you may think a remake of it should be in order with all the features it had completely unique to itself. Become fat, skinny or muscular through eating and work out habits, swim to earn more breath when in water, run for more stamina, achieve more health through beatings and such along with a wide array of other statistics. Though this game did not sport the greatest of graphics it had greater variety going from city, desert, even to small rural towns that had different police force, community, vehicles and had much more wilderness terrain. Planes have been removed as a "realistic" feature yet you can't buckle up when you get in a vehicle to prevent yourself from projecting out a windshield to be run over by traffic? Also a semi-truck can be speeding along to crash into extremely small trees and be stopped with no damage to the tree? There are other such unrealistic things strewn out through the game if you look for them or run into them. The shooting range of Ammunation was taken out which helped to provide players more stability at manually aiming at targets that didn't give you stars. The graphics on Grand Theft Auto IV are incredible compared to its prequel games and have added a few features like TV or comedy clubs. Maybe the next Grand Theft Auto will surpass this one. Just try playing San Andreas then IV and look past the graphics to the features of each and decide for yourself, were the graphics worth it?

This is the greatest game ever made. We both know reading reviews is just time away from GTA IV. GO. GO BUY. GO BUY FAST.