Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

GTA IV tells the story of Niko Bellic,
Niko Bellic comes over to live in Liberty City from Russia because of promises of wealth, glory and fame from his cousin. But as he sinks into life in Liberty City he realises that all his cousins story's of wealth were false, and they land themselvs into a problem much greater than they could ever of imagined!

GTA IV follows the same kind of layout as previous GTA's, you do different missions for different people around the city, you gradually become wealthier and the missions get more fun the deeper you delve into the game. Liberty City is quite a big place, it is split into 3 main islands and there's a small one where the statue of liberty is. Liberty City is based off of New York and there is familiar Landmarks like, the empire state building, Brooklyn Bridge etc.

As you progress through the game you will get more money, and therefore buy more weapons, there are lots of weapons like pistols, SMGS, rifle's, and snipers!
There is also grenades, RPG's and even molotov's! There is a wide range of cars, like porsche's, lambos, ferrari's, and all the other rubbish one's! You will sometimes use speedboats and choppers!

The storyline will last you from 20hrs to 30hrs depending on your skill at the game and it is a very compelling storyline, there is still a little bit of humour here and there but it is definately a story driven game and alot more believable compared to past GTA's! The best and most addictive part of GTA is definately driving cars and shooting cops! The pure realism of it all, the physics of the car and how it feels is so realistic, e.g- you go to fast round a corner you'd skid off the road etc.

The combat system in the game is vastly improved from san andreas! Now to lock on you hold r2 but if you want to free aim you just hold the button half down! There is also a cover system which is also very good, you can hide behind basically anything in the game! You can pop out and shoot or just free aim while still hiding behind cover!

You can do quite alot of stuff on the game but once you have completed the game it might get boring, mainly because there are no side missions! Sure you can go chill with your mates or go on a date or a race but it will get boring after a while. BUT.....
Thats where multiplayer comes in! There are many game modes but the best is free mode, you can customize the rules, you can get 16 players in a match and just going round killing each other in anyway possible! Team up with mates and it will be a blast!

But there is a few problems.....
The missions can get a little repetitive and also the motor bikes are terrible,1 little knock will send you flying off the front! Some of the missions are very hard and annoying also but most of them are fun.

GTA 4 is one of the best games that has ever been made, it is very fun and compelling, a few minor problems doesn't severely tarnish what is a very very special game!

Grand Theft Auto IV:
9.5/10