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Grand Theft Auto IV pc Game Reviews
Grand Theft Auto IV
Critic Score
Metascore: 89 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.2 out of 10
based on 35 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 503 votes
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Rate this game

(Also known as "GTA IV") What does the American Dream mean today? For Niko Belic, fresh off the boat from Europe. It's 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 an a living nightmare for those who don't. The PC version features an "expanded" multiplayer mode. [Rockstar Games]

PUBLISHER: Rockstar Games
DEVELOPER: Rockstar North
GENRE(S): Action, Adventure
PLAYERS: 32
ESRB RATING: M (Mature)
RELEASE DATE: December 2, 2008

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Meristation
Grand Theft Auto IV means the matureness for Rockstar, abandoning -though not completely- all its insane humor and arcade action, this chapter of Niko Bellic captures the essence of the american society with black humor, great narrative and the characteristic 'sandbox' gameplay that the franchise has featured all this years. For the PC version all stays the same: only the great technical optimization, the original video-editor and the 32 players online modes are present as news. But, when you leave a masterpiece exactly the same, its a right move.
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100
Cynamite
This game is a masterpiece! We have never seen such a harmonic virtual world before. The story is as good as a movie and the graphics offer tons of incredible moments. GTA IV is more than a game.
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100
GameSpy
A game that could keep anyone busy for a long, long time. Although it's got plenty of excellent features, it's ultimately the storytelling that makes it an instant classic, a game unlike any we've played before. As is the case with many great books and movies, you'll want to know what happens to the characters after the game ends, and one can't help hoping that all of their American Dreams comes true.
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100
VideoGamer
If you've been waiting for the ultimate version of GTA 4, then this is it, providing you can put up with a fair amount of hassle to get the game running well and all the services you need to sign up to in order to play the game in the first place.
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100
BigPond GameArena
The gorgeous graphics, proper radio customisation, the much better multiplayer and the phenomenal video editor and what it boils down to is... Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC is the definitive GTA IV experience. You haven't played GTA IV before now - not properly. I guess what I'm really saying is... PC Supremacy.
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100
Gamer.nl
We can talk hours and hours about it, but it won't change the fact that Grand Theft Auto IV is a very good game. The brand new video editor will offer tons and tons of extra gameplay and makes up for a lot of the waiting time the PC-gamers had to endure. Gamers that still aren't satisfied can wait for the hundreds or so mods that will appear after the release. And with that enough gaming material to last at least until Grand Theft Auto V shows up.
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100
Total PC Gaming
There hasn't been a better game this year. [Issue#15, p.55]
96
3DJuegos
PC receives, finally, its own version of a game that will remain, Grand Theft Auto IV. For those who dream about living different lives, with doing what the society bans or considers immoral, and with becoming the darkest guts of the worse human beings, GTA IV is their game. As a great trip to the lowest and the shadiest passions of men, the new game of Rockstar is an epic tale, with a scope never seen before in a videogame.
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95
Gameplanet
The multiplayer alone makes it a must-buy.
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95
InsideGamer.nl
GTA IV delivers on the PC, as it did on the next-gen consoles. The game breathes quality from start to finish. The story remains interesting and entertaining, visually it’s a new milestone in the series, and the gameplay just as good as it was on the console. The added video-editor and extended multiplayer-modes make for an even more complete experience, which no PC-gamer should be allowed to miss.
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94
Computer and Video Games
Impressively bumped-up visuals, more multiplayer carnage and a well-built video editor; this is the ultimate version of 2008's premier sandbox game. If you've got the specs to run it.
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93
GameStar
The basics are still the same, but GTA 4 is a masterpiece. The game world created by Rockstar North is simply amazing. The shootings, radio, TV, the story and the characters create more than just a sandbox game. It's almost a parallel world.
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93
Games Master UK
A violent, giant triumph; shame about the performance and login fascism. [Jan 2009, p.79]
93
Play.tm
It loses a few marks for being so technically daunting, but if you haven't had the opportunity to play GTA IV yet, and you've got a PC that can handle it, then this is probably the best version of the game.
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92
PC Gamer
GTAIV works well as a multiplayer game. [Feb 2009, p.70]
92
PC Games (Germany)
More than six months after the console-launch GTA 4 hits the PC. With better graphics and the teriffic replay-editor the story about Niko Bellic will arrest your attention to your PC for weeks or even months... promised.
92
PC Gamer UK
It's the peripheral distractions of both going out with Roman, and meeting your girlfriends, that really make your virtual life so worth living. Although incredibly simplistic, they're oddly touching...One of the finest videogames ever. [Christmas 2008, p.87]
92
IGN
The overall GTA formula has been refined and retooled in this version to be more convenient, more realistic, and ultimately more mature, though it still gets stuck on brambles held over from games past.
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91
PC Zone UK
The PC version brings enough additions and improvements to the fundamental GTA IV experience to make it an essential purchase for anyone who hasn't played it yet. [Feb 2009, p.74]
90
YouGamers
The PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV is definitely the best version of the game and almost a must-buy if you haven't already seen it all. Just don't underestimate the hardware needed to run it properly - a quad core CPU is almost mandatory for acceptable performance as is a high end video card. PC-specific Video Editor is a nice bonus but the gameplay is untouched and just as good as on the consoles.
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90
GamePro
A demanding port of an excellent game, GTA IV PC is only worth a look from gamers that missed Niko's venture to America the first time around.
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90
Gamers.at
Even though GTA IV is enormously hardware-hungry, it remains one of the prime examples for a console-game that only got better by releasing it for the PC. [Issue#17]
90
EuroGamer
A genuinely ground-breaking blockbuster in videogame history. There were moments playing GTA IV that I thought back to my initial experiences with games, and realised exactly how far we've come. There's never been anything quite like GTA IV in the world. That there makes me genuinely happy to be a gamer.
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90
GameZone
Grand Theft Auto IV is a solid port, adding in some compelling features to reward PC gamers for their patience. However, they’re going to want to sit tight and wait for Rockstar to issue a patch to fix the game’s stability problems.
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90
GameSpot
Performance issues prevent this lazy PC port of a superb console game from being the best Grand Theft Auto yet.
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89
PC Format
The most grown-up GTA and the best realised, but it doesn't respect the PC much. Enjoy the multiplayer madness if you can. [Christmas 2008, p.96]
86
NZGamer
Grand Theft Auto IV is very much a console-friendly game, and the PC port brings enough problems – albeit ones that won’t apply to everyone – to make me hesitate to recommend it over the original.
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85
Gameplayer
If you’ve already conquered Liberty City on PS3 or Xbox 360, there really isn’t enough extra stuff to demand that you fork out more money for the PC version. But if you have yet to savour the GTA IV experience, this is a must have because of the unforgettable single-player experience and frantically fun multiplayer as well as the extra PC features.
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84
Gamer 2.0
As it stands, Grand Theft Auto IV is a rather poor port, but a fantastic game all the same.
Read Full Review
80
LEVEL (Czech Republic)
Splendid but old-fashioned. Excellent characters, video editing tools, and multiplayer are the greatest pluses of this new arrival to the GTA franchise. Now focus on story and intelligence of friendly NPCs. [Issue#173]
80
PC PowerPlay
GTA4 is what it was always going to be: an expertly fashioned port. If you've clocked up 100 hours on the 360, there's not much point picking it up now. But if the idea of the video editor intrigues you, or somehow incredibly you HAVEN'T played the game yet, GTA4 is a must-buy. [January 2009, p.45]
79
AtomicGamer
It's kind of a lose-lose for Rockstar at this point, and it's too bad, because GTAIV is a wonderful game that doesn't deserve the problems this PC port has.
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75
1UP
The game design is often thoughtless and shortsighted. Rockstar treats Liberty City as a backdrop...when it should have been the stage itself.
Read Full Review
70
Worth Playing
The entire game has a feeling of misdirected effort, as if Rockstar sat down to rejuvenate the franchise without knowing particularly how and simply stuck every idea, gimmick and cliché they could think of into one big ball, like some sort of Katamari of game elements with the old GTA feeling at the core.
Read Full Review
10
Game Over Online
In GTA4-land I’m having problems, lots of them, almost nothing but problems, and numerous articles and forums indicate that I’m far from alone, and I think that I’ve gone above and beyond what many gamers would do to try and make it go.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 4.2 (out of 10) based on 503 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

turre o. gave it a0:
Come on Metacritic. This game doesn't deserve any near of 89! You should listen what the players have to say, and just calculate the score from players and critic reviews together. Reading these critics' reviews makes me ask did they even play the game, or spend 50 dollars of it!? The game is horrible, including all the problems and the fact that you need a supercomputer to be even able to play it. Finally a game that deserves 0.

Dave gave it a0:
Even just installing the game i ran into all sorts of problems i kept on getting a corrupt media error message after buying a legitimate version, it happened so often that i just decided to hit ignore and then thought that running the setup again and select repair would fix any issues..wrong!...after about 30 minutes the game crashed and popped up with a fatal error message Zlib20 which apparently according to rockstar means that i need to reinstall the game!! i did, got install error messages again so figured....i have a mate whos got the same game "i'll just borrow theirs and then just use my key" installed fine no error messages so i figured the game would be good to play....wrong!!....the game crashed before i even got to the second mission with roman!!, I've been patient and reinstalled the game few times (maybe 6 in total). But now i have had enough They have released a 2nd patch already to fix the issues that they (rockstar) added too the game in the first patch! I installed the patch (second one) and now the game just freezes after 5 minutes of being in a car! I really would have liked the game had it have worked im sure of that but the issues, bugs, and problems with it are far to numerous and widespread for me to recommend this game to anyone!... the thing that is frustrating is that the mate i borrowed the game discs from is having no issues with the game and their PC specs aren't as good as mine so no i not only have a game that doesn’t play but I’ve got a mate with a sh**y computer that keeps on rubbing it in every time i come over to visit!! Lol I’ve tried lowering the graphics specs in the game etc but on a pc that is setup with: Vista Ultimate SP 1 intel core 2 duo 3.17 ghz 4 gb patriot ddr ram Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX I would expect the game to be at least playable!... i mean i can run crysis no problems!!! And its graphic requirements are far higher I’m really frustrated at the fact that I wasted my money on this game! and will be working on getting a refund! so all I’d say is DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!! OR AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL ITS IN THE $10 SALE BIN! I mean how smug are rockstar selling a game that obviously hasn’t been tested correctly if high spec machines can’t either run the game full stop or run it with crappy framerates!!

Clare gave it a2:
Fantastic game. If you can actually play it. Don't dignify Rockstar with paying for this if you can help it. They don't deserve to be paid for such horrendous optimization. "Ah, but I want to play multiplayer!" Says the one whom would rather buy it. Knock yourself out - too bad everyone you'll be playing with will get consistently dropped from the game due to having a poor framerate on their quad-cores.

Doug S gave it a2:
As a software engineer at a company that makes software quality assurance products, I feel I can speak with some authority when I say the PC release of GTA4 is a colossal failure by either Rockstar's QA department or management. The game itself is quite good, but the workmanship is by far the worst I have ever seen on a game I have beta tested, much less a final product.

John F gave it a1:
While this port of the game is terrible and really a dissapointment when we wated half a year longer than consoles. What really gets me is Valve selecting to show the oddly high ratings for a game that is generally awful. If they don't show real users opion I think they should take the ratings down or move away from metacritic.

M. Alex gave it a6:
I enjoyed the game immensly. I didn't enjoy the load of software i had to install to play this game (secuROM turned out the least irritating!), the fact that the was not optimised to a satisfying degree, and that it was buggy: if it didn't crash, than a button had to functions and irritating consequences, e.g.: the mouse wheel is used to change weapons. If you phone rings while changing weapons, you automaticaly hang up. Passed the game, had my fun, uninstalled without regrets.

Em_J W gave it a2:
I was tempted to go on an angry rant, but I want to be objective and fair here. Overall, there will be one thing I will *never* forget and always associate with this game. It has one supercritical flaw: -It runs like sh*t- I'm not exaggerating one bit. Ive been building and repairing pc hardware for over 10 years now, and have always been an avid gamer. I play many brand new titles and have few problems, often able to play 1900x1200 with every option enabled including antialiasing and plenty of texture post-processing on other new titles such as All source games (including L4D, TF2 etc.), Fallout3, Mirror's Edge and the list goes on... Obviously this is not because my hardware is not up to task. This is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever encountered. The game is very, very, VERY poorly programed. To boot, GTA IV doesn't even look good. The graphics look very dated in comparison with titles released recently. It crashes... alot. This program has managed to generate more faults and errors than any other application I have ever installed. I'd even go so far as to say known malware runs more stably. I wish I was exaggerating, but this is the sad, sad truth that is GTA IV for PC. I attempted for days to improve the performance and stability of this program using every workaround and trick I know of including: 1) trying over a dozen different combinations of drivers 2) both versions of the game 3) manually editing nearly every configuration in the program directory 4) multiple OS's (vista and XP pro) 5) multiple bios and firmware combinations 6) alteration of my OS (killing services, disabling/enabling access, security, automatic memory remapping apps, cache utilities) 7) I even cleared out enough room on my scsi 15k rpm HDD... No effect on performance. (Oh let me add that the install directory is rediculous. 15 gigs!? of *what* may I ask?) 8)multiple brand new graphics cards including an ATI 4850 overclock addition (asus) and XFX nvidia geforce 9800. Did any of this work, at all? Actually, somewhat. But the performance is unbelievably bad even when I take the best results from all of the above. Given the Xbox 360's hardware, (http://hardware.teamxbox.com/articles/xbox/1144/The-Xbox-360-System-Specifications/p1 if you're curious) most modern PC gaming rigs shouldn't break a sweat running this software. However, my problems with this awfully coded mess are not isolated, but rather the typical experience. Ludicrous. How did rockstar miss these problems? Greater than 50% of users are having awful issues, how many different pcs did they playtest this on? One? None? Grand Theft is an apt title. I feel no better than grifted, swindled and conned for purchasing this garbage. The programmers should be truly ashamed. Rockstar has also made no attempt to repair their broken software nor have they even *acknowledged* that these severe issues exist to this degree. The finale of this ridiculum is that once I was able to stabilize the software to the point that I could play through an appreciable portion of the game, it was really pretty average. The gameplay is alright... Pretty similar to san-andreas, with the notable exception that the animations are vastly superior. You are able to traverse objects a little better, and the cover system does add some substance to combat. I'd give the gameplay a 7/10, its decent, but still sort of the same old thing. Vehicle mechanics are really very good, with notable attention to realistic traction, but the general physics still have a very toy like, very poor quality. They really didn't think outside the box too much, alot of the mission content is completely rehashed from the original GTA III engine titles. The plot is actually pretty good, and the voice actors seem to be above average. Its pretty entertaining plot wise. Nearly all of the new content additions are terrible though. The cellphone is an abomination. People bother you on your cellphone too much. I hate this in reality, let alone in a leisure activity. I don't want people calling me all the time and being obligated to do what they ask me. I can only play the stupid ingame pool once or twice before it becomes extremely tiresome. To make it worse, you're punished for not doing this by losing reputation. Dating a computer character? Give me a break, this doen't even resemble fun. A virtual internet complete with virtual spam? What the hell did they bother spending time on this for? Does anyone actually appreciate this? Its really *not* clever, I wish they would have spent this time play testing this garbled up mess of code. -Bottom Line- This software is almost completely broken, and riddled with issues. It barely works. To quote the great philosopher James Rolf (AVGN), "What a sh*tload of f*ck" It comes packaged with all this bloatware that makes irritated as well. I don't use 'windows live' for anything, and its nothing but a marketing ploy with no substance. 'Rockstar Social Club' is equally useless or worse, as I suspect these applications present very serious security flaws. They run scripts and leave open ports, and I feel there is a high likelyhood that these applications will be exploited as entry points. Its really just the insult added to injury.

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