The gaming industry has quite a lot of iconic franchises, but in the genre of open world sandbox action games one reigns supreme, Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar's brainchild, this series has entertained us since the first top-down view versions appeared in 1997, and, with its latest Grand Theft Auto IV, has set new benchmarks for realism and story depth.
The console versions, for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, were launched in April 2008, and went on to gain universal acclaim for the open world, the realistic Liberty City, and memorable characters. We gave the game a 9.5 in our review, and now, as the PC version was launched recently, we submit to you our mini-review of this edition as well. Is GTA still at home with a mouse and keyboard or should you buy the console versions? Read on to find out.
Story The story of the game is quite well known. Your play as Niko Bellic, an immigrant who arrives in the United States inspired by his cousin's statements that he is living the glorious American Dream. Niko is one of the most memorable characters that have appeared in games for quite some time. He is damaged goods, as the war waged in the former Yugoslavian territory has had a tremendous impact on him. Now, because of a severe atrocity, he arrives in Liberty City hoping that he will find people who will help him get over this.
But as soon as you arrive, your cousin Roman isn't actually living in penthouses or driving fast cars or dating supermodels, but he is actually the owner of a small company and struggles for the attention of a young girl named Mallorie. Money is scarce so you'll start taking odd jobs, most of them of illegal nature, and you'll progress through the various crime organizations that govern Liberty City. During these adventures you will meet a lot of memorable characters that are part of a story that, as a lot of critics say, is worthy of an Oscar.
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| Roman, your cousin | Glitches are quite common |
Gameplay This is the most important part of this mini-review. Is the PC version of GTA IV more fun than the console one? Well, in short, yes, but there are a lot of things you need to take into consideration. In terms of walking around Liberty City, the mouse and keyboard setup is more than enjoyable. During firefights, you can easily perform headshots with the right weapons, and shooting while driving is a lot easier than trying to multitask with a console controller.
But if you want to drive any type of vehicle, be it car, bike, boat or even helicopter, a controller might be the right choice. Although cars or boats can be manageable with the keyboard and the mouse, the helicopter is very complicated. Although Rockstar tried to implement the mouse instead of the numeric keys in order to control the tilt of the vehicle, the camera doesn't respond as fast as you would think. As such, expect to crash into a few buildings when you fancy a helicopter ride above Liberty City.
Another big gameplay issue is the fact that the game hasn't been very optimized in order to run on a multitude of machines. Slowdowns and an occasional freeze have appeared on our computer, which is a pretty high-end gaming machine. Also, the road textures might pop-in, especially when you drive from one part of the city to the other, but they aren't very noticeable.
A lot of users have reported glitches and bugs, but, during our playthrough, only a few appeared. There might have been occasional glitches with Niko or other characters but nothing too severe. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) though is severely vulnerable to bugs, as a lot of characters will get stuck behind walls, act like they don't see you or other problems. This, of course, besides the fact that they are pretty stupid and vulnerable to dying quite often, and, as such, prompting you to replay the mission.
Also, to prove that this game is buggy, it seems that on the last playthrough, a very big problem occurred, which rendered the last mission unplayable. Without releasing any spoilers, you will be engaged in a helicopter chase around the skyscrapers of Liberty City, in which you must stay close to your enemy. Despite the very heavy controls of the helicopter, I managed to give chase, until the chopper in front of me crashed into a building and fell on a nearby street. Perfect, I said to myself, let's land and finish the enemies. However, after quite a lot of maneuvers, when I landed, the enemies were invulnerable, due to some of the scripts, so I had no choice but to restart the whole mission.
Concept The concept of any Grand Theft Auto game is quite simple. You need to undertake some missions on behalf of various criminals in a fictional city. Whether it is Liberty City, Vice City or the state of San Andreas, the core mechanics have remained the same – you need to make money, and because criminals have it, you must do them favors.
Of course, GTA IV is filled with various sub plots and let's just say that the criminals in the city don't really see eye to eye. You will be faced with various decisions that have an impact on how the game will play out and how you will meet and interact with some of the characters. Sometimes, the decisions are quite hard and require some thought, but you can always save before and try all of the courses of action.
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| There are memorable moments | The map of Liberty City |
Visuals and Audio Graphics-wise, if your computer can handle it, GTA IV is a stunning game. If offers memorable moments, like seeing the sun go down from the island of the Statue of Happiness, or going boating through a terrible thunderstorm with high waves that could topple your character. The textures are very detailed and, although we couldn't run the game on maximum specs, they impressed us with their quality. The draw distance is very big, and if you can take it to the max, it offers a stunning panorama from one of the city's many bridges and highways.
In terms of audio, the game is as impressive as ever. You probably won't hear two pedestrians sound the same, as all of them have distinct personalities and behaviors, especially when you interact with them in nice or not-so-nice ways. The cars all sound extremely good, but, because you will spend a lot of time in vehicles, the radios are extremely entertaining. Whether you're listening to hilarious talkshows on WKTT or songs from the “home country” on Vladivostok, you'll certainly be entertained while you speed on the streets of Liberty City.
Multiplayer The multiplayer aspect on the console version was extremely well done and offered a huge amount of opportunities to wreak havoc through Liberty City. Whether you organized races through the city or you ran around killing other people in deathmatch mode, you would be very entertained. Now, with the PC version, the Rockstar team took it to a whole new level and delivered a massive 32-player online mode that allows even more people to play on a server. But, sadly, you will need a GamesForWindows account in order to enjoy this, a measure that hasn't gone very well with some of the people who bought this game.
Conclusion Overall, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV delivers a great experience but under the right circumstances. If you have a very high-end computer, then you can thoroughly enjoy this title, but only if you don't encounter one of the big number of errors that our users reported. While it does have a lot of features the console versions didn't, like the video editor or the 32-player online mode, it does face its users with a lot of problems.
If you already have the game for the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, then you shouldn't buy this version. Although it plays better in some circumstances with the keyboard and mouse, the trouble of installing the GamesForWindows service, the fact that it has the infamous SecuROM DRM (Digital Rights Management) program and the variety of bugs that accompany it ruin the whole experience and made a lot of previous Rockstar fans avoid its releases from now on.
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Version reviewed: Grand Theft Auto IV PC
System requirements:
