Grand Theft Auto IV

🎮 Steam ⏳ 50 hours ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Liberty City’s Darkest Tale #

This is a gritty, mature open-world action game that pushes storytelling and realism to new heights, and in my opinion, a way more serious, depressing and heavy when it comes to it’s story, compared to the previous titles. And this is why this is my favorite GTA title, I’m not really a fan of the sandboxing, I’m more interested in the story, and the story of this one is the best, at least for me. Set in a detailed and atmospheric Liberty City, the MC this time is Niko Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant navigating the American dream through crime and violence.

A Troubled PC Port #

The PC version features enhanced graphics and mod support, but was plagued at launch by performance issues and technical bugs, as most console-to-PC ports are, unfortunately. Still, once optimized, it delivers a rich sandbox experience with deep characters, dark humor, and memorable missions, even though again, I’m not that big of a fan of GTA’s sandboxing myself.

Realism Over Arcade Fun #

The game’s driving physics and cover-based shooting were divisive but added realism, this GTA has the worst driving gameplay out of all, due to it trying to be more realistic than arcady, so the driving doesn’t feel as smooth compared to all the other GTA entries. I highly recommend this one to any GTA fan, or for those who like a darker story telling, similar to something like Max Payne for example. At the same time, it has some lightweight moments, such as every GTA has, can’t help but to enjoy those more comfy sections while they last.