GTA IV is, in my opinion, the best GTA game of all time and maybe even one of the best videogames of all time. The story is incredible (much darker than usual GTA standards), the characters are memorable, the missions are fun (albeit occasionally repetitive), and the city feels alive and fun to mess around in. And while I could go on and harp about all the things I love when it comes to this game (which I will do later), it is, unfortunately, not without its flaws.
[b]--cons--[/b]
1. if you wish to play this game without many bugs, install Fusion Fix or lock your game to 60 FPS. This game is 18 years old, and was developed for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, so weird stuff happens if your framerate is too high. Also, the final mission requires you to lock your game to 30 FPS, as the physics engine will bug out and leave you unable to get past a certain point during the mission.
2. this game is long and at times repetitive. With over 90 story missions (not including the DLCs), most of them being Point A to Point B fetch and delivery quests with some shooting and driving elements mixed in, after a while it can start to feel like you're doing the same thing over and over again. If you're hoping to have some semblance of mission variety, then this game is going to disappoint you.
3. the driving AI is annoying and purposefully tries to run into you constantly. Sometimes they'll make completely nonsensical maneuvers just for the sole purpose of hitting you. If you're on a motorcycle, this is even worse. The police AI will even do this, and running into a police officer, regardless of how it happened, will get you 1 star. After a while, it will get on your nerves.
4. the driving physics in this game will annoy some of you. Cars in this game are weighty, not easy to make sharp turns with, and can sometimes feel like you're driving a boat or skating around on ice (especially in the rain). While I personally like it, I know some people enjoy the more arcade-like driving explored in games like GTA V, so I decided to put it as a con anyway.
5. for some reason, this game loves putting cops on EVERY single street, no matter where you are. There's always gonna be a cop around somewhere. I don't know if NYC was some military-police-state in the early 2000s or something, but it gets really annoying trying to do monotonous crimes like carjacking and then instantly getting a wanted level. Also, the game loves spawning cops right in front of you with no warning while trying to escape the police, making it a lot more difficult and more frustrating.
6. some of you might dislike the graphics (although personally I think they're good for a nearly 20 year old game), so I decided to put this in the cons list as well. If you wish to improve them, there's probably some mod out there that you can install, although I personally have no examples to give.
7. finally, ♥♥♥♥ the rockstar launcher. Why should I have to create an account just to play this old game offline?? The multiplayer servers are pretty much dead anyway, so it really makes no sense. What happened to games just launching the second you clicked play instead of opening some stupid-ass, poorly made third party launcher that you'll never use?
[b]--pros/final thoughts--[/b]
But beyond all that, the story is good, Niko Bellic is a great protagonist, the side-characters, like Roman and Little Jacob, are funny and leave their mark on the story, the shooting and melee combat is great, the open world is diverse and feels bigger than it really is, and I still think of it as the gold standard for an open world crime game. Even the DLCs are fun and worth checking out, especially because they're bundled with the main game. So, yes, the game has plenty of things to complain about. It's a huge departure if you're used to playing GTA V (like me) and Rockstar really could've done a better job porting this game over to PC. I would recommend this game to pretty much anyone, however, as I think it's an amazing experience you'll never forget. Overall, 9/10, definitely worth your time.
[i] "when is that damn delivery service going to get here?!" [/i]
