Customer Reviews

Grand Theft Auto IV

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have to agree with the other reviewer about the install and control issues, due mostly to the port from XBOX, of this otherwise great sandbox action game. Why does the PC seem to get the short end of console video games?

Firstly, there's the convoluted install that requires you to add securROM (anti-piracy software) to your computer, as well as the Rockstar Social Club and a Windows Live account. And RockStar games: Why hide the install instructions in the fictitious "On Liberty: It's our best of issue ever" booklet? There should be clearly marked instructions for such a complex install. To RockStar's credit once I discovered I didn't have install the Social Club (primarily used for multi-player) and figured out the correct install order (that took four tries) I didn't need to use their customer support, that got back to me in a quick and friendly manner when I was pulling my hair out. They also issued a fix that will uninstall securROM.

Once I finally got GTA IV installed I ran into the control issues that's kept me from completing the second mission after a dozen tries. In that mission, you're required to save your cousin, Roman, from some loan sharks who've cornered him in a park. To do so you have to beat up the thugs (you have no weapons at that point). Punches are applied by the left and right mouse buttons, along with space for 'blocks' (that caused my character to jump) and Q for kicking. However, right-clicking also brings up a reticule that you place on your enemy's body that indicates where your next punch or kick will land. Since it takes two clicks to get in a punch or kick this way my opponent nearly always landed at punch while I was desperately hitting the right mouse button. To really get the aiming reticule to work you need to take a step back to avoid being pummeled. However, GTA IV is a third-person shooter so trying to back up by hitting the S key results in your character turning around, which allows your enemy to get in more punches.

If you've managed to defeat the two thugs you then must race to a car to chase a third thug who's taken off in his car. This is where I ran into the horrible driving controls that use W,S,A,D (forward, braking/reverse, left & right). The driving physics are actually quite good, allowing tail-spins during turns and rolling of the vehicle's suspension. However, trying to use the keyboard to control them is nearly impossible since hitting A and D result in the front wheels turning completely left or right, so you're constantly over-correcting and fishtailing while your target speeds away. Since this is an XBOX port there's no in-mission save so you have to start over at the beginning if you fail a mission.

I did find a mod that converts the XBOX controller to a joystick emulator (RockStar should've added this to the PC release). However, only some of the joystick controls worked and it messed up the keyboard and mouse controls to the point that I had to uninstall the game (again). Since GTA IV comes on two dual-layer DVDs it takes an inordinate amount of time to install, but if I want to play again I have no choice. I believe I can tweak the joystick controller file (.ini), but that will probably take hours of trial and error and if it continues to mess with the game to the point of needing to reinstall I'm likely in for a long and frustrating experience to get the game to work where I can play it.

I may just sell it.

Boy am I ever glad I just read all of the bad reviews on this game and on the convoluted install hassle. I was going to buy it but after reading all of the bad reviews on all of the crap that you need to do to get it installed and the bad play issues I would not even consider to order it even if it were free. It appears that the makers of this program are the most inapt incompetent bungling morons to ever make such a stupid program as this is and had no business to ever release it for any amount of money.Grand Theft Auto IV

I bought the game for a friend and he is enjoying it. But there was no product key with the game so he had to work at getting it to install for him ... He got it to work and is enjoying the game.

thank you

the game again, is not enjoyable, my son isn't able to download the game due to information that wasn't sent with the package

First of all, to like any Grand Theft Auto type of game, you have to enjoy driving around to get to missions and jobs. GTA IV has plenty of driving, and one thing that definitely can't be complained about is the size of Liberty City - it's huge! You'll want to constantly speed through traffic. (Not far into the game, you can use Roman's Taxi service to reduce drive times.)
Secondly, there's a lot more to Grand Theft Auto IV than just assassinations, races, and stealing cars. To complete 100% of the game, you have to be friends with people by seeing shows, playing pool, going bowling, visiting a strip club and eating out. You also have to shoot 200 pigeons("flying rats"), complete 50 stunt jumps, and take out 30 Most Wanted criminals around the city. All these extras add a fair amount of time to gameplay for the player determined to complete GTA IV. The pigeons and stunt jumps are not always easy to find and can be an annoying way of consuming your time, so plan on weeks of your time spent.
Third, most of the gaming challenges in GTA IV can be made more difficult or considerably easier. For example, the difficulty of gun battles can be modified by changing the size of your target aid to very small or none at all. You can also choose one of two approaches for battles:
Safe and slow. Take cover behind a barrel, box, car, or wall and take out your opponents, which is usually not too hard, since many of them won't take cover.
Fast and risky. Just rush in and nail everyone quickly, trying for head shots. If fast and accurate enough, usually you can sustain the damage.
Overall, as a shooter, I find GTA fairly mediocre, most battles being too easy. Sometimes your opponents have some intelligence, but usually not much. If you get killed during a shoot-out, you're pathetic!
As far as racing goes, GTA IV does have something worthwhile to offer, but as with gun battles, many races are also easy. The most challenging race is the first one. You can decrease/increase the difficulty of races by getting a better, equal or worse car than your opponents.
The redeeming feature that adds the most fun to GTA IV and all GTA-type games is escaping from the cops. This can easily become quite challenging, and makes some missions considerably more difficult. In GTA IV, it is almost always better to be killed than captured by the cops.
Some people have complained about game performance with GTA IV for PC. I find it good, but not perfect, and getting the desired performance required adjusting the game's graphics settings - my ATI 4850 needs the shadow quality on low to work well. To get the best-looking graphics and performance, I'd recommend a recent Graphics card with 1GB+ RAM, a core i-7 processor, and 4 to 6GB DDR3 RAM. Also, you need to download and install the upgrade patch for GTA IV PC.

1-Yes it will put DRM on your PC but I am reviewing the game not secrom. 2-Signing up for LIVE AND SOCIAL CLUB is a real pain.I worked on the sign up process Two hours and then had to called support for help.3-The game does not have Mouse control and is almost impossible to play without having at least Three hands.Support told me it was really designed for use with an X-Box controller.I guess thy designed it this way to sell more controllers.The controller is the reason I did not play it on my X-Box in the first place.4-At first the driving is great,slamming in to slow moving traffic and shoving them out of the way,running red lights and all the other things you can not do in real life.But eventually even that gets old and you are left with a game that consists mostly of driving through narrow streets in heavy traffic trying to get from one place to another.You leave your safe house,Drive way across town even somtimes to another Island to meet your contact.He then sends you some place again way across town on a mission.Some times when you get to that place you have to go some place else,some times not.If it is a gun fight it usually takes from one up to five min. to finish.Then to save the game it is a long drive back to the safe house.If it turns out to be a car chase then you are in big trouble.These anamated drivers were trained by Mario Andretti and driving Indestructable race cars.On top of that thy are obviousley not using an X-Box controller.When you fail the mission and do a repeat you don't start over at the chase.You start back where you were given the mission and have to drive all the way back to where the chase starts.NOW THIS GETS OLD FAST!!!.5-You do Missions to earn money FOR WHAT???.There is nothing to spend it on.You can't buy property to have more safe houses.You can not buy a Busines.Even buying clothes is very limited.I have 300,000 dollars right now and no place to spend it.I have played all of the GTA series and had no trouble.Vice City was the greatest of them all,San Andreas was Lousy,And this one should never have been made at all.Well that was my review so if you enjoy driving little animated cars around between long cut scenes with short spurts of action this game is for you.

I have bought all the GTA, and I really love them, but the GTAIV is like a nightmare! the installation lasts like days, and there are the annoying security software WINDOWS LIVE and SOCIAL CLUB! yes 2 of them, you have to register to windows LIVE, give your confidential info, beg for an account, sign-in, repeat the same for the SOCIAL CLUB and then you are able to start loading the game!

If you dont have internet you cant play. Finally they realize that 2 verification softwares windows LIVE + SOCIAL CLUB were a lot and Rockstar games decided to remove SOCIAL CLUB, but the patches are awful the game still asking to sign in to social club and then it says that it wasn't necessary, THEN A LOT of software conflicts comes from here, making your game to be s........l.......o......w as hell!

My Computer is a dual core AMD 2.4Ghz, with a monster Video card nVidia 1Gb, 4Gb in ram, but it doesn't seems to be enough to run the game in more than the low resolution graphics settings.

Last. I contacted Rockstar games , and after a month of waiting, sending my machine specs, waiting and waiting, I received the stupid answer from the technical support . "please update your graphic drivers,if you have another issue, please contact us again. thanks for contacting tech support"
GREAT support! they never answer again!

In conclusion this is a game to buy for XBOX definitively
DO NOT BUY THE PC VERSION, is expensive and is full of problems