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Average Customer Review
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The most helpful favorable review
The most helpful critical review
108 of 132 people found the following review helpful:
A Masterpiece. Video Games as Art.
Let it be said that I've never liked GTA. But I decided to get GTA4 after reading several articles about the change in direction they were taking and my god, has it paid off. This game is PHENOMENAL.
The Good:
Graphics-
Even though this game is running at 640p and is upscaled on PS3, this is a BEAUTIFUL game. It has some of the best and most...
Published on May 1, 2008 by Your Mother/pot3ntial2suck
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245 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
SIngleplayer/registration disappointment
I was taken aback when I found that I could not save ANY progress in single player mode without signing up for Windows Live. It says that these "services", such as Live and the Social Club, are only required for multiplayer mode. They lie on the box and again during the install.
It is only after you wade through their registration requests, the insistence...
Published 21 months ago by Byron Butterfield
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245 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
SIngleplayer/registration disappointment, December 4, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
I was taken aback when I found that I could not save ANY progress in single player mode without signing up for Windows Live. It says that these "services", such as Live and the Social Club, are only required for multiplayer mode. They lie on the box and again during the install.
It is only after you wade through their registration requests, the insistence upon registration requests, refusal to even load the game until you update windows live, you finally get to playing.
Then it tells you you cannot save any progress unless you sign-in to windows live. What a shaft job.
I called Take2games and they confirm that you cannot save unless you sign-in.
What a let down. I have uninstalled the game and am now working on a refund. lol.
I have played every GTA so far, mostly on PC. I have GTAIV on the PS3 and was looking forward to playing on the PC with great graphics.
I do not like a company who seems like a spyware vendor out to capture my machine.
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152 of 179 people found the following review helpful:
Terrible performance, even on high end PCs, December 3, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
We all know the game. It's Grand Theft Auto 4. Enough has been said about the game itself, love it or hate it. The PC version could have been great, but it's crippled by poorly optimized code and forced bloatware.
My PC lets me run any game I want. Most modern games run at 720p, 60 frames-per-second, 4xAA on my 46" HDTV. This includes Fallout 3 and Dead Space. Other games, like Far Cry 2 are more taxing, but I still manage to crank out a solid 30 frames-per-second. GTA4, simply put, performs horribly. I am only getting 15 to 20 FPS on average. I can't picture someone without a hardcore gaming PC getting anything close to a playable experience with it.
Also, to install the game you're forced to also install Rockstar Social Club, Games for Windows Live, the SecureROM service (DRM). Plus you need a Windows Live account to even save your game. Terrible, terrible port. Shame on you Rockstar.
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186 of 220 people found the following review helpful:
Buyers beware..., December 4, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
Buyers beware - The PC version is not a better choice than the console version, this time around. As a faithful GTA fan for years, I was eagerly awaiting this game - only to find out that it's a poorly coded console port that fails to deliver satisfactory performance even on a modern system. In addition, the product is crippled by bugs, requires two separate online accounts to play (even to play offline), and installs invasive, difficult to remove SecuROM monitoring software into your computer.
Rockstar, shame on you.
To anyone considering this game, I highly suggest you pick it up for the 360 or PS3 instead - and that is the very first time I've ever made that recommendation about any game before.
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74 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
How A Great Game Gets A 1-Star Rating on Amazon, December 8, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
The problem with Grand Theft Auto IV PC is it's not what the fans of the GTA series wanted.
The fans didn't want SecuROM, Windows Live, Rockstar's Social Club, and ridiculously high system requirements.
What the fans WANTED was a great video game, and while there's no denying GTA IV PC is a great video game, its greatness will be overshadowed by the virtual shackles Rockstar have imposed on it.
The DRM has been beaten like a dead horse, and we all know it's there and what it does, and it's too bad Rockstar has adopted such a broken, anti-consumer friendly system like SecuROM. However, they're not trying to hide the installation of SecuROM, and listed it as a requirement on both the outside of the box and immediately after inserting the install disc.
As for system stability, the SecuROM software is only active when the game is running. Upon exit, the DRM closes, too. SecuROM has not negatively impaired my ability to use my computer, and the hidden stuff can be removed with a special SecuROM uninstaller (but only after you're done playing your SecuROM protected games). No, I'm not happy it's there, and I do not see reason for it being there, but either you accept it, or you don't play the game.
GTA IV PC is further encumbered by the Rockstar Games Social Club and Games for Windows Live, two unnecessary and annoying pieces of software that make the simple act of playing a video game overly time consuming and downright painful. The social club (minus the social part -- seriously, there are no chat rooms, message boards, or other ways to socialize) provides a place for players to compare their in-game stats with complete strangers. Ditto for Windows Live, a similar and equally pointless "Let's Compare Sizes!" website that contributes nothing to game play but is required. You'll also be required to sign-in to Windows Live (offline mode is available) in order to save your game, something that is becoming increasingly more common these days. Live will also track achievements, and if connected to the net they'll be posted for all the world to see and shared with Rockstar's Social Club site. Prepare to be mocked by the world for your gaming failures.
Finally, GTA IV PC's stupidly high system requirements will force many to put the game back on the shelf, or purchase the XBox version. While the game can be played on the minimum system requirements, it looks awful and can cause a bit of nausea due to dropped frame rates.
The game also requires access to a computer with an internet connection to register the game and download additional software updates. The offline registration requires a 10 MB zip file from the SecuROM website. The offline activation software is flaky and the directions are fuzzy.
When you start the game you can run a benchmark test under the game options. A short demo will run and reveal your frame rates, and the game offers suggestions for improving texture and detail quality.
The game itself, despite everything you'll have to go through to get it playable, is fun. Really, really fun. And if you're willing to put up with the BS and jump through the hoops Rockstar has established for us, you'll be playing a very fun, very awesome game. Remember, not all of Rockstar is evil, and the folks who actually made the game are an incredibly talented group, and they made an equally incredible game.
The overall artwork is more realistic and less cartoonish than previous GTA games. The characters are well detailed, their mouths move and form the proper shapes for different words, and they even have working fingers now. People on the street obey the laws of physics and no longer fly into the air when hit by your car: they now bounce off the hood, hit the windshield and roll across the road like a ragdoll. Cars take more unique damage -- everything from bullet holes to differing extremes of impact damage, and after taking X amount of damage, they won't necessarily explode anymore; they may simply stop working and you'll be forced to abandon them on the road. Police chases are more fun and evading and escaping your wanted level is now possible with the changes made to the police system. The missions (so far) have been entertaining and enjoyable, with just the right mix of challenging objectives. I have yet to feel frustrated by having to repeat a mission -- it's clear to me what I did wrong, and how I can do better. And the city is gorgeous, and huge, and if you tried walking from one end to the other it would probably take the better part of a day.
Multiplayer, especially with friends, and especially with some sort of voice chat, is also very fun. There is a free roaming option, which is just player created chaos (watch out when your friend picks up a rocket launcher) and there are also multiplayer missions and races to accomplish, too.
From a purely game play perspective, there is almost nothing wrong with this game, which is why it's sad GTA has been tainted by this nasty DRM fiasco.
GTA IV PC will probably take home Game of the Year from nearly all video game reviewers, despite SecuROM, poor system performance, and Rockstar's other bad choices. And I think it may actually deserve that title. Even with a 1-star review (mostly from fans feeling personally attacked by Rockstar, and rightly so), many fans of the series will overlook the laughable system requirements and DRM shackles for the incredible game buried (deep) beneath. It's worth your money, if not today (either you lack the system requirements or are waiting for them to drop the DRM, which won't happen) then down the road. It's just sad and disappointing that we, the gamers, are wrongly and unfairly treated by Rockstar like the criminals in Grand Theft Auto IV PC.
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76 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
Utterly Pathetic Excuse for a Personal Computer Game, December 15, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
Let me preface my review with a brief story: When GTA IV came out in May for consoles, I purchased a brand new PS3 just to play it. To this day it's the only game I own for my PS3, which sits largely unused but as a testament to Rockstar's masterpiece. I'm not much of a console gamer, but Sony and Rockstar made well over $500 from me on the release of GTA IV alone... but after seeing this incredible mess pushed out I do not think I'll ever purchase another Rockstar product.
I suppose it's also important to say I have not actually purchased GTA IV for PC, although I do have firsthand experience with this travesty. A good friend of mine called me over the weekend and asked if I wouldn't mind taking a look at his computer, because according to him, his rig was running GTA IV very slow. When I arrived I could hardly believe this product was from the same company I gave my money to.
Everything you read here is accurate. SecuROM, with or without "teeth," is always to the detriment of honest consumers and here it is in full effect. But not satisfied with that, Rockstar apparently made it possible to play the game if and only if you agree to Byzantine Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club contracts. That is frankly unacceptable by any standard. And to top it off, on a computer with a Quad-Core, two 8800 Ultras in SLI, and 8 (yes, eight) GB of RAM the game runs worse than it ever did on my PS3. And it looks about the same. For a game developer, the words "code optimization" mean very little to Rockstar.
Perhaps the most heinous injustice about this whole shameful affair is the warning included that, summarized, warns "... most current hardware will not be able to run this game at high settings." Unbelievable. When did releasing games, especially games which ran acceptably well on inferior consoles, incomplete with a requirement to spend hundreds more dollars on future hardware become acceptable? To me that is the lowest form of terrible work ethic and is the main reason I feel I cannot buy another Rockstar product ever again. Is it not enough to completely ruin a product by making the consumer sign away his privacy just to play it? When did Crysis, whose infamy cannot even measure up to this abomination, become the golden standard for a successful game release? If the market into which you're releasing your product is "unprepared" for the "requirements" of said product, then there is something wrong with your product, not the market.
But here Rockstar really shot itself in the foot because the game has already been proven to run, with over 10 million witnesses, on inferior hardware. I told my friend to get his money back and now I'm thinking of selling my PS3. The most successful PC games have always been the ones that are not laden with malware and actually run on consumers' PCs. PC gaming is in dire straits if the biggest developers think people actually want to have to deal with insurmountable mountains of red tape just to play a video game. It's a video game- nothing less, but especially nothing more. Playing GTA IV on PC is worth far less to me than the actual time it would take to accomplish said goal.
I consider myself a Grand Theft Auto fan. I played GTA IV an unhealthy amount over the summer. But merely seeing this stillbirth of a title that Rockstar threw onto PC gamers makes me realize I can live without. Do not purchase this under any circumstances. It is far cheaper, in terms of money and life lost in frustration, to buy a new console to play GTA IV. If you want a new PC game, I recommend the excellent Left 4 Dead or any other title by Valve. I beseech you not to give money to companies who treat their costumers like this.
Rockstar, you have released an utterly pathetic excuse for a personal computer game. I hate to say this is another nail in the proverbial coffin for PC gaming, but even I feel a little dismayed that almost every new title for computers is burdened with SecuROM, doesn't run well on hefty hardware, or is some unholy combination of the two. In short, Rockstar has taken everything that is "killing" PC gaming and mixed it into one completely miserable experience. Caveat emptor.
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35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
Grand Theft PC, December 27, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
As a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series since it was a 2D top down perspective game for the PC nearly 11 years ago, I was very eager to try the latest episode as I'd heard great things about the console version.
I thought GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas were superb games that were funny and entertaining with a good mix of shoot'em up, adventure/quest and interactivity to suit most tastes. Those titles stayed on my hard drive for a long time and provided me with much entertainment.
I'm sorry to say that GTA IV lasted on my hard drive for about 6 hours. The vast majority of which was spent trying to get the thing to work.
I'm sorry I didn't come on Amazon and check out the negative reaction that this game has generated before shelling out my hard earned cash for this incredibly disappointing waste of time and money. The sheer number of 1 star reviews here would have warned me away from the game, like the plague.
Like many other reviewers here, I feel cheated out of my money by "Rockstar" games and I'm very angry about it. "Rockstar" have gone about their business in a very underhanded way. There should be clear stickers on this product declaring that various online accounts are needed to play the offline game. I and I'll wager the vast majority of users don't want a "Windows Live" account, nor do I particularly want "Rockstar Social Club" account either. The "Windows Live" account is mandatory, to enable the user to save their progress! Never in my many years of PC gaming have I come across such an idiotic and deal breaking device before. I'd love to have been at the meeting where that "feature" was suggested.
On top of that, the user is required to download and install Windows Service Pack 3 for XP users. Why? I don't know. I've no idea why any PC game would need a Windows Service Pack to simply run. Obviously this is at Microsoft's insistence, but it is yet another reason to leave the game on the shelf. There are some people who just don't need, or want Windows Service Pack 3 on their machines. I was one of them until I bought this game. Oh, by the way, "SecuROM" is included too! The "SecuROM" anti-piracy spyware, like "StarForce" before it, is something I just don't want on my machine.
What I and every other PC user would like to do is simply install the damn game and play it. A game like the GTA series is primarily designed for Offline users and that is the target audience, so why is "Rockstar" trying to push Online to the games detriment? GTA is, in essence, a story based adventure game for a single player.
After the irritation of trying to install the game, the real show-stopper makes its appearance. I'd heard that the game was resource hungry, but really, that's an understatement. My current PC exceeds the recommended requirements by some degree and I had a lot of difficulty getting the game to even accept my assigned display preferences, even in 1024 x 768! On top of that, there were missing textures from the start of the game. So much so that the game was unplayable. I've run recent releases which are heavy, like Fallout 3 etc, with no problems. But GTA IV is just ridiculous. After much messing about, included unloading NVidia drivers and installing new ones, then fooling about with the preferences again, I finally got the game to run. But it was far from the experience I was expecting. I could barely get it to run at 20 frames per sec, which would plummet to about 8 or so in a car. So, in short, it was pointless.
According to Gamespot, "Rockstar Games insists that the problems experienced by users are extremely low". I simply don't believe them. They are lying and a casual overview of the reviews on Amazon proves that very clearly. "Rockstar" have stated that they were trying to `future-proof' the game! But this is bunkum. Games should be designed to run on current hardware, not some rig that won't exist until 2014, when few pwople will be actually playing this title.
The simple fact is that "Rockstar" have simply rushed out a lazy port of the console version for the Christmas sales and they don't give a toss about the public doing the buying. It comes across as extremely badly optimized code and the end result is an unsatisfying whole, to what should have been this years masterpiece. There may be some hope to rescue this sinking ship with patches, but at the moment I am not holding my breath and GTA IV has been deleted from my Hard Drive. I've lost 6 hours of my life and 40 Euro and have had to put up with an extremely frustrating and ultimately miserable experience that just wasn't worth the hassle.
I've never said this about a producer before, but I can honestly say that I will never by another title from "RockStar Games" again, nor anything that has "Games for Windows" emblazoned across the box.
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108 of 132 people found the following review helpful:
A Masterpiece. Video Games as Art., May 1, 2008
Fun:
Let it be said that I've never liked GTA. But I decided to get GTA4 after reading several articles about the change in direction they were taking and my god, has it paid off. This game is PHENOMENAL.
The Good:
Graphics-
Even though this game is running at 640p and is upscaled on PS3, this is a BEAUTIFUL game. It has some of the best and most natural looking water and light effects I've ever seen that appear photorealistic at times. I often stop and just stare at the waves or park and watch the sun hitting the road as it sets.
Story-
The voice acting is top notch and the cast has some truly memorable characters. This is one of the few games where I actually have an emotional response when things happen to the main characters...which is no small feat. Sometimes you have to make choices whether someone lives or dies and I found myself really struggling with the decision I thought was appropriate to my character. The pacing is great too. Just as you are getting satisfied with a particular location, you get access to a new islands and contacts so things always feel fresh.
Gameplay-
Thankfully, they eliminated all the things that made past GTAs tedious. No more going to the gym to lift weights, no more being forced to drive twenty minutes across town to do a mission. Finally, you can take a cab and opt to skip the driving when you are in a rush. They've also added a much needed cover system where tapping R1 will let you take cover behind virtually any object. This leads to some truly epic shootouts that will literally have you diving for cover.
They also made your cell phone the menu for the game and you rarely have to leave the game world immersion. Just call up your friends for missions or hanging out and watch Niko talk to them while he walks around the city. You can even buy ringtones, themes, and even get a camera phone and organizer.
There are also 200 music tracks on a dozen radio stations with great music and talk shows on all of them. You can waste hours watching TV at your house, going on dates to see shows or play pool and darts, or you can fool around on dozens of webpages at the internet cafe. Basically, there is a ton of depth here that will give the game dozens of hours of extra traction.
Multiplayer-
Just whip out your cell phone in the single player and hop right in to over 14 online game modes. Imagine running around New York with 15 friends and playing paintball in the streets. To just be able to hop into the whole of Liberty City and do ANYTHING is so fun and chaotic words can't describe it. Just last night, I joined Free Mode, where there are no rules. I proceeded to blow up 3 cop cars and run over a flock of pedestrians before getting plowed over by another player who had stolen a commuter bus and was on a rampage in Times Square. That was just the first 10 minutes. And I was having a blast that even my wife couldn't turn away from.
The Bad:
Other than minor framerate and A.I. glitches, my biggest complaint is that the game does some unnecessary forced loading. When you die on a mission instead of just asking you if you want to retry it, you die, it loads a respawn at the hospital and THEN you are asked to retry the mission, which leads to another load screen.
Every time you launch the game, you are forced to sit through a 2 minute intro movie. I suspect this is to distract you while the game loads in the background more than it is to set a mood, but it would still have been nice to be able to skip it sometimes.
Other than that, the clothing selection feature remains terrible. You have no way to quickly cycle through your wardrobe without having to spend 2-5 seconds loading each new outfit. If you're like me, you bought every outfit as soon as you could only to learn that you had to cycle through every single one anytime you wanted to change clothes. And other than buying clothes, money has absolutely no value in this game. For some reason, they didn't include a casino or the option to buy property, so you amass all this wealth and have virtually nothing to spend it on at the end of the game's main story.
The Verdict:
That said, the sheer freedom and realism of this game signal a landmark in gaming and anyone who likes video games should buy this game. It is the most fun I've ever had with a video game and provides 100+ hours of entertainment for sixty bucks. Despite a few flaws, the amount of content, fun, and depth of this game make it virtually flawless and worth your money.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Didn't Believe the Negative Reviews...Oh How I was Wrong, December 8, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
This review will be short and sweet:
1) I read the reviews here on Amazon and felt folks were giving R* and GTA IV a bad rap
2) I bought the game anyway giving them a chance.
3) My rig is "current gen" which plays top games at highest settings smoothly.
4) After going through the nightmare install, I finally got into the game
5) Massive slowdowns, missing textures, game crashes.
Wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. Terrible, shameful and R* should be sued over a release like this.
...Unbelievable...
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Listen to the other reviewers - DO NOT BUY THE GAME, December 31, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
Despite reading the negative reviews on amazon and elsewhere, I stubbornly bought the game thinking none of the issues would apply to me - Boy was I wrong!
Be prepared to undergo a whole evening of jumping through hoops just to get the game to work properly. Microsoft has obviously done some mischief here by FORCING people to upgrade their computers to Windows XP Service Pack 3 as well as FORCING people to use their lousy Windows Live system. If that's not worse, you are required to register and activate the game via the Rockstar Social Club and then link it to the Windows Live For Games network. Unfortunately, the links don't work at all. Their database system is screwed up.
Failure to properly register online with their broken systems prevents you from saving your game progress.
After giving up trying to properly register online, I try running the game. The game is still insistent that you update it to the latest patch (which is known to cause even more trouble).
So after about a whole hour of installing and updating, I finally get access to the game. Next thing I realize is that all the optimizations that hyped about in the game are down right lies. Despite having a a mid-high range system, the game performance is appalling. There is no multi-core optimization or SLI/CrossFire capabilities. Heck, the game even goes on to pester you about owning an XBOX 360 Gamepad for the PC to even play the game. The controls are terrible otherwise.
Come to find out, the game was never ready for release. Despite the problems, the game was rushed out too fast in order to make it for Christmas. The game is so bad, that even STEAM (who offer the downloadable version of GTA4) is offering refunds for it on a case-by-case basis.
I've decided to uninstall the game. All is not over though. My computer is much slower, full of clutter, and is a victim of the sleazy SecuRom/DRM malware that came with the game. I'm sticking the game on my shelf until something is done about it. I suggest you do the same and AVOID AVOID AVOID!! I can't emphasize this enough - AVOID PURCHASING THIS!
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
In GTA IV, car drive you!, December 8, 2008
Fun:
This review is from: Grand Theft Auto IV (DVD-ROM)
Let me start by saying that I have played and loved many of the previous GTA titles. When this game was released on consoles months ago I was excited by how realistic and fun the game was. This is important because I am a strict PC elitist who believes that consoles are for inferior, primitive gamers. Alas, I was taken aback by how good this game was on PS3.
Moving on to the PC version, I am running a Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz, single 8800 GT, 2 GB RAM, and 2x WDC 500 GB HDs. By no means a supercomputer but nothing to scoff at either. All the software and drivers are up-to-date as well. I run FarCry 2, Crysis, COD4, Left 4 Dead, and Fallout 3 at near-highest settings with no problem.
I have no idea how this game would run on the highest settings because I can't even adjust the settings beyond 800x600, low textures, and a draw distance that looks worse than my vision without contact lenses.
SecuROM. Why? I was hoping that this game wouldn't come with it but I knew I should have been worried after it was bundled with Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2. It serves no purpose as it only harms legitimate customers. It's also funny how the cracked game is already online within a few days of the game's release, available to all on BitTorrent, furthering the worthlessness of SecuROM. Well, I guess if you find the idea of some Big Brother type figure watching over your computer at all times appealing, then that's fine.
What are Social Club and Games for Windows Live? I'm still not sure what function they serve beyond making the user angry when they can't save in single player mode without being logged in. I have never encountered having to log into something in order to play a game; Steam doesn't count. Just more useless stuff running in the background.
All in all, a great game that was horrible ported to PC. Don't let it ruin any previous experiences you had with the far superior PS3/XBox360 versions. Save your money, at least until they recall this trash or release some big patches to fix its many problems/remove SecuROM.
In GTA IV, car drive you!
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