I come to America to be good person *runs over a hooker to get money back*

Has one of the most entertaining and interesting leads in any GTA game, but suffers from dull missions and awkward pacing in the main plot. Compared to SA, GTA IV has much less content and the open world is far less interesting. While on paper watching TV or browsing the internet sound neat, the novelty of those things wears off pretty quickly. While the plot is initially engaging, it runs around all over the place and introduces and kills off so many random characters you just stop caring.

Great writing, characters, dialogue, story, but the gameplay always just felt like it was in the way. I didn't really enjoy any of the 'playing' of the game, but everything else gets a thumbs up.

When GTA grew away from the anarchic glee of the series and became a plodding tedious chore with bad gunplay.

I remember playing the final mission, thinking to myself :How did I get here?I literally cannot retrace my steps to here, from my I first landed in America." It's plot might be a hard-to-follow but when it comes to re-creating a living breathing city, this game is second only to it's sequel, and 10 years later,Liberty City is still a beautiul place to explore.

Rockstar’s darker take on Liberty City delivers unparalleled immersion and storytelling, but sacrifices fun for realism.

peak GTA.

Very frustrating. Bs escort missions, ambushes, dying suddenly. Impossible to hit enemies. Guns that hit nothing. spongy enemies. Forced driving sections. Without all that could be great game. But only mediocre despite amazing city. Cutscenes are too long. The 'realistic turn' shouldn't be in games. The cars spin out too much. 'Try again' feature is very welcome, but still have to re-do the preliminary drive every fucking time. The taxis sound great but are never around.

It took itself more seriously. I haven't played it as an adult, so I don't know if that's a flaw or not. I enjoyed it as a youngin.

Something about the violent tone shift to dour after the bright goofiness of the last two made this one very unappealing to me. This and GTA 2 were the only ones in the series I couldn't be bothered to beat. GTA 2 because its limitations undermined its ambitions, and this one was just... it made me feel gross.

The map raised the bar yet again and the driving's OK. The side activities are underwhelming (making you have to drive around to nothing minigames to see so much of the actual characterization was not a great decision), and shooting's often a chore due to the highly iffy cover system and odd aiming. As for the story, I appreciate what they were trying to do with the main plot even if it does sometimes come off as a little forced; the humor that natters on around it gets really stale, though.

I still didn't finish the game but the optimization was the worst of the GTA Series. Also, the plot and main act were a regression compared to San Andreas And Vice City to me. In terms of visuals and gameplay yeah it was the best of that time. Total step up. But compared to what older Vice City and San Andreas offer, it was lackluster to me. Also soo much filler missions. The connection between the story and the missions is kinda blank most of the time. No true motivation to keep going.

1 of the worst in the series. While it introduced the GPS. The story was boring and game play felt like a drag because this game was super long. I did beat it.

it was more advanced gameplay and shit than SA and i liked all of that more, minus not having much fun doing rampages aside from fist fight sprees lmao. and i liked the story and setting, and the online dating :P but for some reason i've never remembered it very fondly

I hated this so much that it put me off games. The previous ones worked due to fun 80s/90s vibe and not taking themselves very seriously. The critics acted as if GTA was some dignity Scorsese thing and it went to the devs' heads. As pretentious as it is cliche. The city is well developed but the gameplay is crap. It cost a huge amount of money new and I've never felt so ripped off. I've played very few new games since then. This is the worst purchase I ever made. One point for Bob Marley.

The story is great, but the gameplay is too stiff.

The complete edition of this game is a must buy for any ps3 owner.

Liberty City is well-realized and the story is an improvement over its predecessor but something is still missing here and I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe it is the gameplay which is still middling at best.

GTA 4 certainly loses a lot of the fast-paced appeal of the previous games by incorporating realism. Though it works perfectly as a crime saga and enjoyable world to explore.

The most story heavy GTA game Rockstar has made. Unfortunately I was never able to connect with Nikos story, so I consider this the weakest of the modern 3D GTA series.

Until GTA IV, I had never been compelled to play the campaign missions in a GTA game before, let alone finish one. These days, the game's dour tone makes it pale in comparison to what the franchise has now achieved, but at the time this was a blockbuster of a game. Fun to play legitly, fun to goof around in, fun to talk like Niko in daily life.

Enjoyed the story back in the day. More heartfelt but less technically impressive than 5.

Entertaining.

Hard to go too wrong with any of the GTA series, but the missions, story and city design in IV weren't as enjoyable to me as San Andreas. I can't my finger on exactly what seemed off, but I wasn't caught up in this game at any point and firing it up felt more like homework than zoning out at times.

No invert-x

I can't put my finger on it but there's something a bit off about GTA IV. It doesn't seem to be as fun as the others. I think they may have taken a more serious tone consciously but playing it feels a bit more 'grindy' than other GTA's. I've probably spent more hours modding this game than playing it which is a bit weird. Still hard to say it's not a great game though. Even a lesser GTA is still superior to many other games.

Why did they get rid of the harrier jet??

Like the other entries in the series, the open world aspect is engaging but often leads to not remembering what the hell you were doing in the main storyline. It's not as good as V but it's still a wild ride and easily replayable.

Solid entry in the series but felt too drab and depressing to consider ever revisiting. Also the main thing I remember isn't the story, it's how aggravating that one toll bridge between not-Brooklyn and not-Manhattan was.

Niko Bellic is imo a better character than any of the ones in V

everything about this game is wrong.