To all the doubters as to whether Grand Theft Auto 4 for the PC would be any good… you were sorely mistaken. This game takes it to the next level! For those of us with high end computers who do not yet have 300-400 dollar consoles, this is the next best thing.

The graphics in the game are astonishing, everything is smoothly rendered and all the cars and vehicles looks amazing. You need a 728MB graphics card to fully appreciate and run all the stellar graphics. Even if your not into graphics, the storyline is great. Much better than it’s predecessors. You don’t start out working for the mob, your more of an ex-soldier who ends up getting a nudge towards working with the underworld and it’s shady dealings. You come to the U.S. to check on your cousin and find out he’s not living the American dream that you thought he was. I won’t give away anything else about the plot, since it is phenomenal. There is a lot more depth of character and relational atmosphere. You are more connected, through mobile phones, internet, and sometime just bumping into new people outside of missions.
The game play has re-playability in mind. The map is huge with two extra areas to unlock, you have to find restaurants and comedy clubs in order to have them on your map. There is GPS to help you navigate your way through gigantic Liberty City. LC was always my favorite of the various locations throughout the GTA series. So a return to the old city is nostalgic, but it is way more immersible atmosphere than in the first Grand Theft Auto.

There are some return features and some that went away. You can still do Police Vigilante missions which are fun, but they made them more realistic. When you shooting at the criminals you will have a couple stars, but once you eliminate the suspects then your stars immediately go away. I don’t believe they have the taxi, EMT, or firefighter missions anymore. Either that or they are extremely hard to unlock.
The physics engine in the game is amazing! Your car move and reacts to turns and crashes with utter realism. Your car doesn’t explode if the engine isn’t hit, so if it is in the back and you smash the front, it won’t blow up. Also, your car doesn’t explode after a few crashes, like most cars in real life, it would take more than a few bumps and scratches to explode. The hand to hand fighting is life like as you block and throw punches and your opponents have a circle life meter. The gun fights I enjoy the best as now their is a ‘take cover’ option that make the gun fights realistic and last longer. Plus you have more accuracy when you crouch.

The game developers worked very hard to make the game realistic yet still fun for gamers. I have only tested the multiplayer a little, it seems to be all right, but I’ve heard a lot of gamers say it wasn’t up to their standards. This makes sense, as anyone can see most of the effort for GTA 4 must have gone into the single player mode.