Eurogamer writes: "GTA IV adds many elements to the established series that fans have been clamouring for, such as a better combat system, cars that don't vanish if you leave them for two minutes, autosaves and instant mission restarts. Perhaps the most eagerly awaited feature, however, is the addition of online functionality. It's not strictly new, of course, since there have long been PC mods that allow players to romp together on that platform while the PSP off-shoot series has also boasted Wi-Fi multiplayer challenges.
Somehow, though, the addition of a fully-featured multiplayer suite to GTA IV still feels like an event. The option may have been explored before, but it's tempting to think of those as practice runs for the real thing.
While the array of communal options is impressive, I'd be lying if I said my first impressions of GTA IV online were particularly favourable. The lobby system is rather opaque, with no immediately obvious mechanism for handling invites in-game. The fact that Rockstar has opted to provide a tourist guide rather than an instruction manual means that a fair amount of trial and error is required to find the options you want. Playing on the day of release probably wasn't the best idea either, since the strain of having everyone in the world playing the same game at the same time made for a frustrating online experience."
