EDGE writes:
"As you drive around Liberty City, flipping between radio stations, absorbing the inanity of their commercial messages and the bilious hypocrisy of their small-minded politics, you realize that the America of GTA IV is a country coming down from its trip. The humor – some crass, some clever – errs towards the absurd, as the series has always done, but never before has it been so cutting, so impassioned or so relevant.
GTA IV undoubtedly represents a progression for the series in just about every way – some achievement coming off the back of something as ambitious as San Andreas. In some ways it simply furthers the formula, but by drawing a world of unmatched depth and interest, it has managed to transcend the clichés of the genre Rockstar first created. But while it's bold enough to move away from the shallow thrills of ever bigger explosions, it elects not to radically rethink some of the more masochistic elements of its predecessors, leaves some edges a little rough, and surprises you with the occasional cheap trick..."