Grand Theft Auto 4 was Magnificent in 2008, and it's Still Fantastic Now

Grand Theft Auto became a household name on PS2 thanks to its cutting social commentary, unparalleled freedom and killer soundtracks, yet never before had a developer captured a sense of time and place quite like Rockstar North achieved with GTAIV.

[-Foxtrot]

Not really. It was pretty boring for a GTA game, not to mention Nikko was bland himself

[Overload]

GTA V is great, but GTA IV did A LOT of things better than GTA V and doesn't get credit for it.

Watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[demonddel]

Not possible GTAV is the best gta game and its the best game this generation and last

[2pacalypsenow]

Nah GTA SA is still the best GTA game, story was 1000x better than 5

[brich233]

i remember that video, everything in gta V was basically a downgrade.

[UCForce]

I enjoy GTV IV more than GTV V. I played two expansion SP stories and they were great in my opinion.

[sullynathan]

Are you one of those guys that take crowbcats troll videos seriously? Someone did the exact same video but saying gta v was better.

No one plays gta for a story

[RosweeSon]

That video is lame he jumped from a building to building in 5 the building he was jumping too was Much higher than the fire escape niko jumped to which was reachable.

[x_BlackRose]

4 was my most played PS3 games for years on end, loved it. But 5 is something special, especially the online. It has flaws, what game doesn't? But I like 5 and Online much more than 4.

[PlayableGamez-]

IVs online was better than Vs online..

[detroitmademe]

Lol you can't really believe that payablegamez. What do you mean?

[KyRo]

100%

GTAV multiplayer may be fun when you actually get into a game but before that you got wait for a lobby that is never full most of the time, place bets, pick cars/outfits which takes more time then wait for the match to load. They should streamline it. It takes far to long to get into anything in GTAV

[DeadlyOreo]

I had WAY more fun playing GTA4 online than GTA5. Glad to see people feel the same way.

[SegaGamer]

Totally agree. GTA5's online is very messy and if you don't have much time on your hands then you may as well not bother because it takes such a long time to set things up and get going.

[ClayRules2012]

I personally loved GTAIV. The world felt Alive & Lived in "in my opinion" I liked Niko. He was entertaining to me. Not sure how I'd feel about the game now tbh.

I also love GTAV too. A big step up, in storytelling, crafting an even more Living/Breathing world, full of wildlife, interesting things to do, a very stable, smooth running online MP component ( at least when I played it back in 2013 ) and great characters. Except Franklin. He annoyed me.

[Newmanator]

Alive? It looked so drab I questioned the existence of ROYGBIV

[ClayRules2012]

Lol, That's what I said bud. I don't know how I'd feel about the game as a whole now, but I was amazed back then.

[detroitmademe]

@kyro yea I'll admit the loading times are a bitch but I'll take that if it comes with a revolutionary multiplayer. So you think GTA 4's multiplayer is better just because of loading times? Let me get some of what you smoking my brother

[madforaday]

I was thinking the same thing, if he said other things on why he liked it GTAIV I would be like ohh okay make sense. If his main argument is about loading times than he should reevaluate his position.

I personally couldn't get into GTA IV, the movement was very stiff while running and walking. The driving was like the car was driving on ice the whole time. The story was decent, but quit half way through it (the mission where you have to snipe the Irish guy in the park). When they added trophies I replayed it again but didn't get as far as before.

[Nintendo-or-Nothing]

GTA4 made me feel like I was really doing something. Crusing around on my streetbike listing to awesome songs. This was a game changer.

[ClayRules2012]

Same here. I really loved the streetbike. How do you feel about GTAV?

You know, I've noticed with GTAIV & GTAV before their releases, the hype is out've this world. People are going crazy with how awesome the game is going to be, how Rockstar has raised the bar "Again" and continues to show why they're the Kings of Open World Games. But than, the game releases, and I hear so much complaining ect... It shocks me each time. I'd say its about 50% ( Love it ) & 50% ( Hate it. )

I have little complaints of my own with GTAV, and with GTAIV back than. But both games raised the bar "in my opinion"

[Nintendo-or-Nothing]

@ clay

I play gta5 all the time. It is my killer app on the ps4. I wont stop playing until gta6 comes out.

[Number-Nine]

Eh

[TheColbertinator]

Meh. Boring game

However the DLC was better like The Lost and Damned

[2pacalypsenow]

pretty shallow game imo, nothing like SA

[TheColbertinator]

SA had the largest and most diverse map,most fun missions,decent story and tons of side jobs.

Everything from flying jets to street racing to gang territory warfare

10/10

[sullynathan]

Gta V actually has the largest map in all the 3D gta games. It's twice the size of San Andreas.

It also has more side content than all gta games nor does it have as many bullshit missions as San Andreas.

[RosweeSon]

Mount chillad I think it was tho apart from that one mountain that whole island had jack shit to do its all well and good having big maps but gotta fill them with content as well unlike just cause etc. GTA3 small map but packed with missions. They all get bigger and better in their own ways. All great games all down to personal preferences I suppose ;)

[sullynathan]

This is wrong again. Gta v's map has far more content than any gta game before it.
Even if you removed mount Chili ad, gta v still has a much larger map and more content than previous gta games.

It's a fact. Gta 3 has even less main missions than gta 5. 66 from gta 3 to 69 of gta v. Gta v has far more side content too. If you were to count all side content, gta v has more than any gta game.

The only thing is gta v has less main missions than San Andreas and gta 4 but that's irrelevant because both games had too much crap in their main missions.

[Kane22]

sorry i thought GTA4 was boring as hell. the only thing i liked about gta 4 was online. i hate how gta5 isn't the same and most of the fun is locked behind a stupid ranking system with money and boring ass jobs..

[annoyedgamer]

Was fun for a while, but never got around to finishing the story.

[Profchaos]

Yeah I'd agree with the article I still occasionally boot it up on pc the console versions aged horribly. And on pc it still looks amazing and after the 20 tutorial missions the story feels much more grounded and realistic than v

[Kabaneri]

TBOGT is the best dlc of all time.

[SegaGamer]

Completely agree. Now that is DLC done right, unlike games that sell an extra level, map packs, guns, cars and costumes separately.

[Tornadobounce]

Gta4 shits on 5 the vehicle handling in 5 is just embarrassing Haha disagree all you want gta 4 is a better game fuck Los angeles

[sullynathan]

Banal boring game in which the expansions were better.

The author clearly ignores why gta 4 gets a bad rep. R* took a wacky series that is known for being about causing as much mayhem as humanly possible and turned it into a boring featureless game. Even worse is that it came after San Andreas, their largest, craziest and most expansive game at the time.

Gta 4 is a disgrace and shouldn't have been so well received by critics.

[Phill-Spencer]

As a gta fan since the first game the main game was boring imo but the addons were simply amazing.

[nevin1]

I never played 5 but I too thought 4 was boring. I thought the combat mechanics were clunky. The way Nikko walks is weird .The driving was odd but I adjusted.

GTA 3, VC, SA, LCS and VCS were all enjoyable.

[FallenAngel1984]

Unlike GTAV, GTAIV actually fulfilled its promise of single player DLC

[sullynathan]

Did R* promise single player DLC?

[RosweeSon]

GTA4 is a great game personally for me tho it's not as good as 5. I still love GTA3 and Vice City, San Andreas is also good but prefer the first 2 on ps2, GTA3 just because it started it all off and has great soundtrack, Vice city just smashed it, SA has too many collectables for my liking. GTA 4 was a great game and as always well written funny serious all different range but always spot on... however couldn't stand the driving it was always fun to drive in previous games but GTA4 made it hard work sure it was possible but the cornering was awful.
One thing GTA4 has going for it is the DLC was phenomenal for what was charged and what you got amazing value. Personally think it had he worst soundtrack tho. GTA3 VC Both had amazing soundtracks being a hip hop and rap fan SA was also fanstastic soundtrack wise.
GTA5 is the winner tho prob why it's sold Millions of copies.
Don't really play much of the onlines so can't really comment don't mind a bit of GTA5 online tho however it's expensive haha.
Really excited to see what's being cooked up for GTA6 but can't see that until 2018 what with GTA5 online still earning them shed loads of cash and Red Dead is on the Horizon. Maybe get a GTA6 trailer towards end of next year

[il-JumperMT]

No I never finished GTAIV and made me skip GTA5 because it ruined the series for me.

[x_BlackRose]

Really dude? To each his own, I guess. 4 set the stage for 5, it only made me more excited for 5. Three Leaf Clover (heist mission) and The Ballad of Gay Tony (DLC) is what I wanted more of in 5. And we got that

[Artemidorus]

GTA and GTA 2 were well known on Playstation and PC....

[FallenAngel1984]

More like cult classics than mainstream titles like GTA3 and beyond

[Artemidorus]

Er no it were mainstream because back in the day they wanted it banned and gave it the limelight.

[FallenAngel1984]

Just because a game almost gets banned doesn't elevate it to mainstream status.

Also the first two games received mixed reception, and the second title wasn't a big hit commercially

[Aquacure]

My thing was Niko would replay these terrible things as if feeling remorse but the one sending him on missions is like "I'll pay ya" and Niko is all "okay man" so there was a disconnect between what the story sets up and what Niko is supposed to do vs. how the player plays as Niko. Drab tracksuits and variants of it along with my grandpas closet suits kept me out of the store; in fact one of the better outfits comes from offing a certain penthouse resident. I couldn't "go to plaid" cause every car was like a exercise in drifting. Oh yeah and every 15.8 minutes I'd get "Cahsin! This is your cahsin! Lets go bowling." FML -_-' The Lost and Damned expansion was a step up story wise but lacked customization cause motorcycle club. The Ballad of Gay Tony was the better of the 3. I will say that I liked how each protagonists accomplishments intersected with the other two across 3 games but overall it was about as vibrant as a concrete floor in a warehouse.

[SillyBastid]

still the only GTA game I have ever completed... that should tell ya something

[pyroxxx]

It is fucking horrible,.. Cannot think for a life of me why the hell could not at least Niko be cast by a Serbian/Croat/Slovenian/Bosnia n,..Basically anyone with any basic understanding of Slavic language. It is not like these countries don't have some great actors.

When he swore it was just cringe worthy,.. made me actually hate the game more than it should,.. VA was disgusting.

[C-H-E-F]

GTAIV was a great game, it's the fact that GTAIV came out after GTASA which had so much to offer. Much like GTAVI will probably fall way short to GTAV because they've done sooo much in that game to make it so great. If you were to play GTAIV after GTAVC you'd think it was a great game, but playing after GTASA you're like oh my this and this and this is missing etc. etc.