It's been 10 years since GTA 4 released

[Sibersk Esto]

Crazy to think about. I can still remember when the hype cycle started.

GTA 4 was the series' first foray into what is now known as "The HD era", after the sixth generation of consoles was primarily about the GTA 3 era. The series had soared to unimaginable heights after GTA San Andreas (my personal favorite in the series) was a gargantuan success.

Liberty City would be a fully realized recreation of New York City and New Jersey. As a native New Yorker, the fidelity was outstanding at points. I love the game's atmosphere and the physics engine.

What are your memories with the game? What did you like or dislike? Is there anything from 4 you wish to see return in the series' future?

GTASeriesVideos released a video on some of the game's beta and removed content for a look into its development. Check it out.

 

[Qwerty Keyboard]

Cousin!

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

It was one step forward and two steps backwards IMO.
San Andreas felt so much bigger with more meaningful things to do.
The attention to detail in GTA IV was something else for it's time but it just wasn't that fun to play.
I am glad the ironed out everything with GTA V.

 

[ApeEscaper]

GTA IV online in Airport place the best.
Also physics and attention to detail and interaction with the world and inside locations etc in IV much better than V

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Still one of the finest games of last generation... it looked and played amazingly, was a true open world experience for the 7th generation.

 

[Brhoom]

What a letdown.

 

[Master Chuuster]

GTA 4 was amazing. Still my favourite GTA to this day (alongside Chinatown Wars).

 

[-shadow-]

Obligitary gif for these kinds of topics:

 

[Truly Gargantuan]

So 10 years since the birth of the Rick roll as well.
When everyone was waiting on that first trailer someone posted that it leaked and it was a YouTube leading to a song we all know and love by now.

 

[Strangelove_77]

I still really dislike it. It's been my biggest game disappointment to this day.
I could not believe that this particular game, a sequel to the fun as hell VC and SA, was so boring. Not just because of story and characters, but it was boring to play too.
It boggled me. My young mind just could not process it at the time.

I was in my early 20s and it's when I realized I was straying away from what reviewers liked. Besides music and movies, up to that point I pretty much liked all the games everyone else liked and disliked what everyone else disliked.
In general, the 360 generation didn't gel with me at all. Last gen is definitely my least favorite gen. GTA4 probably has something to do with it.

 

[MadJakeChurchill]

It was one step forward and two steps backwards IMO.
San Andreas felt so much bigger with more meaningful things to do.
The attention to detail in GTA IV was something else for it's time but it just wasn't that fun to play.
I am glad the ironed out everything with GTA V.

Click to shrink...

They never asked themselves if the attention to detail was fun.
Gunplay was still bad.
Driving (I don't care) was like a shopping cart.
The dates you went on with friends were repetitive and unnecessary.
No Lamar.

Unforgivable.

 

[MrBS]

That means it's been ten years since I developed a healthy scepticism of games showered in 10/10 reviews. It has gone fast.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

GTA 4 is probably my biggest gaming disappointment ever. Didn't help its a super dark game and the first time I played it was on a tiny little tv screen, but yeah I'm not a fan.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Probably one of the highest rated games that will have like no bearing on anything in the future.
It's basically the avatar of its time. The work they did in making the city feel more real was interesting, but cutting it for more of a "game" in GTA V I think was the right move. One of the few cases where the comparisons trying to make the older game seem better than the newer one (Due to the smaller things) doesn't really change anything. Since the entire base game itself is still there to be judged.

 

[Segaswirl]

Nice that it got it's soundtrack butchered just in time for it's 10th birthday.

The physics, the car handling, the little details like being able to get random people arrested if the police happen to see them hitting you first lol

Great game.

 

[galv]

I'll always remember just how far modders were able to push this game. Was unbelievable at the time, when you got just the right angle.

 

[Soundwind]

Loved that it was a gta focused on criminal criminal cultures and various gangs instead of the government focus in V. Obviously V is a superior game but 4 is epic and still better than a vast majority of games

 

[Vadara]

Greatest GTA.
One of the best games ever.

GTA 4 is probably my biggest gaming disappointment ever. Didn't help its a super dark game and the first time I played it was on a tiny little tv screen, but yeah I'm not a fan.

Click to shrink...

The actual disappointment was V, the biggest piece of garbage I ever had the misfortune of playing after years of the masterpiece known as GTAIV.

To this day, I refuse to rate V: because I can't give something a negative rating.

 

[Soundwind]

Greatest GTA.
One of the best games ever.


The actual disappointment was V, the biggest piece of garbage I ever had the misfortune of playing after years of the masterpiece known as GTAIV.

To this day, I refuse to rate V: because I can't give something a negative rating.

Click to shrink...

Dude come on man gta v has like a 96 metacritic it's an amazing game

 

[Vadara]

Dude come on man gta v has like a 96 metacritic it's an amazing game

Click to shrink...

You have to understand something: V is the anti-IV. It was expressly designed to respond to criticisms of IV. Unfortunately, a lot of what people criticize about IV is why me and other people like it.

Therefore, V is basically a giant middle finger and "fuck you" to us IV fans. So I can never really rate the game objectively. Knowing that Rockstar basically gave me the middle finger just taints the whole experience.

 

[Soundwind]

You have to understand something: V is the anti-IV. It was expressly designed to respond to criticisms of IV. Unfortunately, a lot of what people criticize about IV is why me and other people like it.

Therefore, V is basically a giant middle finger and "fuck you" to us IV fans. So I can never really rate the game objectively. Knowing that Rockstar basically gave me the middle finger just taints the whole experience.

Click to shrink...

People didn't like the realism of 4 they had to make V more like San Andreas

 

[Designer_Fake]

GTA IV still has my favourite soundtrack of all the GTA games. Radio Broker is just insanely good and I still listen to a playlist with all the songs on it regularly.

 

[Deleted member 35071]

One of my biggest gaming disappointments of all time. If not THEE biggest.

San Andreas is one of my fave games of all time. And this was such a huge step back. I enjoy GTA III more than IV. The characters, the story, the driving, the shooting, the missions, the huge boring world that looked so samey i had to constantly look at a map. I strongly disliked it all. Luckily the original Saints Row on 360 was there to scratch my GTA itch at the time.

I played some of the Lost & the Damned DLC, and enjoyed what i played. But i just loathed the base game so much....that i couldn't be bothered to really stick around long enough to stay engaged with the DLC. I didn't like GTA Online....and i still don't get it now. My friends liked it tho. And forced me to play it some. I see no appeal to it.

this game ended my love affair with GTA. V didn't win me back either...thats for sure

 

[ODDI]

The 2nd best in the series for me and finally found a work around to get the Steam version working too.

 

[dmix90]

Best Grand Theft Auto game.
Great characters and atmosphere, amazing soundtrack( before they shamelessly fucked it up few days ago ).
I still remember how deep this game was.... for example in some missions if you do not kill target right away but follow them till the very end or let them speak longer than necessary you could get some interesting scenes or there were those mini mission that you could encounter around the city and in one of them the character walks away from you and get hit by a car... there were tons of small details like that in the game. On the technical side it was also very interesting... amazing soft-body and vehicle physics.

Replayed this game 3-4 times on all platforms and always found something new on each playthrough. For comparison i was only able to finish V once... it's still a good game but noticeable downgrade compared to IV.

 

[jizzywinks]

I definitely understand the disappointment people felt but even though I know there's plenty of valid criticism to wage against it, I still think it's a fantastic entry to the series.

Niko was more interesting than any of the main characters from V. His background and status as an immigrant was the perfect frame to start a GTA game.

 

[hexanaut]

This came out during my favorite era of gaming. It captured the NYC atmosphere perfectly and, as always, had excellent music selection.



GTA IV still has the best driving. Niko is still the best GTA protagonist.

 

[The Unsent]

Having to restart talkey car journeys every time you died was horrible. The city was wonderful and I don't mind they wanted a more grittier tone. Red Dead Redemption and V were fantastic, GTA IV was just good in comparison. TBOGT was great though.

I don't like to call other people's opinions overrating it but here it generally was by critics, because of how much they eventually agreed V and BOGT improved on it.

 

[raketenrolf]

Still have my 360 copy and the episodes. Loved it, have to replay soon.

 

[Masterspeed]

I still have that cool as fuck duffle bag, the safe, artbook and very small ost.

The duffle bag is handy as hell, I've been using it to store it comics, but after 10 years there's literally no more room.

I also still have the keychain on my keys. Damn, I miss good special editions.

 

[Pagoto93]

I remember the day it came out really well. Same day Utd beat Barca in the Champion's League.

I was really disappointed with it and I'm baffled as to how it receives almost perfect scores when the reception from gamers is mixed. Around half the guys in my class got it and I was the only one who even finished it.

 

[npclivesmatter]

great game.. underwhealming GTA game. since that game is when people started questioning the integrity of review sites.

 

[Addleburg]

It was a flawed game for sure, but I still put a ton of hours into it. I prefer GTA5 to it, but I think 4 had a better sense of atmosphere. Cruising through the city and listening to JNR or Massive B during sunset evoked a sense of time and place that I never got in 5.

 

[Lazloisdavrock]

incredible depiction of New York City in a video game. great game!

 

[Max Payne]

Worst GTA ever, and probably one of the worst games I've ever played.
I remember that first ride with Roman to his place, the driving physics felt like diarrhea and I was sure this was a joke, to demonstrate how bad Roman's car was. But it wasn't a joke, driving in the rest of the game felt like having diarrhea all the time. That practically killed the game for me.
Also, story was boring, characters were boring, gameplay just felt "wacky" and not entertaining to me.
I gave that game several tries, but I couldn't handle that game for more than 10 hours, which was the absolute limit. I can't remember a single thing in my life that was a bigger waste of time than playing this game.
Really disappointing, after such pearls like VC and SA.
Also every reviewer who gave that game a 10 is an impersonation of a joke. Never trust a review.

 

[Soundwind]

One of my biggest gaming disappointments of all time. If not THEE biggest.

San Andreas is one of my fave games of all time. And this was such a huge step back. I enjoy GTA III more than IV. The characters, the story, the driving, the shooting, the missions, the huge boring world that looked so samey i had to constantly look at a map. I strongly disliked it all. Luckily the original Saints Row on 360 was there to scratch my GTA itch at the time.

I played some of the Lost & the Damned DLC, and enjoyed what i played. But i just loathed the base game so much....that i couldn't be bothered to really stick around long enough to stay engaged with the DLC. I didn't like GTA Online....and i still don't get it now. My friends liked it tho. And forced me to play it some. I see no appeal to it.

this game ended my love affair with GTA. V didn't win me back either...thats for sure

Click to shrink...

Why didn't you like V?

 

[mreddie]

IV had better story.
V had better gameplay.

It's weird how both balance out.

 

[N.47H.4N]

Worst GTA ever.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

It's no Chinatown Wars.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

I replayed GTA4 a couple of months ago and it has shown me how much worse GTA5 is.

This thread is making me want to install it and EFLC. Game is a masterpiece.

 

[throwawayname]

GTA 4 threads are always fun to read because its apparently the worst thing created by human beings.
Game is awesome and gave me some fun memories.

 

[mreddie]

I replayed GTA4 a couple of months ago and it has shown me how much worse GTA5 is.

This thread is making me want to install it and EFLC. Game is a masterpiece.

Click to shrink...

Don't update it if you like the soundtrack.

Also, remember Paramount was scared this would turn people away from Iron Man ONE ?

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Don't update it if you like the soundtrack.

Also, remember Paramount was scared this would turn people away from Iron Man ONE ?

Click to shrink...

Yeah I know. Such a shame they are coming for the game as if GTA5 being ruined is not enough.

 

[pswii60]

I miss Peter Moore. Those were good times.

 

[Deleted member 41651]

Good times... renting a shiny new copy from Blockbuster, feeding my phat PS3 the disc and playing it on my thick ass 32-inch 720p tv. Not a great game but still good fun and nice looking to boot.

 

[Deleted member 7450]

Still my favourite.

Soft spot for San Andreas and all, it was my first and when I "got" GTA, but IV is just amazing.
The little details, the world, the characters.

Up there with Far Cry 2 when it comes to being immersed in that world IMO.


As it is with most GTA releases, PC port still garbage but at least there are mods.

 

[The Almighty Tria]

The driving and physics are so much better than GTA V's.

GTA VI needs to combine the physics of IV with the insanity of V. Please. Thank you.

 

[FunkyFreshB]

Happy 10th, GTA IV!

I understand the general hatred for this game, but I love it. It's the game that pushed me to get the next gen consoles at the time, and since I wasn't following gaming news at the time, it was what got me to purchase a 360 as well.

The game was amazing to me back then, with how realistic everything looked and felt. Nowadays, it's still pretty great, but the cars feel just a bit too floaty for me. I still think I enjoy booting it up every now and then just to drive around more than I do with GTA 5, probably because of the unpredictability of the physics.

To compare the stories, gameplay-wise, something about TBOGT feels better, and it has the best selection of vehicles. TLAD's story was probably the "coolest", what with you being in a gang and all. Since the base game is technically inferior to either DLC, there's still something with its relative simplicity that's great. All in all, they're all great.

The music to me felt like it wasn't as high-profile as previous games, but I think I remember something about it being due to the game's story. Just to comment on the latest update: The new Vladivostok isn't bad, but it's not as good as the old one. I'm especially gonna miss Schweine.

Generally when I think of how old this game is, I also get nostalgic to early days of YouTube, where all I watched was Mario 64 Bloopers and GTA stunt vids. Unrelated, but still.

Wanna end this by thanking and apologising to anyone who read through this long post and thought it was all over the place, currently pretty tired and on mobile.

Anyway... Here's to 10 more years!

 

[poofynamanama2]

Wish they would bring this to PS4

 

[Deleted member 249]

At least this game still had a sense of identity and personality, Rockstar totally sold out with GTA5.