The game is set in a redesigned rendition of Liberty City, a fictional city based heavily on modern day New York City. It follows Niko Bellic, a war veteran from an unspecified country in Eastern Europe, who comes to the United States in search of the American Dream, but quickly becomes entangled in a seedy underworld of gangs, crime, and corruption. Like other games in the series, GTA IV is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives players more control over their playing experience. GTA IV is the first console game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode, which contains fifteen game types.
Grand Theft Auto IV was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Oceania, Europe and North America on 29 April 2008, and in Japan on 30 October 2008.A Windows version of the game was released in North America on 2 December 2008 and in Europe on 3 December. Two episodic packs are being developed for the Xbox 360, the first of which is entitled The Lost and Damned and was released on 17 February 2009. The next expansion pack will be called The Ballad of Gay Tony, featuring a character that made several appearances throughout the game by the name of Luis Fernando Lopez.
A major commercial and critical success, Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry records with sales of around 3.6 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in revenue in the first week, from an estimated 6 million units sold worldwide. As of 11 March 2009, the game has sold over 13 million copies. Grand Theft Auto IV received overwhelmingly positive reviews, becoming one of the highest-rated games of all-time on aggregated review websites such asMetacritic and GameRankings.
Gameplay
Grand Theft Auto IV is structured similarly to previous games in the series. The core gameplay consists of giving the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping, as well as using weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, helicopters, and motorcycles. Grand Theft Auto IV takes advantage of Natural Motion'sEuphoria engine, which combines artificial intelligence, bio-mechanics and physics to make NPC behaviour and movement adaptive and more realistic.
The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain parts of the map and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to do activities.
It is possible to have multiple active missions, due to the fact that some missions will run over the course of several days and will require the player to wait for further instructions, etc. The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. For the first time in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV features "morality choices" at several points throughout the game, The game has two different endings, which are determined by deciding which of the two missions to complete. The player can choose between a revenge mission or a deal mission, each leads to a different ending.
Synopsis
Plot
Grand Theft Auto IV follows the story of Niko Bellic, an illegal immigrant and veteran of the Bosnian War. After persuasion from his cousin Roman who immigrated to America years prior to the game's opening, Niko leaves Eastern Europe to come to Liberty City, where he hopes to forget his criminal past and pursue the American Dream. After his arrival, however, Niko quickly learns that Roman's tales of riches and luxury were lies concealing Roman's struggles with debt and gangsters. Niko aids Roman in his troubles while hoping to carve out a new life for himself in the city.
It is later revealed that one of the reasons Niko came to Liberty City was to search for the person he blames for the betrayal of his old army unit: Florian Cravic. Niko creates ties with the Liberty City Bratva through Roman's loan shark Vladimir Glebov and later makes acquaintance with a major figure of the Bratva, Mikhail Faustin and his associate, Dimitri Rascalov. Niko completes jobs for Faustin before joining Dimitri's plot to betray Faustin and take over the organization. Niko assassinates Faustin on Dimitri's orders, but is then betrayed by Dimitri himself. It is revealed that Dimitri is actually in collusion with Rodislav Bulgarin, a former employer of Niko who orders his men to kill him. Niko fights his way through the ambush with the help of Little Jacob, a Jamaican arms dealer whom Niko befriended earlier. Dimitri and Bulgarin escape, however, and Jacob suggests dealing with them later.
Immediately afterwards Niko and Roman are forced to escape to Bohan when their Hove Beach apartment and taxi company are destroyed in an arson attack. At this time Roman reveals his plans to propose to his girlfriend, Mallorie. Desperate for money, Niko slowly obtains new allies and finds work in the various criminal organisations around the city, including the Pegorino Crime Family (Don Jimmy Pegorino, caporegime Ray Boccino and associate Phil Bell), along with their hired muscle, the McReary Irish Mob (mobsters Gerry and Packie, drug dealer Derrick and police deputy-commissioner Francis), Playboy X's gang, Dwayne Forge, Elizabeta Torres's drug ring, and others. After moving to a new apartment in Algonquin, Niko finally locates Florian, but discovers that he has changed his name to Bernie Crane, and Niko soon determines that Bernie is not the person responsible for his unit's betrayal, leaving him one remaining suspect: Darko Brevic.
Towards the conclusion of the storyline, a shadowy government agency (under the name of "U.L. Paper") that had forced Niko to help them in collusion with an aging mobster, Jon Gravelli, locates Darko in Bucharestand arrange to have him brought to Liberty City as a final reward. Niko confronts Darko, who has become a drug-addicted, guilt-ridden wreck. The player is then left with the option of either executing Darko or sparing his life. Afterwards, having dealt with his past, Niko is called to a bar where mob boss Jimmy Pegorino asks him one final favour; to obtain a shipment of heroin for him that he can sell to a buyer: Dimitri Rascalov.
The characters that appear in Grand Theft Auto IV are diverse and relative to the respective boroughs of Liberty City they are based in; belonging to various gangs and ethnic groups. The player controls Niko Bellic, a veteran of an Eastern European war.[ According to Dan Houser, virtually none of the characters from the previous games would return, as "most of the characters we liked were dead," further evidenced by in-game graffiti bidding farewell to these characters.
