Gameplay 7/10
Graphics 10/10
Sound 9/10
Value 6/10

Well everyone knows the name "Grand Theft Auto" by now, even if you didn't play the birds eye originals. GTAIV has been out on consoles for awhile now, and when i heard it was coming to PC i was stoked to play it again.
Unfortunately its not the best version of GTA like it easily could have been.
It suffers from choppy framerates and loading issues, something Crysis players may be familiar with.

So, GTAIV consists of a character named "Niko Bellic" fresh of the boat from Serbia, arriving in the criminal run "Liberty City" ( the same city from GTAIII ) Although the cities are the same place in GTA story, Liberty has been completely re-designed and is now completely breathtaking with the amount of detail.
The gameplay is EXACTLY like its consoles counterparts. Stealing Cars, Shooting people, going on dates and meeting a colorful cast of characters throughout your escapades. So what could be wrong with this?
Well, the technical side of things. You will need a BEAST of a computer to play this on high end graphics with a solid framerate.
My computers not the best (e7300,4gb ram, 9800GT ) and even on low settings im suffering in fps and chugging everywhere with random building popups.

So hopefully Rockstar can address the performance issues further down the line.

The Graphics in GTAIV are stunning - some of the best iv ever seen in a game. Just take a car, drive around and soak in the sights of liberty city. The shimmer of the water, the bright lights of the city, the glare of the setting sun. Everything works together to bring the city to life in true eye candy fashion. And being on the PC, you can adjust the graphical level much higher then the console counterparts. Everything becomes super-textured and brilliant to look at.

Sounds of liberty city are also equally pleasing. There is a slew of radio stations, which if you know Rockstar, you wont be displeased. The talk radio is as funny as ever, with ads thrown in for a laugh. The audio from each character is distinct and unique - not to mention superbly written.
Random passer-byers nearly always say something new, talking on cellphones or conversing with each other on the street. Its audio like this that really immerse you into GTAIV.

But with all this wrapped up, Its hard to recommend the PC version ( unless you have a monster machine ). The Xbox version runs much better, and have some additional DLC that really makes the value of the PC version seem laughable. However you do get a neat and powerful video editor with the PC version, which you can spend hours making neat little videos then exporting them in HD quality. But all in all, GTAIV might not be worth a look at on the PC until such time as Rockstar get it into true playable fashion

"Niko, why are you chopping and glitching?"

7 Good