GRAND THEFT AUTO IV - 2008's No.1 Bestseller Video Game - Non-Fiction Book Review

Developer – Rockstar North

Publisher – Rockstar Games Capcom

Distributor – Take-Two Interactive

Series – Grand Theft Auto

Engine - RAGE Euphoria (Motion engine)

Native Resolution – 640p (PS3); 720p (Xbox 360)

Version - 1.01 (PS3), 1.00 (Xbox 360)

Platforms – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release Date – April 29, 2008

Genres – Third-person shooter, action, Action-Adventure

Modes – Single player, multiplayer

Ratings – BBFC: 18, CERO: Z, ESRB: M, OFLC: MA15+, OFLC: R18, PEGI: 18+, USK: 18

Media – Blu-ray Disc, DVD-DL

Input Methods - Gamepad

Price - $ 69.99 (app.)

Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA 4) is a sandbox-style action adventure video game. It is the ninth in the GTA series and first in its fourth generation. GTA4 was released worldwide for both PS3 and XBox 360.

Story: Niko Bellic is a Serbian immigrant and a veteran of the Bosnian War, who, comes to Liberty City on advice of his cousin Roman. Niko finds Roman had misguided him and was in debt. Niko helps Roman and tries to make a new life for himself.

Actually Niko came to Liberty City to search for the person, who betrayed his old army unit: Florian Cravic. Niko ties up with Liberty City Bratva through Vladimir Grabov. He makes friends with Mikhail Faustin and 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. Dimitri betrays Niko and that he is with Rodislav Bulgarin, a former employer of Niko. Little Jacob rescues Niko but Dimitri escapes.

Niko meets Roman and the two find both Roman's apartment and taxi depot in flames. They escape to Bohan, after receiving death threats from Dimitri. Roman wants to propose to his girlfriend Mallorie. Niko makes more allies and money and finds Florian has changed his name to Bernie Crane. He discovers Bernie is not responsible for his unit's betrayal but maybe Darko Brevic.

U.L.Paper, a government agency that had forced Niko to help them along with mobster, Jon Gravelli locate Darko in Bucharest and bring him to Liberty City. Niko confronts Darko. The player is then left with the option of either executing Darko or sparing his life. Finally, Niko relaxes at a bar when Jimmy Pegorino asks him to obtain a shipment of heroin for him that he can sell to a buyer: Dimitri Rascalov. ,

None of the earlier characters are featured in GTA4 as they are all dead. GTA4 also features a soundtrack. Downloadable content is available. It is structured similarly to previous games in the series. It consists of a third-person shooter and a driving game. The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game.

It is possible to have multiple active missions. The gunfight system has been reworked to a better third-part scheme. Stealing a parked car will now show Niko breaking the glass and hotwiring it to drive it.

Mobile phone use has been expanded to perform multiple actions. The game also features several different in-game databases. GTA4 is the first console game in the series to include online multiplayer, with 15 modes of play available and also several different game modes. The game also includes a variety of racing and co-operative modes.

GTA4 is a major commercial and critical success universally. It broke all sales records on its first day of sales in Canada and other countries and has received positive reviews. Some critics say it does not deserve so much praise and that it is not perfect. A few had issues with friendly AI and use of cover, and criticized the ease with which Niko can lose his wanted level. Sometimes the game freezes, thus making it unplayable. MADD and other organizations have also criticized the game.

But are there any flaws – NONE whatsoever. Even with the help of a microscope, a flaw will remain undetected. Probably, any game aficionado will sit glued to GTA 4 till the next version arrives. Until then, this will have to do. Gaming was never this thrilling.