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[GametimeUK]

I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. It may be great when judged by its own merits, but back then after San Andreas where I was flying jetpacks and crazy shit it just seemed like a step in a direction I didn't particularly want. I guess I can see the appeal for those who wanted GTA to be more grounded in reality, but it's not what I wanted.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Yes its still my favorite gta

 

[Celcius]

I liked it a lot back when I was playing through it on my PS3. I liked GTAV more though and I've never had a desire to go back and play GTA4.

 

[Balducci30]

I did I thought everyone was nuts who hated on it

 

[cripterion]

I loved it, clocked more time on it than its sequel that's for sure even after triple dipping for GTA V.

The city was great, fond memory of some missions. Soundtrack was oh so good and the multiplayer was aces. The MP races with bastards that would set up checkpoints to blow up your car, while you would sprint to the finish singing "living my life like it's goldennnnnn"

 

[mxbison]

I liked but enjoyed Saints Row 2 and Sleeping Dogs more.

 

[BigTnaples]

Yes. It was and still is the only GTA game I’ve finished. I loved V as well, just haven’t gotten around to it.

but holy shit IV was great. That NYC, atmosphere, and that simulation. Love games with good simulations.

That’s why RDR2 is one of my favorite things ever.

 

[rofif]

Everyone loved gta iv when it releases on consoles originally. I got it with 360 and it was crazy achievement in graphics, physics and story. Fantastic game. Read the old OT. The hype was crazy and it delivered.

It's the fucking pc version that destroyed the game with bad controls, tons of bugs, terrible performance, no anti aliasing at all(360 had made) and it defaulted to mode with no motion blur and depth of field (under p key wtf) which are crucial to look of this game.

I liked how serious it was. Any satire hits WAY harder when the world is so serious.
Characters were fantastic, physics still the best up to this day

 

[Hudo]

Yes, I liked it very much. Never understood the haters on that. I actually liked it more than GTA 5.

 

[BouncyFrag]

When I first played GTA IV i sucked at it and got stuck on that three leaf clover heist or somesuch.

When I came back I really enjoyed it. This time I had played The Saboteur and it got me into the GTA game structure.

Helicopter controls were god fukin awful tho.

The radio content is still amazing.

 

[cHaOs667]

I got it at launch on 360 and thought it was incredible.

Same for me. Bought my 360 in a launch day bundle with GTA IV and loved every single minute of it. I still love all the physics details that V is lacking.

 

[relik]

Absolute classic. Played on 360. One of the only midnight launches I ever bothered with and one of the only GTA games I've actually finished, before getting bored with the story. DLC was great too.

 

[Soodanim]

I got it at release for PS3, and I finished it twice. The second time was for a gold trophy.

I didn't hate it from the beginning, but I do remember the building set of disappointments. Oh, it's not the same Liberty City as before. Oh, this and that feel slow. Oh, there's no tanks. The gradual realisation that 4 is nothing like 3-SA, which replaced the fun with bowling.

I remember doing police missions and my car flipping over on a low speed corner. I don't know if that was the straw that broke the camel's back, but it is the lasting impression I'm left with.

The game isn't without merit, and I had hoped to return for the DLC years later since I own it all in PC, but Rockstar decided to fuck with it all and unless it's been fixed recently by modders it's said to be an absolute mess. However, the last time I played the base game on PS3 I couldn't do it without cheats because the fast cars make the driving more tolerable.

Forget Paul McCartney conspiracy theories, Rockstar is the one who was replaced and it happened after San Andreas was released.

 

[Esppiral]

I did more than previous entries, never understood the hate....

 

[GymWolf]

I liked the euphoria engine and niko but the game? Not that much.

 

[SCB3]

The craziest shit about the build up and release of IV was that there was zero media leaks at all. No gameplay footage, a couple cinematic trailers and photos were all we got. News sites got hands-on time and could report on it but literally nobody outside that world knew how it would look or play until the day it released.

I can remember them shutting down streams on JustinTV or whatever it was called the morning it came out.

Tight ship back then and the game delivered if you ask me. Played all of the GTA games multiple times and IV was a generational leap forward.

I remember the first time I saw gameplay if it was via Justin.tv, just 30 mins of someone walking around Liberty City, it was incredible at the time and I loved it

 

[chorizosausage#3774]

The best GTA.

Loved the driving physics and online racing.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Except all the "do you want to go bowling brother" it was incredible at it's time.

 

[horkrux]

I think it was fantastic and I have very fond memories of it.
There were things I was missing for sure (airplanes f.e. - tho I built myself my own through cheats), but all in all it was super immersive with those realistic physics and the incredibly detailed city.

 

[AV]

I thought it was technically mind-blowing and also really, really dull. I got into Saint's Row around the same fine for more of the GTA I loved, but it didn't fill the void.

Later on I came back and appreciated GTA IV more for what it was, and The Ballad of Gay Tony was always great. But IV will always be the hardest GTA for me to go back and play, it's a slow burn of a game. Even GTA 3 is easy to revisit because while simplistic, it feels arcadey enough that I can smash my way through the missions like I'm doing a time trial.

 

[HE1NZ]

I didn't play it until a few years later. PC port wasn't great, consoles versions were crap. But when I finally did I loved it. I think it's the best GTA game.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I really liked the physics in GTA4 (and I still do, even if I'm in the minority), but I remember the launch version running poorly on my 360. The atmosphere of the city was also awesome.

 

[custardbun01]

It was just about the only PS3 game I played for a solid 6 months or more. I loved it and had multiple play throughs. To me it was a better and more interesting city than Los Santos in GTAV.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I completed the mission ‘off the boat’ then never played it again.

 

[custardbun01]

I got it at launch and hated it
So much focus on story and character and trying to make Niko a sympathetic character, then having him beat the shit out of women?

Fuck that game.

having him beat the shit out of women or giving you the choice to beat the shit out of women? Also I think the dark side you could bring out as a player made sense to the story. He was a man ruined by war running from his past. It made sense he was damaged.

 

[Emedan]

Yeah I enjoyed it quite a bit. Remember building my own PC at the time with the limited funds I had and I was so satisifed that I with my cheap mid-tier but 3 Core AMD CPU could run the game better than people with crazy expensive 2 Core Intel CPUs. First time I saw the pros of milti core CPUs.

 

[Little Chicken]

I never finished it, I just remember thinking what a technical achievement it was at the time. The environments could look quite realistic at times and the attention to detail was and is still impressive.

 

[Caio]

I loved GTAIV, one of the Games I enjoyed more on XBox 360 ! For me it was much more exciting than GTAV.

 

[KungFucius]

I liked it and binge played it till it was finished. I dropped San Andreas after about 50 hrs for some reason. I was in grad school at the time and my Advisor was Russian, so it had a bizarre fantasy role playing thing to it.

 

[Tazzu]

EFLC was far better.

 

[dezzy8]

I beat it about 4 times. Still my favorite GTA til this day.

 

[Big Baller]

Yeah, I loved it. I think its my favorite GTA.

 

[Paasei]

Was a great game and it still is today. At least it's better than GTA V.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Yes and still my favourite GTA. You can.see where they lowered the attention to detail with the physics in GTA5.

 

[SJRB]

Literally the only game I ever played from 9 am to 11 pm on launch day without barely any breaks in between.

The jump from San Andreas to GTAIV was just insane. The graphics, the physics, the soundtrack, the attention to detail, the atmosphere. Absolutely incredible.

I know the game has quite a lot of flaws, but for me it's one of the greatest gaming experiences ever.

 

[edbrat]

Yes loved it, it was mindblowingly good fun for the time period. GTA games seem to be judged incredibly harshly given how strong technically they are and how much millions and millions of people love them I don't get it. Ballad of Gay Tony was also a high point in the series for SP.

 

[BaneIsPain]

Yes for the most part I loved it-
So Niko, how about that bowling?

 

[Birdo]

I picked it up at my first Midnight Launch for PS3 (Vaseline Edition)

Loved the gameplay, but didn't really like the characters/story. But thankfully, you can skip all that.

 

[Fbh]

Nah, if anything it's one of the first big games that made me question "professional" reviewers.

I didn't hate it, and I liked the story and characters more than V. But still, it was one of the first big hyped games that made me go "really? This is the 15/10, god tier best game ever all these reviewers are raving about?"

 

[Kerotan]

Launch day on ps3 and was blown away. Still love it till today and would buy a remaster or remake day 1.

 

[Aldynes]

The Euphoria engine and driving are the backbone of what makes the game damn good, i really loved it back then when it came out.

 

[PooBone]

having him beat the shit out of women or giving you the choice to beat the shit out of women? Also I think the dark side you could bring out as a player made sense to the story. He was a man ruined by war running from his past. It made sense he was damaged.

The lack of a choice is why I turned the game off and traded it in.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Got it on pc near launch. Controls were meh on foot (fucking "animation priority") and dropped way before the end. Finished years after insisting. Never finished BoGT.

Everyone loved gta iv when it releases on consoles originally. I got it with 360 and it was crazy achievement in graphics, physics and story. Fantastic game. Read the old OT. The hype was crazy and it delivered.

It's the fucking pc version that destroyed the game with bad controls, tons of bugs, terrible performance, no anti aliasing at all(360 had made) and it defaulted to mode with no motion blur and depth of field (under p key wtf) which are crucial to look of this game.

I liked how serious it was. Any satire hits WAY harder when the world is so serious.
Characters were fantastic, physics still the best up to this day

Funny, because on foot controls + performance and IQ were pathetic inferior on consoles. Plus motion blur and DoF can burn in hell in every game.


Bonus:

 

[AJUMP23]

I loved it, I even liked taking girls out on dates.

 

[mortal]

The physics were pretty amazing. Would love a proper remaster for the current gen.



I really hope we see a return to a denser, more vertical map for GTA VI.

 

[wolfmat]

I loved it. It was a huge technological leap at the time, and it really felt like it, too. The core game loop was great as well.

The expansions were also pretty good in my opinion.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

I felt like it was the weakest one that I had played. I actually felt at the end that I had enjoyed the stories games and the other mainline entries more, though it's very difficult to compare them to GTA 1, 2 and London.

 

[Mr Branding]

Loved it from the start and still play it to this day. Incredible achievement in games, the level of detail on display is unmatched in open worlds

 

[David B]

What most people don't see is that GTA IV was much more life like. As revealed in youtube videos, cars take damage the normal way, turn just like life real cars, jump off ramps like cars would. So many things in GTA V are fake and no where near real life. GTA IV was way more real life in the movement, cars, jumps. It was so much more realistic. But overall the game was boring as it focused on the two friends or brothers getting used to American life as they are Russian.

 

[rofif]

Got it on pc near launch. Controls were meh on foot (fucking "animation priority") and dropped way before the end. Finished years after insisting. Never finished BoGT.


Funny, because on foot controls + performance and IQ were pathetic inferior on consoles. Plus motion blur and DoF can burn in hell in every game.


Bonus:

That is so misleading to post vosswar enb screenshot... It only looks good at specific time of day, in specific places and never ran good until maybe nowadays.
The game looks it's truest in 360. Motion blur and dof are a must for it. Those who disable it don't know what they are doing. Adds so much smoothness.
It can look good on pc heavily modified but only in screenshots.
The video you posted have 360 version looking too bright. Probably settings are messed up.
In reality it looks like that on consoles, this is how it was advertised:



Yes, the IQ is soft but on 360 there is msaa and the soft blurry look fits the game more than aliased mess on pc at the time.
I never liked washed out colors on pc version, bugs, performance issues and everything... It never represented the game right.
The pc version at 4k with tweaked in-game contrast can look good though. Just that 4k removes DOF but at least it leaves the motion blur.