Starting from dealing with your cousin Roman, a small time operator
prone to gross exaggeration, you'll move your way up through criminal
rings until you get what you want. Unlike GTA characters of the past,
though, Niko isn't trying to prove himself as some sort of badass for
the ages, driven to rule the city no matter what. He's looking for
something, and the missions he undertakes are really the only way for
him to find it. He may perform a number of ruthless acts (which you, by
the way, instruct him to), but there are points during the story where
you can ease your finger off the trigger or make a choice as to how
things proceed. Despite the kind of senselessly violent tendencies many
may associate with GTA characters, Niko represents an exception in many
respects, as he has a code by which he operates.
The game's infrastructure has been made more convenient, though
there's still space to improve. If Niko fails a mission, a message
asking to retry it pops up as soon as you respawn, and when you die you
don't lose your entire arsenal. Getting across the gargantuan metropolis
is made easier by hailing cabs that take you to waypoints on your map.
Stealing a car and driving yourself is always an option, as is the more
immersive element of actually riding in the cab's backseat the whole
time, staring out the windows at the passing lights. For anyone who's
short on time or would prefer to forego the random dangers of driving
across a GTA world, the cabs are certainly welcome.
Still, you'll be doing quite a bit of mission restarts, and that
often means repeating large chunks of the challenges. Many missions
break down into an initial travel segment, some kind of escalation
event, a conflict, and an escape. Getting through the on-foot shooting
sequences, a real headache with the clunky control schemes of games
past, has been made much better with the inclusion of a cover system
and, as with all PC versions, mouse and keyboard support for aiming and
shooting. From behind cover it's possible to blind fire, rapidly pop out
to unload a few shots, or move cover to cover, a system that doesn't
always work perfectly but is a definite step up for the series. It's
possible to use a gamepad as well, which handles vehicles better than a
mouse and keyboard. You can even switch freely between the control
devices. Juggling the two input methods depending whether you're driving
or shooting is pretty awkward, but it's great that Rockstar built it in
without forcing you to fiddle with a control input menu toggle. And if
you have to pick one, it's far easier to shoot from a moving car with
the mouse and keyboard.
GTA 4 (PC) Minimum System Requirements
- OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / Windows XP - Service Pack 3
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHz
- Memory: 1.5GB XP / 1.5GB Vista
- Graphics: 256MB Nvidia 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900
- DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c Compliant Card
- Hard Drive: 16GB of Hard Disc Space
- Sound Card: 5.1 Channel Audio Card
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