GTA IV (Grand Theft Auto IV) is the fourth main title in the series, developed by Rockstar Games and released back in 2008. Soon after its release, it became an instant hit due to its innovative graphics, fantastic plot, balanced storytelling, and creative adaptation of New York City into the fictional Liberty City. The narrative is based around an immigrant from Eastern Europe, Niko Bellic, who tries to find his identity in this brand-new world.
For Niko, the American Dream means a chance to escape his troubled past and start over. For his cousin Roman, it means building a new life full of success and wealth in Liberty City - the city of opportunity.
However, as they arrive and begin their new life, they soon realize that the dream is not what it seems. They fall into debt and get pulled into the criminal underworld, surrounded by dangerous people, corrupt officials, and ruthless criminals. The city that promised freedom becomes a trap where money and power decide everything.
The game mixes free exploration of the open world, spontaneous side missions, and main quests that push the storyline forward, resulting in a title that engages and doesn’t grow boring, no matter how many hours you spend playing it.
Why Should I Download Grand Theft Auto IV?
If you’re looking for immersive entertainment with an open-world setting that offers various themes and missions, you should definitely download Grand Theft Auto IV. Set in the fictional Liberty City, inspired by New York, the graphics, level of detail, and light design create more than just a backdrop for the game. Rockstar Games developed each neighborhood to have its own atmosphere and pace, with realistic non-playable characters (NPCs), and city landmarks in industrial areas and busy downtown streets.
The main idea behind Grand Theft Auto IV is that you play the character of Niko from a third-person view. Niko is an immigrant trying to survive and navigate his way through the power dynamics, crime, and moral dilemmas of this new city. As part of the main missions and side quests, you engage in shootouts, robberies, car chases, and much more. You can explore the city on foot, but you can also steal vehicles from the Liberty City streets to move between locations faster.
When you download Grand Theft Auto IV, you get to enjoy realistic driving mechanics and physics, dynamic combat and shooting, advanced character animations, and impressive light design. All of those make Grand Theft Auto IV a landmark title in the history of games, and the themes of corruption, mob life, and moral disintegration pull players to this day. The game can also have different endings based on the actions and decisions you make throughout the storyline, which encourages replays to see other possible outcomes.
Overall, Grand Theft Auto IV is packed with action sequences, which are balanced by narrative elements. Whether you’re a player who enjoys more intensive gameplay or someone who likes to progress slowly, you’ll be able to find your pace and play the game the way you want it. GTA IV has been an inspiration to a number of open-world games that followed it because of its storytelling, graphics, and mechanics, so it remains a great title to check out despite its age.
Is Grand Theft Auto IV Free?
While you can sometimes catch special offers or discounts, you need to pay for this title. It’s available through different online stores, such as Steam or Rockstar Games Launcher, and you can also try hunting down physical copies of the game.
What Operating Systems are Compatible with Grand Theft Auto IV?
To download and play Grand Theft Auto IV, you need to either own a desktop running Windows 10 or Windows 11, or one of the original consoles the game was released and optimized for. Back in 2008, the game was available on PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360, and you needed one of them to play this title. Grand Theft Auto IV has not been ported to any of the newer consoles and has yet to receive a remastered version that can be launched on modern platforms.
What Are The Alternatives to Grand Theft Auto IV?
While Grand Theft Auto IV remains an absolute classic and offers impressive gameplay, it might be hard to get your hands on it because of its lack of support for modern gaming platforms. If you want something that can run on your current devices, there are many options to consider.
To stay within the Rockstar Games’ GTA Series, you can give Grand Theft Auto V a go. It follows the path of the previous games but brings the player to an open-world location in a city inspired by Los Angeles, called Los Santos. The fifth GTA title allows playing three different characters instead of one. Due to that, you can carry out 3 distinct storylines as the characters struggle within the ranks of the criminal underworld of the city. The game also supports multiplayer and online play thanks to GTA Online. Originally released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013, GTA V is supported by modern consoles and PCs, too, so you can download and play it on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and newer Windows versions.
Another title worth exploring is Saints Row IV, which offers a less grim and more humorous and cartoonish approach to open-world adventure games with characters with superpowers. It’s more of a parody of the gang underworld genre, and it includes science-fiction elements such as alien empire invasions or zombies. You can get the game on Windows computers, PlayStation 3 and 4, and Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
If you’re looking for a game that feels realistic but offers a more historical setting, Mafia II will be a great choice. Based in mid-20th-century America, it follows the story of a young mobster climbing the mafia ranks, all with truly cinematic graphics, atmosphere, and attention to detail. Mafia II was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows computers, but it has been remastered for modern consoles.
