Free Play Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4): Ballad of Gay Tony, Grand Theft Auto IV was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Oceania, Europe and North America on 29 April 2008, and in Japan on 30 October 2008. A Windows version of the game was released in North America on 2 December 2008 and in Europe on 3 December. Two episodic packs have been developed for the Xbox 360, the first of which is entitled The Lost and Damned and was released on 17 February 2009. The second episode is called The Ballad of Gay Tony and was released on 29 October 2009.

A major commercial and critical success, Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry records with sales of around 3.7 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in revenue in the first week, from an estimated 6 million units sold worldwide. As of 11 March 2009, the game has sold over 13 million copies. Grand Theft Auto IV also received overwhelmingly positive reviews, becoming one of the highest-rated games of all-time on aggregated review websites such as Metacritic and GameRankings.

Gameplay

Grand Theft Auto IV is structured similarly to previous games in the series. The core gameplay consists of giving the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player’s character is capable of walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping, as well as using weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, helicopters, and motorcycles. Grand Theft Auto IV takes advantage of Natural Motion’s Euphoria engine, which combines artificial intelligence, bio-mechanics and physics to make NPC behaviour and movement adaptive and more realistic.

The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain parts of the map and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to do activities.

It is possible to have multiple active missions, due to the fact that some missions will run over the course of several days and will require the player to wait for further instructions, etc. The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. For the first time in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV features “morality choices” at several points throughout the game. The game has two different endings, which are determined by deciding which of the two missions to complete. The player can choose between a revenge mission or a deal mission, each leads to a different ending.