Grand Theft Auto IV for PS3

Developer Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV is the latest in the series of sandbox-style mission/adventure drive-and-shoot games. It is not, incidentally, the fourth GTA game, but it is the fourth that does not feature a specific location in its title, a la Vice City or San Andreas. Grand Theft Auto IV is set in Liberty City, a not-unlike-New-York city familiar to GTA fans from Grand Theft Auto III. The protagonist is an ex-military immigrant from Eastern Europe, Niko Bellic, who begins the game with prototypical stars in his eyes but quickly and unsurprisingly winds up involved with Liberty City's criminal element.

The appeal of Grand Theft Auto IV comes in large part from its attention to gameplay detail. Liberty City is expansive enough to provide numerous missions and plenty of elbow room, but both the various locations and the individual characters are highly developed. The story is gripping and character-driven, but simply cruising the city for kicks is just as viable and entertaining an option. While a lot of your activity continues the GTA trend of stealing cars and dodging the police, those are only tip of the mission iceberg. On occasion, Niko is actually offered a choice of how he wants to handle a situation. You can play the game by yourself, or online with up to 16 friends.

Grand Theft Auto IV was released for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in April 2008, and broke several sales records almost immediately. A PC version has also been released since then. Videogame review websites have given Grand Theft Auto IV high marks across the board, both compared to other GTA releases and to other videogames in general.