Grand Theft Auto IV review - ColourShed 

Sorry guys, I meant Peter Moore not Peter Cross. How did I do that?? Haha

I once jumped off the skyscraper and survived because I hit a street lamp.

I still think that GTA IV has the best main character, the best character development, and the best storyline of all franchise.

A detail i really love about the games is how when you do a mission that involves police officers or has a big impact on the city the news report about it in the radio.

Notice that GTA IV was the only game in the franchise to have a dark storyline it had some funny moments but the rest were more comedy based

Liberty City may not have been San Andreas, but it was a dark city for a dark story. Perfectly designed. Could you imagine Niko’s story spreading over Mount Chilliad? I also feel the lack of customisation was deliberate too. Yeah, you could have a San Andreas or a GTAV level of customisation and activities, but is that what a former Balkan soldier looking for revenge have done? You could see them hanging around with family and making friends for benefits, but I couldn’t see them BMXing or pissing about on a Jet Ski. John Marston participated in relevant activities of a character of the time, place and the story. He didn’t frolic in water (partly because he’d drown) because that’s not what you imagine Marston doing. The plot moves in a new direction: improved graphics, less cartoony, meant an improved story line. The characters looked real and the story behind them were real. I LOVED the darkness of the story and I thought everything in the game reflected that. I wish it would come back on the PS4. I miss the game

YELLOW CAR

Genuinely one the best GTA games imo. I enjoyed GTA 5, but the atmosphere and story of 4 were just untouchable.

I fully disagree about the car mechanics. I think they were one of my favourite things about GTA4

This game is so ahead of its time! Such a dark and atmospheric setting along with some of greatest characters.

The dark atmosphere and lack of color fit the location of the game! The Ballad of Gay Tony added some flash... The lack of custization was lack luster but who really cares? Niko isn't the kind of guy to worry about fashion, so in a way it fits the game. The car physics are a learning curve but they are fun and feel more realistic than GTAV. The map may be smallish, but for some reason feels bigger than it is. Honestly, this game holds up over time for a game that came out in 2008. The story comes together with all of the DLC's and this arguably is the best Grand Theft Auto ever made.

Person: makes a 30 min review of a 10 year old game Me: yep definitely watching it even if i played the story 10 times already

It’s the best of all GTA’s in my eyes.

I loved the driving physics in GTA 4. Unlike GTA 5, you actually had to learn how to drive and needed skill.

Couldn't have came at a better time. I decided to play through it again on April 29th because of it's 10th anniversary. The first time I've played it since 2013. I forgot just how much I loved this game. A lot of heart was put into it

God, the theme gives me chills, I love it

I loved this game. I remember getting kicked out of party for cooking sausages on the outdoor fire heater, so I went home and played GTA 4.

Grand Theft Auto 4 is my favourite game of all time. I agree with this review, I'm glad you left things such as car physics to personal taste between different players because it's never bothered me. Great video, great writing and editing too!

I wish you mentioned the radio stations getting changed and replaced due to licensing issues

I never understood the dislike of GTA IV's lighting/shading. For the time it looked incredible (IMO), and there's a ton of color depending on the place and time! The drab or desaturated look of a lot of locations really creates an amazing atmosphere and backdrop that fits the more intense story of this game perfectly, and the skyboxes in this one and Red Dead Redemption are gorgeous.

While I think V captured the California, specifically LA and Venice Beach aesthetic nearly perfectly, I still think IV nailed the greater NYC aesthetic even better.

GTA IV is, in my opinion, almost the best game ever made.

"Is GTA IV still worth playing today?" The answer to that will always be open-ended, but the majority would probably say yes. I think the more definitive answer on the PC ports would also be a yes. But to each their own, I suppose.

I absolutely adore GTA IV handling. Such a shame it's gone fully arcade in V.

For a guy who's from Yugoslavia he speaks the language in the most broken accent possible.

Y E L L O W C A R

I've spent countless hours playing this game, it's easily my favorite GTA despite my username being a Vice City reference. It's story was gripping and felt like a classic NY crime drama and it was cool to see Niko, Johnny and Luis's stories connect. GTA 4's multiplayer was simple yet super enjoyable unlike in GTA Online where the players with the most cash have the upper hand.

This game just doesnt get old.

Been playing this game again like crazy so addictive.

i love gta 4s driving

Imagine a GTA with an actual Italian story. Like being in the mob and stuff. I think they'd do it right.

If only they remastered this game on PS4, I will be so happy.

This is really my favourite GTA. Not because its smaller open world and less flying vehicles, but because of its protagonist being a mere person, and the mortal stories around him. It felt real, and heartbreaking. It is a shame that the game no longer work properly on PC.

Say all you want about this game " cars drive like boats, yada yada yada" I remember this like it was yesterday, people who never played GTA before started playing, and at technical level the game was ahead of it's time.

GTA IV is such a mature game and i love it. now that i'm in my early 30s i started to appreciate it so much more than i was younger in 2009

Τhe Greatest Grand Theft Auto ever made and one of my favorite games

*NICO...LET'S GO BOWLING*

Rockstar should make an actual series of Republican Space Rangers. That was the funniest show in the game.

GTA IV took away RPG elements that made GTA SA so great and replaced them with an amazing environment, awesome game play elements, and the best GTA story to date.

Deserves a remaster that’s for sure!

This game is good. Imo better than 5. I'd even call it one of the better open world games from last gen; the others being RDD, Assasins creed 2, and Infamous.

I think every GTA game either does something better than any other game in the series, or does something completely unique, that it makes the other GTA games feel flat as they lack that specific feature. GTA III has (or had) limbs that you could shoot off people, and the people would react accordingly. GTA III also had the best NPC animations of the 3D era. But III is very limited in every other regard. GTA Vice City has the absolute best soundtrack of the entire series. Its map oozes the 80s out of every pixel. It also had the most potential of the entire series, and you can feel it whenever you play, but all of that untapped potential just sits there, as the game engine and limits of technology doesn’t allow the game to flesh Tommy as a person out more, or any of the other characters, really. The characters in this game remain 1 dimensional, until they’re retroactively fleshed out in later titles, if they even get that at all. Many characters in this game feel like this should leave a bigger impact than they do, but only show up for two missions (The old guy at the money printers that Tommy apparently knew, when growing up is a good example. Another example being how Lance’s betrayal only really has one mission and one phone call to be set up, and it isn’t really set up well). GTA San Andreas has great RPG mechanics, but the sheer lack of anything to do on its expansive map, and the amount of time it takes to unlock all the weapons in order to begin leveling them up, or to customize your character, makes the game just feel tedious. Especially since, despite it having the most open world of the series up to the point of its release, SA is the most linear in terms of what you can do to pass a mission, in the entire series. In GTA III and Vice City, you could do the same mission a dozen times, and complete it in unique, fun ways every single time. But in SA, you’re penalized for straying from the path. And worst of all, some missions will take away all your weapons with no warning. And even more annoyingly, you basically have no reason to ever buy the desert eagle, since once you can finally buy it, every second mission replaces it with the basic pistol, and doesn’t give it back. And while SA also has the best customization of the 3D era, it stupidly prevents you from being able to buy clothing from most stores until you pass a certain story point. With the worst example being that the shop with all the best and most expensive clothes, is locked until you’ve completed half of the story missions on the final island, and this particular store only has one place to visit, which is on the FIRST island. GTA Liberty City Stories gives us insight into the characters of GTA III that we should have got while playing that game, however the game does feel like a mobile version of GTA III, in every way. GTA Vice City Stories has the mechanic of buying back all the weapons the police took from you, which is honestly genius, but was never reintroduced to the series. And given how each mobile port of the series takes away the mechanic of losing weapons upon being arrested or killed, the mobile port of this game wouldn’t even have this feature, which is probably why it’s taking Rockstar so long to port it, aside from concerns of it not being worth it, financially. But once again, the game does feel like a mobile port of Vice City, only less so. GTA IV has the best main character, story, and supporting cast of the entire series. But it limits the player in many ways (outlined in this video) that don’t make any sense, as previous entries allowed you to do those things. The fun is very often crippled by the attention to “realism”. GTA V has the best driving and flying mechanics of all the games. But compared to GTA IV, the combat, driving, flying, and on-foot movement just feels flat. Like these things was clearly made easier to appeal to more mainstream audiences. Plus, all the characters have been very heavily reduced in terms of their depth from the previous title. Everyone loved to hate on GTA IV for taking itself seriously, so Rockstar decided to not do that for V, and now everyone is looking back at GTA IV, and going “O.K., maybe it wasn’t TOO bad.” You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

I just finished GTA IV again last week and I have to say it's still an amazing experience 🙌 the story is just amazingly well written and executed. Niko is by far the best protagonist of any GTA game. And I actually love the driving physics, it's much more engaging than GTA V's driving where every car feels the same. And of course the ragdoll physics are just out of this world, probably the best in all of gaming.

This is my all time favourite game. It is a acquired taste for sure. I love the gritty story, and physics and the dark NYC setting. It’s such a captivating game if you let yourself get fully immersed into the characters and play the SOLC alongside with it, kind of like GTA V. I reckon i’ve gone through this game at least 10 times, most recently last year. Unfortunately I feel like that might be my last play through as it’s finally starting to age but it’ll forever have a place in my gaming heart.

You got to wait a few seconds when ya enter a car to give time to put your seatbelt on 😉 Pretty cool feature

Such a shame that the PC version is STILL terrible, even on hardware far more powerful then when the game first came out.

Your reviews are insanely high quality and go into insane detail on the game. I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers.

I don’t understand how GTA 4 isn’t a lot of peoples favorite GTA? Great story, good characters, great physics, funny pedestrians, etc.

20:45 Niko can use a seatbelt, you just have to wait after entering a car, before driving it, so Niko would wear a seatbelt, works similarly to motorcycle helmets.

Seriously the story and the characters are the best thing I've ever experienced in any video game.

The best GTA review I've ever seen.

You have one of the most well researched and engaging reviews on this platform. I hope you see a substantial growth. Cheers!

People forget so easily how blown away everyone was by this game. Nobody was saying "lack of content" back then.

GTA 5 compared with GTA 4 looks like and arcade game for kids, easy driving, bad car damages and if you're upside down with a car you can flip it in the right position. In GTA 4 if you were upside down with a car you were forced to find another car to push it and flip it or abbandone it. GTA 4 is the real rappresentation of "aren't you able to drive in this game? Learn it and shut up" that's the reason why i love GTA 4.

I could listen to you talk for hours!! You earned a subscriber, I love your content!

"You are on an island which is 90% buildings, it's dark to the point where you have to adjust brightness settings and has fewer colours than a broken printer." Yep, that sums up New York.

"Hey cousin, you want to go bowling?"

This is my favorite GTA for a number of reasons. 1. It was the first in HD and a huge leap in terms of that from San Andreas. 2. It was the first I played when it came out. 3. An engaging storyline that I think is more memorable than 5’s. 4. Funny and interesting characters! Roman is my favorite and I actually like the bowling! 5. Better fighting and shooting mechanics than 5. It seems in 5, you shoot them twice and they die, in 4, it’s more of an effort. 6. Damage when you’re driving, much more detail than 5. 7. Finally a cover system! 8. I felt that your choices actually carried weight in the game and the choice between killing one character or the other was significant. 9. I love the different cutscenes and calls you get if you fail a mission and the calls to Roman after a certain mission for his thoughts on it. My favorite GTAs in order and why. 1. GTA 4. 2. The Ballad of Gay Tony - A much more colorful version of Liberty City and the nightlife experience. 3. San Andreas - The most customizable GTA to date with your clothes, tattoos, haircuts, eating. It’s basically GTA Tamagotchi simulator tbh. 4. Vice City - Tommy is a funny character at times even though he’s a remorseless psychopath! Probably the best soundtrack in the series with many classic 1980’s hits. Basically a better version of Scarface the game mixed with Miami Vice. 5. The Lost and Damned - I couldn’t get into the biker aspect. Dark, dreary, and plenty of heavy metal didn’t appeal to me. 6. GTA 3 - Good Lord. 1. You hit one curb and you immediately flip upside. 2. Driving mechanics are very wonky. 3. The gangs. If you do missions for the gangs in 3, by the end of the game, 7 out of 9 hate you and will shoot you on sight. 4. Some missions are very difficult. I.e. The coffee mission. 5. The game shows you no mercy, ever. Saving is probably the most important key in any of the GTA games, but in this one, it’s number one! Because the game will try to turn you upside down and fuck you in the ass each time it gets!

First two minutes I could tell this is really well made...great upload!👍

Watching this review after the gameplay vids, love it

Can't believe I spent 30mins watching this xD I've played GTA IV many times already.

GTA IV has the best story of the GTAs

Weird review.. never heard someone call Liberty City empty and boring. I think its the complete opposite, it has character and is dark, prefer it to Los Santos. Another thing I realize is, the author seems to reeeeally like sheer content, regardless to it being good or bad. SA was awesome in its era, but lots of its content was forgetable. I prefer the newer Rockstar open worlds, which are more detailed, may have less shirts and pants I dont care for, but citys that are thrilling and alive. Dont need to dress Nico in stupid clothes to achieve that.

The fact that nico doesn’t use a seatbelt in the game is really accurate honestly, in Slavic nations most people of Nico’s generation use seatbelts

Gta IV has a really good online multiplayer modus

I wasn't expecting you to talk about the story like you did. It seems most people who critique GTA 4 don't have a clue about the story and just saying "it's boring" or something. Wish you would've gone more in depth about it though. Left a like.

Best bloody game I ever played and still do. It's hilarious, just listening to the pedestrians on the street has more depth than GTA 5.

Jesus. I remember being 13 and having my grandmother drive me to gamestop on April 29th right after school to pick up my pre ordered copy. I haven't been as hyped as I was back then for a game since. I wish we could a remaster of some sort.

A video by ColourShed that's 30 minutes long? I'm spoiled.

You're underrated af ... les get this man to 240 000 thou... that what he deserves! 🙌+respect

My biggest issue with the game is this line of dialogue: “The mansion is coming, cousin. That’s the dream!” I remember from this one line expecting to be able to buy up property and becoming powerful and rich. But nope! No mansion, and all you get is an empty map with nothing to do.

I think 5 takes it when it comes to fun factor. But in terms of story and characters, 4 is the best.

It's shame what happened to Johnny why Rockstar😔

Surprised and pleased to see non-toxic reviews of the GTA series :3

Ayyy we got the video to a million views!

How many times did I complete this game like 20

Amazing vid keep up with the great work! One thing I have to say that you didn’t talk much about the multiplayer. Sure it was very basic but was the first real multiplayer in the series and was a blast to play

I keep returning to this review occasionally. Maybe because I love GTA4, and this is one of the most concise review for a GTA game.

I love your reviews so much

I still replay GTA IV and San Andreas while I only played GTA V once and when I got 100% never played it again and never will.

Ahh.. that theme from gta 4 is majestic (Edit): CoUSin, let'S GO BOWlinG

This game had some good physics and the theme song is amazing... and the story and dynamicity is epic. Playing at 8 fps on pc at high graphics

Physics in GTA IV were the shit. Much better than V. It had weight to it. Every crash is a laugh.

So glad this hit a million views, deserves each one!

I love this game with whole my heart! this is where i begun, sure i love san andreas too and i have played it alot but GTA IV will always be a true favorite!

Dude I really want to see an updated review of this :) I know it doesnt need it but ColourShed is very passionate about GTA4, so perhaps in the future he would do it :)

Neat detail about the flying through window, if you wait a moment after entering any vehicle niko puts on a seat belt

Who need hot coffee when you can get warm coffee "Speak up a little!" "Tell me interesting things!"

take a shot every time he says american dream

Like the reviews my man, you reminded me of one thing I really miss and wish Rockstar included in GTA V, POOOL I miss playing pool. Just like golf and darts in most of the GTA universe, it had a really good yet simply game play style and I loved it haha.

The swingset glitch cracks me up every time I do it.

The best GTA Game in my opinion. They made amazing changes that they would later revert in GTA V. They made this game more realistic than any other, and darker than any other. Felt like a mature game, not exactly targeted at kids. Then they made GTA V... What a load of shit V is. They ruined the car physics entirely in it, and targeted it at 13 year olds who will want shark cards for their birthday.

The best story and most immersive world in the entire series. I love niko's story so much.

That swing set was so powerful , it propelled that car into an advertisement .

great video!! this game will always hold a special place in my heart

I like GTA V and IV equally... Is that bad?

I absolutely love the driving mechanics in IV. The realistic violence also prevents me from acting like a lunatic with Niko. V took a step back in those, but it fit that game and its setting pretty well.

All good. But the driving in GTA4 is the best of all the titles. You drive a bathtub, you feel like you're driving a bathtub. You drive a sports car, if feels like a sports car. The physics and car dynamics are almost better than some of the "simulation" driving games around.

I lost it when Niko said “Yellow Car!” Lol

Plot twist: Niko is asking Roman to go bowling.