Response to Grand Theft Auto IV The audience and critics of the GTA IV game have gave a variety of different responses to the game. A quote from Newman in 2001 says “Videogame fanatics are like cocaine addicts who get an instant rush from an electronic fix.” There is evidence that suggests that videogames are very addictive for a number of different reasons, one of those being that it gives game players an escape from reality. Research also suggests that playing games such as GTA IV have reduced violent crimes, because people are taking their anger out by playing the video game rather than acting it out in real life situations. GTA IV has also received universal critical acclaim from video game critics, and it is one of the highest reviewed games of all time, in fact, Xbox 360 world magazine gave the game a 98% rating, which was the highest it had ever rated any game.GameRatio, TopTenReviews and MetaCritic rank GTA IV as the best scoring game ever reviewed. The official Xbox magazine published the first ever GTA IV review in May 2008 and gave the game a maximum rating of 10/10. GameSpot gave the game a perfect 10, making it the first game since 2001 that GameSpot had rated perfect. Incase you aren’t already familiar with GTA IV, it is a sandbox style action adventure game, which gives players more freedom, it also has a euphoria

engine, which means every time something such as a car crash happens, the character acts differently every time. The game is set in liberty city, which is a fictional version of New York, and the character you play

is that of Niko Bellic, who is from an unspecified eastern European country. There are elements of all games, such as driving games and 3rd person shooter games, there is also ‘open world’ game play. Niko can drive cars, helicopters, boats and motorbikes, and can also walk, run, swim, jump, use weapons

and hand to hand combat, players can also complete missions in their own time, and do other things in the meantime. GTA IV had a good response from its audience as it broke industry records with sales of around 3.7 units on its first day. The games audience seem to enjoy the game, although there is much controversy from parents, MADD (mothers against drunk driving), tried to get the game banned, because of the drunk driving feature, or either rated AO, because of this, whenever Niko drunk drives, he says “I’m not sure I should be doing this”, although he never says this if he were to murder someone. Overall Grand Theft Auto IV received a good response, from both critics and the audience, and is a very successful game.