IGN: 100 Gamespot: 100 Eurogamer: 100 So according to the three main gaming press outlets we chose for this article, GTA IV is the perfect game, an unmatched masterpiece that even the expansive and award-winning GTA V doesn't match up to (getting 100, 90, 90 from IGN, Gamespot and Eurogamer respectively). However, is this idea of absolute gaming perfection deserved? There's certainly a huge amount of effort that's gone into every square inch of Rockstar's fourth main entry into the series (the seventh overall), and everything from Niko's potato-faced scowl to the Brooklyn Bridge itself is a joy to explore. It's within this act of exploring that for many of us, things just didn't sit well. That poignant shift from San Andreas' completely ridiculous second half that saw you robbing casinos before donning a jetpack to disappear off up the mountains wasn't anywhere to be found in IV. That's fine of course, but the terrible handling on the cars along with a character who's in-game actions were the polar opposite to his cutscene representation meant things definitely felt a little off. So it remains that one of the highest-ranking and critically-championed games of all time is also one of the most divisive, with just as many people backing the more serious tone Rockstar chose to employ as there are casting this one out as something that doesn't 'feel' like a GTA game in the first place. Which other games did you feel the press championed way too much on release, or did you really want to like something so much that you didn't notice any flaws right away? Let us know in the comments!
