Seriously. Yeah, the reviews went a bit haywire, and there perhaps should have been a few negative reviews to balance things out, but why all the hate on this game?

I've read countless posts saying how the game was such a 'disappointment' or whatever, but why? In my opinion, it is easily the best GTA so far. It clears up literally every problem I had with the PS2 games - missions can be retried instantly, you can take a taxi to and from anywhere on the map, which is close as teleporting as can be done while still being believeable, meaning scale/driving from one corner of the map to the other for the next mission is no longer a problem, and routes are plotted on the map. These are all epic improvements.

On PS2, GTA used to be (to me) a really fun, funny world with a really frustrating mission-based game stuck in the middle. Now, failing missions and moving to and from far-flung places for missions is no longer a problem. Then there's autosave, which is fantastic. The number of times I beat a mission, only to get busted/wasted before I got back to a save point was just ridiculous on the PS2 versions. I must have wasted so many hours on PS2 driving across the map, failing missions and driving across the map to start again, re-loading because I did one little thing and so on.

GTA IV is no longer a fun, funny world with a frustrating mission game stuck in there. It's now a fun, funny world because of the fun, funny missions stuck in there. And it's all the better for it.

I love GTA IV - I have no issues with it. I am too baffled by folks who say it isn't as good as the old ones. I don't know what they are smoking.

Seriously, it's major fun - a huge map - and tons of things to do. I would love to see one of their game ideas hit mainstream and see how good it does against GTA.

Not sure honesly. Many claim that GTA IV doesn't have the wackiness of previous games in the series but I personally like the dark story of GTAIV

It was over rated. I've played other gta games, but this is the first one I bought because of the reviews and it wasn't fun. The controls sucked, too many bugs, and the story was mediocre.

For some people it was just dull and boring, the friends (dates) have killed the game for me and I expected more of it anyway still a great game, my nephew loves it!

I think it comes down to bias regarding personal game choice. Games like MGS4, Gears 2, and LBP, ect..... are amazing and appeal to different audiences. When said game receives a lower score than the "king of mountain average" that is GTAIV scores, the initial response is frustration.

I personally am not into the GTA series, whatsoever. So a game like Gears 2, or L4D is a better title for my personal tastes, and are better to (ME) than GTA IV. Hell I even liked a LO better than GTA IV. That does not make GTA IV a worse game, it is a matter of opinion. I think some just cant deal with the fact that the general consensus (reviewers) finds GTA IV better than the games listed above.

Perhaps it is a huge conspiracy and easier to choose a multi-plat game as the GOTY, or give it the highest average, then say piss off others by choosing an exclusive.........jk.......;P. All in all, GTA IV is an amazing game for the type of game-play it represents, and has received recognition for it.

GTAIV is excellent but I personally prefer MGS4 and Gears 2.

It's an amazing game. It wouldn't get half as much hate if it was rated 2 points lower on metacritic.

Saints Row > GTA

GTA IV is a pretty good game but it can be really frustrating sometimes. That's why I think it doesn't deserve 10/10.