Pre-order GTA IV on Steam, get Vice City free

Yeah, except Steam doesn't run like shit on Windows.

Wish steam was cross platform :/

When the pre-order price is lower or has a free gift, that would be where you get your interest! (Woo!)

Yup - They started calling them "raves" in the early 90's..... :)

SA tops it in terms of sheer amount of stuff you can do, but at least we both agree GTA4 was shit compared to the rest of them.

VC is my favourite =)

e only problem I had with GTAIV was the fact that missions were overly simplistic (in that they tell you exactly what to do) and didn't allow for much creativity on how to complete objectives. I always likened it to someone allowing me to play with Legos, but only allowing me to build something from one set of instructions.

I thought the controls and driving were well fleshed out, and I didn't have a problem with the atmosphere.

This is why I'm responding to your post:
I think the reason GTAIV got the reviews it did was because of how Rockstar handled PR, not because of the "hive mind". They released very few images and videos, and did not allow the press much time to review the game ahead of time. This gave reviewers a very limited amount of time to play the game and develop impressions. When I began playing GTAIV, I thought the game was great. My opinion began to go downhill as the game progressed though. I think this is what happened with most professional reviewers as well.

If you look at the "hive mind" on meta critic, GTAIV on the 360 is averaging an 8.1 from users.

Theres a GIGANTIC thread on Neogaf too full of former GTA4 lovers that was wondering what all the review scores are for after the halfway point.

Its an amazing piece of tech, but certainly not the best game of all time.

Not sure you get to gift it.. there's only very exceptional circumstances where you can gift an unwanted game (e.g. buying the Orange Box with HL2 and ep1)