Why GTA 4 Is The Highest Rated Rockstar Game Ever

Rockstar studio has made a lot of amazing games, with the GTA Series being the #1 amongst open-world RPG franchises ever created. Amongst the games in the series, GTA 4 has the highest score on Metacritic, at 98. This makes it the third highest-rated game ever, just behind Ocarina of Time and Tony Hawk 2.

In this article, we are going to showcase the top 4 reasons why GTA 4 is the highest-rated Rockstar game ever.

Gta 4 Grand Theft Auto — The main characters of GTA 4's story.

1. Single player story expansions

Unlike the other games in the franchise, GTA 4 has two single player story expansions that build on the story of the game. The events of the game and both expansions are set concurrently with each other.

The Ballad of Gay Tony follows Luis Fernando Lopez and his best friend Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince. The main storyline of the episode focuses on Luis' efforts to help Tony overcome various problems, including drugs, debts, disputes with Mafia crime families, and attempts on both of their lives.

GTA IV DLC — The Ballad of Gay Tony revolves around Luis and Anthony.

The Lost and Damned follow the exploits of Johnny Klebitz, vice-president of the Liberty City chapter of The Lost MC, a motorcycle club. The main storyline of the episode focuses on Johnny's efforts to keep the chapter running while dealing with internal conflicts, drug running, gang warfare, and various enemies.

GTA 4 DLC — Johnny Klebitz is the MC of this DLC.

2. Police AI

The Police AI in GTA 4 is much better than the other games in the franchise. While they are not as relentless as GTA 5 cops, you could utilize them for gameplay and actually have shootouts in a stationary spot.

The realistic car damage in 4 made police chases fantastic and the fact that you could injure people made shootouts more entertaining.

Busted Gta4 — Police in GTA 4 has more features than GTA 5 and can even be on your side.

3. More interesting story

GTA 4 is the last GTA game with a sole protagonist instead of multiple. It received almost unanimous critical acclaim and has a long, complex but still comprehensible storyline. The story follows Niko Bellic's rampage of revenge, which has a dark tone and very hard-hitting.

Gta IV — Niko Bellic has a much more intense revenge story compared to the other protagonists.

The game then concludes with a very emotional choice for the protagonist - to give in to revenge or forgiveness. The ending was perfectly presented to make the players feel that their choice matters.

4. Amazing car physics

GTA 4's cars are much heavier than their GTA 5 counterparts. Because of that, driving in GTA 4 is much more immersive, making players feel like they are actually driving a vehicle and not just gliding on the road.

The more realistic physics also makes car crashes in GTA 4 much more impactful. If you miss a turn, you can't just slam the brakes, come to an instant stop, and quickly reposition yourself. You have to consider the weight of the car you're in and the inertia your acceleration has generated, which brings a knife-edge tension to every chase.