Shortlist game for the GAME Award of 2008
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Rockstar Games return with the highly acclaimed Grand Theft Auto IV on PC. The first next-gen instalment in gaming’s greatest crime-em-up series presents a new story, fresh missions and recreates Liberty City in true high definition – then asks you to navigate its seedy criminal underbelly.

Playing as illegal immigrant Nico Bellic, you’ll get to meet shysters, thieves and sociopaths, discovering that the reality of Life in Liberty City is very different from the American dream that he and his cousin Roman had envisaged.

Driven onward by calls to your ever-present cellphone, encouraged to explore every alley, rooftop and highway, and always presented the opportunity to make mischief – from slapping grannies, to stealing cars, to ferrying illegal substances – GTA IV is gaming’s answer to cinema’s gangster genre. Riddled with adult content, compelling missions and outlandish characters, this is a true urban masterpiece from the masters of free-roaming crime gameplay.

Shortlist game for the GAME Award of 2008
More about the BAFTA Video Games Awards

In 1997 Scottish games developer DMA Design released the first Grand Theft Auto on PC and PlayStation. A top-down, free-roaming crime-‘em up, GTA gained controversy and acclaim in equal amounts for its violent gangster gameplay, car-jacking focus and superbly risqué soundtrack.

A decade later, the now renamed Rockstar Games is responsible for changing the face of gaming. PS2 Grand Theft Auto III gave gamers a fully 3D playground in which to explore, play, and affect utter mayhem, and each new GTA on PS2, Xbox and PSP has upped the size, scale, style and sheer attitude, cementing the series as one of the iconic gaming brands of its time.

Now Rockstar return with the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV on PC. Experience a new story, fresh missions and gaze upon Liberty City in high definition glory in Grand Theft Auto IV, all set to be one of the year’s biggest and best releases.

What does the American Dream mean today? For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity.

As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by Grand Theft Auto IV's series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don't.

Welcome back to Liberty City. Welcome to Grand Theft Auto IV .