GTA 4 for PC. A dream come true.

The GTA series of games has probably been the most memorable gaming experience I've received since the first game debuted more than 10 years ago. Since then, the spin-offs did not disappoint; each of them were like hand-crafted gems, unlike other game sequels (Red Alert 3 comes to mind). GTA and GTA vice city were especially enjoyable.

Then came GTA 4. I nearly went crazy when they announced it would only be out for consoles (Besides the Wii, i don't have any other gaming consoles). Then a few months later, Rockstar announced the PC port for the game. A slice of heaven!

Now, i'm not so sure the PC port would be that great. A trip to Gamespy later, i found that the reviewer who had given GTA 4 for PC a 5/5 had to face some pretty angry viewers; they had other ideas, it seemed.

"WOOOSH! That was the sound of your journalistic integrity flying out the window."

"Ok, I think this will be my last visit to Gamespy for a review - 5 stars? Come on, did you even install the game?"

The hotheads were disappointed with a few things:
-Seriouly bad graphical performance even on above average PCs.
-Laggy as a Granny.
-Buggy game.

Ok, thats on the technical side. But what about the game itself? I heard its has:
-great immersion for a sandbox game.
-a fantastic plot.
-sweet visuals & sound.

"It's not a stretch to say that, were this a film, some of the "performances" would be Oscar-worthy. Yes, we're aware that the characters aren't real people, but they are still better actors than many of the people in the yearly crop of summer blockbusters." - Will Tuttle

Seriously, the viewers were a bit harsh. I tried it on the XBox, pretty good. But you can understand; it wouldn't be very nice if there's a huge titanium carbide door between you and a flawless diamond you want.

I'm seriously torn, to buy or not to buy? Every PC version of the GTA series has been an epic episode, one after the other.

I'm all over the storyline and visuals and stuff, but my computer is no power house, at least when compared to the industry's finest. My computer will choke to death if given Crysis at Ultra high settings:

Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.8Ghz
1Gb RAM (getting 2 soon)
80Gb HD space (Pathetic, yea?)
Nvidia Geforce 8500 (I'm a moron, this card totally sucks. Should have gotten 8800)
Integrated sound card
No physics plugin cards

With all the bugs and cut-throat system requirements, i'm having second thoughts.