Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the DLC episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV, containing both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disc. It was released alongside the DLC release of The Ballad of Gay Tony on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and released on 13 April 2010 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3. It does not require a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV to play, nor is an Xbox Live or PSN account necessary (except for multiplayer).
The engine is still extremely demanding for this game – even months later for the newest hardware. The latest version changes some of the rendering calls and is used partially within the latest Max Payne engine.
We tested the game on our 1080p TV and set everything to very high with maximum draw distances. Texture quality was set to ‘medium’ – to allow the game memory requirements to fit inside the 768MB available. We know there are some tweaks which can be applied to allow everything to be maxed, but we feel this is an unrealistic option for the majority of the public.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is a rather intensive processor based game and a good CPU can make the world of difference. The overall performance levels are great and we never experienced an issue with stuttering or unplayable game sections.
Thats a good specification for the price. Seems it arrived in quite a state mind you.
good article, covers a lot of areas which is useful. That cpu seems really good, quite impressed with it.
That is an interesting looking machine. I dont think I really like the appearance from the back, but it look good in the normal, typing position
i really like it, 8gb of DDR3 as standard is pretty over the top ! shame the HDD side is poorly set up.
I love this machine. I really do. makes my dell looks positively pedestrian
Wow this is much better than I thought it would be, they haven’t compromised on anything. although I agree. either Raid 0 the 500GBs or remove one and put in a 40-60GB SSD, put the price up a tiny bit.
The lack of SSD in such a killer machine is a huge oversight. the price is good, but they have dropped the ball with the configuration of the drives. I cant believe one wasnt formatted either.!
Pretty much my perfect laptop. although id prefer a 1200 res screen at this size. gives a bit more deskspace.
Really brilliant, but i prefer a smaller machine with better battery life.
Styling rocks. performance rocks. battery life doesn’t. id change the HD’s out too. 120gb for boot (SSD) and a 1TB for storage. or even two 128 GB SSDS in raid 0. I think this machine might feel a lot slower than it is with the current setup. how did it act in speed Zardon? slow to boot?
needs an SSD, id never use a laptop now without one.
Hi Ted – performance was good, but you always feel a mechanical drive now as slightly sluggish when an OS disk, even for overall responsiveness. It wasn’t slow, but moving from a laptop with one in it, it can feel slow at times. I agree with your points but adding in an SSD would increase the price. unless they went for a 40GB unit as a boot drive.
I also like Asus G73./ It is a good laptop.
I have one, its awesome. Not really a portable laptop though, its too big and the battery life is not enough (just over an hour internet surfing). It is a great desktop replacement if you lack space, which is one of the reasons i went for it. The design is lovely. I liked the angles and exhausts vents before i bought it and its even better in real life. I imported mine from the states and saved about £500, even with the duty paid.