This is the first strategy guide that I have ever bought for a game and certainly not the last. It has very detailed maps of weapon, health, body armour, stunt jumps and flying rats. The guide is very well set out and gives perfect explanations of how to complete the missions.

Its a definate buy and Play.com beats all highstreet store with its fantastic price.

I rarely buy strategy guides, but for a game as big as GTA 4, I figured I would be needing it.

The guide does NOT contain detailed information on any of the vehicles (other than stating there are cars, boats, and helicopters at our dispense). This was a real dissapointment for me. Luckily, the maps make up for it, which provide descriptive locations of pigeons, weapons, cars, stunt jumps etc.

The guide has very detailed info on missions, side missions, girlfriends, etc. but depending on what you want out of your game, you may find yourself either tearing through the book, squeezing every drop of knowledge from its pages, or slowly flipping the pages as you go just so you get your money's worth.

BradyGames always made good guides, they throw in a bit of humour while giving you a fully detailed way to finish a mission as easy and quick as possible, this one even gives you a pull out map to where to find the "Most Wanted" criminals and "Flying Rats"!

This guide is very helpful, especially if your not very good at the game, like me. I bought the guide for San Andreas, and it was brilliant, and i thought this was going to be the same, it wasn't. You don't get a complete list of cars, as there aren't that many in the game, i reccommed it, but only if your bad at the missions side of the game.

I've never bought a GTA guide before, but in the past I've never wanted to complete a GTA game 100% (that is, find the hidden packages, do all the stunt jumps etc), but I've never needed to, but with the achievements on the 360, this guide is essential for getting 100%.

Play.com is the cheapest place I have seen the guide for, and it was an impulse buy which I bought whilst I was buying something else, but it was worth it. The guide is extremely informative and tells you about every single thing you can do in the game, from random characters, friendships, weapon/health/armour locations to multiplayer tips. The guide has it all.

However, all the above could be found out with a quick Google search, but I think it's better to have the guide - it's colourful, easily laid out, easy to follow and it saves time visiting ten different websites until you find what you're looking for (and nine times out of ten it'll have been robbed from the guide anyway).

Nearly 300 pages long, with loads of detail on hidden items and stunt jump locations. Also information on what friendships to persue and what you need to do with them to unlock special abilities. Not to mention of course, a walkthrough of the entire game missions. For £8.99, you wont regret this book. I really don't know what people are moaning about - if you think you can do better... go for it.

I agree with Jon666 you cannot fault it for the story guide but for the extra stuff its lacking although the game has more to the story than the previous GTA's but it does what it says on the tin. Also you definately need it if you have any intention of finding all 200 flying rats, if you have the game you should really invest in this!

i have to agree with a couple of the reviews already written, its not as good as the other guides that have been made. its very poor detail on what else you can do in the game but the main story walkthrough is very good.

After the hell I went through in previous GTAs before getting their respective guides, I decided this was a necessary purchase, even if the game can't be found for the next month, and I'm not disappointed at all.

The guide is made from very high quality stuff that could almost put Piggyback guides to shame, does not feel like it'll fall apart after some heavy use, which is great. Content-wise, the walkthrough is incredibly in-depth, highlighting what needs to be done before accessing a mission, factors that will cause a mission's failure, and lots of relevant pictures to illustrate everything. One excellent thing this guide has done is not separate the main missions and side-missions, instead bringing up side-missions and their relative walkthroughs at the moment in the story they are available, so you will always be able to keep up with your 100%. The maps in the back are nice and detailed, little uphappy about no massive pull-out map like in some previous guides, but they're fine nonetheless.

The reason for my 4/5 rating is the lack of a vehicles appendix, I always find it helpful to know what cars look like for things such as vehicle deliveries, and their respective stats when jacking.

Otherwise though, I've no complaints, I know this will be incredibly helpful when my game finally arrives later this week. Excellent price from play.com too, you can't go wrong.

the guide book is good for the mission but does not go into much detail on the rest of the extras you can do in the guide, and not nearas much detail as the other gta guides.