Yes. It works. Fun? Yes! Razor sharp graphics? No, of course not. Buy a PS3 and a HDTV if need that level of detail. But if you don’t have 1000 Euro’s lying around, like me, you can just get the game for 50 Euro and have hours of fun on your (nearly) out of the box MacBook.
Hell, you can even take it with you on the train. Perfect if you have 4 hours to kill between Paris and Amsterdam in a first class seat with a power plug by your feet 🙂 Because this baby will suck your battery dry in no time. It may also get hot after a few hours, but that’s a good signal to cool off yourself as well…
You need to put all the settings on the lowest level to make the game playable, but when you do, it plays well. First, of course, you need to install Windows with the help of bootcamp. I have Windows XP Professional with SP3.
You may also want to update your video drivers. Nvidia has released a special beta driver update: Nvidia v180.84 driver. Problem: they won’t install on the MacBook. You will get an error. Fortunately there is a modded version by Dox here that works fine on my machine: Dox optimised 180.84 driver. Make sure to uninstall the Apple Nvidia driver before installing Dox driver.
I plug in a Logitech Dual Action pad that I bought to play San Andreas. Since GTA IV will only accept an offical 360 controller (Why God, Why!?) you will need to install a couple of files in the GTA directory to make it work. Many thanks to Racer_S for this XBOX 360 controller emulator.
Happy gaming!
Wide Horizons 