Sandbox-style games - games where you can freely explore a totally interactive universe and engage in secondary missions while following the main plot – seem to be quite trendy today. Just think about GTA IV or Saints Row 2.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames follows this trend and presents you with a free-to-discover war zone immersed in chaos after a political coup in Venezuela. A corrupted, ambitious tyrant has overthrown the Government to grab hold of the rich Venezuelan oil supplies and the whole country is out of control. But don't worry, this is precisely your element.

Why? Because you're not a soldier, but a mercenary: and as such, you'll be willing to accept all kinds of dirty jobs, as long as they pay enough for them. There are no rules, no mercy, no morality and no remorse. This is a question of survival. This is war, and everything goes.

As well as the missions you have to complete as mercenary in order to earn money, there's a ton of other things you can do. There's a huge map you're free to explore, along with all kinds of vehicles and a extensive collection of weapons to try.

While the game's main story and the approach developers have taken to it are quite attractive, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has one big drawback: controls. Like other titles we've reviewed before this game has been designed for consoles, and that makes it ridiculously difficult to manage with a keyboard. In cases like these, a gamepad is more than recommended.

Also note that you're going to need a very powerful machine in order to run Mercenaries 2: World in Flames as smoothly as possible and be able to enjoy the game's highly realistic graphics. Otherwise the image will be so clunky and full of glitches that you'll be dead before you can spot your enemies.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an attractive, action-packed war adventure that unfortunately runs better on a console.

Download Mercenaries 2: World in Flames in Softonic

Working as a bus driver doesn't sound like an exciting job to me; at least not exciting enough to be part of a game, where you usually play as soldier, detective, mafia member and the likes. But someone must disagree with me as now you can also pretend to be a bus driver in Bus Simulator 2008.

This game puts you behind the steering wheel of a traditional urban bus and challenges you to complete "missions", that is, complete any of the city routes that bus must follow. But the game is not only a driving simulator, meaning you'll have to take care of the business by deciding the price of tickets or renting the vehicle's ad spaces to make them more profitable.

Driving a bus is not as easy as it seems at first sight: not only you have to find your way in an unknown city (note you can open the map with the M key) but you also have to stop at every single bus stop in your route, open and close the doors and follow your way to the next one. Also, don't forget to respect road signs: I didn't stop for any red light (too much GTA IV is seriously affecting my driving style, luckily only the virtual one) and got fired in about 5 minutes.

Graphics in Bus Simulator 2008 are just fine; quite realistic, but certainly not the best ones I've seen. Physics is not very elaborate, especially when it comes to crashing against objects or other cars (hey, don't laugh at me: I'm not that bad at driving, I just have to test everything!). Other than that, it's just an original game that seems as exciting as driving a bus in real life.

The main feature in Bus Simulator 2008 is undoubtedly its originality; apart from that, it's just a standard driving simulator with some business management tools that may entertain you for a short while.

Download Bus Simulator 2008 Demo in Softonic

When there are only a few hours left for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV the hype can't get any further. Now it's time for you to get in the mood, and the quickest way to do it is by customizing your PC with GTA IV material.

This wallpaper pack includes a selection of six GTA IV wallpapers chosen by the Softonic team among all the desktop wallpapers available on the game's official website. They include pictures of the game's main characters and locations, and also the game's cover and the GTA IV logo.

All six wallpapers are scaled to a 1600x1200 resolution so you won't have problems in making them fit your monitor. Choose the one you like most and let everybody know you're a GTA IV fan, while counting down the hours to the game's release.

A special selection of official GTA IV desktop wallpapers brought to you Softonic.

Download GTA IV Wallpaper Pack in Softonic

GTA IV, the fourth episode in the Grand Theft Auto series, will soon be hitting game shop shelves worldwide. But while waiting for that glorious day to come, we may as well drool over the game's latest screenshots in its official wallpaper.

The GTA IV Screensaver includes snapshots from game footage and displays them on your computer as a photo slideshow. But that's not all: the screensaver will automatically connect to the GTA IV official website and download more screenshots as they become available to add them to the screensaver.

On the downside, I missed some basic configuration settings, like being able to set the time period or even choosing between different transition effects.

In all, the official GTA IV Screensaver lets you take a sneak peek at one of the most awaited games of this year and keeps you updated with new screenshots.

Download Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV Screensaver in Softonic

After having already published two other trailers that gave us a sneak peek of the game, Rockstar offers now a third, longer video with many more details about the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto IV.

This 2-minute long trailer includes images from the game featuring known elements such as the streets of Liberty City, where the action takes place, and also new characters, new vehicles and a glimpse of all the new missions and submissions you'll be entrusted with in GTA's fourth episode. The video is presented just like a movie trailer, using cinema-like editing, transitions and even credits.

Although a video can't obviously capture the feelings you experiment while playing this game, it does help a lot in getting an overall impression that contributes even more to rise the hype around GTA IV, to the extent that even Nintendo lifetime fans like me might consider moving on to XBOX360 or even PS3…

Action cinema meets action videogames in this beautifully designed trailer where you'll get a preview of the all new Grand Theft Auto title coming next April 29th. If you're a true GTA series fan you shouldn't miss it.

Download Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV Trailer Move Up, Ladies in Softonic

In 1997, a band of developers that would come to be known as Rockstar North and Rockstar Games released the original Grand Theft Auto on an unsuspecting public. The groundbreaking non-linear urban crime game shook up a complacent game industry with its irreverent gameplay, humor and style- and a phenomenon was born.

We are now offering this classic progenitor of the Rockstar Games lineage as the first in a recurring series of Rockstar PC game downloads, absolutely free of charge. It's a chance for new fans to experience the roots of Rockstar as well as our way of saying thank you to our long-time supporters feeling that pang of nostalgia. Simply fill out the form below and check your email for a direct link to the file - we've even optimized the game for play on the latest and greatest computers. Now, don't say we never gave you anything.

Download Grand Theft Auto Volume 1 in Softonic

Starring mobster Toni Cipriani, GTA Liberty City Stories is the first game in the Rockstar series to be launched on the PSP format. The handheld adventure sees Toni take on, and in some cases, befriend, a series of badass hitmen, depraved tycoons and all-round nutters as he cruises the streets looking for fast cars, fast women and fast money.

Download GTA Liberty City Stories Wallpaper in Softonic

With this desktop from the official Grand Theft Auto website, you'll get right into the GTA mood. The Rockstar game is hugely controversial for its use of violence and sex, however, it remains one of the top selling and most popular among gamers of all types. Don't miss out on it and download this wallpaper.

Download GTA San Andreas Desktop in Softonic

A few years have gone by and a new GTA title is already in our hands, but GTA San Andreas still remains as one of the most popular and controversial videogames of its time.

Located in the fictional state of San Andreas, this fourth installment of the GTA series develops around the life of Carl CJ Johnson, who tries to learn more about this mother's murder and rebuild his torn gang, while trying to survive with not-so-legal business ventures.

This trailer shows the most characteristic elements in the GTA franchise: dark corners and ghettos in big cities, frantic police chases, explosions, corruption, sex and of course, loads of weapons and violence, all with a more than suitable background soundtrack: Welcome to the Jungle, by Guns 'n Roses. Unfortunately, this particular download doesn't show any footage of the actual gameplay.

The GTA San Andreas gives you a living, colorful glimpse of the action, the adventure and the fun you'll find in this great game.

Download GTA: San Andreas Trailer in Softonic