The Grand Theft Auto franchise has been around for quite sometime and has made a very powerful name for itself. It allows the player to do whatever they want and take the story at their own pace. Whether they want to stick strictly to the story or go on a murderous rampage and dodge cops for two hours or even just pull motorcycle stunts was fair game for Grand Theft Auto. My only problem with it is the fact that it just does too much at the same time. The game is a shooter, driving game, and a slew of other things. It’s a doer of all, but yet it is a master of nothing. Though it never kept me from a enjoying the game, but I must say that I never did manage to finish one. In GTA III the terrible radar made one racing mission insanely frustrating and in Vice City the shooting drove me to the point of frustration because it never locked on to the person shooting at me. That problem didn’t rear its ugly fang bearing head until I had that shoot out mission in a police precinct near the end. GTA IV fixes a lot of those mistakes, but does it make it the greatest of them all. As a note to the reader I never bothered with San Andreas because at that time I just didn’t care about the franchise anymore.
Story:
GTA IV stars Niko Bellic a Serbian with more than his fair share of demons. Niko came to America because his cousin Roman continuously kept talking about all of his accomplishments and how it’s so easy to make it in America. I also think the stories of “big American titties” had something to do with it as well. Well after getting picked up and arriving at Romans apartment Niko discovers that everything he was told was about as real as the cheese in a can of Easy Cheese. The first thing he notices is that Roman has to push him aside to get the jump on a roach that was crawling along the floor.
Niko has to rise to the top of the Russian mob and do a lot of murdering to get there and Roman has to stand by his side and get caught up in it. The only endearing quality behind Niko is the fact that he’s loyal until you screw him over and there are times when he seems like a nice person. He can be sarcastic at times, but as the bodies start to pile up he might be what seems to be the most blood stained out of the GTA protagonists. The dialogue between the characters is definitely top notch and isn’t rivaled by any game. Every character in a way does a good job of entertaining and repulsing you by what they say.
The one thing that I’ve noticed about Niko is that he seems to have very little ambition. He’s doing what he does in the pursuit of money and to settle an old score, but other than that he’s not striving for much, just revenge and a quick buck. So a lot of the times he appears to just be whoring himself out to the highest bidder.
Gameplay:
Niko’s first missions are quite mundane because all you wind up doing is driving a friend of Roman’s from point A to point B and they don’t really pick up until about the second hour. Some of the on the foot chase missions are pretty decent, but the best ones are during shootouts. One of my favorite ones took place in a construction site. The first part had you sniping lookouts placed on top of cranes. When you killed them the camera followed them falling down and slamming either into the pavement or a car. Then you had to track down the union leaders and get them to see things your way. During the shootout you were sliding into cover and shooting people. It was really just exciting. What I really didn’t like was the recycling of chase missions. This is one thing I wouldn’t have a huge problem with if it wasn’t for the fact that the cars handled terribly. You can throw the word “realism” around all you want to defend this, but realism does not equal fun. The allure of the franchise was how unreal it was at times. Being able to take a corner with a handbrake and then speed up a hill only to have your car fly over a cop car was exhilarating. It had a sense of danger because you were moving fast and you knew that you should slow down, but you didn’t care.
Now the handling of the cars is just irritating. Granted once you get beyond the learning curve (learn how to brake at every turn) you don’t mind as much. Since the mission is crucial you do throw panic to the wind, which causes you to screw up. All of this a person can get used to, but the one gleaming error that is reprehensible is the camera. You would think during the time of development and bug testing that somebody would say, “This camera is terrible!!!” You have to find a sweet spot with it and for me it’s the one that’s as far back away from the rear of the vehicle as possible, because with the default one it’s almost impossible to see what’s in front of you. Doing a U-turn is a pain because it takes a while for you to learn that you have to manually pan the camera so that you can see in front of you.
The driving isn’t the only thing to get an overhaul. They added a cover system, which can be described as Gears of War light. It’s simple to snap on to something and take cover or slide into cover from a distance. Another enhancement is the new aiming structure, which is pretty good. You can either go from lock on to free aim, which is determined by how hard you press L2. You’re also able to target individual body parts.
The biggest improvement that I like though is the use of the Euphoria physics engine. It just might be the most hilarious thing since Havok. I first fell in love with it when I jacked my first car. The former owner of the car tried to take it from me when I drove off and he was just hanging onto the door for dear life flapping in the breeze. Next thing I know I clip a car and he comes flying off. It’s also nice with the different animations you get when you run someone over. It depends on what speed and the angle you hit someone. They’ll either go flying over the car or get hit and tumble sideways or forwards. Sometimes you might nudge someone and knock them down and they will come chasing after you sending expletives your way. Someone actually pulled me out of my car (a woman) and tried to kick my ass. It’s those little kinds of details that GTA IV gets right and makes you over look the stuff they got wrong.
You feel like you’re in Liberty City and that its citizens could be your next-door neighbors. There’s a sense of immersion since you’ll find yourself chasing down hot dog stands or going to burger shops to replenish your health. It’s the fact that when you hit a stationary object too fast you’re launched from your vehicle. The little touches like the various car jacking animations (love it when Niko kicks someone in the face) that has you laughing.
Another important improvement is the A.I. of your teammates (thank God), which is evidenced by the fact that they now know how to swim and get out of a car (sometimes) before it’s about to explode. This really helps during missions when they tag along. Because there are times when you will take a curve wrong and go spiraling off a harbor. While in previous GTA’s you would find yourself at the game over screen, but now you’re just swimming with them.
Other than killing and murdering your way to the top of the Russian mob you can explore the world. The lure of the GTA universe is being able to do whatever you want and for the most part you can, but there seems to be far too much realism in it this time.
For starters Niko now has a rather lively social life whether he goes drinking with his cousin Roman, drug dealer Little Jacob or a date there are tons of activities to do. Now you can bowl, shoot pool, throw darts or even partake in an interesting show at the Cabaret. My favorite one is actually the comedy club where you can find a routine from Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais just to name a few. And for your inner flesh freak you can go to the strip club to see scantily clad women shake their baby makers in your face. The option to own property and cleave people in twain with a samurai sword is gone and it’s really not as fun (for me) to start random acts of violence.
There’s a lot to enjoy with GTA IV with hilarious dialogue, enjoyable characters and much needed changes like the option to automatically restart a mission. And the most appreciated changes are a GPS system that will set a waypoint so you can get to your objective better and now trips to the hospital do not relinquish you of your arms. GTA IV aimed high…too high some might say, but it’s still one of the best games this year.
Graphics:
GTA IV is a step in the right direction graphics wise. The characters actually look like fully rendered humans now with lively physical mannerisms and facial expressions, and beautiful sunsets are also the norm. Depending on which island you’re on the area can look rather drab. Maybe it’s because I am really used to the glitz and glamour of the sun drenched 80’s infused Vice City, but at times Liberty City can look a little drab. There was this one place that I had to drive through at night that did manage to drop my jaw. It’s a recreation of Times Square and at night it sure is lively with lights shining from every building and billboards galore. There really isn’t that much pop in, but it’s still there. There is also a good amount of diversity between the civilian models and that’s definitely a plus.
Sound:
The soundtrack is definitely the most eclectic out of the bunch. Offering classic R&B, modern and classic hip hop, Metal, Rock and everything in between. There’s something for everyone. I must admit that I enjoyed the soundtrack in Vice City more than this one, but it’s definitely a lot better than GTA III’s. When music isn’t the case they also did a good job with my favorite sounds coming from bodily impacts. Rockstar did a very good job of capturing the impact of flesh on bumper.
The voice cast is definitely lively. It doesn’t appear to be as star studded at Vice City or San Andreas, but the actors breathe a lot of life and personality into the roles that they have. The accent on Niko takes some getting used to, but once you get beyond it you start to realize that it separates him from other GTA protagonists. The best vocal performance appears to be Little Jacob; voiced by an unknown named Coolie Ranx. There are times that you won’t know what in the name of God Little Jacob is saying, but you’ll love every moment of it because Niko doesn’t as well. The gun sounds seem to sound like firecrackers (especially the pistol), but everything else is well produced.
Replay:
If you’re into deathmatch and a bunch of other things you’ll find it here. I didn’t find it particularly ground breaking or innovative, but if you’re playing with a bunch of well-known friends then it should be interesting. If you’re without said friends then leave it alone. It is nicely handled though and offers different game types. I stuck to team deathmatch because if you can’t enjoy that then why bother with anything else. You are able to go online by using your cellphone in the game to join matches. And on top of this if you own the 360 version you can buy exclusive downloadable content, which should arrive during the Fall. I don’t know what this is and I don’t care because I can guarantee that I won’t be playing this by the time it comes out to even remotely care.
Overall:
GTA IV is a step in the right direction. I’m personally baffled by the perfect scores that the game has received, but I definitely enjoyed the game. The execution of the city and the excellently penned script and entertaining characters are high points. I miss the outlandish weapons like the samurai sword and chainsaw and dispensing random death isn’t as fun anymore, but I will admit sometimes a pedestrian just deserves it. They also took away the ability to own property so there’s almost nothing to really spend money on outside of weapons and dates and games of pool. The frustration that the driving causes is a detriment considering that it’s your primary use of transportation. I hope they do the next GTA in Vice City using this new engine.
"Grand Theft Auto IV (X360)" is on sale April 29, 2008 and is rated M. Action.
