Grand Theft Auto IV

So I picked up this game the other day; you know it is a boutique game, one that you might not have heard about. Grand Theft Auto IV..I was surprised at the IV, I didn’t realize there were 3 previous incarnations. I mean..Who wants to play a Criminal that steals cars?

Yeah I know, you have all been totally deluged with Grand Theft Auto this, GTA that, GTA will rot your kids brain..(Which it probably will if you let your kid play it. Don’t do that, it isn’t a kids game.) Honestly this will be one of the last pieces I post on the subject for at least a day or two.

It is my review.

It boils down to this: If you loved the previous GTA games, you will like this one. Despite all the extra bells and whistles that have been added with the utmost attention to detail, at it’s heart it is still Grand Theft Auto. You pull heists, jack cars, go on missions, etc etc. It is an update to a tried and true concept.

But what an update. This is the closest I’ve seen to a real city in a game. I’ve been to New York City before and driving around some parts of Liberty City bring memories flooding back. Although the graphics for the characters aren’t (in my humble opinion) the best, everything else is top notch.

The characters look like your modern “next gen” characterization, like you would find in Oblivion. A little bit better, but you still have that weirdly rounded look… You get used to it, however, and it is still 100 times better then what you see in the other GTA games.

What I like about this game are the modern touches: Like when you come to a sudden and complete stop your character will go flying through the windshield. Or how Cops are chasing other criminals down, even when you have no wanted level. I also like the fact that the cops have spheres of influence that you have to escape; run in to another cop and that sphere focuses on you. Being able to access all the contacts and missions from your cell phone is awesome, letting you have the whole game in the palm of your hand.

This game is also way more story centric then any previous Grand Theft Auto. Your character, Niko, is a likeable man with a dark past, just in off the boat. His cousin has lied to him, telling him tales about his life in America that just aren’t true. The truth is much more harsh, he is in debt to loan sharks and needs some help. You are that help and with your background you can help many times, with your fists.

That starts a story that will ultimately lead to Niko finding more about himself and making a few tough decisions about life and death.

Outside of the main story line there are many things to do: Bowling, Darts, eating, going to clubs and cabarets, jacking cars, going on dates, watching TV, and surfing the net.

They have completely simulated bowling, darts, and pool in this game. They are games within a game that you could spend hours perfecting. You can also go out and get smashed with your friends, so drunk in fact you can barely walk and can barely drive. However, they let you drive if you want…and it isn’t the easiest thing to do. Luckily cops are much smarter in this version of GTA and will tag you quickly if they catch you driving drunk… Believe me, I know because I tried it.

Some of the down sides are a few graphical glitches I had; one was while playing pool with my date. I stopped being able to see the pool table and had to cancel the game. My date was disappointed, telling me that maybe next time we can finish a game. There was one frame rate stutter, but it isn’t anything as bad as I’ve seen in past GTA games. The camera can be a little wonky, not wanting to stay in the place where you set it.

One thing I would beg Rockstar to do: Put in mid mission save points. It is annoying to be in the middle of a multistage mission and die near the end, only having to replay the same mission over. Sure the dialouge of the people change, but dying because you made a left instead of a right at the end of the mission just isn’t fun…then having to reply that whole mission to get back to that point? Frustrating.

I’d also like a flim save option like they have in Halo 3.

The good things about this game out weigh the bad; although I still wouldn’t play this game in a room in or around children, it is a fun romp in the life of a moralistic criminal. There seems to be more emphasis put on the Grand Theft Auto part of the game this time around and it is coupled with a world that is just begging to be explored. It isn’t your father’s GTA, but takes the series in a new direction and it will be interesting to see how it grows.

Unfortunately you can’t jump over buildings like you can in Crackdown…heh.

- Warren

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 4:38 am and is filed under Console, Gaming, Sections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.