Rarely does a game live up to its preceding hype, but with the delivery of Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar succeeded in crafting a near perfect game that delivers a movie-like experience. No expense was spared in rounding out gameplay, characters, visuals and intense multiplayer action to give players a solid contender for game of the year.
Fresh off a boat from Eastern Europe is Niko Bellic, a flawed man who has seen the horrors of war and has survived with a barely-there look in his eyes. While it is nice to think he has come to Liberty City to start over, the truth is really that he has unfinished business to take care of, and he doesn’t care if it takes down the whole city with him. As he navigates the city streets he befriends the local denizens, proves his worth, and moves up the nefarious underground ladder to get closer to his target.
There is a lot of good character development going on in GTA IV. From Niko to his cousin Roman to the numerous friends he meets, Rockstar fashioned a superb storytelling backdrop for this game that is enhanced by the excellent voice acting and motion capture of actors. Graphics add to this cinematic feel and really have you loving and hating each character in turn and pulling for Niko.
This would all be for naught if the gameplay weren’t equally up to snuff. Here the developers took the already solid base of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and tweaked the formula in a logical progression to include duck-and-cover mechanics to heighten ease of play. Driving similarly has been updated to make cruising through the extremely detailed city a highlight by itself, as each ride has its own distinct feel. Button control for moving around the city or through intense gunfights are intuitive, making both intense moments of action and casual moments of travel flow smoothly.
Beyond the storyline, there is a plethora of extra adventures to seek out. Side quests include drug-deliveries, car theft and even helping the law take down the most wanted. Even the less-involving dating missions lead to mini-games such as pool, bowling, and darts; while it is fun to get lost in these diversions, they don’t quite match up to San Andreas‘s depth of extra stuff to do. Although the PS3 lacks the achievements of the 360, there are still the jumps to locate and the flying rats to exterminate which leads to the unlocking of an extra helicopter, ensuring the die-hards will have plenty to do.
The challenge level has gotten slightly easier from the previous installment. Like the addition of the duck-and-cover mechanic that makes facing enemies slightly better and the addition of GPS driving directions, there are other enhancements that might have serious gamers throw their hands up. One of these is the radius where your wanted level literally disappears; all you have to do is park just beyond this radius and wait for a good ten seconds until you are free to roam again. More like a cheat than anything, this takes a little of the reality out of the game that was striving to remove its cartoonish image it maintained from previous games.
Beyond the standard single player mode, the multiplayer goes out of its way to hit you over the head with choices. Offering almost a dozen online modes, you can take part of several mostly hit than miss games that will have multiplayer enthusiasts drooling for a while to come. Racing and Cop and Robbers were my highlights, although some other game modes didn’t work as well for me in the open world format. Deathmatch makes full use of the large map but often quickly devolves into a headache as you try to catch your teams from across town.
I can almost anticipate fans of San Andreas going to have some beefs with this game, but the fact remains that by itself GTA IV is a well-thought out and executed game that shows dedication to creating an instant classic. With intense action, driving and story, the only thing holding back a player from checking out this game should be its Mature rating.
