GTA IV has once again set the standard in gaming for the open-world sandbox genre. The story, having just completed it, can set you back between 30-45 hours, depending on how you spend your time in the vast metropolis that is Liberty City.
GTA IV is, simply put, an amazing and in some times jaw-dropping game. The attention to detail is superb, and it is these small details that add tremendously to the overall opinion of the game.
I played GTA IV differently to the mainstream. I decided early on that I wouldn’t be an all-out, gun-ho, speed daemon that roars through the city wiping out every civilian in view. GTA IV is all about choices and this is the first of many that I was brought to decide on.
My style of play was to emulate how I would act if I was Niko Bellic himself and had just arrived in liberty city on a container ship. The first major point, is that you wouldn’t want to draw attention to yourself, so obeying the law (”What?! in GTA!?” I hear you say) was one of my aims.
I took a more relaxed driving style, stopped at red lights, enjoyed the experience of the game; listening to pedestrians interact, drivers making mistakes, the 24 hour light cycle from dawn to dusk. The missions, of course, for the main storyline were the temporary diversion from this style of play, as to true GTA nature, they require you to do un-citizenly (I made a new word) deeds.
Going back to details, Rockstar have done a great job of filling the city with life – be it the tour operator helicopters flying overheard as you cross from one island to the other, the 24 hours in the day (where the sun rises and sets, shadows move, etc), a policeman apprehending a criminal on the side of the road and then calling for backup, getting in the police car that arrived from around the corner and taking them in.
There are so many extras in Liberty City that, if you don’t pay attention, you may miss them. Other interesting factors include:
- If you do a standing donut (making the wheels spin and rotating the car with the steering) for too long, you will blow the rear tyres and be left with the alloys.
- The damage system in GTA IV means that you can slowly reduce your car to an ugly mess, up to the point of the engine giving up and just smoking away, or even seeing it catch fire… At which point, it’s a good idea to run.
- The emotions shown and expressions made by characters in cutscenes fills them with life. When you are with characters in cars (driving to a mission), they will talk about what has happened or what is to come).
- The mobile phone system. You can call up the emergency services to get help, you can call characters to talk with them about certain points in the storyline, you can call up a music identification service to get a text message sent to your in-game phone telling you what song is playing near you.
- In “Middle Park” you may see a group of people taking part in yoga/tai-chi.
There are so many things to observe in Liberty City, and every one of them is as good as the other. There are a number of “breathtaking” views, such as seeing the whole of the game world (that’s all three islands) at night in a helicopter, with the lights in buildings illuminating the area or even just going over a bridge and seeing the sun rise or set behind the city skyline.
Back to the serious side GTA IV does, however, live up to its 18 rating, and of course there are the usual controversial elements to the game, however, once again these elements are often a result of choices you make and you may not necessarily experience them. The ability to fly planes in this game was removed (Liberty City is based on New York), so that there was no possibility of Take Two being sued by people seeing planes being flown into buildings. This is understandable, however.
The controversy surrounding the game is often and possibly always taken out of context by the likes of Jack Thompson, who, for example, make a huge issue out of this game being sold to children. I am strongly opposed to his stupidity. The game has an 18 rating for a reason. Some of the aspects of this game are seen in a number of games, yet manifest in different conditions. This game should not be played by children, and any parent that believes they are responsible, should keep it that way.
The game does not lead you to become a gun-toting madman. Again, this is a game about choices, and anyone who plays will make these choices. The game is not the problem, it is the person playing. If they are not mentally capable to distinguish between reality and a game, then they should not be playing any game with violence in. Simple. Get back to playing Super Mario… uh oh, wait, you kill goombas and ducks in that. Better not play Super Mario.
Anyway, back to the real point of this post. GTA IV is a superb game and is a piece of programming art, and I thoroughly congratulate Take Two and Rockstar for all their efforts. It has been highly commended by multiple reviews with an overall average of 99 out of 100 (across 48 reviews). I too agree with these scores and give it a 99. The only things I didn’t like were the way that mission replays often started you right from the beginning and the fact the cover system could be a little more refined. Apart from that, the game is almost perfect.
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