GTA IV – Is it worth all the fuss?

Originally written for Nuclear Geek.com

Since the rest of the internet has had a complete nerdgasm and exploded its love all over the beast that is GTA IV, it’s about time that Nuclear Geek gives its two pennies worth on the matter. Is it really that good? Does it live up to the hype? Is it truly the most important game of this generation? Well, being the informative site on all things geek that we are – and the fact that I’ve personally played over 30 hours of it (the in-game stats have labelled my addiction level as ‘bummed in the gob’) we’ve gone and compiled a rundown of all things GTA IV.

Wow. Where should I start? I mean, it’s the hundreds, even thousands, of minutiae that make Liberty City what it is. Watching other drivers fix their rear-view mirrors while they wait for the lights to change. Having your in-game girlfriend comment on your change of clothes. The sat-nav systems and their spoken directions in the more expensive cars. The incidental dialogue. The Laundromats and pharmacies that add charm to the city streets. The fact that driving slowly up to pedestrians sees them defensively raise their hands towards your vehicles bonnet rather than blindly ignore you. The in-game internet – absolutely packed with content and news that reflects your actions. The grubbily authentic graffiti. The neon. The walk/don’t walk signs. The water itself, whose surface reflects the late evening sun to create the kind of evocative scene you just want to stop and soak up. The helicopter rides, taken whilst staring wide-eyed at the sparkling re-imagining of the city that never sleeps spread out far below.

I could go on and on, but starting at the very beginning would probably be best. Once control of Niko Bellic was handed over to my willing hands the first thing I attempted was the car jacking of an unfortunate citizen (naturally). To my surprise, as Niko reached out for the car’s handle the driver slammed down on the accelerator and I watched in awe as Niko was dragged across the tarmac, the Euphoria engine in full effect as he bounced and scraped along. Immediately I knew that in this version of Liberty City, things really would be different. It’s a city that is reactive, living and unscripted. It’s as beautiful as it is convincing, the magic of the city on which it is based infused in every alleyway, junction and intricate overpass, and made all the more alive by a variety of restaurants, bowling alleys, cabaret, comedy, pool halls and bars. Rockstar have always had a knack for making their virtual worlds distinct despite their size and it’s no different here. Each suburb, district and neighbourhood has its own flavour and as with previous GTA games it’s not long before you start to learn your way around. Niko really plays second fiddle to the sprawling urban environment, because as likeable as he is Liberty City is the true centre of attention.

So aside from offering one of the most organic, lifelike gameworlds as a playground to your imagination, what else does GTAIV have that the previous titles lack? The most obvious addition is the cell phone. Mainly you’ll be using it to get in touch with your contacts to further the story, but it can also be used to work on your in-game social life – sections of play that allow you take girls on dates or friends on outings to play pool or darts, grab a bite to eat, take helicopter rides or just get blind drunk (attempting to control Niko while he and his friends stumble about like paralytic drunkards is endlessly entertaining). The phone has many other uses too, such as taking photos, choosing wallpaper themes, calling the emergency services, receiving messages from friends and even the ability to call a service that will text back the artist and name of the song you’re currently listening to.

Gunplay has also undergone a facelift – something the series has been in vital need of for a long time. The cover-and-fire school of combat – ubiquitous as it is in gaming today – once again rears its head. It slots into the gameplay nicely, allowing the player to snap to any cover (including parked cars – a tactic that can be quite handy when approaching a large gang). Holding the left shoulder button locks the reticule to the nearest target while still giving the freedom to pick which body part you’d like to hit. Headshots, of course, mean instantaneous death and the usual dose of satisfaction, while capping an enemy in the leg will have them limping for safety. Unlike before the gunplay is incredibly rewarding, meaning the game’s best missions are those with lots of bullets (and believe me, there are lots of bullets).

Close quarters combat also allows for combos: timing a quick tap of the A button causes Niko to perform a quick and brutal take down, reducing the opponent’s health to scraps. The animation is top notch, from Niko’s sturdy saunter to the way he pulls unwilling victims from their vehicles. Assassin’s Creed set the standard for in-game character animation, and GTA IV – with the smart Euphoria engine working away in the background – has well and truly knocked it from the top spot. During one mission I had Niko climb to the top of a crane, only to accidentally let him slip in-between a collection of girders. Watching him bounce and bound off every strut on his descent was as awe-inspiring as it was a sickeningly realistic depiction of physics and weight.

Ok, now allow me to take two steps back and focus on some of the issues that conceal themselves within the grandeur of Liberty City. No game is without its faults, and GTA IV has several, albeit very minor, discrepancies. To be honest it feels almost silly to bring them up – as they pale into insignificance when you consider the game as a whole – but they’re there nonetheless. Buildings pop in and out on the horizon from time to time, and sometimes during the otherwise excellent cutscenes the character models look a little too similar to those from previous instalments with only a new layer of polish to spruce them up.

The social life side of things can begin to feel a little too much like a chore rather than fun. More than once I’ve been happily heading towards a mission involving helipcopters and rocket launcers only to have a friend call up because they want to go bowling – not quite as exciting by any means. Turning them down causes a decrease in their level of friendliness towards you, which in turn means missing out on the bonuses they will award later on. Sure, the social life is optional, but it can jut into the gameplay a little too often if it’s something you’re not interested in.

And here’s a really absurd-sounding problem: GTA IV can be a little too realistic. Ok, ok. That is absurd, but hear me out. GTA IV presents such a lifelike world that you actually feel let down when Niko won’t interact with an object. Be it a building you can’t enter or an item you can’t pick up you feel it all the more strongly than you would in a game that allowed you no freedom at all. A similar problem arises when Niko interacts with the world ‘incorrectly’. An example of this with bike helmets – Niko magically produces them from any bike he rides and drops them on the floor when he’s done, only for them to reappear within the bike later on. It’s not a major problem – more a very minor disappointment – it’s just the kind of thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in a gamespace were everything else is immaculately represented.

Such contrasts are also evident on a much broader – and much more significant – scale. GTA IV plays out. In Niko, Rockstar have created a sympathetic individual who, to anybody mindful of storytelling and the artistic side of games, should not be going on a murderous rampage. Niko Bellic is not proud of his actions. They are never glorified. In fact, through the in-game conversations with Cousin Roman, you will hear his commentary on his standing in life, as well as heart felt deliberation on what makes a man do the things he does. It’s simply out-of-character for Niko to become a mass murderer, and as such, killing sprees do not feel right. You want to be good, you want to interact with Liberty City as you would if you lived there. Now, this means two things. One, it deters you from the casual violence that has characterised the series so far – something that can detract from the freewheeling nature of the experience. Two, it creates a new way of interacting with a familiar game: who would have thought you’d spend as much of your time with GTA in the back of the cab as in in the front of a stolen car? Either way, it marks a substantial change in the way GTA presents itself to the player.

The importance of such a change in direction for a series as hell bent on destruction as GTA cannot be understated. By removing such insanities as ‘Rampage’ and focusing instead on narrative, character and setting Rockstar have paved the way towards a great age for gaming. When playing GTA IV you can’t help but feel the implicit possibility of a future in which titles can willingly explore violence, sexuality and racism in the same way the movie industry can tackle today’s biggest social dilemmas without coming under fire. A future in which the mainstream will realize that gaming is the number one entertainment industry because the average gamer is nowhere near his or her teen years, and can not only handle mature topics, but actively begs the industry for them. GTA IV encapsulates everything we’ve wanted from the current generation but haven’t quite been given to until now.

I mean, everything I’ve written above aside, any game that simply allows you stare out the back window of a taxi as the world rolls by, and makes you actually want to do it, is something special. Where can Rockstar possibly take the series next? It’s a question as stimulating as it is prodigious.