Grand Theft Auto IV
Our Rating
9.6
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The last thing anyone wants to read right now is another gushing GTA IV review. At the same time, the job of a reviewer is to accurately evaluate a game from all angles, and GTA IV is a damned good game so it’s hard not to gush. It’s with this mindset and a critical eye that I embark on this review of arguably the hottest game of 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV. I chose to review the Playstation 3 version simply because I didn’t want to deal with freezes/scratched discs that the 360 is prone to, especially with a game like this that leans heavily on the system’s cache.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise began in 1998 when a small developer named DMA Design released a crude, bird’s eye view game that let you steal cars, drive around a small city, and commit crimes. To quote Gamespot, “…the way pedestrians scream and run if you drive on the sidewalk add to GTA's cool factor”. Indeed to this very day, driving a car in a GTA game over a sidewalk and plowing into pedestrians while others scream and run is a joy that never seems to get old.
While the first GTA title wasn’t particularly popular or noteworthy, the franchise exploded when GTA III was launched in October 2001 and revolutionized the action genre with its open world, sandbox gameplay. Subsequent sequels like Vice City and San Andreas added depth and improved visuals, but the one main criticism of the title- the poor aiming system- was not properly corrected. Grand Theft Auto IV, the first “next-gen” GTA title for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, sports significantly enhanced visuals that surpass nearly all 360 or PS3 titles, a much improved aiming system, and a terrific online mode that lengthens the already tremendous replay value.
In GTA IV, you play as an all new Russian immigrant, straight off the boat, named Niko Bellic. Niko travels to the US in search of the American Dream and meets up with his cousin Roman in Liberty City. When Niko arrives, he soon discovers that all the wealth that Roman claimed he had was a lie. No fancy cars, pretty women, or posh studio apartments- instead, Niko finds Roman in his run down apartment in Broker (a replica of Brooklyn), in a neighborhood that closely resembles Russian friendly Brighton Beach. Niko helps his hapless cousin while jumping into the underground crime scene to complete unspeakable tasks to survive.
Let’s start with the aiming system, which historically has been GTA’s Achilles heel. In the past, pressing the ‘auto-aim’ button would often cause a reticule to appear on a non intended target and switching targets was sluggish and random, wasting valuable seconds and opening the player up to gunfire from all angles. Trying to shoot from a free aim mode was a hassle as well. GTA IV cleverly addresses these problems by allowing you to free aim by pressing the L2 button half-way and using the right analog stick to move the targeting reticule as you please, and you instantly lock on to the nearest target by pushing L2 down fully. What’s even better, if you hold down L2 fully, the reticule will become fixed on your targets torso, but you can still use the right analog stick to aim at other parts of his/her body. This comes in especially handy when you’re going for a headshot or want to shoot out a few kneecaps.
The control scheme is very tight, both on foot and piloting the various vehicles. Although I wouldn’t recommend it due to its imprecise nature, you can use the Six Axis to motion-steer any of the bikes, cars, or boats, but using motion controls for the helicopters is a lot of fun and the views are spectacular. When you’re walking around, Niko will automatically sense objects as you encounter them and react accordingly. For example, if you walk up to a low object like a bed, Niko will step up onto the bed with no extra action required, or if Niko walks over a body, he’ll plant one foot on top him/her. You can jump up and grab just about any structure that has a ledge (I hung from a playground hut once on top of a slide!), and you can shimmy from side to side- a first for GTA- or vault yourself up if possible. This mechanic allows you to sprint, jump on a chain link fence, and swing over it. In general, the object detection and context sensitive actions are very good- press the square button as Niko comes across a couch, car hood, or any other waist-high object and he’ll vault over it.
The combat system is much improved- to the point where it’s fun to pick a fight instead of just button mashing to beat up pedestrians. You can now punch or kick, throw combos, and you can hold X to block. If you press X at the moment of an attack, you will dodge it and can then execute a special combo. The cover system for shooting also works very well and borrows heavily from Gears of War. You can slide into cover using R1, blind fire your weapon from behind cover, and pop in and out of cover to fire by using the L1 button. Additionally, you can crouch behind objects using L3 and scamper along cover in that mode.
Graphically, GTA IV is a technical showpiece for both the 360 and the PS3. Rockstar has replicated New York City and the surrounding boroughs to an astonishing degree. Everything feels organic from the corner bodegas in Bohan (the Bronx), to train tracks above the streets of Broker (Brooklyn), to the upscale glamour and bright lights of Algonquin (Manhattan), and the sprawling suburban and industrial areas of Alderney (New Jersey). A lot of work and research went into keeping the authenticity for each location and as a gamer, you can really appreciate that- especially if you live in New York as I do and have been to the many landmarks represented in the game.
The environments within GTA IV are vibrant and teeming with life. There is a network of traffic lights and cars that abide by them and tons of different pedestrians walk the streets. The pedestrian interaction is really cool; they walk around town, some with coffees or newspapers in hand, some smoking cigarettes, and retort if you push into them. There is a ton of variety in pedestrians like vagrants, businessmen and women, hookers (what would a GTA game be without them?), bible thumpers, and more. I once found a Rabbi walking in Broker, not an uncommon sight in real life, and after I hassled him a bit he said, “what’s with all the nudging?” in a real Jewish accent, and after some further prodding replied, “I’ll run all the way Upstate if I have to”.
The character models look excellent with clean faces and lots of detail. During the cut-scenes, the characters animate smoothly and move naturally- much more so than prior GTA titles. When they talk, their lips are in sync with the words being spoken. Niko himself has a very unique, Eastern European look and a short, scraggly beard. The various outfits that you’ll unlock as you progress look sharp as well.
There is a four minute load time every time you boot up, but that is a small price to pay for a seamless experience with only short load screens when you start a mission. You transition from outdoor to indoor areas just by pushing a door open and you won’t have any interruptions as you travel from area to area. The frame rate runs at a steady clip, but there is a bit of slowdown if you’re driving fast in a congested area. There is also a good deal of clipping issues when on foot; on numerous occasions I noticed that my head or other body part disappeared in a wall.
The weather effects are awesome- torrents of rain falls creating lots of individual splashes on the ground, and there’s a liberal use of blurring lights, especially in foggy weather. Day will turn to night and visa versa in a slow pattern with realistic color palettes for each part of the day. There’s also a very cool, Burnout-like blurring effect when you drive very fast where your car blurs slightly and the surrounding start to increasingly blur. Other, more subtle graphical effects equally impress, like the blood that remains splattered on the hood of your car after you run someone over, or after you kill someone and a pool of blood spreads around their head, you can walk in it and create bloody foot tracks wherever you step.
As usual, Rockstar went above and beyond in the sound department. They recorded individual gun sounds so every gun will sound different and authentic, and the voice acting is first class. Niko has a very realistic Russian accent, and other characters you meet have similar authentic accents and lingos like Little Jacob whose Carribean accent is so thick it’s hard to make out what he’s saying. Interestingly, Rockstar didn’t go with any celebrities for the voice talent for GTA IV, but the game does not suffer for it.
There’s a good deal of licensed music you can hear as you drive around Liberty City and flip through the radio stations. Aside from a few hilarious talk stations, most music genres are present and you will hear artists including Iggy Pop, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Genesis, Kanye West, and more. Once in awhile, a news flash will break in and talk about a crime that you just committed, making you feel like you are playing a part in a movie.
Thankfully, the sim elements present in GTA: San Andreas have been removed so you’ll no longer need to button-mash at the gym to build your strength. Instead, the focus of GTA IV’s gameplay is relationship building- with girlfriends, your cousin Roman, and other unsavory characters that hire you to perform tasks for them. If you consistently improve your relationship with other characters, you will reap the benefits like free car rides or discounted weapons. Likewise you can disappoint your friends and harm your relationships with them and have your benefits yanked. The central hub to these relationships is your cell phone.
By simply hitting the ‘up’ directional button, you’ll pull up your cell phone where you can access many of the characters that you have met and you can call them to plan activities with them to strengthen your bond with them. Activities include drinking, dining, visiting a strip club, playing darts, pool, bowling, and more. The pool minigame is fun and significant with ball physics and full control over your shot- you can even choose where to hit the ball. Your cell phone also serves to progress the storyline in a customized manner as you choose who you want to call, and you receive calls as well to advance the story that you can choose to take or not to take.
Your love life is a big part of the gameplay and while you are nudged into your first relationship with Michelle, you’ll come across other women that you can develop romantic relationships with. Dates are amusing- my date even noticed and complemented me on my new shirt that I just bought. You’ll make small talk in the car on the way to the activity of your choosing and the idea is to pick an activity that she likes to gain more favor. Even though it wasn’t on my cell phone as an activity, just for kicks I brought my date to a strip club. She walked around with me past the various poles and half-naked women prancing about but disappointingly she didn’t react to anything. At the end of the date you can try your luck with her and ask to “go up for coffee” which usually results in some entertaining sound bytes.
Spending your time wondering around Liberty City is very enjoyable due to all the things you can do (don’t forget to pick up some street walkers at night and rotate the camera for a good view), and even doing things like taking a simple joyride is a blast. I kept getting distracted from the main storyline because I enjoyed just screwing around in the city. Hand braking around corners, smashing into pedestrians and watching them tumble realistically over the roof of your car while cursing you out, smashing into boxes, crates, and park benches that splinter into pieces, and driving over lamp poles that shoot out sparks when they tip over are all joys that you’ll encounter. A handy GPS system lets your mark a waypoint on the map screen, and the in-game map will show you the best route to get there.
Car chases are intense and challenging; I was chasing after a perp in a police car at full speed while weaving in and out of traffic and it still took me a good five minutes to catch him. The cops are smarter and more aggressive this time around and they are merciless once you start killing people and building up your star (wanted) level. Escaping from 3+ stars is tough; once you escape their immediate grasp, the police radius is much wider which makes getting away more difficult. As always, it’s a hoot to take cover with a machine gun and see how many cops you can take out before the SWAT teams and helicopters subdue you.
The missions that you’ll embark on usually have an interesting plotline but consist of similar actions that are rehashed again and again. You’ll be asked to kill certain targets, steal certain cars, retrieve certain objects, trail certain people, and so on. Although the game tries hard to make each mission feel fresh with unique characters and concepts, they still draw from the familiar pool of objectives. One very helpful feature is after a failed mission you will receive a text message that allows you to instantly start the mission again with no cut scenes, saving you time and frustration.
Once you have exhausted the single player campaign (or in tandem with it), you will find a whole other world to explore with the online multiplayer mode. There are many different type of games you can jump into at any time using your cell phone, including some inventive ones like Cops n’Crooks and Mafiya Work, which is a departure from the standard deathmatch games. My experience playing online with the PS3 has been mixed and I have had my share of getting booted from rooms for no apparent reason, but the service has gotten better lately. The other difficulty I had was because Playstation 3 consoles are not packaged with headsets, there were very few people that had a mic. I kept mine turned on at all times, but I was always in the minority with one. Sony would be wise to start packaging Bluetooth headsets in with new consoles to improve communication amongst the online community.
Of course you have the classic deathmatch and team deathmatch where the host can choose from a bevy of options like how many pedestrians are walking around, the weather, auto-aim off or on, or if police are present or not. Games are played either in one particular area, or in the whole city, which can be a bit unwieldy. In Team Deathmatch, players’ names are displayed clearly and there is a colored circle next to each name that represents his or her team. I dug how crouching makes your name disappear so that you can sneak in for a stealth kill or quietly wait to ambush your enemy. Each player has a rank from 1-10 and you increase it by collecting money each time you kill someone or complete a task. Achieving new ranks unlocks new clothing for your online character.
Other notable modes include the Race mode where you race with reckless abandon and while car damage is visible, it doesn’t affect your performance. I had a blast with Race, and didn’t quite enjoy the GTA Race mode where you grab any vehicle to get to the flag. Race felt more action packed while GTA race was a bit slower. Mafiya Work is fun as hell- you constantly take on new jobs via your cell phone like killing targets, stealing cars, destroying objects, and more, all while competing against up to 16 other players who are trying to accomplish the same tasks as you.
There are a bunch of other modes as well like Cops n’ Crooks where the crooks have to get the boss to safety while the cops have to catch him, and Turf War which has capture-the-base gameplay. There are team-based modes or competitive modes for most of the game types, and there are also cooperative games where you play alongside a few of your buddies to accomplish a particular goal. Due to the fact that many players don’t have mics, team or cooperative modes aren’t all that fun unless you invite your friends that do have them.
GTA IV is a giant leap forward for the series and indeed lives up to the immense hype surrounding this title. It utilizes the power of next-gen systems to produce incredible graphics with minimal load times, and the voice acting and storyline are excellent so that you always want to find out what’s around the next bend. Is it perfect? No, it’s not- it suffers from some framerate issues, some clipping issues, and the missions draw from the same limited well which gets old after awhile. At its finest though, it’s the closest thing to an interactive movie with its spectacular productions values, it contains more than 60 hours of gameplay for the single player campaign, and the online multiplayer mode extends its life cycle far beyond what most games should be.
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Our Score - Grand Theft Auto IV
9.6
overall
- Gameplay
- 9.4
- Visuals
- 9.9
- Audio
- 9.7
- Fun Factor
- 9.6
The Good: Great graphics, new and improved aiming system, lots of replay, fun online mode
The Bad: Clipping issues, going on dates gets boring, gameplay is repetitive, many PS3 gamers don’t have mics online
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