Grand Theft Auto IV Update - A Day in Liberty City
We got a 45-minute guided tour around Rockstar's take on the Big Apple. Does the fourth GTA still have what it takes?
The last time we got a look at Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar showed us a rather modest taste of what to expect from its highly awaited crime epic, one that gave us only a basic idea of the kind of urban playground the developer was creating. More recently, Rockstar took all that theoretical stuff we've been hearing about with regard to the game's new mechanics, and put it into impressive action with a new demonstration of the Xbox 360 version that started answering our questions about how the designers will change the gameplay in the fourth iteration of their seminal open-world action series. Can they tinker with the formula that sold 900 billion games across the cosmos without damaging its core appeal? Our answer right now? Yeah, they probably can.
After all, it was Rockstar who invented the open-world action model that has since influenced franchises from The Godfather to Crackdown to Jak & Daxter. Grand Theft Auto essentially defined that giddy sense of criminal freedom, by which you could wreak utter havoc on the hapless citizenry (and the citizenry's cars) with relative impunity and explosive aplomb. So it's ironic that it's Rockstar who is now restraining that freedom with GTA IV, which will place more immediate and noticeable limits on--and stricter consequences for--the sort of illicit behavior you can get away with as you go about your dirty business around Liberty City. The goal of this constrained design isn't to ruin your happy crime sprees, but rather to immerse you deeper into the world of Liberty City by making some of those explicitly gamelike elements of the GTA titles a little more realistic. We observed some of those limits and consequences in action during our demonstration.
The session began with the game's poster boy for troubled pasts, protagonist Niko Bellic, starting out his day in Star Junction, which is GTA IV's version of Times Square. Niko received a cell phone call from crooked cop Francis McReary, who was intent on blackmailing Niko into running some shady errands. Your cell phone will act as one of your primary means of interacting with the residents of Liberty City. In past games, you merely accepted calls--and their associated missions--when they came in, as dictated by the story. But in GTA IV the phone is a two-way device, as you can just pop it up at the bottom of the screen, scroll through your list of contacts, and make a call when you need to reach out and touch the right (or wrong) person. In Rockstar's words, the cell phone is one new example of the way GTA IV will have you actively "instigating, not just reacting to" the world around you.
As it turned out, McReary wanted us to ice a lawyer who had been compiling evidence against the dirty cop. But unlike in past GTA games, the player had to go through a more subtle and lengthy process than simply striding into the law office, weapons ablaze, and gunning down every sucker in the place. What better way to get face-to-face with the lawyer in question without raising any eyebrows than to score a job interview with the jerk? To do that, we saw the player head to one of GTA IV's new Internet cafes, affectionately known as "TW@," and log onto the law firm's Web site to submit his resume and request an interview in person. Like with the cell phone, you'll be able to access a graphical interface that lets you surf the Web, check e-mail, and other basic functions whose purpose is primarily to tell you where to go and what to do next. Again like the phone, the Internet will act as a familiar real-world method of disseminating information and instructions to you without jarringly taking you out of the gameworld.
But before Niko could perform the hit, McReary helpfully pointed out that he would need some firepower to complete his task (yes, there will still be guns in the game). Niko was able to whip out his cell phone and ring up a "friend," a Rastafarian named Little Jacob who could help him get what he needed. Alas, in keeping with GTA IV's more realistic tone, you'll have to say goodbye to your beloved chain of Ammu-Nation stores. Guns won't be available from any mom-and-pop corner shop; you'll have to deal with shady characters like Jacob, who we saw selling a lovely array of automatic and semiautomatic weapons right out of his car trunk.
Continue on to see how Rockstar has made the process of stealing a car more meaningful--and more dangerous.
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