Since 1997, the Grand Theft Auto series and its developer Rockstar have proven time and time again that it is the undisputed king of the open-world genre. As the first entry onto PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, GTA 4 aims to fly higher than any of its predecessors and in this regard, the game is by most accounts wildly successful.
GTA 4 returns the series to Liberty City, but the city fans remember from 2001’s Grand Theft Auto 3 is but a distant memory. Rockstar’s newest iteration of the east coast is based on New York and the city plays host to what is no doubt the developer’s finest story to date. Players step into the shoes of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European who comes to America to escape his dark past and, according to his cousin Roman, enjoy a life of luxury in the big city. Upon arriving, Niko quickly learns that he has an extremely long way to go to reach that point and quickly (and reluctantly) becomes wrapped up in his criminal ways once again. Niko’s journey of criminal activity and revenge crosses paths with a huge range of memorable characters just like every game in the series before it, but where Grand Theft Auto 4’s story really goes beyond that is through its sense of realism and narrative choice. Written by Dan Houser, the plot goes asks some very interesting moral questions, criticising man’s desire for power, corruption and the American Dream in addition to its satire of US culture. Adding to the story is a full voice cast as opposed to the use of celebrities in previous games; each character is well-acted, thoughtful and has a significant role to play over the course of the game. For the first time in the series Niko is placed at major story points where he must decide who lives and dies or how ruthless he will be in his pursuit of prosperity. Add to that a likeable leading protagonist and you have the very first story in the long running series that makes you really care about the characters and one that stands among the best in video games.
Although the map size is much smaller than the developer’s previous creations, Grand Theft Auto 4’s game world is no slouch when it comes to content. The story takes place across 88 main missions which add up to at least thirty hours of gameplay, but as with any game in the series, there are so many distractions and things to do that your time spent with the game substantially expands. The biggest addition to the design is socialising; as Niko goes through the game he will acquire several contacts saved to a mobile phone. He can invite them (or be invited) to go bowling, drinking or play darts amongst other activities and errands which raise ‘’like’’ and ‘’respect’’ percentages. Once these rise high enough, some friends will offer special abilities such as weapon stores and extra back-up both on and off missions. It’s a great addition, although the frequency of people calling in can become aggravating at times, especially where refusing social offers unavoidably depletes the ‘’like’’ percentage. Mission design has always been one of the major strengths of the series and while many of the missions still involve the process of watching a cutscene, driving to a location and killing everyone on sight, there are some real standouts here; a long range sniping mission from the top of a skyscraper and a fully-fledged bank robbery are particularly intense and thrilling. Whilst the missions do entertain, they do suffer from a lack of checkpoints; a problem which has long plagued the series, forcing players back to the start to retry from the beginning. The realism that permeates the story has also invaded the game’s design which will no doubt divide fans of the series; customisation has been restricted, the weapon count has been lowered, upgradeable skills are gone and there are no planes or tanks to commandeer. These changes work well at enhancing the story but in terms of gameplay it does mildly reduce the amount of enjoyment some may get out of the game. These gripes stick out a little but when GTA 4 is so large, expansive and immersive, all is mostly forgiven.
In addition to the humongous single player mode, Grand Theft Auto 4 introduces the series very first online mode; up to 16 players can battle one another in structured matches or simply drive around causing mayhem in the city. The game offers a relatively modest set of customisation options for your virtual criminal in addition to enabling and disabling police and traffic. Getting into the multiplayer modes can take a lot of patience as players are often ruthless in their efforts to take others down and take the most valuable weapons for themselves. Some of the team based modes are still great fun such as Cops n’ Crooks but compared with today’s popular multiplayer games the online functionality of Grand Theft Auto 4 is acceptable and little more.
Grand Theft Auto games in the past have suffered from some lacking shooting and driving controls but for the fourth main entry in the series, Rockstar has rectified almost every problem. Shooting is now handled through a cover system typical of most third person shooters where Niko snaps to a wall or solid object and peeks out to shoot with any available weapon. This makes taking on many gang members at once much more manageable and less frustrating than it was before. On the other hand, driving in GTA 4 is something that you really have to get used to over time; in a first for the series, most of the vehicles handle like the real thing and if you’ve played a lot of racing games then you may find it quite monotonous at first. Aside from sports cars the various land transports simply aren’t designed to turn while breaking and each need to be mastered depending on their size and weight. Add to this the danger of crashing through the wind-screen if Niko hits a solid object head-on and you have a much more tense experience all around, especially when evading the law. The Liberty City Police Department is once again relentless in their pursuit of Niko, bringing to bear heavy weaponry, vehicles and NOOSE teams depending on the protagonist’s wanted level. To evade the authorities Niko must escape the circled area the police are searching; this is assisted by switching vehicles or entering one of several purchasable safe houses across the map. On the whole Grand Theft Auto 4’s gameplay marks the biggest improvement to the series and is sure to be replicated and refined in future titles.
Grand Theft Auto 4’s technical presentation is miles beyond any game in the series before it but that is mostly down to the increased power of the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game adopts a darker and saturated look which again compliments the realism of the story but the graphics as a whole won’t set the world on fire. Facial animations are quite good in cut-scenes but the character models lack detail and you’ll often come across reused voice sampling in the civilians of Liberty City. With that said, Liberty City remains a marvel of a setting, bustling with activity of both the normal and criminal kind, there’s little that doesn’t work to absorb you into the game. The interior sections are much more detailed this time around, be it a hospital with medical staff wandering about their duties or a police station with law enforcers patrolling day and night. The track list has grown larger over the years and Grand Theft Auto 4 boasts one of the biggest soundtracks featuring real music with over 200 different songs across 19 radio stations. It’s a bit rough around the edges but Grand Theft Auto 4’s detailed cityscape and brilliant soundtrack do ultimately save the package.
Grand Theft Auto 4 isn’t quite the best game in the series, but it is definitely a huge step forward for the series. The story can rank among the best in the medium and most of the issues with gameplay that plagued the series in the past have been fixed. Even though its successor has effectively blown the doors off the gaming landscape, ’’4’’ is still well worth a look.
Rating: 9/10