Fat Ninja

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For a time I was really on the fence about Grand Theft Auto IV. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it, believe it or not. I hadn’t enjoyed previous installments with even half of the zeal that most of my gaming counterparts seem to have for it. There was a lot that I didn’t like about my experiences with the franchise. My personal issues weren’t related to content, however, with two young children (one of whom is an avid gamer), I wasn’t keen on having it in the house. I eventually worked out a compromise and picked up the latest installment in Rock Star’s GTA series. What I’ve found as laid to rest practically everything that I’ve hated about past iterations, and the results are incredible. From the single-player experience to the unique multiplayer, GTA IV is definitely living up to all of the hype and perfect 10 reviews it has been receiving. What follows is my attempt to really pinpoint the things about GTA IV that have made it the first GTA that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

Now, while I’ve always admired the unique sandbox experience that the GTA games have brought to gaming, I’ve never made strong enough connections with the characters that lie at the heart of each game’s storyline. Unfortunately, that connection was the most important thread that I needed to keep me attached to GTAs of yore. It provides a sense of structure to the game that would motivate me to maintain my commitment to the experience. With GTA IV, I’m happy to say that Rockstar has finally managed to engage me in the storyline of the game by giving me a protagonist that I actually like. Niko is a lovable character that actually feels human. Rather than being an out and out sociopath, he truly seems to be more like a product of his environment; a battle-weary soldier with a troubled past in search of a little prosperity on the streets of Liberty City. But when the American Dream proves to be well outside the grasp of both Niko and his debt-mired cousin Roman, Niko finds that his past has left him with a unique skill-set that’s perfectly tuned to taking the American Dream by force. This general sense of motivation for Niko’s actions and behaviors make him a bit more tangible of a character. Then again, I’ve barely scratched the game’s surface, so these are really just my initial impressions of our intrepid anti-hero.

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Regardless, Niko’s character has me invested in the GTA IV experience. For the first time in the franchise’s history, I genuinely care about where the story is taking me and what awaits our protagonist. So it is with a great deal of curiosity and wonder that Niko and I have begun the laborious climb through the ranks of Liberty City’s underworld, and for the first time I’m really able to fully enjoy the sheer scope of what Rockstar has been trying to do with gaming all of these years. It doesn’t hurt that Liberty City is massive on a scale heretofore unseen in gaming. You can watch all of the videos you want, but until you’ve actually seen the city “in person” there’s no way to describe it. But it goes beyond the buildings and the lights. Like a true city, it’s the people that make Liberty City feel so palpable, be they staggering drunks or bustling businessmen.

In addition to having a character that I actually like as our hero there are some small yet significant changes to the series that have made the sandbox experience a great deal more enjoyable for me. The paralysis I felt in the lumbering shadow of past GTA’s wide open game-spaces was always augmented by the fact that I just didn’t know where shit was. A mission that took place on the other side of the city brought with it the arduous challenge of getting there in the first place. The result was often an apathy borne of a confused frustration. Well, this time out Rockstar has implemented a GPS system that nublets like me can use to quickly plot courses. With time I know I’ll get familiar enough with the streets to get around unaided, but it’s sure nice to have a helping hand.

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Now I could go into great detail about all of the things you’ve already read in other reviews regarding GTA IV’s gameplay, but I won’t. I’ll just say that all of the right tweaks have been made in all of the right places, leaving us with a highly polished experience. And I haven’t even touched upon the multiplayer elements. The single-player experience alone would be enough to warrant a purchase of GTA IV, but when you throw in the incredibly ambitious online suite with its near limitless potential, you are easily looking at Game of the Year in GTA IV. In the few rounds that I have managed to sneak in (I play after the kids go to bed you see) I’ve had more “OMG” moments than I’ve had in the entire time I’ve spent playing some other games. I can’t think of any other game that’s had me eluding cops in a speed-boat with a partner-in-crime navigating, only to find the police right on top of us as we loaded into the getaway vehicle, and then have my cohort spill out of the back of it as I sped away, leaving him to the mercy of our pursuers. All of this, mind you, in just one session. Every session is just loaded with this unbridled excitement because there really aren’t any rules to how you play it. In every facet GTA IV manages to find that perfect balance between chaos and order to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience.

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