Grand Theft Auto 4 Review

GTA 4 has been eagerly awaited by the masses for months if not years (depending on your level of fandom or lack of enthusiasm for San Andreas). So I like any vigilant vigilantee made sure to preorder several months in advance, marked the day on my calender and pulled an all nighter to ensure I'd get a top spot in line before my local gamecrazy opened up at 10am on the 29th.

Why all the excitement ?

Ever since Rockstar released Grand Theft auto 3 back in October 2001, a key buzz word entered the gamers vocabulary and made developers readjust how they make games, "Sandbox". Where most games require you to progress in a linear motion toward a predestined conclusion that concludes the game. The whole notion of sandbox type gameplay is that you can ignore the main plot and just explore the virtual world, perform side mssions or just get something different out of the game.

The setting of the GTA series has revolved around three fictional cities, Liberty City (modeled off of new york), San Andreas (Los Angeles, San francisco), and Vice City (Miami). Liberty City is the Setting for Grand Theft Auto 4 and in returning to the setting of its hit predecessor Grand Theft Auto 3, a lot of attention was paid to making the realistic and detailed remake of New York City. Pedestrians drink in game knock offs of starbucks, there is a wall streetesg time square in the city as well, with hot dog vendors and fictional stocks displayed across massive outdoor screens. Its truely immersive and car jackings,shoot outs and copter crashes asid, gives you enough of a look at new york to consider moving there. If your up for taking a taxi everywhere (yes they managed to copy gridlock traffic and ideotic drivers as well.

Everything in moderation

San Andreas was a massive game when it came out and remains so. The whole sandbox mode was really taken to excess as you had to commute to locations and interact with characters set in a world more akin to being the Oblivion or Marrowind of the GTA series. Even with a noticably smaller landscape, Liberty City is still massive in terms of oppurtunities. Below are some stats.

52 Neighborhoods in 5 districts with 3 islands that can only be reached via a swim tailor made for olympic competitions. 19 Resturants serve you nourishment with everything from Burger shot to a fancy dinner while hot dog vendors and soda machines are also present in in unknown quantities throughout the game for a quick snack and the same health restoring goodness. When near a soda machine you can prolong shoot outs with police until you either have no more bullets or the machine is destroyed by a barrage of bullets.

There are four major shopping locations where you can customize what your character wears to his meeting with the mafia, prison breaks or to his date with the girl he met online.

Twelve Service locations provide everything from the internet (3 internet cafe's), car wash (4 locations), or getting your car repainted to not match the description the cops have at anyone of the five pay 'n' spray's.

Using the internet to answer emails,find dates and communicate with relatives is also one of the unique aspects of Grand Theft Auto 4. To my recollection I can't remember anything having as detailed a recreation of the internet in a virtual world existing on console (even if most of the sites are inactive dummy sites made to fill space on your browser).

If you wanted a night on the town or just a chance to get away from the game's story and enjoy yourself in a side game of pool or bowling, there are a total of 14 Entertainment/Nighlife locations. This includes 4 bars (where getting drunk really does impeed your movements), and two strip clubs (where 3 different levels of private dances in a backroom will leave you 200 dollars poorer). There is also a comedy club where you can catch cinematic antics that will either have you laughing or pressing the A button like mad to skip the torture that some would find comedic.

When it comes to a crime ridden cities like those found in the GTA series, its no surprise that they go overboard on Emergency services and the Liberty city of Grand Theft Auto 4 is no exception with 28 emergency services total (15 police stations, 7 Hospitals, Fire Departments).
You can also car jack a police car to use its computer to police Liberty city yourself. Taking out Liberty cities most wanted is an in game achievement in and of itself (manhunt 15G, cleaned the mean streets 20G). Lastly you can also call for either an ambulance or liberty city's finest to come to your aid or to meet their end, by simply dialing 911 on your phone and choosing which service you would like.

Some other points about the geography of the game are that their are 16 points of interest, examples of which are "Funland","Soldiers Plaza", Broker Navy Yard and statue of happiness (Liberty City's version of the statue of liberty). There are 9 major bridges you can use to get to any of the major districts, an airport the size of of one of the districts (bohan), and 3 parks you can use to go for a jog or mug the snobby none-gamer pedestrians.

The Story

With Geography, realism and breathtaking scope, Grand Theft Auto 4 could be forgiven if its storyline was just average, as is the case with most games that manage to excell in everything but leave the narrative out of the equation. Grand Theft Auto 4 however shines. You play an eastern european immigrant, Niko Belic lured to america by tales of riches told by his cousin in Roman in emails but also the need to find a shady character from your past. You meet several character with differing personalities on your quest for answers and the american dream so espoused by your cousin. You can go on dates with girls and try your luck at the end of the date. Take either your cousin or friend to any of the resturants or places of entertainment to raise your friends positive view of you (if all friends have 90% view then its an 20G achievement). As you move up the criminal worlds social ladder, you'll see ever more impressive safehouses (one in each district), where you can save your game and see 6 in game hours fly by or opt to change your clothing. Through your cheap cellphone (which becomes more stylish 30% of the way in game), you can call friends,inquire about missions,recieve messages,login to multiplayer or confirm that a certain someone is sleeping with the fishes. By pressing start and going to the stats section you can see how long you've played but also how much of the game you've completed. If you just follow the story and ignore Brucies raceing missions, then you'll complete the game at about 60% progress. Even after completing the story mode though, you've still got 40% of the game content left to enjoy. It takes about 50 hours to complete the story campaign but doing it in 30 is an achievement.

Decisions, Decisions.

As a fan of Biowares Role Playing Games, I was thrilled that Grand Theft Auto 4 allows you access to different content based on your decisions in certains situations. You can for example choose to either kill certain people or let them go if thier promise to reform themselves has touched a soft spot in your heart. Be warned however that decisions have consquences, choosing to kill the rich guys friend may equal cash but it may also sever ties much the same way killing the rich or well connected guy by sticking to your principles leaves you financially strapped.

Whichever way you choose to go toward the end of the game, know that someone gets married, someone also bites the bullet and leaves Niko belic's life for good. One Choice, Two endings. Grand Theft Auto Delivers.

10/10 score.