Published by: Rockstar Games
Developed by: Rockstar North
Score: 95

Nobody could’ve predicted the titanic success that was Grand Theft Auto 3. Nobody. For a series that had been successful enough to warrant a third, but not successful enough to consider that GTA3 might be a leap in action gaming, Rockstar has done extremely well for itself. After GTA3’s release, there was never a true sequel, Vice City and San Andreas were spin-offs. Don’t let that classification take anything away from these games because they too were great, improving upon everything that GTA3 had brought to the table whether it be graphics or gameplay elements. In the year 2008, there is finally a true sequel to GTA3, and rather than changing the locale, the series has returned to Liberty City, a makeshift New York City. Grand Theft Auto IV is the name of the game and is truly a leap above everything else Rockstar has brought out and makes itself not only the best GTA game, but possibly, the best action game in many years.

To be honest, I don’t know where to start. The game is so involving in just about every single aspect, it’s hard to know where to start and even where to stop. I guess I should start with the story. You’re Niko Bellic and like all the previous GTAs, you start at the bottom rung and eventually you find some big wig and end up doing high priced odd jobs for him and the rest of the crime network. Rockstar has added a little more back story to Niko than previous “protagonists.” Niko is presented as a grizzled war veteran who has seen the horrors of war and is now desensitized to killing and sometimes conveys this through the many relations he forms with others. Of course there is a main story but has enough room that there are only a few situations when you are forced to deviate from whatever you want to do and go perform a mission that the game forces upon you in order to keep the story going.

Combat has been reworked over the past few years and has finally taken a 180° turn and it’s almost necessary because using any of the other previous GTAs’ combat gameplay would’ve most likely handicapped the online multiplayer. Rockstar has dipped into the recent trend of hide and shoot gameplay for the basis of the combat. A character can now hide behind walls, barriers, cars, or anything really. Simply by hitting the fire button while behind will give you blind fire that is usually only good for getting enemies to hide themselves or to help give cover fire to a friendly. You can pop out, aim and start unloading on any enemy and be able to cycle through multiple enemies by moving the right thumbstick. I may have been one of the few people who never had a problem with old system, especially with San Andreas, and I still don’t see any sort of huge improvement. This time around you can use free aim simply by lightly holding the aim button, for the multiplayer this may be useful, but for single player it really doesn’t matter. Simply locking onto an enemy with a submachine gun or an assault rifle and just holding fire while the enemy is popped out is usually enough. I mean if you’re not getting the job done simply by doing that then there is no way that having more “control” over aiming will help you. If shooting isn’t your thing then you might want to try beating the hell out of your enemy with your fists and feet, which may only be used for the first few levels and for novelty but little more.

The driving controls have been definely tweaked from the last GTAs. Upon driving for the first time I found myself making extremely wide turns and usually running into oncoming traffic when trying to make a simple turn. The hand brake has also changed. Rather than using it at high speeds to do a 180°, the hand brake will spin your around multiple times even at low speeds. It’s not a bad setup, but it takes time to get used to. Playing San Andreas and then coming into GTA IV thinking you’ll do fine in a high speed chase is just flat out wrong, but will only take time.

If you still find the driving controls to be crap, then there’s good news. The cops are backing off big time. Pissing them off will still allow you to get a wanted level up to 6 stars except getting rid of them is a little different, and by different I primarily mean easier. You now have a search zone which will pop on your map should you get the cops attention. The more stars you got the bigger the search zone. To get rid of your wanted level simply requires you to get out of the search zone and avoid being seen by other cops which you can tell are around by the flashing blue and red lights on your map. Pay N’ Spray is still there, but if you can find a long, straight path, you can avoid the cops by going fast and getting out of the zone as quick as possible. Realistic? Not really, but it adds a little more entertainment than simply finding a Pay N’ Spray and removing your wanted level while the cops and army watched you waltz right in.

Remember all those screenshots of a fatass or buff C.J. in San Andreas? You do? Well, guess what, Rockstar doesn’t care about that anymore. Months leading to the release, Rockstar had claimed they would be pushing for more relationships between the main character rather than having a bunch of options for appearances. Of course you can still dress Niko in whatever clothing is available in the game, which is a decent amount, but don’t expect to be able to give him an afro or make him 300lbs because those customizable features have been thrown out. Rather you’ll build upon relationships with other characters in the game. Now, this is sort of a mixed bag. On the one hand when you work on some of these relationships you’ll get perks which can be used in other aspects of the game, perks like healing or being able to lose a few stars off of your wanted level. On the other hand, however, some of the work to make these relationships get to those high points can be tedious and at times, just a pain in the ass. You date a girl and take her to eat but you can only take her to certain places, in a certain car, or while wearing particular clothing. This aspect isn’t any different from San Andreas, but unless you really enjoyed it, a reworking might have been needed for this aspect. Your cell phone will also keep ringing with your friends asking to hangout with you, going to strip clubs, go boating, etc, but really when you’re plowing through the game killing hundreds of cops and mobsters, playing pool really can just take some of the excitement out and kill the mood. I wouldn’t say that I hated this relationship angle Rockstar put in, but I really could’ve gone without it or at least allow more player control, maybe placing the obligation on Niko to call people.

Online multiplayer has been somewhat of a dream for GTA fans. There have been attempts for third party versions of past series and hacks, but none have ever really come close to what Rockstar has put out with GTAIV. As a first attempt at a GTA multiplayer game that wasn’t on the PSP, I have to give Rockstar credit. They managed to take the uncontrolled chaos that is GTAIV and make into a game that has rules and limits. I won’t go into all of the different modes because most are just the same as you’ve seen in any other online FPS or action game. There’s the standard deathmatches and objective based games, but there are also a few which are specific to GTA such as Car Jack City and Mafiya work which sprang out to me as new. In Car Jack City, there is basically a race to get a single car while taking down everyone else in the way and in Mafiya work there’s a race to see who can get more objectives done. Team variations will require even more teamwork than you average game, so if you like to win then you’d better find some good online buddies. There are also some co-op modes which also feature objective to complete, but what really stuck out as being a fun mode to just kick it with friends was free roam mode. As the name suggests free roam allows you to have as many as 16 people with you and use the city as a sandbox. If you do it with people you don’t know you run the risk of it turning into a bloodbath in the first 20 seconds, but if you have friends with you, you can try exploring different areas and trying to cause mayhem in new and inventive ways.

GTA IV isn’t a graphics powerhouse which is expected because of the scope of the game. However, for its size, everything is highly detailed. Characters have tons of facial expressions and casual movements that come very close to regular human movements. Arms swaying, parts of the face wrinkling and context related stuff such as talking in a phone while in a car, etc. are all part of the characters personalties and only allow for a richer experience. Going around the city and actually exploring different areas has become a treat and last much longer than previous GTAs. Looking for stunt jumps and trying to get to the top of a really huge skyscraper are still the things you might want to try out, but there also loads of other things to do. Comedy clubs, strip clubs, arcade games, pool, are just some of the things available to do on your own. Rockstar put a lot of work to give these activities as much longevity as they could and it shows because you can go hours and hours without ever doing any missions and still have plenty left on your plate. Pop-ins have become so reduced that I barely felt the need to point it out except to say that it does happen here and there, but mostly when you boot up the game because after that the whole thing runs very smooth.

Voice acting is once again top notch. Though there aren’t any big names doing the major characters, there is Ricky Gervais who decided to infuse his British humor (the funny type, not the type that has a man wearing a woman’s dress) into the game’s comedy club. There are a variety of ethnicities in the game starting with Niko Bellic who comes from a never named East European country and some others such as Little Jacob with an extremely thick Jamaican accent which will have you asking “what?” most of the time. The obligatory radio stations are back and seem to have brought a variety of songs with them from different eras. You’ll have Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” and you’ll also hear some older songs like Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell,” and that’s another thing, the variety is there as well. The game sounds great in surround sound and really helps immerse you into the game especially in fierce firefights. As expected the entire audio portion of the game is leaps and bounds ahead of not only its predecessors, but its competition such as Saint’s Row.

GTA IV has so much to offer and only with the relationships part does it feel a bit overburdening, but aside from that, the freedom you are offered is immense. You may have heard the expression from other reviews that “this game will keep you going well after the credits roll,” but GTA IV takes that to a whole new level. It’s because between the very first time you pop in the disc to the time the credit do roll, there will be a good chance you’ll have thought you’ve done so much but in fact you may have only scratched the surface. I only played the Xbox 360 version, so I can’t tell you which version is better, but just look around and you’ll find only minor differences. However, because I do have the 360 version I can say there will be even more replayability in this game when episodic content in Fall 2008 is released. For those who were on board for the first couple of rounds you may already have this game. If you didn’t like the past GTAs, then you might want to first get off your high horse and stop being a dick and at least give this one a rental.