One of the most anticipated games of 2008 has a little more than a month since release and most players are already weaning away from their consoles. GameDaily did an article pointing out a bunch of plausible and inane reasons why they had stopped playing Grand Theft Auto IV, which comes as a complete surprise to me, because this game is probably one of the finest sandbox simulation that has ever been created.
Criticizing a game is the easiest thing to do but to venture skin deep into the development territory and placing your feet into the frenzy of high expectations is a rather difficult task and living upto their standards is a feat that Rockstar North has consistently achieved. I do admit there have been numerous issues plaguing the game upon release. This makes up for the second Rockstar game that has failed to ship without a number of plaguing issues in the game, the first one being the 360 version of Bully which was released a few months ago.
The Rrod’s and freezing issues, online woes and so forth shall continue, but what is essential is that the game has still stood its ground in creating a gasping environment that is unparallel in scale and size. I love my stories, one of the major reasons I did not quite enjoy the previous versions (barring Vice City) of the game was that they had so many things to do that I never actually got down to playing the actual game and finishing it. It took me almost on an average four months to complete the story missions of the game. The extensive amount of freedom actually got to me, which was fixed in this game.
Grand Theft Auto IV still remains a work of art, and there can be no substantial argument to refute this stated fact. I’ve never gotten an opportunity to visit New York, I still recall how awestruck I was, when I witnessed the sheer magnitude and might of New York City for the first time in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. This larger than life picture of the city has been shown time and again in numerous Hollywood flicks but these visual experiences never came as close to me when I set foot into Liberty City and drove away in the sweet glistening sunset.
One of the most immaculate scenarios in the game was when I first stepped onto Times Square in the evening. A gush of excitement swept through me as I stood in the centre of the city holding a Uzi, with every inch of the street covered with glistening neon lights and an accurate amount of population density. As a breeze blew down the street carrying with it a gust of dust and waste paper, I whistled for a taxi to carry me to my destination where the story would progress.
This was as natural as it would have gotten in real life, such were the levels of surrealism that was seen within the game and believe me, it was almost impossible to take my eyes off at every nook and cranny of the street as I panned the camera from different angles.
Modes of transportation in Grand Theft Auto IV seem to have a severe handling problem which seems to have irked a substantial amount of players. There is a reason why vehicle handling has been implemented in such a cumbersome way, the primary one relates to disc loading, this is a mechanism to automatically reduce the time lag between the areas where the player passes through and loading the environment where he passes through. Reducing the speed of vehicles allows the processor to load the concurrent portion of the surrounding area, this technique is important for the core version of the 360 which runs the game without any hard-drive support.
The game departs severely from the previous versions in the transportation department. Our car will not start if it has taken too many hits and if there is a steady trail of smoke emerging from it. Braking is also an important feature in the game which has been introduced to authenticate the vehicle handling and preventing a mass scale road rage which the series has severely politically criticized about.
Money that is earned in the course of the game is required to reduce the toils and trouble taken by the player to reach his destination using the scenic route, buying a healthy supply of arms and ammunition, eating at the finest places to keep Niko hale and hearty and paying for other services that are included in the game, the most prominent one being hitching a hooker to give you a sick virtual orgasm.
The plot is another major attraction of Grand Theft Auto IV. This time Rockstar North has opted out of a satire and has created a virtual character trapped in the confines of reality. An illegal immigrant who steps into the confines of an unsuspecting world of an elitist nation, is out to find his own identity in what can forlornly placed as “the great American dream”.
The myriad and confusing identities of the supporting cast cleverly detail out the nature of a pseudo lifestyle that has been crafted out by the emergence of Umbrella corporations. The witty dialogue is also a welcome change form the mundane alien invading sessions. It has been ages since I’ve seen such a form of humor within a game. The last time I actually laughed on a game dialogue was way back in Vice City released during the last generation wars.
The internet is a huge place as it is in real life within the game. The amount of information that is present in the countless number of pages within the game is not only an astonishing feat (look out for online spam and dating) but also details out stories that occur in the game real-time, the various acts of violence are quite aptly detailed out in the online newspaper journal and keeps you updated with a number of mission objectives as well.
Cellular devices in the game are another important feature of the game. It is a pity that you cannot call people and talk to them as you can in real life, but I bet this feature will be greatly expanded with the sequel and advent of online multiplayer. All your cheats in the game are also placed in a neat folder once they have been entered for the first time, in the midst of a firefight or whenever the player is running low on health these can be instantly accessed without repeated inputs as in previous games.
The day night cycles are the most believable part of the game. As the sun rises in the distant horizon, Niko Bellic washes his hands and soul of the tainted blood that he carries from his homeland. The progression of climate is a source of serious joy to this gamer, especially when it rains and the streets look wet, washing away all the sins that plague the city. The radio chatter is still amusing and contains some of the old radio stations from the previous games intricately building onto the humor tone and satire the game is built on.
Finally the verticality is something out of the blue, Liberty City (NYC) has been done a number of times, GTA III, GTA Liberty City stories, true crime streets of NYC, all the Spiderman games are set in New York, but this game gets the feel right even from a million miles above the city. All of the chopper rides feel natural, and as the trip extends to the statue of happiness, the façade of hyper realistic world begins to truly unveil in full polygonal glory.
Grand Theft Auto IV in a nutshell epitomizes its former creations and thus raising the bar of interactivity of sandbox games. The issues in the game are not as severe as most would like to glaringly draw out. The core mechanics have evolved with the power of the next generation.
The Getaway and Saint’s Row 2 the closest to this competition have a lot to live upto since this game is here to stay. Whether it will continue to rule the hearts of the growing population of critical gamers is a difficult conclusion to make, but appreciating the hard work of developers since San Andreas and giving the audiences a next gen game and covering a whole lot of playing filed whist doing so is only a feat Rockstar North can achieve.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee