With the final trigger pulled I finished GTA 4, after watching one very bittersweet ending it’s time for my review.
First off I’m going to say that overall GTA 4 is the best one in the series, I still think that the previous ones did some elements better though. I prefer the soundtrack from Vice City, and the collection of vehicles from San Andreas. While GTA 4 has improved on the formula in previous games, it has failed to learn anything from the GTA clones that have further improved the genre.
Getting off the boat into Liberty City, the best part of the game is the city itself which for once in the genre feels like a living breathing city. This is where RockStar has raised the bar on open world design. Going on the internet and exploring the city via a helicopter were great moments and of course crashing the helicopter in the ocean. It’s a shame however that even by the end of the game there really isn’t alot that you can explore and there is no way in hell I’m going to hunt 200 pigeons I don’t care what the achievement is.
Niko the newest protagonist is a troubled man, and throughout the story you’ll see what makes him tick, too bad the story isn’t exactly the best. In the beginning of the game as you and Niko are getting used to the city the missions and story are intertwined as you help your cousin out and try to earn some money to scrape by. At the halfway point the story all but disappears as I become the quintessential errand boy for every gang in the city, all while Niko says he needs money while he has over a half a million dollars in his pocket. One change from previous GTA games is that certain enemies you can spare their life instead of killing him, unfortunately with exception to the final choice there isn’t a huge change in the story. To me the ratio of things to do and story development are negatively correlated, the more side missions I had the less developed the story was which was a shame.
Instead of working at the gym or eating pizza all day, friends and relationships are the order of business in GTA 4. You can call up (or get a call) from friends to go out to one of the many local places in GTA 4. I did not like this mechanic as it just got bothersome and having certain abilities keyed into this system seems like a way force you into doing this. As it turns out everyone has some talent to aid Niko, from calling in people to help you, to a car full of weapons, but to get help you need to treat people to drinks or food which gets repetitive fast. As what you do in each activity doesn’t change, so be prepare to get drunk multiple times or beat someone at darts for the nth time.
I think it’s time to talk about women in GTA 4, you have the options of visiting them at the strip clubs, picking up some prostitutes off the street , or having a date which leads to you know what back their apartment. The game is really just front loaded with sexist jokes and remarks which are sure to make any woman proud to be a gamer. I could mind it if it was just one character who was like this and one woman who is the token slut, but when it’s everyone it just reeks of pandering to a juvenile audience. Fortunately these jokes die down by the halfway point but the damage is done . On Corvus Elrod’s blog he talked about his views and complaints regarding this view of women in GTA 4 (http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/2008/05/some-gta-iv-questions/). Even after reaching the climax I’m not going to refute his viewpoint, there is a decent game underneath all the boob jokes and sex, but your going to be expose to it if you want to play this game.
With that said it’s time to talk about gameplay, I’m not going to go into detail about the missions as this has been left mostly unchanged from previous entries, you go meet someone, then you go kill something or blow up something. What’s new is the ability to take taxi cabs to any where in the city and the ability to restart a mission after failing it. Rockstar has finally saw fit to add in free aiming which helps alot, too bad that enemies seem to blend into the background in almost every fight. Niko also sports some hand to hand skills, which you will probably never use again once you get your first gun.
After spending the last week in Liberty City I can say that RockStar is going for a less gamey feel and more of an experience. Your not given any real rewards like new weapons for completing side missions , also gone is the ability to buy up property Ala Vice City and San Andreas. While it does make the city that much more alive, it leaves the player with very little to do other then missions. My problems with GTA 4 is that RockStar really hasn’t learned anything from it’s competitors. Missions can be failed at the drop of a dime forcing you to restart, unlike Saint’s Row which had mid mission and sometimes multiple checkpoints. Driving which is pretty good once you get used to it, is broken as AI drivers have perfect driving ability. During chases the chasee can push aside buses and trucks while it stays on it’s perfect line. While chasing people that your planning on killing, you can’t actually kill them on the chase, which makes as much sense in game as it does in this entry. Missions are not designed to give a player options on how to solve them, with very rare exceptions. Not counting the big choice at the end, there really isn’t any reason to replay GTA 4 for the missions, as you’ll be doing the same thing over and over again. I’m not a fan of multi player so I won’t be rendering any judgement on the multi player side of GTA 4.
In the end I liked GTA 4, not loving it or hating it, for every good moment in the game there are several times more crappy moments that made me want to quit. If RockStar can put in mid mission check points and expand the world, I would be impressed. GTA 4 is not going to be my game of the year pick by any means but fans will get their money’s worth. I’m giving GTA 4 a crazy drunken girlfriend (seriously every woman in this game gets crazy when they’re drunk, whatever happened to nice drunks ?)
Josh
