I Heart Liberty City - Grand Theft Auto IV

It's been nearly seven years since Grand Theft Auto III released, becoming one of the most influential games in the history of the medium and effectively giving birth to the genre we call sandbox gaming. Its influence has been widespread, passing on to adventure games, RPGs, even racing games, answering the call of gamers who want to tool around in a living universe. After 4 spinoffs of the GTA III engine, Rockstar Games has hit the reset button with the new generation of hardware, starting from scratch with Grand Theft Auto IV. It would be impossible for GTA IV to carry the same impact as its predecessor, but all the same, the achievement crafted here is evident: it's taken the familiar formula, thrown it into a whole new universe, fixed things that needed fixing, and has given us arguably the best and most well-rounded entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. That's not to say it's the perfect game however, as numerous GTA quirks remain, and some old pastimes are nowhere to be found, but after fearing for the health of the franchise after the terrible Vice City Stories, IV is a real shot of life.

Maybe here, things will be different...but I doubt it
Past GTA games have featured mute protagonists, a mafiosi, a reformed gang member, and a hypocritical loser, but they've never told an immigrant's tale. Niko Bellic is said immigrant, arriving at the Liberty City docks, met by his cousin Roman, who might better be called Pinocchio, for his tall tales of success in America. Niko expects mansions, expensive cars, and women, but instead finds Roman in charge of a taxi depot and living in a crappy apartment underneath train tracks. Niko has a singular goal in mind for his adventure to Liberty; finding two men who possibly caused a horrible event during a war in their native land (a location that's never disclosed), leaving him scarred and bitter. To find these men, Niko is forced to make use of his talents; namely, killing people for shady gangsters, whether they're of the Russian, Irish, or Sicilian variety. In short, this is Grand Theft Auto through and through, with a plot more like GTA III's in that you're not out to “take over the city” but instead merely survive a place rife with corruption and violence. Niko as a character is insanely likable, despite being shady; he knows he's doing the wrong things but also knows he's good at it, and it'll help him get his revenge. He's like Vic Vance without the morality play.

If you've played a GTA game in the past, IV will mostly feel familiar. PS3 players won't find the same controls they're used to...as they're more designed with the 360 controller in mind. They work well though, it won't take long to get adjusted. The driving engine has been overhauled, as the cars have far more weight and handle more realistically; no more weird physics causing flips and roll overs unless you're driving an SUV. The rides also take a whole lot more damage before blowing up, which makes up for the ease of the same thing happening in the PS2-era games. It's a shame that some of the fun stuff from past GTA games is gone; no more ambulance or firetruck missions, and the taxi missions that you eventually unlock don't operate the same as they used to. The police car does let you do Vigilante missions, as well as the Most Wanted quests. So there's that. Car racing in time unlocks as well, but because the races are mindlessly simple as long as you have one of the high-end race cars (like an Infernus, Turismo, Coquette, etc) it's barely worth mentioning. But it's funny how a game dubbed Grand Theft Auto isn't really leaning on vehicles as much as it used to.

Mission structure is familiar – someone will need some work done, and an ID for them will pop up on the map. Visit them, get your job, and off you go. Mission variety is somewhat suspect, as it's almost always revolving around going to kill people, whether it's by a car shootout, some industrial or apartment complex, or something like that, balanced out by quite a few missions that are quite ambitious in scope and use the new features of the game. The strange thing is the difficulty of missions is unbalanced; you'll come across hard missions, and then it'll ease off for a while, and then ramp up again. Strangely enough, I found that the final mission, while very awesome, to be a lot easier than some of of the missions halfway through the game. Either you just get better at the new mechanics, or Rockstar just likes going crazy like this. Missions almost always come from people marked on the map...but there's about a dozen or so “characters” that wander the streets of Liberty that also offer you missions of smaller scope which are more for amusement than anything else.

Then again...maybe some things are different
Gunplay, long the bane of GTA, has received a large overhaul which really does improve things. When you start using weapons, there's two ways to handle it; manual aim, or auto aim. By halfway holding down the L2 trigger, Niko will go into manual aim, and the perspective changes to an over-the-shoulder view like Resident Evil 4 or Gears of War. In this position you can hold R2 down to fire and use the right stick to aim. Or you can just do it the old-school way, and hold down L2 which finds the nearest target...usually. It works for the most part, and having it both ways is an attempt to please both camps – those who didn't mind GTA aiming and those who wanted more freedom in attacking. In addition, GTA IV uses a simple cover mechanic for Niko to hide behind cars, doors, and other parts of the environment, which is the best place for auto aiming. Just wait for one of the enemies to stand up to fire, and pump them full of lead. Shooting in cars is different too, as pressing L1 will cause Niko to shoot out the window and you use the right stick to aim...it's fun when you're also trying to drive at the same time, making most car shootout missions a real groaner.

In San Andreas, you were introduced to a girlfriend mechanic – you should know that because of Hot Coffee. Anyway, it's returned and has been expanded upon to the point where even your friends can seem like girlfriends. Within the main story, Niko will meet two dateable women, but also he can meet three other ladies via the Internet cafes spread throughout the city. These are more for fun than anything, as Niko can meet up with them, take them to numerous locations in the city (comedy clubs, a cabaret, restaurants, bars, play games, or in some cases, a strip club), all in an attempt to win their hearts and their vaginas. There's a purpose for each one, however – for instance, if you're in good graces with Kiki, the lawyer, she can get a 3-star wanted level or lower erased with a simple phone call. All of the optional girlfriends are trademark GTA, with over-the-top antics and quirks. Alex in particular shows her weird side if you find her blog on the web. Keeping the ladies in your favor requires frequent dates and affection, and they can dump you if you're not good enough to them.

The same thing happens with your friends; over time Niko gets a bunch of buddies who you can do activities with. All of them also have an unlockable skill; Roman can get you a cab anywhere in the city, Brucie can get you a chopper, Little Jacob is a roving weapons dealer, and Packie can get you a car bomb anytime. In a few cases, their friendship also unlocks missions; Jacob has you making package deliveries, Brucie unlocks racing, and Roman has the taxi jobs. Like the girls, you must keep their friendship high, by doing things with them. Not communicating with them drops their “like” level, and if it goes low enough you lose their special ability until you bring it up again. Believe me, it gets quite bothersome to get pestered by these people all the time...at least your cell phone has a sleep mode which gives you some peace to do missions or just drive around town. The cell phone is the single most vital piece of equipment in the game; bosses will call with mission info, you'll get information from friends, your girlfriends might text you a picture of their cleavage or booty, etc. Having everything you need handy with the phone really streamlines the GTA experience...it really does change the game.

Of course I'd be remiss to not mention the new Liberty City. This isn't the same LC from GTA III or Liberty City Stories; instead it's been rebuilt from the ground up, and is very similar in design to New York City. There's four major islands, all of which slowly unlock as you progress...you technically can visit the other ones if you want, but you'll get a six-star “terrorist” alert and probably get crushed by the law. Each one is very different – the initial island is a melting pot of cultures, while Algonquin (based upon Manhattan) is the upscale borough where entertainment is located. Alderney is the industrial sector, but it has the suburban feel too that could be similar to New Jersey, since it's technically not part of Liberty City. More than ever, the city is alive, and while its not as large as the San Andreas map, it's the largest individual city in the GTA series. Thankfully, Rockstar has borrowed the GPS feature from games like Saints Row and Test Drive Unlimited, so when on missions you get an automatic guide, and when you're just looking to go somewhere specific when not, it's as easy as finding a spot on the map and setting a waypoint. It's really helpful until you get the layout of the city down, and even then you might stick with it if you're in a hurry.

Is everything perfect? Of course not. In fact, there's a few steps backwards from San Andreas. Obviously the lack of connecting countryside is a bummer, but there's nothing like that connecting NYC, so it's not there. There's no property purchasing; even though Niko isn't looking to own the city, he still should be able to buy safehouses and even start a business to generate some easy money. Niko also can't “level up” by using skills and working out, or even get fat, which is probably a good thing for some. Really, a lot of stuff has been dropped to streamline the experience, and that does in many ways limit the openness of the game as it moves more towards being a crime drama rather than a sandbox game. There's still the obvious freedom but many times you're restricted by time, direct paths, and there's a few missions that just automatically start once your phone rings, which is a real drag. I'd fully expect the next GTA to offer some of these things again (likely the property ownership), or maybe it'll appear in downloadable content someday...even if it's part of the 360 exclusive content and not on PS3. Finally, while there's some interesting multiplayer options, it's really not emphasized much, and feels more like it was added to appease the fickle press and gamers that would knock the game down if it lacked online play.

It certainly looks different than before...
When GTA III came out, it wasn't the best looking game around, but it laid the foundation that the two earlier entires were ahead of their time, and needed the 3D world to thrive. With Grand Theft Auto IV, it looks as if the PS2 versions were ahead of their time as well. The game looks great. Car designs are more detailed than ever, almost always aping real car models to make them easier to identify. Looking for the “Corvette lookalike” is a helpful thing. The city itself is huge, as mentioned, and full of detail and life, especially at night, when going through Star Junction (Times Square), which shows off the neon lights perfectly. A new era Las Venturas sounds great right now. More than ever, there's traffic everywhere, and pedestrians all around, creating congestion but it rarely affects the performance of the game. The run down areas are just that, and the draw distance is completely insane at times, you can almost always see the entire city from anywhere. Hop in a chopper and you'll be amazed at just how huge Liberty City really is. The only thing holding the game back is the so-so character models that are certainly improved, but still seem a little lost between the PS2 and PS3 eras. The physics engine, on the other hand, is stupendous, and should be seen in numerous games. Sure, being thrown out the windshield of a car after hitting a barricade isn't fun, but it's awesome to watch.

In typical Rockstar fashion, the soundtrack and other audio quirks are awesome. The soundtrack is huger than ever, with tons of radio stations playing all kinds of music from different genres, be it old-school rap, modern rock, jazz, Latino, soul, or Russian. The talk radio stations are good parodies of modern political radio, and Lazlow's show is a bit...raunchy but then again the great majority of the DJ's and radio hosts are a bit foul mouthed and many have weird obsessions with various vices. A great feature of the game involves using the phone to call something called “Zit” which identifies the song playing on the radio, and if you're a member of the Rockstar Social Club and have your PS3 network ID tied to it, you'll get emails and also they'll be on the Social Club page itself to listen to short samples, and ultimately purchase the MP3 via Amazon. The intersection of Web 2.0 and Game 3.0 is glorious. The voice acting is done entirely by anonymous unknown actors and actresses, but they all do a great, great job of making the story believable and dramatic, with great nods to humor as well. You'll love Niko, and his great voice adds to it. The only “name” actors are the DJ's, such as Iggy Pop and DJ Premier, and of course Lazlow.

The Closing Argument
It's been a long time coming, but Grand Theft Auto IV has arrived and has lived up to the franchise history. As a “reboot” of the series it doesn't have many nods to the past, but on its own, there's a great crime drama mixed in with the usual GTA strangeness and charm we've come to expect. Many things have been improved or streamlined (and yes, some things have been outright removed in the move to more realistic hobbies), and yes some things have been removed, but I'd fully expect many of them to return in time, via a sequel or downloadable content. No, GTA IV will not revolutionize games like III did all those years ago, but instead, think of the game as yet another refinement of the familiar formula, and if that still does it for you, then this game is for you. Maybe you're worn out of the franchise, but give this one a shot...it might bring you back. Perfect? Of course not...but damn good.