Yves MakhoulReview: Grand Theft Auto IV
May 25th 2008 19:04
Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar Games - Released April 29, 2008
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to admit that I was in line for the midnight release of GTAIV. In retrospect, I'm not sure why. It seemed like an event that held some cultural significance, and as I approach my forties, the opportunities to do such things begin to appear less and less acceptable. I was terrified that a local news crew would be filming at the local game shop and I would be forced to explain to my colleagues precisely what I was doing there. Oh, the shame..
I must have stayed up until 3am playing that first night. I didn't get very far into the story, choosing instead to revel in the ever-possible mayhem that could be created just by pulling out a handgun and popping a clip into the nearest pedestrian/cop/hooker/garbage man. I've played probably two dozen hours of the game since (repeating many of the earlier missions when the disc prompted the old Red Ring of Death, forcing a reluctant trade-in for the PS3
version).
Much has been said of the living, breathing character of Liberty City itself. While pretty and occasionally unpredictable and clever, I've never been tempted to just cruise around and 'people watch'. Some of the characters are amusing, but many of them are sociopaths with very short tempers. Were this real life, I would be very wary of 'dissing' my compatriots because the frequency with which your peers will find themselves tits up is astonishing.
I still wish it were possible to save progress halfway through a mission, but I love the things they've stolen from Saints Row (there is a measure of justice there)--the GPS directional map overlay, for instance. The physics are extremely entertaining...I shall never grow tired of watching people getting creamed by speeding cars, whether I'm driving them or not. I'm a huge fan of being able to skip the taxi rides, though the cabbies are often hilarious.
I hate most of Niko's possible wardrobe, it reminds me entirely too much of my grandfather's closet circa 1986. The "relationship" management aspect of it--you have to maintain friendships with certain NPCs to gain the benefit of their abilities (a Jamaican character, Jacob, can sell you weapons out of the trunk of his car after you take him to the titty bar enough times)--is often tedious, and some of the 'missions' they thrust upon you are nigh impossible. And the music this time, quite frankly, sucks.
My progress in the game hovers somewhere around a quarter of the way complete. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that I'll get close to fifty, perhaps sixty percent before I abandon it for The Bourne Conspiracy.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was better.
That's all I got.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to admit that I was in line for the midnight release of GTAIV. In retrospect, I'm not sure why. It seemed like an event that held some cultural significance, and as I approach my forties, the opportunities to do such things begin to appear less and less acceptable. I was terrified that a local news crew would be filming at the local game shop and I would be forced to explain to my colleagues precisely what I was doing there. Oh, the shame..
I must have stayed up until 3am playing that first night. I didn't get very far into the story, choosing instead to revel in the ever-possible mayhem that could be created just by pulling out a handgun and popping a clip into the nearest pedestrian/cop/hooker/garbage man. I've played probably two dozen hours of the game since (repeating many of the earlier missions when the disc prompted the old Red Ring of Death, forcing a reluctant trade-in for the PS3
Much has been said of the living, breathing character of Liberty City itself. While pretty and occasionally unpredictable and clever, I've never been tempted to just cruise around and 'people watch'. Some of the characters are amusing, but many of them are sociopaths with very short tempers. Were this real life, I would be very wary of 'dissing' my compatriots because the frequency with which your peers will find themselves tits up is astonishing.
I still wish it were possible to save progress halfway through a mission, but I love the things they've stolen from Saints Row (there is a measure of justice there)--the GPS directional map overlay, for instance. The physics are extremely entertaining...I shall never grow tired of watching people getting creamed by speeding cars, whether I'm driving them or not. I'm a huge fan of being able to skip the taxi rides, though the cabbies are often hilarious.
I hate most of Niko's possible wardrobe, it reminds me entirely too much of my grandfather's closet circa 1986. The "relationship" management aspect of it--you have to maintain friendships with certain NPCs to gain the benefit of their abilities (a Jamaican character, Jacob, can sell you weapons out of the trunk of his car after you take him to the titty bar enough times)--is often tedious, and some of the 'missions' they thrust upon you are nigh impossible. And the music this time, quite frankly, sucks.
My progress in the game hovers somewhere around a quarter of the way complete. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that I'll get close to fifty, perhaps sixty percent before I abandon it for The Bourne Conspiracy.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was better.
That's all I got.
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