Tuesday 01 Jul 2008

After several delays the day has eventually dawned upon us where the most anticipated, hyped about game has been released. Rockstar North had the most difficult task ahead of them of having to outdo themselves as they had very few competitors who took them on in their own game – free roaming.

This is Grand Theft Auto with the nasty bits trimmed off, the rough parts smoothed over and fun squeezed into every possible nook and cranny. The bad bits are gone, the good bits are better, and it’s very rare that you will find yourself bored sitting on your sofa, staring at your TV.

You play a character by the name of Niko Bellic, an East European immigrant who has been lured to Liberty City (scaled to New York) by his cousin Roman. As soon as Niko sets his foot on American soil he finds out that all is not rosy as he has been misled. A variety of odd jobs are in the pipeline for bad men, there’s no turf war or property management (closer to the roots of GTA3) as Niko has unfinished business with past figures in his life. Niko is just one man in a massive city doing what he has to protect his people.

The city is alive

The city is alive with bankers’ yakking on their cell phones, drunks falling all over the place, beggars who irritate you, hookers who…you get the idea. Each area in the game feels different, as there are three different Islands (yet again, very similar to GTA3 – it is Liberty City you know!) There really is the feeling as if the town is going on with or without you. The radio stations are exceptional and in this game we also now have TV broadcasts that even have their own channels. It feels quite surreal watching a TV on your TV, if that makes any sense? If you’ve just completed a mission, get ready to hear about it or see it on the news! Feel like watching a cartoon? Reality show? Poker Match? There’s even an Internet Sitcom called WTF! It’s all there and it works. It had me watching all the filth of this town with a bag of popcorn in my hands. Hilarious? Please, find a better expression. This game oozes with it, but then it is aimed at adults.

Then on to other things like using your very own cell phone that you can buy ring tones for (like Old Lady Breaking Her Hip) or wallpapers. People can send you SMS’s, MMS’s or just call you. Everything is stored on your phone and you can tamper with the settings to make changes to those ring tones and wallpapers. Phone 911 and it takes you through to Liberty City’s emergency services. Need a cop car? Bob’s your uncle! I should also state that you access your multiplayer games from your cell phone.

Hacking, dating and going online

Then we have the Internet café. As soon as you login to your profile you can check your email and surf the web. That “web” being GTA’s custom web pages and I must tell you that it is some of the funniest things I’ve read in ages. There are so many web pages to visit that I think it might take me a lifetime to read each and every word on the site.

There are many other small additions like hacking the cops’ computer system to find suspects. Dating online. Everything about our normal civil society is in this game…but it has been twisted to work in this dire city.

Of course you’ll want to get with the mission eventually. This is where you’ll notice major improvements to the game mechanics. There’s a new cover system similar to Gears of War, which latches you to any nearby object by simply pressing the “RB” button. Once you’re in that mode you can blind fire over the top or pop out and shoot the enemies with a short burst of fire. Eventually we also now have a decent lock-on system which has plagued GTA forever now.

Out of sight, out of mind

The driving controls have improved as well with each and every car handling and controlling different from the last. It’s more forgiving too. It’s nearly impossible to flip your car on its roof as was the case (and problem) with previous GTA’s. You actually have a chance when taking curbs from now on! The radar mounted GPS has also had an overall with the route being sketched out for you instead of just having the destination point and getting lost in some industrial park. The new chase system has also been tampered with. No more stars to collect but rather a radius of activity that you need to get outside of. Once you are out the cops’ radius of sight you lose them a few seconds thereafter. The higher the wanted level - the bigger the radius. Works a charm!

There are other small touches like receiving a text message after failing a mission offering the chance to replay instantly. If you drive to a destination with a passenger in the car talking away, the dialogue will change if you failed and have to replay it. This means there is more time to concentrate on the main missions. On rail-chase and protect your friends mission have vanished, which is an amazing feeling, and you have been left with approximately 100 missions. Hibernation has a new meaning!

Easily worth the hype

Multiplayer is neither here nor there, but its good enough to mess around with and is most definitely much better than the options in the PSP version of the game and works much better as well.

So, is it the best game ever? GTA4 is so big with so mush to discover, so many things to do and so many ways of doing them that no game, in the same genre, can touch it. There’s love poured into every second of it, which results in a game that is easily worth the hype.

Pros: Improved game mechanics; TV stations are hilarious; you’ll care for Niko.

Cons: No planes to fly; feels a bit short in comparison to San Andreas.

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Contributor:	Dawid

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