When someone mentions the word ‘hype’, one game comes immediately to mind, Halo 3, a title hyped up to such an extent that you had people camping outside stores up to a week before the release date. The end product received a flurry of perfect reviews from the media but the general consensus of opinion is it was a bit of a let down. In Grand Theft Auto we have a strong franchise that has existed a lot longer than the former. The quality of the preceding titles has been high and as result created quite a stir leading up to release. Normally a game of this stature is subject to delays with GTA IV keeping up the trend. Reasons aside, the game was pushed back to April 08 – originally slated for late 2007. This amongst other contributing factors only fuelled the hype machine further with gamers around the world worried about an anti-climax. With the game now available in retail outlets worldwide, do we have a case of a title finally living up to the hype?
Now I’m going to tread carefully from here on in, as I don’t want to spew out any spoilers. The story in GTA IV revolves heavily around Niko Bellic (the character we control) who has left his home country in Eastern Europe on a promise of ‘living the American dream’ by his cousin, Roman. Upon arriving in the newly designed Liberty City, he meets up with Roman at a Taxi office and the story continues from here. It would be criminal to reveal any more details as far as the story is concerned – it is something you must experience for yourself. While the actual story in itself is very basic, the incredible dialogue and cut scenes tell the story with a tremendous amount of poise and grace. You really feel like you are Niko.
The game on the whole follows the general rule of thumb that previous versions have done. You fight, shoot, drive and fly your way around the city completing various missions set out. However there is a difference this time around. Niko is not forced into completing the missions and may free roam between them. This creates a seamless world that makes you feel like you are controlling the story, with a very fine line between ‘on-mission’ and ‘off-mission’. It basically makes Liberty City your oyster, however, you must complete the missions in order to progress through the game and unlock other parts of the map. At no point does it ever get boring and you will regularly find yourself going off mission just to explore parts of the city that you find intriguing. The city is large and detailed, with inhabitants from pretty much all walks of life and cars that are recreated from existing real-life models. The total area of the playing area is smaller than the one found in GTA San Andreas, but infinitely more detailed. There are buildings to explore and climb, as there are parks and alleyways to poke about.
The missions that you undertake from the start are basic and somewhat repetitive, but gradually become amazingly deep and exciting. You spend most of your time running small errands at the beginning, whether you’re picking up and dropping people off at their destination or posing as a loan shark to scare people into paying up for the various people you work for. There are also many side missions you can undertake to earn a few more dollars, these being optional and not required to progress further in the game. There is a GPS system built into the map that you can use to set waypoints for easier navigation to certain places in Liberty City. The mobile phone you use in the game is important to arrange missions, dates and social appointments. It is essential to build up relationships between the many characters that appear throughout GTA IV and the more they value the friendship the more rewarding the relationship will be on your wallet. You also have use of a fake internet within the game, using email to set up new jobs and dating agencies to meet new women...or men. There is an auto-save function that comes into play after completing a mission, along with the option of saving at any time by returning to your apartment and sleeping. Sleeping also allows you to regain health, along with eating at various places throughout Liberty City. Achievements are quite difficult to obtain but fun to attempt the same way Crackdown was. Achievement whores need not apply.
