Game: Grand Theft Auto IV
Format: XBOX 360
This review sits beneath a landslide of amassed praise and
hyperbole surrounding this game. A title has not received such unanimously
vaunting praise since Ocarina of Time on the N64. I could just repeat what everybody
else has said and state that this is a strong contender for game of the year
and virtually flawless, but in all honesty my experience seems to have varied.
In the interests of journalistic integrity I canât just say itâs perfect. Itâs
not and thatâs fine, nothing really is. So if you need validation for your
purchase or a collection of how many incredible new features there are then
look elsewhere. If, however you would like to know what ânot without its flawsâ
means (and it has been said by many) then read on.
Before I start, may I first echo the praise for GTA IVâs
central character Niko Bellic. He is a prime example of depth in a central
protagonist and I never felt frustrated with the way he acted. In fact, his
forthright strength of character actively left me discouraged to go on the
usual killing sprees, unlike the callous Tommy Vercetti from Vice City. Niko is
definitely likable and compelling and many of the characters he meets
(especially at the front end of the game) are multi-dimensional and interesting
and only a little clichÃd. The polish on the format is definitely apparent on
start-up. The weight of the character and the vehicles he drives is apparent.
The impact of hitting someone with a car or shooting them is amped up and the
people behave a little more realistically. You can play for ages and still
notice new things. It was only after about twenty hours that I started to see
repetition, which gave way to cracks and flaws in the gameplay and eventually
full-blown frustration at what eventually became apparent; polish is all that
distinguishes this game from the previous iterations.
This is not to say that GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas
are not superb games, but they were all based around the same engine, pioneered
on the previous generationâs consoles and significantly here not
replaced with a new one. This is GTA as we know and love it, but also (if
applicable) as we hate it. The old problems are still there. The refined
mission system means that if you are (unfairly?) slaughtered on a first attempt
you can reload the current task. What it doesnât counter for are the often
monumentally long and boring drives between the islands that you often have to
take. The Taxi system is a masterstroke, allowing you to skip many of these for
a small fee, but all too often a specific vehicle is needed, necessitating you
sitting for five minutes each attempt, having the same (or at least similar)
conversations with the same characters who quickly reveal their lack of
dimension through the repetition of the odious things they say. Hearing it once
would be fine, twice or six times is unbearable. Maybe I wasnât a sharp enough
player. Maybe I shouldnât have died so often or lost track of my fleeing
quarry, but many missions are so trial and error based that you need several
attempts just to know whatâs around each corner.
In the interests of constructive criticism, rather than
picking at the holes in this (admittedly fantastically presented and well
planned) game, I will suggest what Iâd like to see in the next instalment. For
instance I would genuinely like to see the old engine scrapped. It was great
for the PS2, functional and fun, but for current gen consoles, with responsive
and intuitive characters like Assassinâs Creedâs Altair stalking the
bustling streets, we need a model that knows when not to plummet off a
rooftop because the camera whipped round to an awkward angle at an inopportune
moment. We need a man who knows to lock onto and shoot the thug who is three
feet away and emptying a shotgun into him and not stubbornly keep aiming at the
one three rooms away behind a crate despite numerous frantic button taps. These
are simple things that Rockstar surely will contend with someday. I just wish
it had been for this game.
A save system that would allow you to start at the warehouse
full of goons at the end of a long drive, not before it, would be nice,
along with the ability to get people to be quiet in the car so you can listen
to the music. Speaking of which, the soundtrack needs a mention. Over a dozen
radio stations and only one or two with anything good on: perhaps a little too
much like real life. This is only remarkable because the previous two games
have had two of the most outstanding collections of 80âs and 90âs period music
in any video game ever, and whatâs assembled here seems a little too much like
the eclectic mix that would play in a smoky record shop run by a music elitist
who loathes anything popular. Perhaps Iâve been spoiled by Guitar Hero, but a
handful of rock songs just isnât good enough when swamped by a deluge of
reggae, electro, funk and obscure hip hop. Hell, one station is entirely
dedicated to Bob Marley and the Wailers. This saddens me as I was genuinely
excited about the soundtrack, but the Chatterbox equivalent talk shows always
seemed to be playing the same three segments, which meant that by hour thirty,
I was switching off the radio and listening to the soundtrack to Layer Cake on
my iPod. Next time, Rockstar, donât be afraid to put on more songs that people
know and/or like. Obscure is ok, but nostalgia has more power than novelty.
It was around this thirty-hour mark that the weight of the
game began to press down on me. I knew I wasnât far from the end but it just
seemed to be going on forever, with each gruelling mission advancing my
percentage of completion a fraction at a time. The fun began to ebb and a cold
determination to finish rather than enjoy it began to set in. Again, perhaps if
I had taken my time, it would have been better, but the repetitious waltz of
chase/hide/shoot took such a hold that I could barely tell one mission from the
next. Itâs not just that all the missions in this single game follow the same
handful of themes, itâs that this is all GTA has ever done and once
again, to be constructive, perhaps the next should include more variation, even
if this sacrifices the playing time of the core story. There is still plenty to
do once you finish the final mission (indeed, this is the gameâs key strength)
with dozens of Taxi, vigilante and assassination missions, coupled with the
usual treasure hunt. But once again, though they have swapped hidden packages
for pigeons, itâs the same as it always was: drive/find (/shoot if necessary).
The shooting system itself has indeed been refined, but after a time every
single shootout became the same. Hide behind a wall or a box, wait for the
hoods to show their faces, blast, repeat. Iâd have appreciated either variation
or simply less of the same. Five standout set pieces would stay with me longer
than twenty identikit scuffles.
The much vaunted strong point of the game is the story.
True, it starts out great with a thought-provoking series of tangled
relationships, and much in the way of exposing the hypocrisy behind championing
the American dream whilst despising outsiders who wish to join the party. There
is musing on the nature of revenge and starting over and it truly holds your
attention, but again it is only to a point. At some undetermined moment the
clichÃs begin to appear until you find yourself sitting in a car with
foul-mouthed Mafiosi thinking, âI have so done this before.â Rockstar
run out of steam and leave you stranded in a limp reproduction of the Sopranos
all too early. Once again, if they have to shorten the story for the next
instalment in favour of consistent quality and depth then I certainly wonât be
complaining.
The friend system initially is great fun. Spending time with
your buddies shooting pool and the like is entertaining, but eventually you
find yourself with twelve people calling up and badgering you to go to a strip
club with them when itâs (really) three in the morning and all you want to do
is sleep. Eventually you realise that the limp bonuses that keeping everybody
happy offers simply isnât worth the hours of your time and the ignore
button becomes your new best friend.
Finally the real killer of this game for me, beyond the
repetition, beyond the lame back-end characters and forgiving it the engine
which still canât seem to manage to keep the frame rate consistent and a
far-off vehicle visible from moment to moment, no, the real killshot for my
enjoyment of this game was the frustration factor. I lost count of the number
of times I roared at the screen and writhed in my chair as Nikoâs speeding car
clipped a lamp-post and ground to a halt allowing whoever he was pursuing to
escape within five seconds meaning I would have to jump through many hoops
again just to get back to that same place and perhaps catch him. The illusion
of freedom was never so present in a game. You may be able to go anywhere and
do anything (weathering the consequences each time, usually involving a tedious
police chase) but you still have to do a hell of a lot of things to the letter
if you wish to actually play the game. You canât cunningly set a trap for the
dim-witted hoods you know are going to emerge from a certain door, you have to
go in the front way and hit a certain spot. You often canât shoot an enemy off
the back of a motorbike because you must get to a certain place and kill him
there and you certainly canât let any of the core characters die, much less
kill them. This leaves you prey to occasionally retarded A.I. both for allies
and enemies, and performing the same tasks in the same ways to appease the game
mechanic. When the cries of protest at an unfair death outweigh the smiles of
joy at the clever digs at American culture and the occasional original mission
you have to start questioning the validity of those multiple perfect scores. So
this is the tallest order to Rockstar and requires them to go back to the
drawing board. How about an open-world game where you really are free?
The saddest thing for me is that of course they wonât do
this. The engine they polished may be from the last generation but it keeps the
current gen happy. The next instalment will use the same one, the same problems
will be present and of course I will buy it on day one, because Iâm like that.
I donât regret buying this. In fact despite the seeming
negative tone of this review I would urge everybody with the corresponding
console to go out, buy this and play it to death. It is more of an experience
than most other games. I have barely mentioned the incredibly fun multiplayer
setup, the pure joy of just cruising around the city on free mode with your two
best mates in the car seeing what you can jump over and the mysterious
downloadable content weâve been promised for later this year. It is genuinely
worth every penny of its price tag. Itâs not perfect. We should not demand
perfection from our games. But it could be better and to that end Rockstar can
take on board what many people have said, and perhaps next time I can truly say
that this timeâ it was different.
Rating: ****
