May 7th, 2008 ~ Still looking for that special someone
Grand Theft Auto IV
With top marks rushing in from all corners of the globe you’d think Rockstar had hit upon the Holy Grail with GTA IV. They may have come very close, but when you achieve perfection where do you go next? If you step back from the hype for a second you can see GTA IV is not without fault, but on the other hand it’s obviously a title that will go down in history as a gaming great.
What does that mean though? Well, it’s increasingly hard to pin down what exactly makes a game great. I once thought more solitary environments best suited critical reproach, with the likes of Portal and Shadow of the Colossus being two of the most impressive titles over the last few years. Interestingly, the locations in both games were mostly devoid of life, but conversely the games themselves were highly vivacious in terms of entertaining the player as they advanced.
With Rockstar moving back to Liberty City and getting back in the New York groove for their latest addition to the Grand Theft Auto series, it is quite easy to see they’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of attaining the illusive fun factor that most games strive for. At its core though it is still the same Grand Theft Auto we’ve grown accustomed to since the series jumped to 3D.
You could even argue missions are in part imbued with the same pragmatic routines that were on show in previous games in the series, but on the other hand it is overtly obvious it’s a huge step up in form for the series; everything is tighter, more refined. Although it feels clichéd to say so, Liberty City does in fact feel very much alive. Every square inch boasts something new or exciting that will catch your attention.
There’s more to it than just graphical changes though, and there’s more to it than the lifelike animations provided by the euphoria engine. The city really does feel lived-in this time round. You’ll walk up a street and see someone else getting arrested. You’ll see car crashes that you had no hand in. You’ll see people getting a lift in a taxi, and if you follow the cab long enough you will see them get out. Sure, it’s all been scripted in some way, but there seem to be thousands of ways in which stuff might play out, keeping you almost always surprised and impressed. Going back to play any of the predecessors after IV makes these previously ground-breaking titles seem almost archaic in comparison.
Don’t get me wrong - San Andreas was a good game - but even the most ardent fan would agree that it lost some of its appeal by trying to do too much at once. As a result Rockstar were not shy of stripping some elements of the game back to the core, and choosing to build them up again from scratch rather than just heaping more on for GTA IV. Gone are the questionable RPG elements, silly missions, outlandish forms of transport and OTT weapons. Activities are also streamlined, so that players are never subjected to tasks that feel like chores.
Then there’s the little touches. The whole HUD is much cleaner than before, all cars now have GPS (so there’s no excuse for getting lost), guns no longer float in mid-air waiting for you to pick them up, being usually propped up against some object or a wall. Stunt jumps are still around, but they now seem better suited to the environment and don’t seem as obvious as they did before. Hidden packages are done away with, and you now have 200 pigeons to hunt down instead. A major change in the game mechanics is that you now get to keep your guns if you die rather than get arrested. They all may be seem like small extras, but it’s the tiny things that add to the game’s appeal. The result is a more believable world for Niko to traverse.
Of course, there is also the addition of mobile phone, which is probably the most ingenious facet of the game. Not only is the phone used to trigger some missions, restart missions if you fail, and give you some updates as you advance it is also used to keep in contact with friends. You can ring them should you want to go bowling, having a game of darts, or just get drunk out of your mind and try to drive home. If you build up a good enough relationship you can then use the phone to contact friends and ask for various perks, such as calling in bodyguards to back you up and ordering supplies. You can also access the game’s multiplayer by a few quick presses on your keypad. As if that wasn’t enough there’s also a hugely in-depth version of the internet with spoof versions of loads of real world websites, from dating sites to Craigslist. You can buy ring-tones and themes for your phone online, check emails (including spam, which ends up being much more entertaining than those in real life), or you can just read the news.
The missions on show this time are far more varied than ever before. A few of the earlier ones may seem a bit mundane, but this just makes the later, more epic assignments you’re tasked with as you progress seem that much better by comparison. Many of these missions are still highly influenced by some movies, but for the most part Rockstar have tried to keep things more original this time round. Better still, there are new things to see and do right up to the end, so even when you reach the last island you’ll still see brand new elements of the game make an appearance instead of just playing similar styled missions in a different locale. In addition, the game no longer gives ‘bosses’ the luxury of a bigger health bar; your encounters with these important characters are instead handled in a much more realistic way, the first waterside encounter setting quite the exciting precedent for the way of things to come…
It’s not the perfect city though. There are still missions that annoy, and a few that are bit too long. You can still suffer an unfair death when the targeting takes one of it hissy fits, and the cover system can be prone to a few glitches every now and then. The fist fighting mechanic is also not all that interesting, but it is an improvement from San Andreas. There are still a few technical issues too, such as pop-up and a few frame rate problems when reaching the more densely populated parts of the city later on in the game. As a result the game may not totally impress everyone that plays it. However, it is likely most of those went in with their expectation set sky high in the first place.
So, as you can see GTA IV is not perfect, but it is unlikely there will ever be a game we could fairly label with that heavy moniker. It is however an absolutely essential landmark title for the games industry. In terms of the sheer scope, emotion, ambition, and the stupidly high fun factor it offers, there is no better available in the genre today. In fact, no one else comes anywhere near. In truth, it’s seeing where Rockstar go next that should be getting people the most excited, but for now we should all just stand back and revel in this true moment of gaming glory as we know they don’t come around all that often.
Rob
May 7th, 2008
Tell me - if GTA IV is not perfect how can you give it a perfect score?! On the basis that it is unlikely we’ll ever see a perfect game?! If that’s true then should never see a 10/10 pr 100% review. Come on DarkZero, generally your reviews are not up to scratch.
Ben
May 7th, 2008
Rob - 10/10 does not mean perfect. As a percentage the same game could score between 95% and 100%. Most critics have scored it 10/10 yet have not claimed perfection. If GTA IV is worthy of scoring higher than 94% then it is going to receive 10/10. This is how rounding numbers works in maths.
Monkey Rimmer
May 7th, 2008
It doesn’t matter to me if they gave it 1 or even 0 out of 10… this is THE best game I have ever played!! Yes it’s had it’s frustrating moments like the camera stitching you up in the middle of a fire fight, yes sometimes the cars seem to have a mind of their own… but it’s GTAs little quirks. I love this game.. it’s the only thing I’ve played since I got it!
Rob
May 7th, 2008
Well in my opinion, no game should be given 100% or 10/10 unless it is deemed to be the perfect game and absent of flaws. Grand Theft Auto IV is without doubt one of the greatest games of all times, however it is not without its faults. Therefore it is simply not worthy of a perfect score. Game reviewing should not be relative i.e. there is nothing better therefore this is perfect. If the game is limited by the generation of hardwarev that it is running on then that is a different issue (Ocarina of Time would not get the same scores now.) However, if a game has flaws in its design then this should be reflected in the score. These may be minor flaws and it may mean the game merits a score of 9.9/10 but the integrity of review scores is questionable if people dish out perfect scores for a game that is certainly not flawless.
Its still an awesome game though!
Major
May 7th, 2008
Stupid argument to be having, but I’d definitley give this >9.5/10 therefore 10/10. Its quite easily the best sandbox game ever made. Its a colossal achievement to create a living breathing world of this size, add to that the vast single player story, the side missions and the truly excellent multiplayer and you have a 10/10 game. It is also a landmark game which will no doubt raise the bar for other developers.
BTW good review, I always enjoy reading them.
Manuel
May 7th, 2008
I keep what i had said in a previous blog, and agree 100 % with Rob, is a great game but doesnt deserve a perfect ten.
Previous blog comment
“I think GTA IV does not deserve a perfect 10, maybe a 9.5 if you take in consideration some flaws, the cars are very dificult to handle (still a lot of pain) , even if you had played 10+ hours, you dont get it right, nikos movements are kind of slow, sometimes the cover system doesnt work all to well, the game is a bit to dark for my tastes and i had to adjust the brithness seetings of my tv,in order to play it porperly, this small inconveniences for me take down the score a little bit, , though this before mentioned things, doesnt broke the gameplay at all, it does take down the score, but the good things in this game outweights the bads.
For me a game that deserve a perfect score is a game that everything is polish, the gameplay, the graphics, the story, the innovation, the fluidity of the movements, etc. for example, bioshock, zelda OOT, super mario galaxy, soul calibur, and resident evil 4, all these games did comply with all the things, and for me deserved a perfect score”
Surrealist
May 8th, 2008
I don’t have much to add, but I totally agree with Ben, it’s deserving of over 95% and therefore is a 10/10 game. That is all.
Ryan
May 9th, 2008
Rob loves cock
Muhammad-Oli
May 10th, 2008
^^^Man, grow up. Rob was maturely arguing his point. Some may agree, some may not. I agree to an extent, but can see why this game got a 10/10. There is no need to insult another person in such a way, as it just proves yourself to be less respectable than the person you insult.
Lloytron
May 10th, 2008
No game can ever be perfect or flaw free, which means 10/10 would then never be achievable. If a rating is never achievable then the ratings would actually be out of 9, which would be totally arbitrary.
No system is perfect. What is the difference between a game that scores 86% and one that scores 87%?
The only logical way to do this is to do as stated above - any game that would get 95% or more gets marked as a 10. If not, all games the equivalent of 85% or more would score a 9, which is ridiculous.
Rob
May 12th, 2008
I hear what you’re saying Lloytron, if no game is ever going to be perfect then 10/10 should be unachievable. Reviewing games is not a case of benchmarking against other games with the best one getting a perfect score. If there is never a perfect game then we should never see full marks, plain and simple. If you sit an exam and get one question wrong, the examiner doesn’t give you full marks just cos you got the highest score. Same principle applies.
The premise of then scoring things out of 9 is absurd though!
Manuel
May 12th, 2008
“No game can ever be perfect or flaw free, which means 10/10 would then never be achievable. If a rating is never achievable then the ratings would actually be out of 9, which would be totally arbitrary”
I dont agree with that, because a 10/10 game is basecally a game that does something that you never seen before, plays great, look good and innovates a lot, like Super mario, Zelda OOT, resident evil 4, soul calibur, bioshock, those games only had some minor issues, but GTA IV has a bad driving gameplay department, camera issues here and there, niko movements are not that fluid, the cover mecanics doesnt work all time and the shotting department not always respond as you want, so i think it doesnt deserve the 10/10, because those before mentioned things break the fluidity of the gameplay, thats something the above games didnt had, and finally this is the same game we had play in the past years but with new things that are not revolutionary by all means. great game but doesnt deserve the 10/10.
Pete
May 14th, 2008
You say that, but this way we’ve got several people talking about the wrong score. Can you imagine how many people would kick off if it was anything other than 10.
Games will come and go, systems and mechanics will fade. The only thing we can guarantee here and now is that GTAIV is at the top of the food chain, and for the most part deserves to be. 10/10.
dave
May 15th, 2008
Am..i kinda worried cause my friend in Europe bought me a game…this game GTA 4 and Europe is using PAL systems so game is PAL version right?…and xbox360 is maybe NTSC im not sure but it is made in china and bought it here in the Philippines…will my xbox support the game am will it work?
your reply is needed cause ive waited for this for a long time….
thanks…
Neuro
May 20th, 2008
How pathetic that i should stumble across this gathering of bad replies. lol. As said somewhere above.. it’s the best game around.. and here we are.. 2008.. it is the most innovative game there is.. how can you give something that is pushing boundaries and achieving its goals of mass applause anything less than 10/10? We could always poke into the future to GTA5 and then look back at how lesser a game GTA4 is.. but that’d be pointless.. what you gonna do then? Reduce the score of GTA4 to a 6/10 just because its not as good as whats gonna appear in 5 years time?
Fools fools fools… the word “perfect” is such an unobtainable word by its very definition.. it should be swiftly removed from our dictionaries for claiming to be the god of words.
If all who don’t give this game 10/10, rub your eyes then look again.. it IS the greatest game of now in its field.. Rockstar are the dogs nuts.. period! The only thing that is more fun is having to explain this to ye who cannot see correctly.
Good review by the way.. fairs fair…
My verdict… TEN OUT OF TEN. A Masterclass in how games should be realised!
tareum
June 4th, 2008
“So, as you can see GTA IV is not perfect” … and 10/10
wtf
jooligan
June 4th, 2008
i can haz maths?
lewis murphy
July 6th, 2008
if my mate plays this game one more time and says watch wat i do hear i will put the fu*king controler up his ass and pull him around the room with the wire hang out!