This week, there’s one game licking at the edges of every player’s conversation, flying off the shelves and dominating entertainment news as a source of infinite controversy. Grand Theft Auto IV, the newest in the family of Rockstar’s questionable line-up arrived on shelves this past Tuesday much to the glee of fervently waiting gamers. GTA is well known to many, including non-gamers, for the flak GTA III drew for ultra-violence against the police and innocents, strong language, nudity, drug & alcohol use and adult situations (that often included prostitutes or strip clubs).

Despite the game already being rated M for “Mature”, conservative groups all over the country continue to demonize the franchise for capitalizing off of filth and allegedly encouraging deviant, delinquent behavior in children. While gamers expected to hear the predictable off-kilter spin from the ever-splenic Jack Thompson (who, naturally, has been demanding that lawmakers indict Take-Two for “providing pornographic material to minors” and planting “viruses” in this country’s youth), the generally well-respected group MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has also come down hard on GTAIV. After formally requesting Rockstar halt distribution, it became clear that their issue stems from the fact that drunk driving is allowable in game. It is pertinent, however, to note that the player can choose to decide whether or not the character will drive home, hail a cab or walk it off. That right there is what makes the game interesting to me—choice.

Beyond the choices you’re intermittently presented with in game, parents have the choice to prevent their children from purchasing, playing or viewing the game. While I am willing to admit that we’re regularly bombarded with increasingly negative and violent media that desensitizes the public to real-life cruelty, I choose to lay the blame square on the shoulders of those who let it into their household. I don’t care how liberal you may or may not be: children, especially teens and pre-teens, should not be left to their own devices. I could decry the breakdown of the nuclear family, a topic that is not simply a “Republican concern” but rather a societal one, but it seems that more and more these days, parents just don’t know how to parent. They don’t know how to say “No”. They don’t understand how to interface with new technology and thus don’t know how to properly block questionable internet/television content from their children.

I am a member of the Nintendo generation. The original console came out when I was in second grade, and although I received one for Christmas, my mother policed both the time I spent on it and the games that I could play. When I got a SEGA years later, nothing had changed—I was that kid who only had The Lion King and Ecco: Tides of Time. I played Commander Keen, Math Blaster and Oregon Trail II on our family PC for the longest time until my mother relented and allowed me to purchase TIE Fighter and Rebel Assault II. I ended up relatively well-adjusted for all of that, and now that I’m out on my own, I can decide what I do or don’t want to see—and I harbor no bitterness toward my parents for holding back on me. As my parents grow older, however, and technology rapidly eclipses the horizon of their understanding, they’ve gotten lazy. My thirteen year old brother plays Mass Effect, Halo and Devil May Cry 4. He regularly watches R-rated movies. He doesn’t understand the concept of holding back, saving money, or when not to question our parents.

I’m lucky that despite all of that, my parents have managed to impress a set of values upon him that have stuck, and he’s a smart kid with a clear sense of right and wrong. Without some set of core values and limitations imposed on them, kids will be brainwashed by anything. I contend that, if a game somehow manages to replace an innate right/wrong functionality, there’s something seriously amiss that has very little to do with jacking fake cars.

But I digress. In GTA IV, the player assumes the role of an eastern European man (think ex-Soviet Block) named Niko Bellic who comes to America to live with his cousin, Roman. What immediately ensues is a downward spiraling of events that “forces” Niko back into a mercenary lifestyle—which is, of course, where the player comes in. Each mission is assigned in such a way that it almost feels like it’s happening naturally: you meet people, you access e-mails at an internet café and you receive phone calls and text messages on your fully-accessible cell-phone. While some of these missions advance the storyline (which does exist and which is interesting enough to warrant more play), some are purely for earning reputation with the individuals you “do business with”. Packie calls: want to go play pool? You have the option of accepting or declining, although declining might mean you lose “friendliness” with that particular person (Pro Tip: Accept all invitations and then call back to decline right afterward if you don’t feel like going; you won’t lose any reputation). The benefit of keeping everyone happy is that at a certain level, these people will do you favors and allow you access to their services (which thus unlock Achievements)—anything from free chopper rides to discounted weaponry.

And that’s an entirely different aspect to the game, completely parallel to the storyline. Achievements, if you’re not familiar with them, have seemingly been created for the XBOX 360 to give players another reason to devote hours to the game completing somewhat ridiculous assignments in hopes of checking off another item on an extensive To Do list. Accomplishing things and then unlocking Achievements can be as simple as completing missions or getting laid or may be as difficult as completing 100% of the stunt jumps. Do they do anything? No, not really—they simply cater to the completionist gamer.

What really impresses me about the game, however, beyond the neat little extras like a working cell phone with a camera and customizable ringtones (take pictures of your hostage and mail them to her dad!) or the fact that each car handles differently (SUVs are way too bouncy for my tastes, but I can crash them into everything) is the overall look and feel. I’m someone who is incredibly turned off by poor graphics and the sense that the character you’re playing isn’t fully integrated into the environment. Not so, with Niko. Liberty City is an incredibly rich, interactive environment that seriously feels like a living and breathing city. There’s a very real suspension of disbelief: GTA IV also utilizes the Euphoria technology I mentioned in my previous article. Thus, not only does the environment deepen the connection you have with Niko moving through it, but the folks populating the streets also act and react a little differently every time you pull some outrageous stunt—it’s a little more like real life.

The dialogue also plays out seamlessly. Depending on the options you choose, whether it’s cancelling plans, trying to smooth out relations with a dealer or self-righteously defending yourself, Niko has a ready answer for just about everything—and the voice acting is superb, believable. When Niko’s pissed, you know it, and not just because the number of expletives have ramped up exponentially with his volume. So despite the fact that you’re essentially playing a crook, you’re able to empathize with him and feel as though his decisions are justified. To be fair, I have tried to make the choices in game that I feel are true to Niko’s character. Occasionally you’re given the opportunity to choose whether someone lives or dies—and Niko isn’t always up for killing folks who are generally innocent (or have fallen on bad times). He’s extremely family centric, and it doesn’t seem true to character to let someone who, for example, abuses his wife live. How would he react if I’d gone against that? I’m not sure. The responses are generally so well timed that they don’t feel planned, but rather are a perfect action-reaction to any particular scenario (even if it’s running over a pedestrian—”Sorry! I hope you have health insurance!”). You want to know more, and you’re left wondering what cleverly accented anecdote he’s going to come up with next.

Despite the hype, and there’s been a lot (as Brittany has mentioned in her article), GTA IV isn’t just another game in a long line of wildly inappropriate shoot ‘em ups. Take Two has created a superbly designed game with a highly interactive, lush (if a city can be called that) environment, likeable characters and engrossing storyline. Sure, it’s not heroic in the same vein of rescuing princesses and defending the kingdom, but Niko’s plight reads like a gritty epic in its own right. It’s exceptionally important to try and look past all the negative media and focus on the excellent gameplay—and if you don’t want your kids being exposed to a veritable shitstorm of expletives and gunplay, it’s as easy as not letting him or her buy it. A+—would play again.

Oh, and make sure you give a listen to Liberty City’s Talk Radio, PLR—it’s an excellent complement to the crunch and screams of pedestrians being pulled under your tires.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Xbox 360, Video Games, Reviews, Game Design, News, Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.