Well, it’s been about half a month since I’ve bought, and played, Grand Theft Auto IV! If you haven’t know, GTA IV is my current favourite game! (Although Team Fortress 2 is a close, close second) I’m nowhere near completion of the game, recently I checked my stats I was only about 20% done in the whole game. But I guess I’ve seen enough to write some stuff down – my way of paying tribute to yet another Rockstar masterpiece.
Firstly, an introduction to GTA 4. It’s a widely anticipated sequel to GTA III (following Vice City and San Andreas). It is a game about guns, hookers, drugs, and of course cars. GTA games are infamous for their wanton violence and immorality, but at the same time they are also extremely highly acclaimed (Vice City and San Andreas are probably ranked among the top 20 games of all time by most gaming magazines). And GTA 4 does not stray from this formula. That is, a sandbox-styled game, meaning a game in which you can do anything you like. If you feel like it, help a friend do a mission, or progress in a storyline. Otherwise, just observe or kill pedestrians, hijack cars, become an illegal taxi driver, be a vigilante and arrest criminals, get a girlfriend, play pool with your cousin, or simply lay in your room and watch TV. Anything goes.
The game basically is about Niko Bellic, who travels to America from Yugoslavia, to search for the “American Dream” his cousin, Roman, has been raving about, only to be repeatedly disillusioned by the state of mess his cousin is in. Niko himself has yet another private agenda for coming to America, which I will not spoil here. And the story proceeds as Niko and Roman try and make a living out of almost nothing. Thankfully, Niko is extremely talented at killing people, and is lovable and sociable by nature (I am not kidding here), so in no time he makes a lot of friends who always have “missions” for him.
Upon the release of GTA IV, several gaming sites broke their records by awarding GTA IV a 10/10. Yet, many gamers were disappointed in the game. And they sure have reasons to be.
Firstly, GTA IV takes place in Liberty City. As compared to the previous game in the series, San Andreas, liberty City is significantly smaller. While in San Andreas one will have travel between the rustic countryside, the sin cities, the squalors etc., in GTA IV it’s just a concrete jungle all the way (since everything takes place in the city). Note, however, that even though the map is small, the details within the areas you roam are so much more that the original claim is actually debatable.
Also, several (minor) features found in San Andreas are missing in GTA IV. Rockstar had previously tried to incorporate an RPG-element in San Andreas, with “questionable” success. In San Andreas, the main character can get a haircut, get a tattoo, go to the gym, play arcade games, commit burglary, take part in turf wars etc. etc. Much of these are removed in GTA IV, which I personally think is a wise choice since all these distract you from the actual game itself. In any case, the new additions in the game makes it a lot more fun too, while some features are still retained, such as shopping for clothes and eating at fast food restaurants to gain health.
Finally, there is a gripe that there are no planes and bicycles in GTA IV. But i really don’t care that they removed these, probably because I sucked at driving planes and riding bicycles in SA to begin with.
That said, GTA IV is really a joy to play. Everything has been improved to a significant extent. Let’s begin with the pedestrians. They are much more unique and interactive than before. They talk on the cellphone, they quarrel on the pavements, they eat, they jog, they smoke. Bump into them too much and they’ll get angry, curse, and even challenge you to a fight (which usually spell their doom LOL) When it rains, they’ll hold umbrellas, some will run in the rain to the nearest shelter, others will use their newspapers as covers. Run into them and their umbrellas will fly off, leaving them in a huff of rage. Go to the park, and aim a sniper rifle and the gossiping old ladies sitting on the bench, and seeing them scream and run off. Yet, give a gangster a shove and aim a pistol at him will only result in him doing the same and shooting you in the face. You can practically stand on the road and observe what’s going on around you. The city is indeed bustling with life. A driver hits a car in front because he was paying attention to a buxom lady walking on the street, resulting in the owner of the damaged car to drag him out and give him a wallop. A police chases a pickpocket, causing him to raise both his arms when the police takes out his pistol, and leads him back to the police car. Overheard pedestrian comments and conversations are also more varied, and very hilarious.
The improved AI also makes things easier for you. Sound your horn to make pedestrians be aware of your presence. (And they also no longer stupidly dive onto the road in an attempt to avoid being hit by your car) Motorists do not change lanes for no particular reason (THANKFULLY!), a characteristic that got me furious several times when playing SA last time, and actually know how to avoid you carefully even when you’re driving on the wrong side of the traffic. The handling of motorists are also improved somewhat. While in the previous games, no matter how fast the cars travel, they can always slow down to a halt in time. So you can simply stand in the middle of a highway and no worry about being hit. In SA, the supposed improvement has not been fine tuned, and on highways, if you stop your car, even at a gentle rate, chances are you will cause a pileup behind you. In GTA IV this still happens, but at a less frequency. On the other hand, you have to worry for your life when you jaywalk, because motorists, if they travel fast, will not be able to stop in time. Well, it’s counted as an improvement because it’s definitely more realistic than before! And finally, now you can even do missions from random pedestrians, which are marked as green icons on your radar map.
Vehicle control wise, it’s definitely more realistic, but whether it makes the game more enjoyable is another issue. The car manipulation will take a while to get used to, especially for people who have never played GTA on console before. While in the PC, the famous letters “WSAD” represent acceleration, brake, turn left and right, while the right mouse click is the handbrake. In the PS3, R2 is acceleration, R1 is hand brake, L2 is footbrake. Left analog left and right represent turning left and right, BUT left analog up and down represents moving the camera view up and down. Right analog controls the camera direction. And of course, following the footsteps of San Andreas, a feature that annoys many noob drivers is the fact that the camera does not follow you immediately everytime you change direction. However, after a while, one will have the common sense to use the right analog together with the left, to manually alter the camera view whenever necessary, and driving will become relatively easy. I say this because even though I’m an absolutely horrendous driver, I can still complete those missions in which car chases are integral to passing. The only times which I may fail is when I take too long to find a car while the enemy has sped off after some time, or when I get chased by several cars which shoot at me, resulting in my car catching fire.
One minor but interesting improvement is how Niko jacks a car. No longer are stationary unattended cars unlocked and can be opened easily. Many times, Niko needs to break the window, jump into the car, occasionally triggering a car alarm and frequently the car does not start until after Niko successfully hot wires a car. With a weapon in hand, the animations of Niko hijacking an occupied car are even more interesting. This of course increases the realism of the game. Further, now Niko can be thrown off the car and get killed, if, say, the car travels at blazing speed and then slams into a tree, so we can no longer drive blindly, thinking that we are immune when in a car.
Combat wise, similar to driving, are initially rather troublesome, especially when you are so used to using your mouse to aim at enemies when you open fire. I heard the previous games in the series are even worse. Thankfully, in GTA IV, several improvements are made. Firstly, there is a new and really really important “cover” feature, meaning in the midst of heavy exchange of bullets, Niko (and everyone else) has the ability to take cover behind an object. This is really cool, albeit slightly unrealistic, in a sense that everyone is taking covers, just like you, only to appear and shoot occasionally, but seldom leaving their “comfort zone” unless you haven’t killed them after a very long time. This kind of reminds me of those Time Crisis games when it’s just a matter of hiding behind a wall and shooting when you’re ready. The animation of taking cover is also varied, and again this is really really cool. Once, my character just climbed to the roof of a building, only to be greeted by several policemen all ready to blow his head off. I immediately hit the cover button, and since the nearest “cover” is a wall that is of some distance away from Niko, I could see him sliding back with his hands and legs, on the floor, and then readying himself when he finally reaches the wall. All these movements are extremely smooth, and you will just marvel at how much work Rockstar puts into incorporating all these for different situations. This cover system really makes shooting much easier; the times where you are most vulnerable are when you enter a new room, and have not familiarized yourself with the layout of the room (i.e. where to hide) but already have several goons firing away, OR, if you are an idiot like me, TAKE COVER ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE ENEMY. and we both turned around and fired at each other away. Unfortunately, I died (cuz I didn’t have much life to begin with)
Another feature in combat is the “autolock” function. This works wonders, especially for boboshooters like me. Simply press the L2 button and you see the cross hair automatically aiming at the most convenient enemy within your sight. Press the left or right button and rotate between enemies. One minor gripe is that while the autolock ensures you are shooting at the head of the enemy, if you are required to, say, shoot at his leg, you have to hold both L2 and the right analog down and at the same time press R2. This is harder than it sounds.
The system for evading the police is also changed. Those who have played GTA before will know the “star system”. 1-star arise when you have committed a “petty” crime, such as stealing a car, punching a pedestrian, 2-star arise when you have killed a policeman in the line of duty etc. The higher the stars the more the police will look out for you. If by any chance you reach 6 stars, the FBI, army tanks, swat teams, helicopters, will be hot on your heels and you should be grateful if you can actually survive. In GTA IV, to evade the police, one needs to get out of their “radar zone”, and avoid detection for the next 10 seconds or so. The higher the number of stars you obtained, the bigger this radar zone, and needless to say, the more difficult to evade it. From three star onwards, the helicopter will be dispatched and they can always look out for you quite easily too. Of course you can drive into a classic “pay and spray” machine to disguise yourself, but only when the police is not looking. This does not mean evading the police is more difficult. In fact, it is quite often, the opposite. It may be slightly more difficult to evade a 1-star than previous games. But if you clock a 2-star rating, you’ll realise it’s much easier to remove the wanted level as compared to SA /VC/GTA 3, since all you need to do is to drive out of the radar zone, and drive fast. Of course it takes some getting used to. In the beginning of the game, too often I have managed to exit the radar zone, only to encounter a police car right in front of me, and I find myself right smack in the middle of yet another radar zone again. A particular stupid evasion procedure of my part happened when I delivered some drugs to a bunch of traffickers but was busted by police with 2 stars. I managed to get out of the radar zone, only to be seen by yet another police car in front of me. What followed next was really unnecessary chases, off to the end of the road and upon realising there’s no turning back, I drove off a cliff, car turning turtle, and finally landed into a lake, with the police cars also follow suit, and I exited the car, shot at a few of them in self-defense, and swam away as fast as I could, inadvertently taking a few bullets by angry policeman behind me. Finally I got out of the radar zone, but I did not know where I was since I was so far from the main city area, and was in the middle of.. an ocean? Lol. Totally not worth the $1000 reward… zzz.
Oh, you can now take a cab around the city, if you are too lazy to drive. Simply hail a cab by whistling, OR drag the passenger out if the cab refuse to stop for you, if you can. Choose your destination, and you have a choice to just observe the beautiful and realistic sights of the city while the taxi travels, or you can skip straight to the destination at a slight extra fee, or you can urge the driver to travel faster. The final option is not to be recommended because when the taxi driver panics, and drives very very quickly, chances are he will be involved in accidents and the time taken to reach the destination may actually be slower, resulting in a higher fee! Apart from cabs, you can also take the subway, but I’ve only tried it once, so I can’t comment too much.
Onward to the new features introduced in GTA IV. Firstly, there is a cellphone feature. A cellphone is integral in GTA IV, since it is highly customizable and interactive. You can “download” your favourite ringtones and wallpapers from the virtual online shop. You can put your phone to sleep if you do not want to be disturbed. Of course most importantly, you speak to your aides and enemies using your cellphone. You can give them a call, and they will pick up, provided they are not busy. You will receive SMS from them. You can call them for work, such as finding out the next drug laundering location, or for leisure, such as going to the carbaret show, the strip club, play bowling or darts or pool, or go drinking.
With the inclusion of the cellphone feature, it’s obvious that friendship now plays a much more important part in the game. Previously I mentioned about going drinking and bowling. While you can have fun playing a mini game of bowling (which I really suck at), the more important reason is to cultivate deep friendships, and deep friendship will lead to great reward such as discount in weapons (if your friend is a weapons dealer, for example). Be careful when you go drinking though. It is my most hated past-time, I get really annoyed when my friend suggested we go hit the bar. Because when we are drunk, firstly if I try to drive I will most likely get killed. Secondly, I will hit the walls and the floor often, resulting in some loss of life. Thirdly, it’s difficult to get a cab deep in the night, and even more so if you are swaying uncontrollably and yelling “TAXXXIIIII!!!!!” and by the time the yellow car is long gone.
Oh, another use of the cellphone : girlfriends. Of course, girlfriends are available in the game, and if you do find one, you can call her up for a date using the cellphone, and if she likes you enough… she’ll invite you for a cup of hot coffee. 
Another cool new feature is the internet. GTA IV has a fictional internet server. You can visit cybercafes to check your emails. Some missions are sent to you via emails, while other emails are simply spam, or friendly messages from your relatives or friends. You can visit the internet explorer and catch up on the latest news, and there are hundreds of “websites” for you to visit too, many of them are simply hilarious, while some provide clues to what your next mission can be.
Everyone knows that GTA is famous for their radio stations. They have dozens of radio stations, each with hilarious deejays, interspersed with equally hilarious commercials, and you can just burst out laughing listening to those talkshows available. Unfortunately, in the light of the mood of the game, I could not gather enough attention as I want to, to listen to what the deejays are saying or appreciate the songs in the radio station. Furthermore, the 80s radio station theme in VC have already set itself as a benchmark that none can surpass. I must, however, say that I was quite glad to hear some familiar tunes belted out of my car stereo during my journey to kill my next victim, such as Daddy Yankee’s Impacto and Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen.
Now GTA IV takes one step further and even have TV channels, on top of radio. They supposedly hire some high-profile comedians to give stand up comedies in some channels, and I saw cartoons and sitcoms in other channels, all parodies of American TV. I wish I could spend more time watching these “TV shows” but I am still rushing to complete missions at this point in time. Maybe after I’m done with the main storyline I will then enjoy the shows. Oh, and the cabaret performances are funny too (yes, my cousin has a penchant for going to cabaret and I had no choice but to follow him a couple of times to gain his respect)
Yet another cool feature of GTA IV is the fact that the game is saved immediately upon completion. No need to worry about getting back to the nearest save point which is 10 miles away from where you are. Other features like using the SIXAXIS function (motion sensor on the PS3 wireless controller) failed rather miserably, though I sometimes tilt the controller upwards to reload my weapon. That’s about as far as I will use the SIXAXIS functions.
GTA IV is also the first game to offer multiplayer. UNFORTUNATELY MY ROUTER IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS VISTA %(*#&)@$%*()@#& and hence I can’t play multiplayer as of yet, until I buy a new router. 
But from what I gather, the multiplayer games are heaps of fun. There are like over a dozen different kinds of games to choose from, and servers can accommodate up to 32 players. I have to get the damn router soon.
Now to some minor bugs which I observed. There was one “shooting” mission in which I had to kill everyone in the factory. There seem to be an invisible wall “protecting” the enemies from my gunfire, even though graphically it clearly shows a gap in between the railings which if I shoot continuously, would have killed the enemy. Hence, I have to stop taking cover, and run straight to their faces and shoot them point blank.
Then, there was another mission in which I had to drive a lorry fillled with explosives and park them in a place (and then subsequently blowing the whole place up), but on the way, I cannot hit anything, if not the lorry will explode. Hence, after a slow and painful drive to the destination, I was so relieved that I could pass the mission. Alas, the parking location is buggy. After entering the place I could not continue the mission as it did not detect that I have parked the lorry. I have to keep rotating my position, and accidentally fire a shot resulting in police cars surrounding the whole damn place trying to get a piece of me. Fortunately, I managed to get a right position, and the cut scene of the factory blowing up to bits soon followed, and I knew I passed the mission.
There are other minor bugs. Once, I was supposed to fetch my date to the carnival, when my cousin called me and asked me to come over and help him because he’s being beaten up by loan sharks. I tried to call my date using my cellphone to tell her I would be late but she was unavailable. I called her 10 times, 10 times she was unavailable and asked me to leave a message. Then suddenly, she sent me an SMS, asking me where the heck I was. Immediately, I tried to call her, and again, she was unavailable!!! Thankfully, this did not really affect the plot by a lot, though she did question me what happened after that.
Another time, I sniped two pedestrians for fun. I went back to sleep (a.k.a. save game), and came out of the place the next morning to see the two corpses still lying there. Suddenly, ONE OF THEM CAME BACK TO LIFE and I could see in my own eyes he got up, and tried to cross the road, although he was limping quite badly (meaning he was injured), then subsequently, a car knocked him down and he finally died, right in the middle of the road. FOR THE SECOND TIME. Now this is perplexing, because I was very sure I killed him back then.
Ultimately, none of the glitches affect the fun of the game. There is an infamously difficult, but really really fun mission in the game that I have not attempted yet (let’s see, the mission involves robbing a bank, helping accomplices escape, killing all the police with a 5-star police rating and then evade the remaining by speeding off), and I can’t wait for it! GTA IV is easily my favourite game of the year, although, I must emphasise, TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS A CLOSE, CLOSE SECOND. So if you have nothing to do and want to rot at home, go buy GTA 4 and TF2. If you are really busy, then, JUST BUY GTA 4 AND ITS GOOD ENOUGH 
