My Blog
Filed under Blogging on May 14, 2008 at 6:50 am.
I spent a decent amount of time playing GTA IV since last week, and I thought I would write a post about how fantastic I think the game.
Grand Theft Auto IV is based on a story of Eastern European Immigrant, Niko Bellic, chasing the American Dream after his head-in-the-clouds cousin, Roman mislead him about life in the United States. Throughout his stay, Niko ends up killing, befriending, working for and getting betrayed by every two-bit scumbag from the slimy criminal underworld in Liberty City.
The game creates an elegant coherence in the world - alongside shotguns and hotrods, the characters you meet in your uprising through Liberty City will befriend Niko and invite him to activities such as Strip Clubs, Bowling and a night of Heavy Drinking. However the world doesn't stop when the "Mission Cleared" screen pops up.
Rockstar has gained great appreciation for likeable and memorable characters throughout the first trilogy, but Niko is a step beyond even San Andreas' CJ - a character who would shoot his own brother if it was in the mission script. Niko, on the other hand, has ethics and morals - several encounters will let you choose to kill or relinquish, or to choose who to murder. It won't give Niko a halo or devil horns, but each choice will have consequences down the road.
Everything in the game is part of an organic environment; a living, breathing world. The game has its own internet that regurgitates gossip and promotes radio stations, the radio stations play fitting tunes and talk about TV shows, TV shows parody real life programmes, even Web 2.0 and endorse locations in Liberty City.
The entire game is presented in immaculate beauty, toying with filters to differentiate time and place. A car will be riddled with bullet holes, leave skid marks as it careers across the road, smash its windscreen and dent the body work on collision. One of the games most impressive technical feats, however, is the presentation of characters. Each individual is rendered with care to accentuate their personality without creating caricatures, and each line is delivered with passion and emotion.
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