Cons: Some of the base mechanics (like targeting) feel broken; missions involve luck far too often; missions tend to run together; no checkpoints within missions
Grand Theft Auto 3 was a system seller to me. When it first came out, I was mesmerized by the writeups and screenshots without even playing the game or even seeing it in action. It got to the point where I had my sister and her boyfriend take me to the mall to buy the game, even though I didn't own a PS2. I wanted to play the game so bad that I practically forced myself to buy a PS2 by getting a game for a system I didn't even own. When I finally got to play it, it was hardly the best experience in gaming that I had ever had, but it was still enjoyable enough that I made it through three quarters of it before quitting for Final Fantasy X. Now, I went back and finished the game at a later point, but the fact remained that I found the overall repetitive gameplay a bit off putting, even if it was done in a way that (at that point) really hadn't been done before. I passed when Vice City came out, but San Andreas hooked me with its promise of even more freedom by being able to drive in the country between cities and fly airplanes as well. I played San Andreas start to finish without a problem, as somehow the diversity between areas helped break up the game enough that I didn't notice I was doing the exact same tasks over and over. The game was criticized for offering too much dead space in the form of the country between the cities, but that helped make the game feel special to me. And so when Grand Theft Auto IV came out and offered a new take on the city from Grand Theft Auto 3, I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to get the game. Sure, it offered a lot of refinements, but it also marked a devolution in the series to me, returning to something safe instead of venturing too far out of the series's comfort zone. And so I waited until I could pick the game up for five bucks before taking to plunge and buying it. It was more or less exactly what I expected, in that Grand Theft Auto IV is a well done open-world third person shooter that offers up some interesting gameplay, but not enough to last its entire span.
Grand Theft Auto IV is the story of Nico Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant who has come to Liberty City to seek the man that betrayed him and in turn killed his entire home village. Nico begins by helping out his cousin, who works at a small taxi company, but he soon climbs the ladder of organized crime until he is doing jobs for the Mafia. GTA IV all takes place in Liberty City, although the city is divided into three islands which the player gradually earns access to. It happens fairly organically, as the player is sent on missions that go further and further out until they are in completely different areas. There doesn't seem to be a set course of mission in order to beat the game, and if there is, Rockstar did a good job of disguising which missions were essential. Getting around the city is easier than ever because of a GPS feature on the radar that tells you the roads to take in order to get to your destination or any waypoint you decide to place on the map. Given that Libtery City's highways would be a nightmare to traverse otherwise, this is an incredibly welcome feature. Driving around the city is well done, with a blur motion effect that makes speeding much more intense than it had been in previous entries. The different car models handle differently enough to make it interesting, although the motorcycles prove to be relatively worthless in the game. Players can also drive boats and helicopters, although the boats seem too slow to be interesting and the helicopter controls too poorly to be a viable option for transportation. The city itself is well made, with a full population that act naturally enough that it doesn't seem like its just a bunch of NPCs filling a void. The traffic might not always act realistically, but some liberties had to be taken (we couldn't have police pulling the player over for going through every red light, after all). The city itself is clearly where most of the effort went, and it shows, both for better and worst.
The missions themselves might have been fun if the combat system didn't seem so antiquated and, quite frankly, broken. Players target enemies by holding the left trigger, and then fire with the right trigger. However, the game often either has a hard time detecting enemies or targets the wrong one without an easy way of changing targets. Additionally, once you're locked on to a target, you can't unlock yourself without releasing the left trigger. I'm used to being able to correct my aim after an autotarget by using the right analog stick, but GTA IV's auto-aim fights you every step of the way and tries to snap back to the target's stomach. This makes throwing grenades near impossible, as you'll aim, get snapped on to a target behind a wall, and be unable to move the target away from the wall in order to throw the grenade effectively.What's perhaps the most sad is that the auto-aim ruined some of the biggest missions in the game. The penulimate mission features an indoor section in a tanker that is nearly unplayable, and basically any extended mission with an indoor section was at least twice as difficult as it should have been because of the targeting. Which brings up another major flaw in the game: a lack of mid-mission checkpoints. Some missions last around 10 minutes, and a random occurence (say a car blocking a path when it normally doesn't) might cause you to fail 8 minutes in. You are forced to start the mission from the beginning, risking another random occurence in those initial 8 minutes. From what I understand, they fixed this in the DLC, but it still should have been released with the original game.
The missions also tend to involve the same objectives but in different orders, leading to a lot of familiar experiences. The game throws a cool variation every once in a while, like a bank robbery or an assassination involving a job interview followed by an escape against the security guards, but too often its a variation of driving somewhere, shooting some place up, and chasing a car down. The more epic missions near the end just tend to string together activities from multiple earlier missions instead of trying to do anything new.
In addition to the main missions, players have the option to do activities with the game's various minor characters in order to build up a good relationship and even go on dates with various women. You can partake in activities such as bowling and darts with your companion, but none of this is required in the game (outside of one bowling excursion). This adds to the overall feeling that you're actually living in a city, but because the events are completely optional, they tend to feel tacked on.
I honestly doubt that Grand Theft Auto IV will be as well regarded in the future as it is today. A broken combat system, repetitive missions, and a lack of modern gameplay innovations like mid-mission checkpoints all hold the game back, despite a surprisingly well done open world that is relatively free of bugs (or at least major game changing ones). While people only interested in driving around the city and wreaking havoc may enjoy themselves for awhile, that in of itself isn't enough to sell GTA IV. Grand Theft Auto 3 may have changed the way we view open-world games, but Grand Theft Auto IV does little to innovate, and it ends up holding the game back.
Overall Score: 7.9
Recommended Price: $5
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