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(Please note that this review only covers the single player portion of the game. You can thank my dodgy DSL connection for that one. Although I have had a quick go on Cops & Crooks, which is almost worth the asking price alone.)

So good, it’s criminal

GTA’s return to Liberty City marks the creation of the most fulfilling, beautifully detailed and believable game world ever created. Fact. The immersion while playing in Rockstar North’s New York-inspired Rotten Apple is total, thanks to an utterly convincing atmosphere that pours from every polygon – we can just see the thousands of sickies, failed exams and plummets in personal hygiene, now. Whether it’s standing on the beaches of Alderney as the sun sets and sparkles over the peaks of Algonquin – The Edinburgh based developers’ take on Manhattan. ‘Accidentally’ catching a cop in the door of your Banshee and proceeding to drag the Liberty lawman for ten blocks as his limbs realistically crumble and pound against the pavement (thank you Euphoria physics engine). Or taking time out from the bevy of botched bank heists, drug runs and mafia meets to watch Ricky Gervais on the box. (Yep, all of your safehouses are now fitted with fully working teles. And yeah, we are lazy sods.) But even though all these factors combine to make IV’s murderous metropolis the most absorbing game world we’ve ever seen, it’s the small piece of plastic in Niko Bellic’s back pocket that’ll really grab your attention.

Phoning it in

Go back a couple of months to preview code and the inclusion of a phone seemed like a clever, if slightly unnecessary, addition to the game. What a difference 62 days make. Not only does your mobile bind the world together, helping to cement the concept of taking part in a fully formed, believable life, it’s also the most valuable weapon you’ll ever get Niko’s dastardly digits on. Not to sound like some crass advertising campaign, but it really is more than just a phone. Aside from being able to customize it with wallpapers and comedy ringtones – we defy you to pick anything other than the lesbian one – it’s utterly essential for travel and keeping up relations with other characters – more on that later. You can call a cab through it. Heal yourself with it (Just dial 911 and 2 for an ambulance). It can be used to detonate bombs. It can help you with hits. It can take pics. You can arrange to go to the pub. Take your cousin for some grub. Go on a date. Go out bowling with Kate. The possibilities are dizzying. And your phone doesn’t just make life in Liberty easier; it completely facilitates it.

While the mobile is a standout feature, the incidental details that are sewn throughout the city’s streets are equally impressive. Pedestrians that complain and use brollies in the rain, the way Niko subtly pushes his way through a crowd, to the flames of a towering industrial site blowing fiercely in one of the game’s new pad-rumbling storms; there are literally dozens of quiet moments that’ll stop you in your tracks. A lot of these small details are thanks to Rockstar’s new RAGE engine, powered by the aforementioned Euphoria physics, which lends everything a proper sense of motion and weight. Before, running someone over felt like wiping a bluebottle from your windscreen, but now it feels like the bone-breaking, wince-inducing, weighty collision it really is…erm, we’d imagine <cough>. A fully functioning internet – rammed to the rafters with the series’ scathing satire – rounds off a world that you genuinely feel exists in spite of Niko, rather than because of him.

We’re glad it exists because of him, though, because Mr. Bellic is easily the most charming, sympathetic and downright likeable lead (not bad for a brutal, murdering sociopath) the series has seen. Haunted by his Eastern European past, and broken by war, he’s well drawn, well realized and three dimensional, and a big departure from the amoral assassins of past games. He’s well backed up too, with IV’s supporting cast the funniest, darkest and most imminently charming ensemble (again, not bad for a bunch of brutal, murdering sociopaths) Rockstar have put together. From Brucie, the bull shark testosterone-beefed up fitness freak, your cowardly, compulsive gambler cousin Roman, to the McCreary brothers, who range from a drug-addled repentant dreamer to a corrupt cop; they’ve all got fingers in Liberty’s many illegal pies. The cast is actually funny too. Expect plenty of proper belly laughs rather than the cordial head-nodding approval past GTA scripts warranted.

Forever friends

And you’ll do well to keep in with them all, as wining and dining them (that’ll be a trip to the Pink Triangle ‘gentleman’s establishment’ and a cheap Burger Shot, then) will reward you with each character’s individual perk. Live it up with little Jacob and you can buy cheap guns from him. Pal around with Packie and you’ll be rewarded with bombs for that special massacre. Or bribe Brucie by taking him to Algonquin’s top poser points and he’ll become your personal helicopter pilot. Juggling multiple relationships around a tight schedule of taking missions, making appointments and dicking around is challenging – thankfully your phone has an organizer to help you keep track of things. But ultimately, the responsibility of choice that Rockstar give you helps inform who you want Niko to be. And the friendships you keep are a far more subtle, deeper form of shaping a character than the constant carousel of changing haircuts or piling on the pounds of San Andreas.

Choice is taken even further at vital junctions in the story when you’re asked to make life or death decisions about key characters. Do you whack a Mafia mark or show mercy? Spoiler begins > Kill Playboy X or Dwayne? Get revenge on that old enemy or turn the other cheek? spoiler ends < While the consequences of these decisions never really manifest themselves in the story, they do at least bring something new to the GTA party. Guilt. And the sensation of regret you’ll feel after you make a choice you can’t go back from will stay with you long after the smoking gun – spoiler begins > we felt like we’d just run over Bambi after reading an email from Dwayne after we’d already killed him. spoiler ends < It’s engaging stuff and shows tremendous potential for future games if taken further.

The plot is also gripping, feeling both hugely modern – thanks to the immigrant influence and references to the war on terror. And emotionally jarring – it’s often downbeat and affecting. The only real complaint we have slight spoiler begins > is the final few story strands feel more disparate and low-key than the hedonistic heights of Vice City or the shameless excess of San Andreas’ finale. Although it could be argued that this is in line with the game’s more minimalist narrative. slight spoiler ends <

Fun-and-gun

You can probably tell what an accomplishment GTA IV is when you realize it’s taken us seven paragraphs to talk about the game’s most improved mechanic. A mechanic that has undergone such a radical overhaul it’s now arguably the highlight of the game. We’re obviously talking about the much improved shooting system, which now makes the game’s firefights a real joy. In past GTAs, getting your gun out was always something to endure. Now it’s something to cherish. An improved auto aim – which will actually lock onto the uzi-wielding crack dealer two feet in front of you, rather than a granny doing her groceries half a block away, like previous games – is an absolute godsend. But it’s the newly implemented cover system that really gives gun battles new layers of depth, strategy and character.

Anyone who’s spent time in the company of Nathan Drake’s bumbling buffoonery will feel instantly at home with the system. Clicking R1 snaps you to cover, L1 handles aiming, while pressing R2 fires your weapon. You can also blindfire around any obstacle you’re hidden behind, by pressing R2 on its own. Though less accurate than aiming normally, it’s a safer way of crippling cops. And the shooting is now so precise and the set pieces build around the mechanics so tightly designed that GTA now rivals dedicated shooters (like Gears of War) for sheer visceral headshot-popping thrills. It’s crisp, it’s clever and it’s wonderfully clinical.

Of course, where in Uncharted and GOW you have to use cover to survive, you’re not bound to the same limitations with Niko. Sure, you could use cover to methodically murder those goons, or maybe you could find higher ground and take them out with a sniper rifle. But then again, mowing them down in a tasty little turquoise Turismo – one of the game’s fancier sports cars – would be equally effective. Not flash enough? Well, just rig an ice cream van with one of Packie’s bombs, jump out at the last second and ring the dodgy delinquent to detonate it. Simple, eh? It’s this scope for improvisation that the open-world brings which sets GTA apart from other action games, ultimately, lending missions massive replay value. And where the series used to flounder out of the car; now it flourishes.

Drive of your life

By comparison, vehicle handling required little work. And what used to be the most enjoyably throw-around arcade experience you could find is… well, still is the most enjoyably throw-around arcade experience you’ll find. Granted, vehicles do have a little more weight, meaning you can’t chuck them around corners with the same reckless abandon of San Andreas. But to contrast this, the subtlety of vehicle handling now feels far more varied. And it’s easy to appreciate the difference between a sturdy but clunky SUV, trucks that have the turning circle of a concrete hearse or a nippy convertible.

Bikes don’t fair quite as well, mind. It takes real effort to drag them around corners at times. And it’s still all too easy, and far too painful to watch Niko greet the pavement with his puss (no thanks Euphoria physics engine) to make it an entirely practical way to travel around the city. Boats and choppers are much the same as in previous games, with the latter’s cockpit cam the only way to truly appreciate Algonquin’s stunning skyscrapers. SixAxis controls have been included for every type of transport – tumbleweed rolls slowly past – but the surgical finger dexterity required to avoid tasting tarmac at every turn rules it out as a viable control method. It’s rubbish in other words. Oh, just a quick note on the drink driving missions. We all know that in real life it’s neither big nor clever. But in GTA, it’s a screen-blurring, headache-inducing riot.

Mission statement

The main missions that still make up the meat of the game may not be a radical departure from what’s gone before – most can be broken down to drive from A to B and murder C – but, because all of the game’s mechanics have been blisteringly polished, it breathes new life into the old formula. Thankfully, Rockstar have removed much of the pain associated with failing missions, with text messages allowing you to try them again immediately, saving you from a slog through seas of traffic to get back to contacts. Also, because the shooting is now at the same level as the driving, missions have an added coherency and fluidity over past GTA’s, as now everything works equally well. You no longer curse having to get out of the car and the game’s standout missions combine the arcade thrills of Burnout Paradise, with the visceral fist-punching pleasures of Uncharted, for an experience that’s totally peerless.

There are way too many highlights to mention fully, but let’s have a crack anyway. Three Leaf Clover, the best take on Michael’s Mann’s bank heist from Heat we’ve ever seen, a hit where you ring a target to get them in front of their window, and into your sniper sight (Agent 47-style), and weaving through Algonquin’s towering architecture in a daring helicopter chase are all real ‘hug your PS3 while no one’s looking’ stuff. When even the simplest collection trips are a joy, though, – just taking in the sights and sounds of the city is a constant thrill – almost every mission is worth savoring. Chaos and shell casings may meet you at every criminal step – this being GTA everything always goes wrong – but you’ll still love every botched, betrayal-addled, bullet-ridden second of it.

The immediate impact when you fire up GTA IV and see the transition from San Andreas is significant, though, not as seismic a shift as the move from two to three dimensions witnessed in GTA 3. This is evolution, not revolution. And anyone expecting a radically different experience from what’s gone before may be a little disappointed. Well, as disappointed as is possible for a game that will constantly thrill, challenge and entertain you like no other over a good 40-50 hours.

Looking at the title as a complete package, it’s so far ahead of anything else it’s scary. There will be moments where the world will literally melt away around you while playing; such is the grip and conviction of Liberty’s seamless atmosphere, everything else just disappears. And whether you’re looking for a supremely balanced arcade driving title, an expertly designed freeform shooter or just a game where it’s gloriously fun to dick around, GTA IV has you covered like nothing before it. Now, if you’ll excuse us. That’s the lesbians going at it again.

Overall

The most important game in a decade and the shining beacon of this console generation. The next-gen starts here.

97

Dave Meikleham

Just a quick note. This review is in place of the much vaunted Orange Box piece I was touting. Given the timing, I felt posting a GTA rev was more relevant. And, with a busy few weeks of uni work and exams, it’s unlikely the Freeman will see light anytime soon. Still, it’s an amazing game and you should deffo buy it with utter confidence.

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