GTA 4

Well almost finished. Being without a computer over the last week has really accelerated my completetion of GTA4. I’ve averaged about one percentage point per hour and have now completed the main plot line with about 85% of the entire game finished. Yes, that makes 85 hours of game play. Which is still short of my 100 hour average on the Final Fantasy games.

The “hero” of the game is Niko Bellic, a Serbian ex-soldier who is hunting the other two survivors of the ambush that killed the rest of his unit. He suspects that one of them betrayed the unit and has come to Liberty City looking for revenge. Niko is willing to work with anybody who can supply him with the information he requires to find his mark or anyone who one who can introduce him to people who can help him. When he first arrives in Liberty City he finds his cousin being bullied by a loan-shark and quickly becomes embroiled with the local organised crime syndicates. He makes enemies and friends in almost equal measure as his reputation as a fixer, bodyguard, and hitman grows.

What surprised me about the game is that Niko is a genuinely sympathetic character – a classic broken-inside action anti-hero – who is humanised by his relationship with his cousin, Roman. He feels a lot more of a rounded character than the previous player characters. The original 3D series may have generated an outcry, but they were very cartoony. Characters were extreme, the graphics details were relatively limited, and the violence never felt real. However, the increased graphics abilities of the next-gen consoles and a noticeable toning down of the cartooniness gives the game a far more realistic feeling.

Most missions in the game are no different that a standard Halo or Quake capture-the-flag style shoot-out, but some of them will really make you stop and think. You’re asked, nay forced, to assassinate characters you’ve spent hours getting to know. You’ll even be asked at several points to choose between them. There is a particular plot arc towards end of the game involing a kidnapping that I found particular shocking. The great strength of the game was that you always had freedom to choose what to do, but the more sophisticated they make it the more moral freedom I want.

Its strange to say you enjoy playing such a game, but there are parts of the challenges and standard computer-game parts that really are enjoyable. The game is so immersive that you get swept up in the soap opera elements, the drama, and the action. The other parts? Well, do you really “enjoy” Scarface or Friday the 13th? No, but we are still captivated by them. I would make one plea to all the parents out there: GTA 4 is not for children. The box is clearly labelled as such. You have zero excuse for complaining about this. If it falls into you children’s hands that’s your fault, nobody elses.