Niko Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV’s bruiser from the former Eastern Bloc, is a stone-cold couch potato, a desperate online dater with dead-on aim, and a chronic websurfer who could kill you in a hand-to-hand Krav Maga brawl. Fresh off the boat, he’s an illegal immigrant pursuing the dual American dreams of quick money and mass multimedia consumption in the most vibrant, dynamic, and entertainment-packed playground in console videogame history: Liberty City. The civil engineers at Rockstar Games have upgraded this burg’s infrastructure since we visited seven years ago in GTA3, adding basic cable (hours of programming Niko can watch on safe-house TVs), an in-game Internet rich with blogs, parody websites — even e-mail spams — and such star attractions as [spoiler deleted] performing stand-up comedy as well as a gentleman’s club filled with G-stringed strippers who buzz your controller’s vibration motors as they grind Niko’s lap. (If you must wear sweatpants when you play, please don’t share your joypad.) The upshot: Liberty City is no longer just a place you explore outdoors, looking for stunt jumps or the thrill of a six-star wanted level after riling up the LCPD during missions. I spent hours of my week-long review session checking out the game’s indoor attractions, parking Niko in front of his TV and PC, watching red-state-riffing shows like Republican Space Rangers while cruising personals on the game’s version of Craigslist. If Niko still lived in prequel city San Andreas, where diet and exercise made a difference, he’d have weighed 400 pounds by the time I finished this game.
But Rockstar wisely toned down the character-customization elements this time and focused on a more engrossing aspect: interpersonal relationships. Roman, Niko’s head-in-the-clouds cousin who lured him to America with promises of wealth and women, gives our hero an upgradeable cellphone early on. As you meet people, their contact info is added to your phone. Niko can ring them up to grab a bite, go bowling, shoot darts, get s***faced (good luck evading the fuzz while driving under the influence of the game’s insane drunk-driving physics), or partake in any number of other activities. Stay on top of these relationships and they’ll become friends with benefits. One nurse Niko dates, for instance, can heal him with over-the-phone medical advice. (The local prostitutes have learned a few tricks, however, and are as eager as ever to boost your health for a few bucks.)
If all of this networking sounds as much fun as helping a friend move, keep in mind that it’s optional. I powered through the game avoiding much of that stuff — and it still took me 36 hours from start to finish. All of Niko’s crucial bonding moments happen during the missions anyway, which do an amazing job of integrating your contacts, their personalities, and the city’s multimedia assault. One standout job, for example, has Niko posing as a homosexual lothario on an online dating site to lure a gay thug to a rendezvous. Yep, the missions pack all of the hilarious writing the series is famous for, except now they occasionally offer the option to spare the lives of characters you’ve hunted down in hot pursuits — decisions that affect the overall story. They give GTA4 a new element of replayability, although I suspect players will turn quickly to the excellent multiplayer modes once they’ve completed the epic single-player game.
During our marathon multiplayer test session, the developers shared one of their favorite custom games (they call it “King Kong”) in the make-your-own-rules Free Mode. Here, a few rocket-launcher-packing daredevils perch themselves on Rotterdam Tower (Liberty City’s version of the Empire State Building) while the rest hop into choppers and try to blast them off the building. It’s just one example of the limitless game types inventive players can whip up in Free Mode — once they get over the initial, human-nature impulse to start blasting as soon as the game starts with all 16 players in a circle. But long before they resort to any DIY game design, players have plenty to keep them busy in the other modes. Even the expected deathmatch, Team DM, and race variants have that anything-can-happen GTA vibe. The objective-based Mafiya Work, Car Jack City, and Turf War modes demand teamwork and come across like an urban Battlefield 1942, with players in four-seat helicopters and cars adopting de-facto roles like navigator (continuously adjusting the GPS designator to follow objectives) or door gunner.
But my favorite modes are GTA Race, Cops ‘n Crooks, and the co-op matches. GTA Race lets you make use of weapons, ditch your starting ride, and grab any vehicle around you…or just go it on foot. Fall behind early and you can adopt a scorched-earth strategy, building a roadblock and checking your ammo to make lap two a little more interesting. Cops ‘n Crooks offers entertaining team-based play as a gang of crooks tries to get their boss to the extraction point before the police team takes out the head honcho. The three co-op missions stick your customizable character into standalone story-based levels complete with cinemas, massive firefights, and chases for up to four people (the other modes support 16). These missions are straightforward and enjoyable, and we expect to see more available as downloadable content for both systems in the future.
The single-player story itself delivers surprises and new gameplay quirks right up to the end (one late mission has you wrestling control of your car from an unwilling passenger — a cool effect that at first had me thinking my controller was malfunctioning). The squirrelly driving control takes a while to master, as does the new shooting mechanic, which requires a half-pull of the left trigger for free-form aiming and is tricky in all-hell-breaks-loose shootouts. Shooting while driving is especially difficult but ultimately a rewarding system once you get the hang of it. Despite time-saving conveniences like a new in-car navigation system, post-mission retry prompts on your phone, and cab rides that skip lengthy trips, I do wish that Rockstar had added checkpoints in the multistage missions to cut down on the grunt work of frustrating retries. GTA4 also suffers from those little things that have always plagued the series, such as sudden pop-in of objects in the environment and the occasional repetition of car models in your immediate vicinity.
None of these little flaws take away from Liberty City’s breathtaking vistas, incredibly varied scenery, and lived-in look (the PS3 version has the slightest visual edge, plus motion-control support — but then it’s missing Achievements and the eventual downloadable episodes exclusive to the 360 game). The city just feels alive. Mosey on foot for just a few minutes and you’ll eavesdrop on the cellphone conversations of nearby pedestrians, witness cops arresting other criminals for a change, and even run into the random man on the street who will give you a mission or interact with Niko in some other special way. But more than just feeling alive, everything in this world is so integrated. Want to go on a Crazy Taxi-esque fare chase? Rather than stealing a cab and hitting a button, you borrow one of your cousin’s cars and get dispatched. Or go the vigilante route by jacking a cop cruiser and accessing the police database, which clues you in to random crimes and the city’s most-wanted list. Even things like stealing high-end cars and joining races happen through logical routes like e-mail and calls to the right people.
As well as factoring into missions, the game’s multimedia features contribute to Liberty City’s rudimentary society — one that operates regardless of Niko’s activities. Here’s a for instance: While driving to an Internet café for a mission, one of my fellow reviewers heard a radio news story about a serial killer terrorizing the town. After clicking on a lawyer’s webpage to set up a meeting, the reviewer got sidetracked surfing a MySpace parody site that had a banner ad for a blog-hosting service. Browsing the blogs revealed an entire history of posts from a disturbed individual who reveals himself to be the serial killer. Videogame worlds just don’t get this deep.
But if I could add only one thing to this otherwise outstanding, breakthough sequel, I’d want the zanier toys from San Andreas. Maybe Rockstar thinks the series has gotten too serious for base-jumping parachutists and autoboosting nitrous oxide. But who’s to say what’s serious in a game where you can pick up your date in a stolen helicopter and she doesn’t bat an eye? Fortunately, Rockstar seems open to adding features beyond the promised online episodes (360 version only). Something tells me this version of Liberty City, as exciting and beautiful as it is, is still under construction. Maybe Niko will get a few new shows for his American TV addiction, too.
via 1up.com
