Rockstar Games is a studio seasoned by controversy, but perhaps the most considerable fracas stems from within the fandom itself. Of course, I speak of the continuing argument over the legacy of Grand Theft Auto IV and where it sits within the pantheon of the franchise. Some, like myself, place it at the zenith, a stunning example of game design and story creation. Others lampoon it as a sloppy, dull drudge of an experience better forgotten. Today, I want to explore this contentious game, its story, themes and world. Let’s return to the streets of Liberty City in our GTA IV retrospective.
Streets Of Gold & Shadow
War is a corrosive force that decays societies and the people within them. A young Niko Bellic learned this lesson early in his life while serving in the Eastern European conflicts of the late twentieth century. As his country was devastated, Niko had few opportunities except for the lucrative crime rings spouting up in the area. If war taught him one lesson, it was to ignore humanity and morality; a perfect recruit for organised crime. While lucrative, there isn’t much room for error in that life, causing budding criminal to flee Europe on a mission of revenge, but also a dream – the American dream.
From Eastern Europe to the streets of Liberty City, GTA IV is the story of a man unable to escape his past.
Rockstar’s raison d’etre has constantly been the parodying of American culture from an outsider’s point of view. GTA IV allowed the developer to explore those themes in greater detail. The traditional themes are all there – the worship of celebrities, drug culture, the Mob and the contradictory nature of America itself. But, GTA IV is more than the sum of these constituent parts. Unlike all previous entries in the franchise, it doesn’t wallow in the facade of success that crime provides. Instead, it pulls out the rug below the American dream to reveal what lies behind the dream. A deeper truth far darker than the dreams of a new life in the land of freedom.
It’s a truth that Niko realises immediately upon his arrival in Liberty. As an illegal immigrant, he has no choice but to work for his degenerate cousin Roman, a gambler with debt ties to local Russian gangsters that control the Borough of Broker. Before too long, he’s doing jobs for Roman’s loanshark, entangled in the same criminal circles that made him escape Europe in the first place. This all comes to a head when a figure from his past resurfaces, causing him to once again flee the crime-ridden area. This escape only leads to him getting caught up in higher-level crimes involving crazy Irish gangsters, Puerto Rican drug dealers, the dying influence of the Italian Mob and diamonds.
Revenge is rarely all it’s cracked up to be.
I make no bones about my love for the game’s narrative. It is the most realistic portrayal of a life of crime and where it ultimately leads. Rockstar’s look at a waining Italian Mob felt like a way of closing the chapter on the 6th generation of Grand Theft Auto games. Niko’s interactions with the McCreary family involve some of the best missions of any franchise entry, especially the corrupt police commissioner Franky Mccreary. But above all, it’s Niko’s journey to the truth of what lies behind the fast-track method of the dream – loneliness, death and pain. There is no happy ending, no house with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids. In the end, that dream, that promise, is an empty one for the vast majority. Perhaps Niko’s last words say it best. “So this is what the dream feels like?”. “This is the victory we long for?”
The Price Of Progress
While GTA IV gave Rockstar’s narrative team new story-telling levels, the tech was also instrumental. Initially used in Rockstar Game’s TableTenis, the RAGE engine (Rockstar’s Advanced Game Engine) layered the foundation for everything this game, and every Rockstar game going forward, would be based on. RAGE allowed developers to create larger, more alive, open worlds by handling both character and physics rendering. Such scale would’ve been near unimaginable to many still plugging away on 6th generation hardware. New horizons in physics engines also allowed for a fuller range of motion to be captured, bringing the inhabitant of Liberty City to life like never before.
Rockstar Games is one of the few developers to make a game, simply to hint at things to come in a later game.
While I could happily talk about the inner workings of game engines for hours, the result of this mix of tech and creativity is a gameplay experience that splits gamers’ opinions to this day. Many complained, not without merit, of the sluggish movement of Niko and driving that at times felt akin to piloting a yacht. On top of these main complaints were general niggles associated with any sandbox/open-world game – bad AI, comical ragdoll physics and the never-ending phone calls from the bastard cousin who wants to go bowling. Seriously, Roman, if I refuse your request several times, I probably don’t want to hang out with you – take the hint!
As I’ve mentioned, these complaints weren’t without merit. To labour on them would be to ignore the startling leaps in gameplay GTA IV introduced to long-time fans. Unlike previous games that relied on an arcade-like aiming system for gunplay, now each gun Niko used felt impactful. Enemies now reacted to being injured more realistically. This system would be improved upon this realism in Red Dead Redemption (2010) and Max Payne 3 (2012) and perfect it in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). No longer were enemies mere bullet sponges that eventually collapse or comically squirt blood. Niko could get drunk, drink, drive and go to a comedy club, picking up a prostitute on the way – all features that caused significant controversy at the time.
GTA IV’s rag doll physics was a huge leap in realism. It was pretty funny to.
Ultimately, the negatives of GTA IV aren’t negative at all. They are the price paid for the significant leap in content and possibility that the game offered. Gunplay and movement may have felt sluggish, but the weight and impact of every bullet, car crash and fall felt real. The driving mechanics weren’t perfect but often made for intense car chases throughout the congested streets of Liberty. Revolutionised weather systems literally captured the city in a new light, upping the ante for other developers and Rockstar themselves. GTA IV was something familiar, wrapped in something wholly new. Sometimes, the price of progress is to make mistakes and be criticised for them.
A City Of Degenerates, Weirdos & Serial Killers
Let’s travel back to the first year of the twenty-first century. It was a terrible year in many respects. Still, it was the first time we visited Liberty City, fully 3D rendered in Grand Theft Auto 3. Never had gamers explored a realised, living city in a video game before. It blew my mind, changing how I viewed the industry forever. Years passed and what was once revolutionary became expected. No one quite knew what to expect when the GTA IV was announced. A famous arm tattoo and teaser trailer later, and we knew how significant to bump in scale and fidelity. This was Liberty City for a new generation.
Meet Brian. Brian is the average ignorant American. Don’t be like Brian.
Not long after arriving, Niko will be accosted and racially profiled by a junky who then strikes up a conversation about how successful he is, despite being a bum. This encounter was the first of a new feature to called ‘random encounters’. Throughout Niko’s story, he’ll come across many of these strangers, some of whom he likes, others he doesn’t. But all share one commonality: the promise of the American dream has wrapped their lives. My favourite of these weirdos is Eddie Low, whose story is far more extensive than the three times you encounter him. He also represents a perfect example of Rockstar’s masterful narrative weaving.
If Niko were watching TV in the apartment, a Weasel News update would mention that a jogger was murdered in one of the city parks. When you’re advised to visit an Internet cafe to set up an account, news links that could be completely missed inform you that the recent murder is, in fact, one of a series of killings over a period of months. Later in the story, Niko walks through the Algonquin borough of Liberty when he meets Eddie. Mr Low is a weird individual, but that hardly makes him unique. He asks for a lift, and our protagonist obliges. Our second meeting with Eddie is far more animated. After making creepy small talk, Niko loses his patience. Enraged, Low pulls a knife leaving no choice but to take him out.
Eddie Low is the definition of ‘stranger danger’.
Eddie’s entire story is missable if the player decides to ignore it. Still, it’s always there in the radio stations, news media and internet articles that the developer has planted there. This and all the random encounters make the city more than simply a backdrop to chaos. Some of them are funny, but all of them are tragic. That explains GTA IV‘s criticisms – it’s by far the most serious of the franchise, a polemic on American life, an indictment wrapped in a parody. There’s nothing redemptive about Liberty City; it’s still the worst city in the world. It may look different than its original iteration, but it’s very much the same place.
Conclusion
I cannot underestimate how far the making of video games has improved since development began on GTA IV. Leaps in graphics rendering has left Niko’s epic urban odyssey looking its age. Whether I’ve changed your mind as to where the game belongs in the annuals of video game history, I hope I may have lit a spark of nostalgia. A memory of the last time many gamers felt a significant shift in the entertainment we love. A flawed but no less impressive leap into what gaming would be and continues to be. Perhaps that is the game’s lasting legacy – a game that led us into a new future of possibilities, with a few bumps and scrapes along the way.
GTA IV is available via backwards compatibility on Xbox and PC.
Larry
Great review! My favorite game. Funny how people still haven’t discovered flight modus on the phone. No more bowling, Roman!