GTA IV Review

 

 

 

 

Right, time for a new review on the blog and this one will be on the action game, GTA IV, which I finished recently and thought I would do a full review of it on here. 

So, with that said, let's take another look at this game and see how it fairs after 13 years...

And as I will mention a bit about the plot, the warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS MIGHT BE AHEAD (BUT NOT TOO MANY!)

So, I will take a little bit of the plot from Wikipedia and add it below.

"Niko Bellic, an Eastern European ex-soldier,[24] arrives in Liberty City aboard a cargo ship, the Platypus, to escape his criminal past, pursue the American Dream, and search for the man who betrayed his unit in a war ten years prior. Reuniting with his cousin Roman, he discovers that his tales of riches were lies concealing his small dirty apartment, unprofitable taxi company, gambling debts, and disputes with loan sharks. Niko begins assisting Roman with his problems, which leads him to make his first criminal contacts in the city...".

THOUGHTS

After a seven year wait from GTA III and a four year wait after GTA San Andreas, the franchise finally landed on the Xbox 360/PS3 generation consoles and introduced the series to the world of high definition. The game itself is an excellent follow up to its predecessors but it is also a much darker more grittier game as it provides a more realistic interpretation of the criminal underworld than the more cartoonish depictions in the previous games.

GTA IV however is still a lot of fun and offers loads of missions and different activities for gamers to try out and it also features plenty of amusing and colorful new characters not to mention a likeable protagonist in Niko Bellic, a former Eastern European soldier with a troubled past trying to re-establish himself in Liberty City. Its story is also lengthy but engrossing as Niko makes various enemies but also makes quite a few friends along the way as he begins a life of crime in the US but as the story progresses we learn another reason as to why Niko has travelled to the states.

GAMEPLAY  

As for the gameplay, GTA IV has a major overhaul in its presentation here in terms of both its visuals but also its movement and game mechanics. So, I will break down the gameplay into sub sections below as usual.

MOVEMENT, HUD & HEALTH

Starting with the movement of the game, GTA deploys a similar third person perspective as the previous GTA games only this time with all the usual walking, running and sprinting as well as climbing. However, in addition to this, Niko can also take cover behind walls or other objects such as boxes or cars when he is fighting enemies as well as swap to a new point of cover. 

As for the HUD (heads up display) things are a bit different again as instead of showing Niko's health as bars in GTA San Andreas or as 100 HP in GTA III and Vice City, we get a circle instead with half the circle showing green for his health and the other half is white and denotes body armour. The map system however is mainly the same as you get a small circular map, which you follow when driving or moving on foot. Niko can also select the use of way points as he travels to new locations, which can be used while driving and are often accompanied by a Sat-nav female audio voice. Niko can pick up additional health kits and armour as he does missions or he can purchase new armour from a gun store.

WEAPONS & COMBAT

Moving onto the game's combat and weapons, Niko has access to a fair number of firearms that include handguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles and rocket launchers. Niko can also use some melee weapons such as baseballs in addition to grenades and a new regular addition to the series, molotov cocktails. Niko can purchase these weapons from local gun stores where he can also buy extra ammo as well as armour.  

Combat wise, Niko apart from arming himself with guns, he can also perform hand to hand combat and there will be some missions in the game where Niko will get involved in some fist fights. So, Niko can perform kicks and punches as well as dodge incoming hits from his opponents. 

VEHICLES, TAXIS, TRAINS & TRAVEL BY AIR

As for getting about Liberty City, Niko has many options open to him as he can either steal cars on the streets or hail down a taxi or even in some instances take a train to where he is going. 

In regards to cars, Niko generally will obtain them by either smashing a car window to open it and get in and drive or he can jack a car on the street from a passing driver although this has to be done with caution as you can get a wanted rating if police are nearby and witness Niko do it. There is also a big variety of vehicles here ranging from sports cars to taxis to even things like cement trucks! 

Another option open to Niko here is that he can travel via the use of taxis as he can hail down taxis on the street and you can choose a location when you get in. You are also given the option to sit and wait for the drive to complete itself or pay extra money to skip it (which is what I usually do!). Niko can also even calls his cousin, Roman, for a cab too given that he runs a taxi company but you always end up getting the same grumpy cab driver every time, who insults Niko at every turn (literally!).

Niko can also travel by train in the game although this is only accessible after you carry out a certain mission but I think they work by traveling on the subway rather than above ground but I could be wrong however. Regardless, you do have that option to travel via train like you could in GTA III although this did not feature I believe in Vice City of San Andreas. 

And lastly Niko can also fly too as he will gain access to different aircraft such as helicopters and planes. You can also take a tour of Liberty city via helicopter along with one of Niko's friends but one or two missions also involve Niko flying too where he will land in a helipad, which I think later becomes accessible for future flights.

FRIENDS AND DATING

As for a new feature in the game, Niko can actually make friends with some of the criminal contacts he makes and also go out with them to enjoy different activities such as playing pool, bowling, going for something to eat or even go for a drink where Niko will always end up completely pissed! Niko often will receive calls from his friends throughout the game offering him to meet up and you have the choice to either accept or turn down their offer. You can also even call them back if you change your mind to cancel the meeting. 

The same also goes for dating in the game as Niko will go out with women on dates where he can also take them to play a game of pool or bowling as well as eat, drink or even see a cabaret show. Niko after the date can also try his luck with her, which may have mixed results depending on who his date is! 

INTERNET CAFES

Another new feature to the game are Internet cafes where Niko can login to an email account and check out new emails he will receive from his contacts. Niko can also use his emails in different missions to send messages to setup meetings for various purposes. Further to this, Niko can even meet women via email also as he can go on dating websites or check his emails for potential jobs, e.g. valuable cars to steal. 

SAFE HOUSES

The game offers Niko plenty of choices for safe houses as you progress in the main story some of whic will be fancy penthouses whereas others will be cheap, dingy apartments. At the safe houses, Niko can sleep for six hours as well as change his clothes or even watch TV to keep himself going when you have spare time and not on a mission if you just want to hang around.   

MISSION CHOICES 

Another addition to the game is a more serious one where during certain missions, Niko will have to make a life or death choice for specific characters in the main story line. This often will either leave the player the choice to either kill or spare the relevant character and on what you choose this will have a different impact on future events and might also affect the outcome of the game's ending. 

CLOTHES STORES 

Like previously in GTA San Andreas (and to an extent in Vice City) Niko can visit several clothes stores throughout Liberty city, which offer much variety in terms of fashion wear. The stores featured are the Russian Shop, which sells cheap street clothes in a Russian style and are nothing too fancy as a result. Modo is a bit more up market as it sells casual clothing as well as sportswear and lastly there is Perseus, which is a high end store that sells suits and exclusive clothing. 

MOBILE PHONES 

Another new feature to the game is the use of mobile phones even though they did appear in their own form in GTA Vice City and San Andreas where they were most likely more like bricks than a phone, here Niko will have his own mobile handset. However this time, you can actually access the mobile phone rather than get script phone calls like in the previous games. So, Niko can use his phone to make calls, check for new messages as well as receive incoming messages from his contacts. You can also gain access to an app that will allow Niko to call a local radio station that will text the name of any music track Niko listens to on the radio. 

RADIO STATIONS

And last of all are the radio stations themselves and this time around the player will quite a lot of choice available to them in terms of music radio stations and talk radio. Some of the stations featured include Liberty City Rock, that plays classic rock and metal, Liberty City Hardcore, which plays hardcore rock music, Classics, featuring hip-hop artists, Radio Broker that has more recent indie rock, Fusion FM, featuring jazz music and lastly Vladislovstock FM, which features Eastern European music. 

Other radio stations included are PLR (Public Liberty Radio) which is a liberal political chat show, WKTT (We Know The Truth) Radio which is a more conservative political chat show. And lastly there is Integrity 2.0 which features Lazlow Jones, who is a real life DJ that has featured in all of the previous GTA games also and provides another source of amusement once again here. 

GRAPHICS 

As for the game's graphics, GTA IV is easily the best looking game in the franchise up to this point as it is the first game to receive a high definition presentation, so the game's environments and character models are a big improvement over the previous games. The environments offer plenty of variety as there is much to explore around the city from the big wide open city streets to the enclosed alley ways to disused areas as well as the open sea and beaches. Character model wise it does have to be said that they do look a bit dated by today's game standards but they are still pretty good for their time and a big step up from the earlier games.

VOICE ACTING (Warning: this section may contain the odd spoiler or two!)

As for the voice acting, this has always been a strong point of the series and GTA IV is no exception as the voice cast all do an excellent job here. 

Starting with Michael Hollick, who is great as the main character, Niko Bellic, an Eastern-European former soldier, who has come to Liberty city to start afresh but falls into a deadly life of crime. Hollick, himself is an American actor but here he provides an excellent Eastern European accent and really does a great job at conveying Niko's mixed emotions about life in Liberty City. Hollick however was reportedly unhappy with Rockstar after the game was finished as he felt he was underpaid for his work on the game especially given its great success afterward. 

Jason Zumwalt is also great as Roman, Niko's cousin, who feeds Niko with delusions of grandeur over the success of his business only to find he is not as successful as he made himself out to be and often gets Niko and himself into a lot of trouble with some bad people. Roman also offers quite a bit of comic relief in the story and all too often likes to talk about finding women with "big titties!". 

Timothy Adams is very good in his role as Brucie, who is a steroid junkie body builder, who also trades in cars and bikes and Niko works for throughout the game on certain missions as he steals specific cars for his workshop so they can be modded. 

Ryan Johnston is excellent also as the rather dubiously named Patrick "Packie" McReary, who is part of an Irish American crime family, who Niko works with and later befriends Packie as well as his sister, Kate. Johnston also delivers some of the game's best dialogue and one-liners and is certainly one of the most memorable characters from the game. 

WARNING: BIG SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!! 

Moti Margolin does a fine job also as Dimitri Rascalov, who turns out to be the main antagonist of the game although he does initially work with Niko up until a certain mission but then things soon turn sour as a result. Niko will also later do a mission that involves Dimitri one way or another that plays a big part in deciding the outcome of the game but I won't say anymore than that!

Mary Catherine Donnelly also does a very good job as Kate McReary, sister of Patrick, who is the main romantic interest for Niko in the game although I'm not sure she ever returns his affections in the same way. Kate's character is also greatly affected by the choices Niko makes in the game and can have a big impact on the ending of the game. 

Anthony Patellis is excellent also as the mob boss, Jimmy Pegorino, who Niko works for in certain missions and he too also plays an important part in the ending of the game but I won't go into that here. Suffice to say though, Patellis gets some amusing dialogue to deliver as Pegorino is often surrounded by incompetent subordinates and he has a soft spot for Niko given he is a more efficient hired gun.

Rebecca Henderson is also very good in her role as Michelle, who is early on a romantic interest for Niko and friends with Roman's fiance, Mallorie. Michelle however soon is revealed to be not all that she seems, so during the main game, Niko get's a real surprise when Michelle turns up during a particulalr mission but I won't say more than that! 

And last of all is Coolie Ranx who does well in his role as Little Jacob, a Jamaican drugs and arms dealer who Niko befriends and also can later go out with for a game or pool or a drink. Little Jacob can also later be called upon as backup for some missions and features in specific missions throughout the game. The only problem with Coolie's performance is for the most part, you simply CANNOT understand a single word he says! 

FLAWS (Warning: this section might contain spoilers!) 

As for flaws... yeah GTA IV is not quite perfect. 

For starters one thing that really bugs me about the game is that the overall speed and movement of the characters feels pretty sluggish, as Niko moves around quite slowly when he is not sprinting. The combat of the game also feels sluggish when it comes to aiming and firing your weapon not to mention you really need to be careful where you aim your grenades as you can literally blow yourself sky high if you aren't careful! 

Further to the sluggish controls for movement, this also applies more annoyingly to the cars in the game as most of the cars have truly horrible handling and they turn WAY TOO SLOWLY! So, if you are in a mission e.g. if you are chasing a bad guys car and you smash into a wall or lamp post, if you are driving a really sluggish car with poor handling, you will almost certainly fail that mission before you have successfully turned your car and tried to catch up! There are some cars however that have better handling than others such as the high end sports cars, which drive and handle pretty well but that aside most of the cars in the game feel really slow like they are stuck in quicksand! 

Another big problem I have with this game are the lack of checkpoints on missions, which can be REALLY frustrating on certain missions and this is particularly infuriating in the final mission of the game for the "revenge" ending, which I won't go into here. However what I will say is, if you fail this mission then you have to start the whole thing ALL OVER AGAIN!! This is further compounded by the fact that you often have a long drive to get to the waypoint of the mission itself you need to be at and listen to the same dialogue over and over again! So, why Rockstar did not include any checkpoints in this game for missions is frankly beyond me. 

Then there are the calls that Niko gets from his friends to meet up, which also pop up all too often and at points in the game where you are literally about to start a mission! Its like the game knows you are about to start a mission decides to try and deliberately try and put you off it! This can be further annoying if you get a call relating to the main story, which you might take but if you do the game prevents you from being able to save the game at a safe house and you are forced to just head to the mission. 

Another issue is to do with the lack of first aid kits and even armour during some missions as Niko will of course often take a lot fire during them. There will of course be access to at least one first aid kit and armour set to be found in most missions but this doesn't always apply to armour as in the finale "revenge" mission of the game, I didn't find ONE set of armour anywhere and yet this is the final mission where there really should be some available!

The game can also be a bit frustrating and vague at times in what it tells you to do with one example being a mission where you get a message telling you to wear a suit, so you need to buy one at the store Perseus. However on going there the first time, I picked up a jacket, trousers, shirt and tie with shoes yet when I went to the mission it wouldn't start. I later found out that I had to buy a full suit from the store but it wasn't too obvious at the time, which was pretty annoying. 

And last of all I think the game towards the end does drag on a bit too long as it really does bombard you with too many missions and you keep going from one new contact to another thinking you might be getting closer to the end but find out later you further to go than you think. So, I think the game could definitely have benefited from being a big shorter although I do appreciate GTA games are generally pretty long. 

So, that;s it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, GTA IV is an excellent follow-up to the games before it and it offers an impressive visual overhaul to the series as well as an excellent, gripping story for the most part not to mention plenty of missions and other activities that will keep you entertained. 

The game does have some drawbacks of course with its sluggish movement system and for the most part, the cars have truly horrible handling that are way too slow to turn and manevour which will often cost you in missions. The lack of checkpoints is also very frustrating especially as you often have long to travel before you get to the main starting point of the mission itself and if you fail, you need to start all over again! 

However, if you can forgive its faults then GTA IV is still well worth checking out after nearly 15 years, its still a game that is worth another look and a solid entry in the franchise. 

So, I will give GTA IV a rating of:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back next month with more posts.

Till then its bye for now!