by gSathe
It’s been a long week for me now, exactly seven days since I got my hands on GTA IV. It’s been a very violent week, filled with strange characters and shocking events. Well. Okay. Just strange characters - if you’ve seen enough movies then the events aren’t really all that shocking. And while Niko might be the most real character I’ve ever seen in a movie, he’s only marginally more believable than Vin Diesel.
GTA is of course, old news by now. So I won’t tell you you go buy it. Or to go buy it for one particular platform either. You had better know by now that you have to own this game, and there’s enough batshit flying around on both sides to make it an impossible decision.
Personally, I got hold of a copy for the PS3 first and then later for the 360, and as a result played the whole game on the PS3. I did play a little of the 360 version as well, and while I prefer it (achievements, better controller, no install time) it’s really more of a personal choice than anything else. Whichever system you like more, just get a copy of this game.
That’s really all I want to say about GTA. Why? It probably has something to do with my first job. I was working in a newspaper, and after months of interning as a sub-editor, this was my chance to write and I was willing to take whatever they gave me. Of course, in my head, the biggest political scandal, the slimy corporation attacking the environment, the billionaires bleeding the poor, these were the things I would deal with. In reality though, I started off as a food columnist.
It was my job to find fault with everything, to pick flaws and show that even the greatest efforts had failings. All this of course, was for the good of my readers, who had to be warned about the horrible world. And also, it was great fun to write, tearing apart the hard work of others, and it was good fun for people to read as well.
And so I don’t really want to talk about GTA. Because really, what can I complain about? It’s been seven days, seven days in which I’ve played a little over 60 hours of this game, (some time has to be spent sleeping. And a little time was shaved off to watch Iron Man) and I’ve not finished it yet. This of course, is partly my fault - I don’t really like the series that much, but place me inside one of their worlds and I’m happy to amble purposelessly, listening to conversations and music, and punching people and running like crazy when things get out of hand. And lets not forget the bikes.
The writing is not as bad as some have said, though it is predictable, but in a thoroughly enjoyable manner. One good thing is that the spoken dialogue changes if you are replaying a section after the first few times, so you don’t get stuck hearing the same lines again and again and again as you end up in a bloody heap after failing a mission repeatedly. Though do you know what would be better? Letting you save anywhere, anytime! The old save system which GTA still sports is a relic of the past and it’s about time that people let go of such nonsense.
I know that if I had the option, I would save right AFTER a tedious cutscene and then no matter how often I died, I wouldn’t have to deal with the B-movie cheesefest again!
The best thing about this installment of open world mayhem and murder delivered to us though is not the various new gameplay mechanisms we’re presented with. I couldn’t be more excited about the new aiming system, but that’s not it. I couldn’t be more thrilled by how pretty the game looks either, but that isn’t it. No. The real mastery, as I see it, is in how Rockstar have given us a story that doesn’t get in the way of having fun, and at the same time is there in depth and detail for those of us who want it.
The last game to be able to pull this off so well was Bioshock, and in terms of story and the way that it’s handled, I think that GTA has done as well, if not better. And it’s given us all this in an open world game, where, if you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got a sunset to watch. Because after sixty hours, I’m still not tired of this game, and am probably going to be using this as a pick me up every time I’m forced by my job to play something really hideous, for at least a few months.
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