Grand Theft Auto IV: A Play Journal: A Story Unfolds
As soon as Grand Theft Auto IV begins, you know you’re in for something special and out of the ordinary. And the story begins without a typical start screen, immediately thrusting you into the game instead. As mentioned in the first Play Journal, this game certainly makes a strong first impression.
Niko Bellic is a Merchant Sailor fresh from a conflict in Eastern Europe, a broken man looking for a new start in Liberty City. But the life he envisioned is not the life he inherits: his cousin Roman, a loud mouthed, affable buffoon, talked up the good life but the good life he does not have. Niko ends up living in dive, taking fares for Roman’s fledgling cab service.
Not surprisingly, Niko becomes involved with the various criminal elements of Liberty City, slowly but surely. Niko is indeed a skilled tradesman, but his trade is brutal violence. What’s so great about this typical take on an action game is that Niko’s pathos is given real context, and his violence history to sit in. Niko doesn’t do this necessarily because he wants to, but because he’s broken and knows nothing else.
As things progress, the characters Niko runs into and associate with all have agendas, be they small time or big players on the scene. Some have good intentions, others not so much. Indeed, Grand Theft Auto IV allows you to make choices during certain crossroads in the game, and these choices will have consequences further down the line, revealing a dynamic nature to the story. Niko, although ruthless, has some measure of morality, and can decide whether someone should live or die, on occasion.
That said, the story goes places you simply would not expect, and gets deeply twisted and brilliantly so the deeper down the rabbit hole you travel. Niko, it would seem, has an ulterior motive for being in Liberty City, and it informs just about everything he does.
Most notably, however, is one particular twist that turns the entire notion of the Grand Theft Auto series on its head, and the character that betrays Niko’s trust and thrusts this turn of events onto him was laying hints all the way. As soon as this transpired, I was awestruck at the cleverness of it all, as memories of the conversations came flooding back; the writing was on the wall, and I never picked up on it.
The story also creates dollops of palpable drama, and Niko expresses this brilliantly. When in a heated scenario, Niko screams at his enemies with such force and authenticity, that you cannot help but empathize with his anger and match it with your own.
The story is also dynamically presented. Cut scenes establish much of this, but other methods such as in-game conversations with characters whom you choose to relate with will draw out more about themselves, Niko, or even Liberty City. In fact, the subtext of Liberty City is a not so subtle scathing critique of American culture. Listening to the radio, watching TV, surfing the internet; all of these things bury you into a remarkably realized setting and story.
Finally, it must be mentioned just how sharp the dialogue is. This game is hilarious. There hasn’t been a previous game that has delivered genuine laugh out loud moments like this. Turn on a TV and watch the cartoon “Republican Space Rangers”, and you’ll get a very firm idea of what I’m talking about. This game is soaked in genius spoofs on everything from dating services to politics to media culture.
Easily one of the best aspects of Grand Theft Auto IV is its story, and it alone is motivation enough to push you through to the very end.
Look for a review of Grand Theft Auto IV on XboxMass dot com in the coming days.
peachey @ May 9, 2008