Grand Theft Auto IV: A Play Journal: First Impressions
Grand Theft Auto IV is already a critical darling. Major publications are practically falling all over themselves in what seems like a barely controlled frenzy over the game.
I, on the other hand, come to GTA IV with a healthy head full of scepticism. I’ve never been a fan of the series. The open-ended sandbox genre always felt like a great tech demo lacking in solid gameplay fundamentals. Frankly, I always felt as though the GTA series stretched itself far too thin. Too much to do, not enough depth in each.
Still, I can’t help but get excited about GTA IV. It promised a tighter experience. It promised to pare down the superfluous activities and build upon the fundamentals. The idea of playing an epic crime story on par with the better action games out there, and set in a remarkably realized Liberty City is tantalizing.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be looking into the promise of GTA IV through this Play Journal. By the end, we’ll have a full review. These are our first impressions.
A few hours in, GTA IV is immediately impressive. Thus far, the hype and promises appear plausibly accurate.
A fantastic opening sequence defines the shape of the story: an eastern European immigrant’s struggle to realize the American Dream from scratch. Your protagonist is Niko Bellic, a man with a history thus far obscured. What we do know is that he’s had a hard knock life with violence born from warfare and strife at his core. In Niko’s own words: “We did some bad things.” I imagine this is some allusion to prior conflicts in such places as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Visually, GTA IV does not immediately impress. It simply isn’t up to snuff when compared side-by-side to other graphical stand outs on the Xbox 360. However, the more time I’ve spent in just the first few hours, the more I’ve come to lose myself in its stylistic approach. GTA IV has a painterly look to it that washes everything in an ever so slight pastel coating. It approaches the look in the official artwork that ever accompanies the software. While this “effect” could have very well been a clever attempt to wash over a lack of texture detail, it works very well on another level entirely.
The game also cleverly implements many different effects. One that is quite striking is how the camera creates a zoom like focus when looking upwards, which creates the illusion that the architecture above seems more grandiose, stretching further into the sky. Another is how it cleverly uses depth of field effects at vast distances, lending a cinematic touch to any frame. And reaching high speed in vehicles creates a dramatic sense of just that.
What is easily most impressive thus far is the animation. It is fluid and lifelike, and a noticeable leap beyond anything I’ve seen before. Niko struts in pitch perfect bravado and pivots and pushes about equally convincingly. He also moves through crowds with a decidedly un-videogame like manner: when he bumps into other characters, they react incredibly realistically as Niko actually raises an arm to push them aside.
The same can be said of the physics which eerily approach realism. Cars drive about with fantastic attention to their distinct attributes, bouncing, sliding, and crashing with palpably satisfying weight and force. Speaking of crashing, I hit a divider on the freeway attempting to take an off ramp, and the water filled safety barrels exploded before I impacted and was completely ejected through the front windshield. It was awesome.
Things look good, and I haven’t even touched on our early gameplay experience and that with Liberty City itself. Stay Tuned!
peachey @ April 30, 2008