Under the Knife Special: Grand Theft Auto IV - Panteraftw’s Take
by Panteraftw
(Officially Beeslo’s Bitch)
Welcome to my Under The Knife special of GTA IV. Beeslo did a good job with his take yesterday, but I’ll be touching upon different points. Enjoy!
I’ll start off by stating my favorite thing about this game: the atmosphere. I simply cannot play Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, or San Andreas and receive a similar experience after playing GTA IV. None of those games delivers that same feeling of immersion; rather than merely placing you in a cold, flat city with faceless morons walking back and forth on a single block, GTA IV creates not only a detailed map and environment, but a certain polished atmosphere that makes you truly feel as if you are roaming New York City (though it is named Liberty City in the game).
This is partly due to the excellent graphics and surprisingly consistent framerate, but I think it goes beyond that. It’s that perfect combination of impressive visuals, creative filters and effects, excellent sound design, smart AI, and thorough programming that truly makes this game what it is: an epic must-own game.
Do not think that this game completely revolutionizes what the series is all about, though; yeah, practically all the changes are excellent and improve the game greatly, but if you were to break the game down to its bare components, you’ll find that it’s essentially the same game as the previous installments. Normally, I’d say this could be considered both a good and bad thing, but never have I felt the game is <em>too</em> similar to the others. You shoot cops and criminals, you beat up innocent bystanders, you drive and crash flaming tons of metal, and you generally walk around feeling like a badass. But the entire engine and structure is revised so subtly, you will reaccustom yourself with it easily and quickly.
One big gameplay alteration is the combat, regarding both hand-to-hand and gunplay. No longer can you beat up a group of people in a few seconds. Rockstar has opted for a much more realistic approach with nearly every aspect of the game, and this is one of the biggest of those changes. Your attacks will be slower and weaker, but really, if you were ever in a fight, you’d have a hard time dropping someone too, and moreover, the other person will be generally just as strong as you will be.
The targeting system reminds me more of Crackdown; you pretty much hold the left-trigger to target someone, and use the the right thumbstick to aim at certain body parts. This works very well. Running and targeting at the same time also works well, since all basic gun operations are kept on the triggers like any modern shooter. However, keeping with the realistic theme, you will definitely die quicker compared to previous GTA games. Be prepared to die plenty of times when you start out. But does this increased realism make the game overly difficult, or simply umplayable for those who love rampant drive-bys and mass homocides? Not at all. With this realism comes an awesome covering system. Just press a shoulder-button, and bam, you’re covered. Microsoft’s and Epic Games’ Gears of War is generally considered to have a great covering system, but in that game, each broken pillar or whatever is stuck there. With GTA IV, you can cover anywhere you would normally do so in real life (not that you are a cop-killing criminal, in which case I would be curious as to how you are capable of reading this review right now, and even moreso, why).
So, I’ve basically been making sweet, sweet love to this game across this review so far. But is there anything I dislike? You know it.
For one, if you really want to get the most out of this game, make sure you have a High-Definition TV. I know Beeslo covered this, but I just wanted to reiterate this point. Things occasionally look blurry and dull on a Standard-Definition TV. Don’t get me wrong, I can tolerate it without any significant problems, but it is noticable and if this is a HUGE concern for you, keep it in the back of your mind.
Another thing that bugs me a bit is the controls. More specifically, they are too similar to the past games. This may be fine for many of you readers who are on the fence regarding the drastic changes of this game, but for me, I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to keep tapping the A-button like a barbaric fool to sprint. Actually, scratch that; I don’t even mind that, so much as I do the need to HOLD the A-button to run. Walking around the city is kind of cool if you have some weird fixation on looking awesome as something blows up behind you (ala Iron Man), but beyond that, it’s not necessary. Additionally, the controls can feel a bit cluttered when fighting hand-to-hand; the X-button kicks, the B-button punches, the Y-button alternate-punches, and the A-button blocks. Now, blocking, as far as I’ve noticed, is pretty pointless, since you’ll still take damage. The only way for it to make a difference is if it is coupled with a movement at the same time to quickly dodge, but this isn’t always responsive and requires some accuracy, something you might neglect when facing multiple opponents. In fact, I try to avoid fighting multiple enemies hand-to-hand altogether. Call me a pussy if you want (read: don’t), but I happen to dislike fussing with the face buttons as my character gets raped in the ass when he gets punched by an enemy at the same time as he dodges a punch from a different enemy. This could have been fixed by having enemies recognize each other somehow, I’m sure, but at some point, you just have to deal with it. It’s not as if the game is too difficult to handle this kind of thing in the first place.
So, you’ve read my overwhelming positives and few nagging negatives about Grand Theft Auto IV. If I had to sum up this game in one word, it would be “complete.” Rockstar put so much thought and effort into this game, and it shows. The game’s few flaws are neglegible when looked at as a whole, but if you are incredibly picky, then you should give this game some second thoughts, just for good measure. But honestly, I truly feel that if you enjoy these types of games at all to begin with, then you’ll walk away from GTA IV satisfied.
Be sure to check out Kaiserhawk’s and HassMD’s subsequent GTA IV specials! You won’t want to miss ‘em.
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