Time has not been kind to Grand Theft Auto IV. Revisiting Liberty City draws into stark contrast how far games have come in the last five years. Back in 2008 the game felt like it was probably going to be one of the best titles of its generation. Now it really feels like it is out of synch with today's world and has dated horribly.
In 2008 I would have told you that GTA IV was probably one of the best games ever made. Since then it was a game I always looked back on fondly and was waiting for the right time to revisit it. Unfortunately, I think I left it too long, GTA IV is past its sell by date. Its once heady bouquet has turned to vinegar. Looking back at it five years later with the eyes of a modern gamer the polish has really come off, the cracks are all on show, and what is left doesn't feel at all satisfying.
GTA IV was a monumental achievement when it came out, technically, artistically, and as a vehicle for story telling it was peerless. Back when it came out though it was a different world, where old console hangovers still remained and games were just emerging from their moody teenage dark period.
The first reason that GTA IV was immune to criticism is that we didn't know any better when it was released. Sure, the game didn't feel as tight or as mechanically competent as Gears of War in terms of third person shooting. Nor did it feel as precise or fun as Burnout Paradise in terms of driving and sense of speed, though, in 2008 it didn't need to. GTA IV had it all and it really did it seem to do it well. In spite of this, the Storytelling was really where the game earned its stripes and still holds up almost as well today as it ever did. Rockstar North dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts to create a fantastic experience for everyone who played it.
The second reason you couldn't see the cracks in GTA IV was the hype and zeitgeist that surrounded its launch. With all the hyperbole surrounding the game it was difficult to tell if it was merely an over hyped computer game or the second coming of Christ. Back then there was no real mainstream criticism of it or any conversation to its detriment like there is today. This reflects more on how the games industry and criticism has matured since then. Almost all video games media in 2008 really was just trade press, covering the game and saying if it was good or not. By the days standards it was good and worth playing so of course it did well. Nobody would provide people who didn't like GTA IV with enough of a mouthpiece to discuss what they didn't like about it or why.
I don't want to be down on GTA IV, it is still a fine game. If it came out today its story would almost earn it a 4/5 alone, it's just the bits between that that really let it down. Driving feels like you are driving a car on a river of syrup coated ice. Feeling somehow simultaneously sticky and slippery and really, deeply unsatisfying. The shooting is equally wishy washy with the time between pressing the trigger and firing feeling super delayed and any attempt at nuanced gunplay simply a non-starter.
Although woven through Rockstar's story classic structure: naive protagonist, gets betrayed somewhere in the middle before making some new friends makes it to the big time in the end. Nico is a fantastic character and his narrative, as predictable as it may seem, is really well done with some fantastic twists and turns. Nico is a very likeable character, playing the straight guy in a realistic, yet slightly zany, world. This works hugely to Rockstars favour in terms of how enjoyable it is to play as Nico and inhabit his world.
The story isn't infallible, mostly in terms of the missions. In 2013 the missions feel boring, simply padding between the last incredible cutscene and the next incredible cutscene. They are tedious and served up very slowly as well as having some regrettably frustrating and simply awful moments of gameplay. The dialogue is still incredibly funny, it is sharp, tongue in cheek, and witty with lots of genuine laugh out loud moments. Many of the characters somehow transcend being simple caricatures. Although they are all comprised of one of the many stereotypical roles from standard crime drama many of them become realistic characters with depth and a tangible sense of weight.
GTA IVs world is full of weight which is where the dissonance really creeps in. It was very clearly built on the foundations of a game where one of the main activities people partook in was along the lines of "lets stand at this cross road and blow stuff up till the military send tanks to stop me".The implications of this are felt in every aspect of the games world. This leads to Nico being one person during the story and another person entirely during every other aspect of the game.
All your actions necessary to play the game - from jacking cars to killing innocent civilians isn't what Nico Bellic is about and it feels super jarring to be doing it as him. This has been addressed in later games by Rockstar and both Red Dead and LA Noire had a grounding to their gameplay as well as their narratives. This is unfortunately severely lacking from GTA IV and it makes the game seem much older than it is.
The most blatant thing for me was that pedestrians don't jump out of the way when you come close to them in your car. In previous games you could put that down to scripting and processing power limitations but here it feels like a concious decision. I can imagine a more immature member of the team at Rockstar North sniggering to himself whilst mowing down pedestrians during development and the decision was never questioned. It's little touches like this that really stand out as bad decisions in a game where they are really trying hard to separate themselves from their anarchic roots.
Another issue for me is pacing, the game takes a while to get going and Nico really feels immobile throughout the whole game, especially after playing more modern iterations on the sandbox crime genre. Getting between missions, places, and events is a chore at best and tiring and bothersome and infuriating at worst. The world sometimes feels eerily quiet and sparsely populated, really failing to capture that busy city hustle and bustle in the same way Assassins Creed did.
Adding a sense of realism to the world is all well and good but forcing me to play middling at best mini games and making me hate travelling through the world is really not the way to execute on this premise. To improve this they could either loose the open world nature and tell a linear story, like LA Noire, or make your actions have consequences, like Red Dead, and make it easy for the player to toe the line. I feel that if GTA IV wasn't an open world sandbox game it would have been better.
Now to the biggest issue with GTA IV, Saints Row The Third. Volition literally tore up the rulebook with Saints Row 3, Stripping all of the genre tropes from the game that weren't fun or useful. If can't walk up to a car and dive through the windscreen to jack it in less than two seconds then why am I still doing it. Why do my cars need to be made of paper, blowing up at the slightest breeze, why does Nico move so slowly! Through the lens of a player since that game came out GTA IV is maddening, you simply can't go back.
GTA IV was so special in 2008 because it ticked all the boxes. Today some of those ticks don't still hit and they just drag the game down. GTA IV's ability to be all things to all people in 2008 makes it not enough of anything to anyone today. As a crazy over the top rampage it doesn't have nearly enough but as a grounded worldly story it just doesn't make the mark either.
GTA IV is a game sorely in need of a stronger identity. With more focus, care and clarity of message it would still be one of the best games of the generation, if not all time. Unfortunately for any latecomers it just doesn't hold up and isn't worth playing anymore - other than out of a sense of morbid curiosity.
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