Expanded Game Rules

Every iteration of the GTA series expands/alters its core game ‘rules’. Rockstar’s ongoing commitment with creating a realistic world continued with more real world rules being incorporated into the very fiber of the game. ‘Realistic’ may be an inaccurate descriptor since most of these additions were parodies and mimicries of their real-life counterparts. The inclusion of the internet which included blogs, e-mail spam and dating services offered new avenues for me to meet characters, establish missions or entertain myself. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The list of additions in GTAIV is long and mentioned numerous times already, but I must stress that they were added with a lot of attention and care – they were definitely not added haphazardly.

The consequences of your actions in Liberty City were quite binary in previous GTA games. Conversely, GTAIV offers more leniencies when you don’t mean to cause harm, but strikes with fury when you antagonize too much. It’s a breeze to lose the cops at one star with new circle of police awareness feature, but as the stars begin to accumulate, their aggression, numbers and overall lethality increase almost exponentially. This time the LCPD weren’t created solely to police the player either; unsavory citizens who you pissed off are sometimes subject to the justice if they’re caught attacking you. You can use the police to help you with some missions, but these instances are very rare and require a fair bit of luck to co-ordinate.

It’s not reality. It’s GTA reality

Hit and runs still go unreported. Speeding is still a non-issue and your wreckless ways will often go unpunished. GTAIV is still very much a game and despite its expanded rule set, it is still grounded by that fact. GTAIV divides many GTA fans with its added realism. Some want more of it, some just want to wreak ridiculous havoc without the interference of reality. It’s a delicate balance which I believe Rockstar struck well. I appreciated their attempt at a cover system since it gave a methodical pace through the fire fights. I even liked the ‘first unwieldy, but satisfying to master’ driving model. The removal of random items such as armor, stars and other packages may irk the hardcore havoc wreaking crowd, but not me – I welcome this new “grittier and more realistic” GTA.

The cellphone is a vital piece of technology in GTAIV. Relationships, contacts and even access to the online multiplayer is established through the handheld communication device. It’s importance was elevated by the fact that plot pieces and missions are delivered to Niko directly via the cellphone. With the cellphone you can manage your relationships, set up dates, call for an ambulance and other services too; nearly everything stems from this device. Sounded great, but in practice you’re quite restricted. If you think you could summon the cops when you’re on a mission, you’re dead wrong. They’re mysteriously unavailable. If you think you can call one of your buddies for some assistance in a particularly difficult mission, they too will be conveniently busy. It sucks, but that’s GTA reality for you.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 11:00 am and is filed under PS3 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.