An Epic Script

Niko Bellic is a guy I can relate with. Ever since the story began with him reuniting with his cousin, Roman, I was intrigued with his life already. Why? Because he didn’t start off with the common crook vibe; he was down-to-earth, normal and as a new comer to Liberty City, it was easy to empathize to his unfamiliarity with the city. We could explore Liberty City together! A majority of the characters I met within Bohan and Broker became important people in Niko’s life. I even believed that these characters would be the sole driving factors in Niko’s story, but I was wrong. Eventually, missions boiled down to Niko doing odd jobs for the Mafia and other crime syndicates for money. Just money. And just before I lost complete interest in Niko’s money hoarding, Rockstar wrapped it all up with a triple dose of revenge – anti-climatic ending indeed.

Although Niko’s tale was diluted with senseless “money making” missions, occasional moments of character craftsmanship cropped up. These characters delivered their lines convincingly and gave minute amounts of reference as to why they need favors done. Storywise, some of their paths  eventually crossed and then Niko had to decide who lives and who dies. The game makes it quite clear which one you should dispose of and if you do, you’ll be presented with additional missions. If you choose to eliminate the wrong one, nothing tends to happen. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter either way. At least the final decisions of the game yield different outcomes. I got the “good ending”.

Scripted events can work if you’re oblivious to the fact that it’s scripted. GTAIV has its fair share of scripted events during its many, many car chases from cued traffic accidents to pre-determined end points. The first time through, these instances are the most bad ass moments of gaming I’ve experienced, however once I died and witnessed the same exact sequences again, the illusion was broken. If only it stopped there. Unkillable drivers and inconsistent lethality of the police force were some of the greater offenders of GTAIV’s rule bending for the sake of scripted spectacles. Fortunately, the rare occasions of complete freedom provided some of the most enjoyable moments since I had free reign on how to dispose of my targets. Why scale three flights of stairs when I could pop him through the window?

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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.