We’re going to do things a little differently here at 61FPS when it comes to reviewing games. For starters, all reviews are going to be brought to you in three digestible installments. Games are simply too long – not to mention that many can’t be completed at all – to offer you the most thorough critical examination we can offer in a single helping. The just released Grand Theft Auto IV is the perfect candidate for this formula because while there are a set number of tasks to perform in its world that will allow a player to see its narrative through to a traditional conclusion (in addition to a number of tracked statistics that will result in a 100% marker,) the game’s non-linear nature means that it can go on forever. Want to turn on the game and see just how many Hummers you can pile onto a Coney Island pier? Have at it.
I’ve spent approximately fourteen hours in Liberty City at this point and while that’s no small amount of time, it’s clear that Rockstar’s world still has plenty to offer. I still haven’t made it as far west as Alderney, the game’s fictional proxy for New Jersey. That said though, I have been starting to wonder if I’ve already managed to press up against the boundaries of how play can actually effect the world of GTA IV. As Chris Baker so deftly pointed out in his piece about the game over at Slate, this game marks the first time the series has built a narrative and characters as absorbing as its setting. Those artistic achievements are reinforced by the game’s jump from a cartoon-caricature world to one that gives the undeniable impression of realism and gravity. While the ability to forge relationships with the characters that surround you is the game’s greatest achievement, imbuing your interactions with them with tangible consequences, Liberty City itself remains strangely unaffected. Irish mobster Packie may call to tell you how he saw a news report about a heist you pulled off together and you may hear that same report on the radio as you cruise about town. But you won’t see an increased police presence in midtown where you pulled off the job or any physical evidence of an investigation. Random toughs on the street won’t recognize you as you pass by and you can still wander unchecked down the highway with a machine gun drawn and motorists won’t bat an eye. It might seem unfair to fault GTA for not being a different sort of game but the rules of its world occasionally seem at odds with one another. My time with it is just beginning so here’s hoping that I find that my relationship with the city turns out to be as deep as the one with its citizens.