The Beauty Of GTA IV

I’m thrilled to say that after the long wait, I finally got my hands on a copy and have put some significant (but not nearly enough) time into the game. All I can say is ‘wow’. Everything positive that has been said about the game is true. It truly feels like a living, breathing world. Once I popped the disc into my PS3 – plus the additional 10 minutes it took to download onto my hard drive – I was completely absorbed.

First a little back story. You play as Niko Bellic, an Eastern European who has come to America’s Liberty City to find the American Dream with his cousin Roman. The game begins with Niko getting off a boat and stepping onto American soil for the first time. After finding out that Ramon isn’t quite living the high life he boasted about, you’re journey begins.

As soon as you take control of Niko, you have a limitless amount of options and decisions to make. That’s the beauty of GTA, and the thing that most critics of the game fail to talk about. Every step you take reveals something beautiful about the game. That’s right, beautiful. I spent the first half hour of the game watching in-game television shows that were funnier than 80% of what’s on real TV, and just walking through the city, content to people watch.

At one point during my stroll, I saw a fender bender. Both drivers got out of their car and began to shout at each other, while traffic came to a complete halt. While the two men continued to argue, other drives stuck in the jam displayed their own emotion.