'Grand Theft Auto IV' exploits immigration issue for more shoot-’em-up fun
The “Grand Theft Auto” series has always featured a violent and gritty world that adult gamers happily plunge into again and again. But the latest entry in the franchise just might make you think a bit in between the blood and violence.
With only a few hours of game play before my deadline, I can say without hesitation that Rockstar Games, the publisher of the series, has again raised the bar on what we can expect out of video games. “Grand Theft Auto IV” is a modern masterpiece that attempts to address what it means to be an American in a post-9/11 world.
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PHOTO GALLERY
'Grand Theft Auto IV'
Rockstar Games
$59.99
Reviewed for: 360; also available for the PS3
Rated: M for intense violence, blood, strong language, strong sexual content, partial nudity and use of drugs and alcohol
The script by Rockstar founder Dan Houser distills and condenses both our hopes and fears during these confusing times as it captures the seedy underbelly of a major city. The game shares much in common with E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime. In that book, a Jewish immigrant family finds the turn-of-the-century tenements of New York to be a harsh place. A hundred years later, immigrants are still drawn to this country by the allure of freedom; but the good life of the “American Dream” dissipates when you wake to the bitter reality of life in a big city.
“GTA IV” follows Niko Bellic, an illegal immigrant from an unnamed eastern European country who is trying to escape the horrors of the Bosnian war by starting over in Liberty City (the game’s fictionalized version of New York). He no sooner meets his cousin Roman on the docks when he realizes the good life promised to him was a lie, his cousin’s letters about the good life mere exaggerations.
There is no mansion. Roman lives in a roach-infested studio walk-up located in Hove Beach (Brighton Beach) in the borough of Broker (Brooklyn). Roman has a gambling problem, he’s heavily in debt, and he needs some muscle to provide protection and even the score.
As Roman, players can take up various odd jobs, date and woo a girl, play darts, go bowling or even get stinking drunk with the cousin until neither of you can walk or see straight. (I’ve never driven drunk, but I can only imagine that programmers have done their research. The car is impossible to handle.)
While the main characters in the initial entries in the franchise were thugs and gangsters, things took a different turn in the last game. CJ, the hero of “GTA: San Andreas,” was basically a decent guy who, in true Hitchcock fashion, found himself mixed up in some very bad things.
But this time around, gamers hold Niko’s morality in their hands. Sure, you're beating up the loan sharks who are hassling your cousin, but beyond that, things are again fairly open-ended, leaving it up to you to decide just what Niko will do as he chases the elusive American Dream.
Game-wise there are a few improvements from the previous entry in the series. The controller’s left trigger targets enemies more efficiently (a good thing, as the artificial intelligence has also been beefed up — enemies are both smarter and more aggressive).
Developers clearly have had some fun creating the game’s New York counterpart. Initially in the game, you’re stuck in Broker due to a terrorist threat that has closed all the bridges to the other boroughs. But eventually the game’s other areas open up (Queens is Duke, the Bronx is Bohan, Manhattan is Algonquin, etc.). Times Square is Star Junction, the Metlife building is the Getalife building.
The game’s most cynical statement? The Statue of Liberty is called the Statue of Happiness; her raised hand doesn’t offer a torch to light freedom’s path, but rather a coffee cup to caffeinate you on the journey.
