GTA IV

07.05.2008

Only the hype about Halo 3 came close to that of GTA IV. It was fantastic when this game finally was released. But compared to GTA IV it still was nothing more than a children's birthday party. Was all that media hype justified? What is GTA's influence on the game industry? Is this game really dangerous, as the media say?

Everyone even mildly interested in GTA or video games in general will have seen one of the large posters, banners, wanted notes etc. Everything aims at a single game. GTA IV. From the beginning I was wondering whether Rockstar or Take 2 really needs that. It should be widely known that these boys are in financial trouble. And now they dish out that much money on promotion? For a game which is going to be a top-seller anyway. For a long time I could not understand it, until a friend told me that he had never played the GTA-series, but was attracted to part four by this incredible promotional campaign. Nevertheless are the high sales figures are not caused by this huge campaign. GTA IV was a hot seller from the word Go. Game magazines - print and online alike - fought for exclusive images, presentations and any tidbits they could get. This in combination with the screenshots, slowly released by Rockstar and Take 2, raised the game to a new level of hype.

Now that GTA IV is available to anyone and "friends" on XBOX-Live are simply tagged "Playing GTA IV", the reviews simply mushroom. What I find fascinating is the assessment in different magazines. While critical magazines otherwise trash a game they vote 10 out of 10 points for GTA IV. Is this game a must have? Well, as a critical player one is not happy with a single review. But have a look at all the other reviews. The PS3 version is only slightly better with 99.3% than the XBOX360 version that also cashes in quite nicely with 98.5%. Is that justified? Or did the trade magazines succumb a little to the hype as well?

Well, I can only speak about my own experience. Although this article can’t be seen as a "second review", I must admit that by now I find a few things irritating about GTA IV. It's up to you to decide whether this proves my incompetence as an editor. First of all: when I look at the fun that playing GTA IV gives, I would still vote the same as I have done before. But I would pay more attention to errors in the program now, even though I agree with all magazines that GTA IV is a fantastic game and justifies turning a blind eye on these errors, especially considering the abundance offered by GTA IV. However, it is unexplainable why this game doesn't have its own "menu" in multi-player mode. You only reach the multi-player part via your mobile when a game is already in progress. If you want to change server at short notice prior to starting (because the host doesn't come up or something like that) you are forced to change to single-player mode and then watch the start-up screen twice before arriving at the new server. If it goes really wrong you even connect twice, one right after the other. Sheer frustration. This dampens my excitement about the multi-player mode a bit. Same for auto-aiming. While quite useful in the beginning, considering all these excessive controls, in larger battles it becomes an obstacle rather than a useful feature. However, when you switch to manual aiming you may find yourself in a position where Niko's head obscures your field of fire. This could be avoided. The AI faults remain within reasonable limits. It does become a bit cumbersome when you have to start a new mission just because your companion refuses to get into the car.

There probably was no other game release that had effects of a magnitude one could see when GTA IV was released. More than 30% of all pupils were missing in some schools in Germany during release week. Other kids said about this misconduct: "If I had an XBOX or Playstation at home, I would be sick too. By the way it looks, only those pupils are missing that have a Next-Gen-Console at home." That prompts a few questions: Why do kids have access to GTA IV? Why do parents allow their kids to miss school because of a game? More parental guidance would be desirable. GTA IV is NO kids game and does not belong into their hands. It goes without saying that GTA IV does not compare to "Soldier of Fortune" or "Manhunt". But its adult rating certainly is justified. ’Therefore, in my opinion any discussion about how "dangerous" GTA IV is can be discarded, since it clearly was developed for an adult audience. Finally I believe that a homicidal maniac does not commit crimes because a video or computer game incited him to do so. Much more is needed. And a lot is in the hands of the social environment and parents.