Grand Theft Auto IV
2008
Audio: English · Subtitles: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German
- shooter
- racing
- adventure
- action
- open world
- single player
- multiplayer
The story
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Throughout the single-player mode, players play as Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 32 players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature new plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and follow new protagonists.
What it’s like
Grey, rain-slicked Liberty City under overcast skies, its wet asphalt and sodium-lit avenues reflecting neon signs and headlights in a palette of drab blues, muddy greens and smoky ochres. The camera hangs close behind a hunched protagonist as he walks through crowded sidewalks, climbs into traffic or sits in a car while the city rolls past in long, unhurried drives, and the sound is a restless mix of radio stations, sirens, distant gunfire and rain on the windscreen. Its vibe is bleak, heavy and quietly melancholic, best suited to a long rainy evening or a late-night session when you want to drift through a city rather than be pushed through a plot. The pacing swings between slow, meditative wandering and sudden bursts of chaotic action, and the emotional register is weary and cynical, following an immigrant soldier who is drawn ever deeper into criminal debts and loyalties. Violence is frequent and often bloody, with shootings, brutal hand-to-hand fights, murder, drug dealing and crime, though much of it is played for the player's own choices rather than shown in lingering gore. Made for players who enjoy atmospheric open worlds, character-driven crime stories and the freedom to take their time.
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