Grand Theft Auto IVDeveloper: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 (Reviewed)
Price: $59.99 (Shop.Ars)
Rating: Mature
Grand Theft Auto IV is on store shelves. You can go to your local retailer right now and buy a copy. If you notice, there is no rioting in the streets. There were no terrorist acts. Shootings haven't spiked, and I'm guessing your car is still in the driveway, having not been stolen. Prostitutes are as safe as they've ever been. Somehow the game has been released and the world continues to creak along without major incident. Well, except for a few missing copies.
When I received my copy of the game, my neighbor said he'd like me to bring the game over, since his wife had never seen a Grand Theft Auto title before. She had, of course, read and seen much coverage of the game in the mainstream media, and she wanted to know what was so bad about the game. I played it for three hours, and she was surprised. First, she didn't think the games had a story; she was under the impression you just ran around killing cops and sleeping with hookers. Second, she was shocked that the content was pretty mild, overall; she described it as an R-rated movie. "So what is all the fuss about? We're all adults here," she asked after we talked about it for a while.
Rationally, there shouldn't be much fuss, but Grand Theft Auto has been made a talking point for every media outlet and politician who wants to score an easy point against the gaming industry and look like they are protecting the children. Grand Theft Auto IV isn't appropriate for children, not in the slightest, but its existence alone also isn't harmful to them.
This is your playground
On the other side of the debate you have the reviewers, giving the game a perfect ten, straining the limits of hyperbole by saying the world of gaming has been changed, that nothing will ever be the same, that every bar has been raised by this title. It's hard to get to know Grand Theft Auto IV as a game, and it's even harder to understand it through all the noise.
That's a shame, because the moments that make this game something extraordinary—and it is an extraordinary game that cooler heads will still be discussing years from now—happen when things are quiet. In one scene during my time with the game, Niko Bellic is driving his motorcycle in the morning mist, and the city opens up in front of him. We're heading towards a shootout and don't know how many people are going to be there or what's in store. The Smashing Pumpkins song "1979" is playing on the radio.
This is Niko's story, yes, but the moments in the game that grab you will be different for everyone. That's what makes the title unique, and it's why Grand Theft Auto releases are a cultural event. Rockstar puts America under the microscope, and what happens in the game doesn't reflect them as much as it reflects you.
Liberty City is yours. Welcome.
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