THE AMERICAN DREAM IS THRIVING ON WHAT YOU’RE BEST AT

In November 11, 2021, Rockstar released a "Definitive" edition of the GTA 3D Trilogy. The sheer scale of that botch is well documented by now, all three games were a lazy bug-ridden excuse for a remaster. To add injury to insult, Rockstar pulled the original versions of the games from Steam. When it was reported that Rockstar was taking down mods for IV, much like it did for San Andreas and Vice City prior to the new release, I knew it was finally time to buy it again. For just 5.50 euros in the Holiday sales I was ready to dive in nostalgia, replaying the one GTA from my childhood I never replayed. Two months later and almost 77 hours of playtime, making it my most played single-player game in my decade on Steam, I do not regret this a bit.

GTA IV was an anomaly for the series at the time. While many gameplay features such as extended character customization, hunger and stamina meters were stripped back from San Andreas, IV had the most detailed world in a GTA and also the most adult and tragic story with three-dimensional well developed characters. Niko Bellic, our protagonist, has faced the horrors of war and arrives in the US with the promise of the American Dream by his cousin Roman. When he realizes that his cousin sold him a lie, he's back in the perpetual cycle of violence exchanging the war for organized crime.

While IV is a story of betrayal and revenge much like the 3D GTAs, never before has a protagonist struggled with their actions in such a way. It also marks the first time were you get to kill major characters right from the first hours of the game while also having the choice to spare characters and be faced with binary choices that will have lasting consequences on the story. The first shades of morality in a Rockstar game which would come to be the main theme of Red Dead Redemption 2.

The similarities with Red Dead Redemption 2 don't stop there. GTA IV is infamous for the activities, side-characters calling you and asking you to hang out. While the activities themselves leave a lot to be desired, hanging out with friends offers a lot of character development dialogue much like being around them in camp did in RDR 2. Being liked by each one will unlock services such as taxis or a helicopter on call. The one you’ll mostly use is the gun van which can save your trips to the gun shops by bringing guns near you at lower prices. Your friends calling you during missions, creates a model of the real life simulator that was perfected in RDR 2. I felt like I inhabited Liberty City instead of arbitrarily going from mission with the cherry on top being receiving calls that propel the story forward or forcing you in missions at a given moment.

Other than cell phones, the contemporary setting allows for the existence of the internet. This is essential to the story at points but also bolsters the lore through emails, random web-sites and provides romantic dates, yet another chance to interact with more characters, each with their own personality and perks. For yet another first time in GTA the radio stations in cars will be interrupted by breaking news reports chronicling your escapades and also commercials. Add to that three talk-show stations spoofing liberals, conservatives and the star-system and what you get is a bucketload of satire, a calling card of Rockstar being at such a level for the first time.

As mentioned earlier, this is the most tragic GTA story. Nico but also Johnny and Luis being minorities but most importantly struggling criminals trying to stay afloat makes for tales of survival rather than building a criminal empire. GTA was always based on the various ethnicities of organised crime but this is the first time where the whole spectrum of society is shown. Eastern European, Black, Asian, Latino, Irish, Italian and Middle-Eastern characters in every level of the food chain allow for a thorough examination of themes. PTSD, addiction, generational trauma and even homosexuality are touched upon other than the expected, greed, violence and ambition.

Other than the first six or so hours, I was invested in the characters and Niko's struggle. Johnny and Luis make minor appereances in Niko's story and it's fascinating to see the part every single character plays and how they all interact by the time you finish the Episodes. In the end, Niko's story feels more like a satirical Wire or Breaking Bad rather than a blockbuster like the previous ones did. This was a minor gripe I had, the bigger missions lacking that larger than life quality of previous GTAs. This is rectified in the Episodes, reminding us of Vice City and San Andreas and TBOGT especially being rife with huge set-pieces and ridiculous action.

Playing for the first time on mouse and keyboard, my expectations were met. You can absolutely play this one without auto-aim(something I struggled with in V and was absolutely impossible in RDR2) and while the weapons don't feel very impactful every weapon feels significantly different. That being said, in Niko's story I would mostly use the best smg and the best assault rifle. Going for headshots with these is what you'll do. Blind firing from cover is also very forgiving in terms of spread and while I would mostly try to be out of cover for faster results, this was the go to when enemies filled the screen.

The Stories offer a greater weapon variety. In TLATD there's an automatic pistol making for an alternative to the smg, an actually useful semi-automatic shotgun and a grenade launcher that's way more reliable than either the hand grenades or the rocket launcher. TBOGT is on a whole other level with two smgs which feel better and are more effective than the aforementioned assault rifle, an assault rifle with even shorter ttk and the crown jewel of GTA weapon design, the automatic shotgun with exploding cartridges which is the best way to cause absolute mayhem in any GTA game.

Driving needs some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, it's very fluid. As in all GTA games some cars are more viable than others but you should avoid the bikes because they handle like ♥♥♥♥(more bike types in TLATD make for a better experience there). The boats handle like, well, boats, weighty and cumbersome and while flying helicopters with two hands on keyboard is fun in its own way, some key rebindings would help for the missions with attack helicopters.

The basic mechanics kept me playing through side-missions such as vigilante missions, races, turf wars and drug wars. Even though there was quite some repetition, it's a nice way to explore the city and I also netted a bunch of the more grindy achievements. I very rarely hunt for achievements and doing it in this case, speaks volumes as to the fun factor of how the game handles.

The game still looks and sounds nice for such an old game while retaining a touch of the cartoony models of prior GTAs. The radio stations offer a great variety of music and I found myself listening to most of them, in contrast to other GTAs where I gravitated towards three or four. The Euphoria engine makes the physics impressive even by today's standards. There are some moments when it feels like you're in the Matrix with too many of one vehicle type being spawned or the AI crashing into each other while crossing a bridge but such is old game jank and it was funny more than a nuisance. I had one crash, a constant bug of textures not loading when entering a tunnel and the infamous bug which doesn't allow you to complete the final mission with Niko. This is fixed by limiting your fps to 30.

I could write a thousand more words but Steam has a limit, so I'll just say this. GTA IV is an important piece of history for the over-saturated open world game market we live in. It's also still fun to play and has one of the best stories in the franchise. If any of that intrigues you, get it on sale before being forced to pay 70 dollars for its bad remake.