Grand Theft Auto IV is, so far, the only entry in the franchise that I’ve completed more than twice. Yet, something about it just never worked for me. But on my journey of revisiting the franchise, I couldn’t skip this important entry. Plus I’ve never played the Complete Edition version, that combined the original game and Episodes from Liberty City into one game. And it was curious to play it again and see something new about it. Yet, my opinion hasn’t changed much.
This became the first 3D entry in the series to remove a lot of features and elements, instead of just adding new ones. Mostly because of the drive for more realistic and systemic design of the world that started in San Andreas. This was to be a gritty crime drama, not a crazy and arcade-like action game. World was scaled to just one city, though the city itself was far more dense and vertical. Things like planes, jetpacks and tanks were removed. The gun control was much stricter in this new world and because of that you’d now have to get weapons and ammo in rare black market shops hidden in back alleys. Things like purchasing properties or big gang wars, crazier weapons like chainsaws and flamethrowers, special pickups and “rampage” icons – were gone…
Everything about GTA IV was designed to be a story driven experience inspired by more “realistic” crime shows and movies, like The Wire. Where instead of stealing jets from the army you’d be killing a pusher in a dirty apartment building with a shotgun. Where there was no glamour or glory in crime, just death and betrayal. And… it worked! In terms of setting the tone and making a point, as simple as it is, the game is genuinely well done. It has a lot of wonderful story moments and missions that feel narratively satisfying in the same way as a crime drama would be, not as an action movie would be. With the technological push towards denser world, physics simulations on objects and people, more unwieldy and “heavy” cars and weapons wonderfully adding to the overall experience. At least, for the most part.
But Rockstar like to go big. Too big. Even though the world is somewhat manageable this time, the story and amount of missions and events isn’t. There’s just too much stuff happening in this game. And because of this constant one note gritty realism said stuff feels the same. From around the middle point of the story until the very end you will be using the same guns in the same way, routinely running back to the shop to grab ammo and armor between missions. Which is the only good use for money in the game apart from constantly using cabs to fast travel instead of using cars. Because the city infrastructure is tedious to navigate. And because having more than 3 stars of “wanted level” makes cops insufferably difficult to shake, if you’re unlucky. Which is most of the time.
Missions often feature excruciatingly long driving sections to the point where you actually do something and there are no mission checkpoints (until the Episodes introduced them). So you’d often risk failing the mission because of unpredictable systemic elements and terrible AI and then would have to redo all of the boring parts again. Rockstar realised this was a problem and added several dialogue variations to the boring parts that change upon replay. Which is cute, but doesn’t solve the boredom of the repeating segments, whereas checkpoints do.
At this point it’s worth remembering that there already was a fantastic story-driven crime drama open world game – Mafia, originally released in 2002. And the reason that game worked well was because it was structured as a story driven linear action adventure, not a systemic sandbox. It was also far smarter with its pacing and character development. Unlike GTA IV which, for all of its great atmosphere, just meanders around for 20 hours and then the story unexpectedly and abruptly ends. And has very few likeable characters.
All that said, the game was and still is quite popular for its systemic nature, because that often leads to unpredictable and funny moments. Did Rockstar plan on it being “intentionally unintentionally fun”? They could have. The often criticized system for friendships, for example, where your friends constantly call you to suggest hanging out, is indeed frustrating. But then during missions this is often used for comedic effect via scripted calls, showing that Rockstar knew how intrusive this system would be. I wish they’d change the system instead, but hey – at least they wrote it into the story in a fun way.
And then there were Episodes from Liberty City.
The first DLC, The Lost and Damned, is potentially even more unpleasant to go through. There are basically no likeable characters at all in this one and also the story somehow manages to feel both too long and rushed. Specifically, it pointlessly extends a few sections at the start. But then rushes the second half of the story extremely quickly and in a way, where some moments make very little sense. It attempted to bring back the gang system from San Andreas, but it’s the friendly AI is incredibly stupid and love to get in your way (and kill themselves this way, failing the mission). And overall, it’s not a very fun DLC that I didn’t like much.
The second DLC, The Ballad of Gay Tony, feels like a bizarre overcorrection. While it does tell a story with far more colourful and enjoyable characters and brings a lot of the arcade-like craziness of the older GTA titles, it is still GTA IV and because of it often feels at odds with itself. Sure, while it is fun to use crazier weapons, parachutes and get the “tank” back (actually an APC), but things are still quite awkward, unpredictable and more difficult then they should be because that’s how GTA IV works. You can lose a mission due to some bizarre unexpected ragdoll, or systemic element which never feels “fair” or “fun”. At least the checkpoints during missions are generally well placed and this was the first main entry to introduce mission ratings and mission replay. As far as the story goes, this one is also oddly paced and it feels as if both Episodes would’ve benefitted from just being part of the main game experience.
It’s worth noting that despite the Complete Edition being a newer version of the game that patched things out and removed some elements (whole multiplayer aspect and a few licensed songs), there was no attempt to combine elements or ideas of the main game and its DLCs. So all of the cool stuff that could’ve made the main game better is still only accessible when playing the DLC it is in. Well, apart from the new radio stations that did get unified across the entire game, instead of only being available in DLCs. Oh and since I’m on the topic of music – this is the first GTA since III to put an honest effort into making a very good and identifiable soundtrack written specifically for the game and not just licensed tracks. It’s still not as strong as it used to be, but the main theme of the game is very recognizable while the selection of the licensed music is very good.
I should also say a couple of words about the technical state of the game, because it’s quite a mess. GTA IV has had problematic PC port since launch and has not seen any modern re-releases on other platforms. PC version is the best way to play the game, but only once you also install several fan mods and fixes that mostly solve the horrible performance issues and also restore broken visuals. As such, I’d recommend using DXVK and FusionFix to make your gaming experience better. Though, even with both of them, the game has issues.
Would I ever replay Grand Theft Auto IV again? No. If there is a remastered version that adds mission checkpoints and does some rebalancing? Eh, probably still no. It would make for a much better game, one that I would at least recommend to others. But I wouldn’t want to revisit it myself. A really good version of GTA IV would remove a bunch of missions and find a way to integrate story and elements from the main game and Episodes into one complete experience. But that will probably never happen. Still, this is a curious attempt that almost works and builds a great atmosphere. It’s just not very fun to play.