Grand Theft Auto IV: First Look

IT’S ALIVE!

Seagulls. Cigarettes. Cell phones. They’re all ambient, tiny details that, when combined, lend a palpable sense of life to the dynamically lit, pixel-shaded collections of polygons that compose Liberty City’s faux New York. Head down to the docks and you’ll see bottom-heavy scavenger birds circling for food and cawing to whoever will listen. Trot down Broker’s streets in the post-dawn hours and you’ll see a variety of unique (read: not physically identical) pedestrians: one muttering about the cost of local real estate; another sitting in front of a townhouse tapping his foot to the beats flowing through his headphones; another yakking on his phone; and still another lighting up a smoke to try to take the sting out of the brisk morning air.

These subtleties extend to the architecture as well. Buildings aren’t merely flat, barren facades: They’re carefully crafted, impeccably lit members of the Liberty City neighborhood, each festooned with its own particular charms, such as a graffitilaced sign, a flowerpot, or an air conditioner lodged in the window.

The buildings also have an element of verticality never before seen in a sandbox series, and it adds a sense of scale to the environment that’s difficult to define. It’s almost as if the buildings are looming over you and leaning in your direction ever so slightly, like the city is interacting with you just as much as you’re toying around inside it. The Broker Bridge was perhaps the best example of this aspect in our demo. Though Rockstar didn’t bring Niko very close to it at all (let alone put him on it), it hung over the neighborhood in ominous fashion. The skyscrapers of the downtown Algonquin metropolis — which we got a look at only from the docks across the river — also gave this impression, even from afar. (The real-time reflection of the skyline in the water is incredible, by the way.)

GROWING UP

If you’re getting the sense that this is a much more serious, hardcore Grand Theft Auto than you remember, your instincts are correct. Throughout our demo, Rockstar expressed a commitment to exploring new territory, and they’re leaving the over-the-top parodies of classic films like Scarface and Goodfellas in the last generation, shifting GTA’s focus to a much darker tale about Niko and his life in the U.S.

“It’s a story about the American Dream,” Rockstar told us.

So will GTA’s wry comic element go the way of Betamax? Of course not. Though you shouldn’t expect Rampages, eating yourself to obesity, or having to pump iron at the gym, you’ll find the usual plethora of fake-ad-infused radio stations, goofy billboards, and high-speed hit-and-run fatalities. And in case you’re wondering, the series hasn’t regressed to water being fatal.

“It would be [ridiculous] if you couldn’t swim,” they told us with a straight face.

So you can tread water, and you can also, we were shown, enter more buildings than before. Making a left turn into a seemingly unassuming townhouse, Niko walked right inside, then around the living room, through the kitchen, and out a back door into an alley. It wasn’t a store, hideout, or otherwise game-ified “Yes, you can come in here!” structure. But our Rockstar tour guide just walked right in, leaving us to wonder just how many different interiors would be available to explore.

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