Dear Gamer: Grand Theft Auto IV

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Genre

Windows PC/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Grand Theft Auto IV is an open world 3rd person shooter.

Story

Niko Bellic is a Russian man who is going to visit his cousin in Liberty City. When his ship docks at the city, Niko finds out that the lavish stories of his cousin’s mansions, cars, and money are all a fantasy. Taking matters into his own hands, Niko decides to make his own fortune in the city, through a life of crime.

Mechanics

The gameplay consists of the player going around Liberty City taking on missions. The missions revolve around criminal activity, which reminds me a lot of the crime in New York City.

The player can purchase guns from dealers around the city; however, ammo is very rarely found in the city. If the player runs low on ammo, he/she will have to back to a gun dealer.

Disobeying the law (such as running a red light, stealing a car, shooting a gun, ect) will get the player chased by the police. The worse the crime the higher wanted rating the player has, which in turn means more police chasing you down. The police will keep chasing the player until they either catch you (as in, kill you) or you can escape them.

The player escapes the police when they leave the “zone of influence”. The “zone of influence” is a blinking circle shown on the mini-map. If the player can get out of the zone for a few seconds the police will “lose” the player and the chase will stop.

Another interesting mechanic is how the player heals health. If the player is injured then you eat to heal. Did you say you broke your leg? Have a hot dog. Did you get hurt in a crash? Have a hot dog. Shotgun to the face? No problem, have a hot dog. It is actually rather funny.

The story may not be very compelling, but the randomness you can do in the game makes it kind of fun, if you like random explosions and glitches.

Note: I am told that if you are going to play this game then you will want to get the Ballad of Gay Tony DLC (Downloadable Content).

Music/Graphics

Grand Theft Auto IV doesn’t handle music like most games. In this game the player can select from a number of songs from the car radio. From the car radio the player can select a radio station. Some of the options are Classic Rock, Jazz, Disco, and Hardcore. There are a total of 16 stations that play music, and two of them are disco.

The graphics are nothing to brag about. They are decent enough for the game. I hadn’t really expected anything amazing but hey, it works.

Morals/Appropriateness

This is where the game starts to fall. The morals in this game are non-existent. The cussing is high in this game, the player kills people to gain cash, there are very little consequences on killing innocent, and to top it off, you can go into a fully working strip club. Everything is shown waist up; there are no blurs or clever object placement.

The sexual acts in the game are also VERY inappropriate. If I HAD to say an age for this game, I would say 18-19 at the EARILEST.

Remember this is your child you know them better than anyone. I didn’t even play this game. This review is being written off my research and the experience of my co-hosts on the Dear Gamer Podcast.

Community/Multiplayer

This game has a wiki community. Not a really huge following. There is a multiplayer, but it really isn’t worth it unless you have some friends to play with.

Addiction Danger

This game has missions that are very similar, the campaign isn’t very long, and the DLC (Downloadable Content) is short also. For this game the addiction danger is a LEVEL 1.

Problems/Ending Comments

This game has many problems in the morals department. I usually don’t mind games being mindless, and to some extent violent, but the immoral behavior of the characters was just too much for me. Just the mindless sexual references and acts in the game really make me uncomfortable.

ESRB Rating: Mature
ESRB Link

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Copyright 2012 Michael/a.k.a. Lasersniper