For more than a decade, the Grand Theft Auto gaming series has been a lightning rod for controversy. But really, what else can you expect from a game that so shamelessly flaunts social mores? This is, after all, a video game where carjacking and murder aren’t merely a means to finishing missions and beating the game—you can get your kicks in with GTA’s massive extracurricular sandbox worlds, too. But there’s always been more ways to spend your gangsterific time than running from the police and beating up strangers. After hours upon hours testing the just-released Grand Theft Auto IV, we realized there’s actually so much fun in Liberty City that is—dare we say—wholesome that we opted to breakdown the positive pastimes of the badass game rather than review it. Leave that to the crooks. —Seth Porges
1. Listen to the Rockin’ Radio
Is that really Fela Kuti coming out through the digital dashboard? And Iggy Pop DJing? Woah. GTA: Vice City set the standard for in-game music (Rockstar Games even licensed a CD box set of soundtracks), but the new sequel takes the tunes to another level. You almost get the feeling that half the game’s $60 sticker price went to licensing some of these tracks. It is no exaggeration to say that this could be the best, most diverse video-game soundtrack of all time. And the talk radio’s pretty amusing, too—if you can concentrate on it long enough.
2. Swim Out of a Car Accident
The first time I drove my GTA car into the game’s version of the East River, it was an accident. I had already slammed by PlayStation3 controller in disgust, waiting to pick up my in-game avatar from the hospital—that’s where you usually end up when your lungs are filled with water and/or bullets. So I did a double-take when nothing happened at all. I did a double button tap, and suddenly my little thug is freestyling Michael Phelps-style toward the “Manhattan” skyline. Hey, beats paying for the ferry.
3. Drive Like You Mean It
It says something about a sandbox-meets-RPS game when its driving action is a lot more fun than some dedicated car titles. Some racers, like the Project Gotham series, tout their hyper-realistic cityscapes as chief selling points. But none of them have anything on Liberty City, which is beyond vast and doesn’t have those pesky rails to keep you from veering off the beaten path. As for the driving controls and car selection? Better than ever, and right up there with the second tier of straight-up racing games.
4. One-up Google’s NYC Street View
This game is catnip to New Yorkers and even tourists, who will no doubt spend hours hunting for in-game counterparts to real-life attractions. So spot-on was the game’s representation of my north Brooklyn ‘hood that I almost expected to find my apartment building waiting around the next corner. It wasn’t there (nor were any of the new wave-of-gentrification condo buildings), but the real-life sugar factory down the street was, as was a hyper-realistic depiction of a nearby waterfront park. Tone down the violence and grit, and the New York City tourism board could ride the Coney Island’s Cyclone rollercoaster and Times Square’s billboards all the way to the bank as a sort of virtual tour—albeit a very, very unflattering one.
5. Meet the Neighborhood Strangers
From Madden to No More Heroes the bobbleheads filling your screen tend to be cobbled together from a small stock of indiscernible characters. In GTA IV, though, different neighborhoods come jam-packed with different characters (albeit extremely and overtly stereotypical ones). Head out to “Jersey,” and you’re awash in big hair. Roll uptown to a residential street corner, and you’re dodging suits on their way home from the bank. Best of all, nearly all of these background characters are brimming with personality. They stop and chat with their friends, get testy when you side-swipe them and fight back when you shove ‘em from behind—or run away if they’re of the cowardly strain. We may be playing Mr. Nice Guy here, but we’d toughen up any day of the avatar week.
