When GTA3 was unleashed upon the world in the fall of 2001, it was a pure, unadultered exercise in nihilism. Players had the choice to main and murder their fellow man, guilty and innocent alike, or go around town taking injured people to the hospital or extinguishing leathal car-fires. But the key word was always choice. It was the main draw for me atleast. It was the first time a casual gamer like me saw a game where you could actually go here or go there, and anywhere in between. Another thing that drew me in was the story. The lead character in GTA3 basically an errand boy for various criminal organizations around the city, oftentimes at war with eachother. The character you played was a mute; perhaps to help the player identify more with the indifferent misanthrope Claude Speed, who was not even given a name until San Andreas.


But while I played on and wordlessly shot, beat and ran down all of my rivals and all of the sad sacks that happened to be in my path, it became apparent to me that Grand Theft Auto 3 was at heart a metaphor about the underworld. It was about getting where you needed to be, no matter what it took to get there. Both in terms of the surface area of the map and in terms of the criminal hierarchy. This has always been the core of the GTA series, but how they have chosen to flesh this idea out has taken some very interesting turns, especially where it pertains to each installments lead character.

The next installment was the inimitable Vice City, which after playing through all of the 3rd Dimensional Grand Theft Autos, takes the crown. Now that is just my opinion, but allow me to break it down. In addition to its flawless soundtrack, which captured most if not all of the different corners of 80's music. Also the setting of 80's Miami just rang true; the cars the beaches, the clothes, pedestrian dialog, the night clubs the commercials etc.



It was also a first for the GTA series: our lead character had a name. On top of that Tommy Vercetti actually talked. And had a personality. Well, some what. I mean he was basically a heartless sociopath like his predecessor, but he had friends. He trusted people, and people trusted him. He did what he had to do that in order to get to the top of the Vice City dog pile. Shooting, gunning down and chainsawing everyone he had to, and even some he didn't.

This is also the first time the cellphone was introduced. Able to accept jobs through the phone added a layer of convenience to the criminal lifestyle, even if the player wasn't yet able to make outgoing calls. It would be a while before the series matured to that level; however the next installment San Andreas still made great strides in adding dimensions to Grand Theft Auto, as well as further humanizing its lead character.


Carl Johnson, like Vercetti before him, talked. He also had a tragic backstory about losing his mother to the constant drug fueled gang activity that ravaged his home town of Los Santos. After returning to the state of San Andreas from a long hiatus in Liberty City (doing god knows what), Carl was reunited with his brother and together they transformed their rag-tag street gang from the bottom of the Los Santos food chain to the a state-wide franchise. Carl also had the ability to "date." Taking girls on dates had numerous benefits. Getting someone to like could mean new outfits, perks like keeping weapons after dying, keys to the ride, and of course hot coffee.

Creating in game characters that the player was discouraged from killing, nevertheless characters we had to like was not what people expected or wanted from Grand Theft Auto. But so it was. Players also had to take care of themselves. Being too fat or too malnourished could impact your performance as a criminal. Carl Johnson also had a cell phone. An addition to accepting missions with it, he could also accept dates with his girl friends, and also receive hilariously desperate prank calls from crazy ex-girlfriends.You were a human, a member of society now. And you were tasked with managing the life of a gangster. A lot of people balked at the "RPG" elements that were introduced, but I thought it was a brilliant idea, even if not executed as well as it could have.


So we go from a ruthless sociopathic mute, to a slightly more charming sociopath, to a child of the streets with a family who seeming happens to lead a criminal lifestyle. With each installment, the Grand Theft Auto series has taken steps to grow up, and it to give humanistic touches to its protagonists, while remaining a part of the sandbox genre. Never has this been more true than with Grand Theft Auto IV.

Players were no longer to have control of their appearance, and were given its most human protagonist in its history as a videogame; perhaps in the history of any game, ever. I have not played nearly enough non-GTA games to know for sure, but I have heard it said. Its not like anyone is reading this far anyway.


Niko Bellic was a fresh off the boat immigrant, and through his eyes we experience Liberty City again 7 years later from our first visit there in GTA 3. This time, the main character is given a cell phone early on in the game, and with it, he can accept missions just like Tommy V and Carl. This time though, the player is able to call anyone in his phone book at any time, as well as various other phone numbers about the city. There were also a range of activities available to the player. But these were not the activities players were used. Trotting people around the city in a cab, rescuing the sick and the weak in an ambulance, putting out deadly car fires; all for the most part gone.

Instead, your options became watching tv, going to comedy clubs, taking tours of the immaculate skyline, and um bowling. Its like the developers just concieved of ways that the player could just spend time as a citizen. Gone are your misanthropic and nihistic urges. Now your success depends on how human can be, how much you can get people to actually like you, by spending time with them. Sure, its all for the cause of being a more effective gangster; making friends with certain people will give you easier access to weapons and bombs, but still. No more mayhem, no more killing just to kill. Sure you could do it, but from the way that Niko Bellic was illustrated, murderous rampages just feel...weird. And out of character.



While reading the comical blogs and spam emails within the game is a fun, not to mention the tv shows, its not why we play GTA. I'm sorry to say it, but its true. People do not search out GTA for the story, although the way Rockstar has built their demimonde from the ground up is very impressive. They do it for the blood lust and the insane spontaneous moments that happen in between cutscenes. Grand Theft Auto has always been great because it let the player have the chance to feel inhuman for once. We pick the game up to feed the darkside. Grand Theft Auto IV made a lot of light shine through on that darkside, even at the expense of some of the game play.


After I beat this title for a second time, I don't know how playable it will be. The multiplayer is fun, and extremely varied. It can get old though. maybe GTA is just getting old to me. Its become too much of a simulation of life. Outside of the missions there is nothing fun to do, and I refuse to spend time doing things I dont want to do to add girth to my e-peen. I could have easily gotten my 100% key, however, it dawned on me while I was working on it that it was indeed work and not fun. And that's why I play games. Not to sit with a checklist and check stuff off. Killing cops gets old too, even though visually the experience is more visceral than ever. Its a well crafted but ultimately empty experience though. Its like a beautiful vase with no flowers in it. Or maybe the flowers are dead. I can't give this game more than a 4/5. So, R* bring the fun back, and next time lets make a true 10/10.