Why GTA IV is one of the best games of all time

It takes a lot to make a game playable for weeks or months after purchase, let alone years. But that is exactly what GTA IV has done for me. It released on 29th April 2008, and I bought it about a year later. Now we're in 2011 and I'm still playing it at least weekly, if not daily. But how has it been so appealing that I just can't stop playing?

A huge, living playground
GTA IV, like most GTA games, features 3 large islands (you could argue there are 4 in IV). Each one makes up a borough of New York City, so already it feels slightly familiar. But unlike a few free-roaming, sandbox games, Liberty City feels truly alive in every sense. There are constantly people bustling through the streets and the roads are filled with cars getting from place to place. Even if you stopped completely, the city continues to live around you. And the fact that random things can happen at any point always keep me interested and involved. Unlike Red Dead Redemption (newest Rockstar game) with scripted 'random events', random events in GTA IV are really random indeed. I could be casually driving down the pavement when an explosion could go off. I'd rush to the scene to see a car blown up and an ambulance crew already on site. Nothing to do with my antics at all. Just life in Liberty City.

There is also the fact that Liberty City is a deep playground. It isn't just filled with solid towers and houses along the streets. A few are actually fully fleshed out buildings with interiors to explore and play in. After a year and a bit of playing, it was only the other day that I found a 4 storey building that I could enter and mess around in. I instantly got the cops on me, lured them into the building, and challenged myself to shoot my way out of the building, like creating my own 'mini mission'. Even though I've been playing for so long, this showed me that I surely have more to get out of Liberty City.

Amazing DLC
Downloadable content for games are usually just a few maps, a couple of skins and/or weapons, and the odd additional mission or two. GTA IV on the other hand gave me two full new stories to play through, each around 6 hours each! "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" both introduced a new character to play as and a new story to go through. Each story had its own feel to it, and felt vastly different to the main GTA IV story, but in a good way. In both DLC's, you are put into an entirely different situation than you were in within the GTA IV story, and it's this that kept it fresh. It was like being in a new setting, even though it is still set in the same Liberty City you've been in all this time. The missions were also more tailored to the character. For example, in TLaD, you play as Johnny Klebitz, a member of a biker gang. So many more of the missions are performed on a bike with a gang to back you up. This obviously wouldn't happen very often with Niko in the main story.

There is also the fact that each DLC brings with it new weapons, vehicles, online modes and game mechanics. A light machine gun is always a lot of fun, smacking a person with a baseball bat off a bike while driving along side them is very entertaining, and an APC Tank is pure badass. But probably the most enjoyable mechanic for me was the return of parachutes from previous GTA games. By implementing parachutes, the invisible ceiling was doubled in height, massive drops were now possible and its use in missions made it a crucial and great addition to an already awesome game. And having these new game mechanics made the entire game even more fun...

Online
Online modes in games usually take the game mechanics, put you in a small or medium sized stage and make you perform certain actions (e.g. kill each other). GTA IV on the other hand simply lets you loose in Liberty City. That's it. Just go wild with your friends! There are some set modes like Deathmatch, Race etc., but all are within the huge city. Personally, I just play free-mode with friends, and it's exactly what it says on the tin: free to do whatever the hell you want...mode. It is just like free roaming in single player but with more people. Also, since there are options for police and friendly-fire, things can get even crazier without consequence!

Unfortunately you can't play the story co-op, but there are a couple of missions to perform together. There is also a Cops N' Crooks mode where a group of player controlled cops aim to take out the main criminal boss whilst the lesser criminals have to defend the boss and get him to his escape vehicle. A rather unique mode which works very well with the open city. It is the online aspect of GTA IV which keeps the game going for a long time, much like it has done with me.

Swingset Glitch

Hours of fun.


Of course there are many things to love in Liberty City: the wacky radio stations, the borderline insane characters, random fist fights/ fire fights in the street. But you really have to be there to experience the world fully. Forget the stereotype - you don't just kill hookers and murder innocents (albeit that is a fair chunk of the fun).