Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure movie game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for the PlayStation three and Xbox three hundred sixty consoles on twenty nine April 2008, and for Microsoft Windows on two December 2008. It is the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the very first main entry since 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Set within the fictional Liberty City (based on Fresh York City), the single-player story goes after a war veteran, Niko Bellic, and his attempts to escape his past while under pressure from loan sharks and mob bosses. The open world design lets players loosely wander Liberty City, consisting of three main islands.
- Adam Fowler
- Alexander Roger
- Obbe Vermeij
- Dan Houser
- Rupert Humphries
The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Across the single-player mode, players play as Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, permitting up to thirty two players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. [b] Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature fresh plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and go after fresh protagonists.
Development began soon after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and was collective inbetween many of Rockstar’s studios worldwide. The game introduced a shift to a more realistic and detailed style and tone for the series. Unlike previous entries, Grand Theft Auto IV had no strong cinematic influence, as the team attempted an original treatment to the story. As part of their research for the open world, the developers conducted field research around Fresh York across development and captured footage for the design team.
Following its announcement in May 2006, Grand Theft Auto IV was widely anticipated. [Two] Upon release, the game received universal critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at the game’s narrative and open world design. However, the game also generated controversy, with criticism directed at the game’s depiction of violence and players’ capability to drive under the influence of alcohol. Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history at the time, earning US $310 million in its very first day and US $500 million in its very first week. Considered one of the most significant titles of the seventh generation of movie games, and by many critics as one of the greatest movie games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. A sequel, Grand Theft Auto V, was released in September 2013.
Contents
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. [Trio] Players finish missions—linear scripts with set objectives—to progress through the story. It is possible to have several active missions running at one time, as some missions require players to wait for further instructions or events. Outside of missions, players can loosely wander the game’s open world, and have the capability to finish optional side missions. Composed of the fictional city of Liberty City, the world of Grand Theft Auto IV is larger in area than most earlier entries in the series. At the beginning of the game, players can only explore the very first island–composed of Dukes and Broker–with all other islands unlocking as the story progresses. [Four]
Players use melee attacks, firearms and explosives to fight enemies, and may run, leap, swim or use vehicles to navigate the game’s world. There is a first-person perspective option when using vehicles. In combat, auto-aim and a cover system can be used as assistance against enemies. Should players take harm, their health meter can be fully regenerated using numerous technologies, such as eating, using medical kits, or calling for paramedics. [Five] If players commit crimes while playing, the game’s law enforcement agencies may react as indicated by a "wished" meter in the head-up display (HUD). On the meter, the displayed starlets indicate the current wished level (for example, at the maximum six-star level, efforts by law enforcement to incapacitate players become very aggressive). Law enforcement officers will search for players who leave the desired surroundings. The dreamed meter comes in a cool-down mode and eventually recedes when players are hidden from the officers’ line of view. [6]
The game’s cover system permits players to stir inbetween cover, to fire blindly, aim loosely, and target a specific enemy. Individual assets parts can also be targeted. [7] Melee attacks include extra moves, such as dodging, blocking, disarming an opponent and counter-attacking. Bod armour can be used to absorb gunshots and explosive harm, but is used up in the process. When health is entirely depleted, gameplay stops, and players respawn at the nearest hospital. [Five]
The game’s single-player mode lets players control a war veteran, Eastern European Niko Bellic. During the story, Niko meets various fresh characters, many of whom he befriends. These characters can then perform favours for Niko whenever he asks; for example, his cousin Roman, who possesses a taxi service, can send one of his cabs to Niko and take him to any destination around the city. Cabs are always available during gameplay, permitting players to quickly travel to a destination. Across the course of the game, players are also faced with morality choices, which alter the storyline appropriately depending on the player’s choice. While free wandering the game world, players may engage in context-specific activities such as bowling or darts. Other available activities include a vigilante mini-game, and in-game television programming. [8] [9] [Ten] Niko has a smartphone for contacting friends and kicking off activities. [11] The smartphone is also used to access the game’s online multiplayer mode, and to inject cheat codes. [12] To access the in-game Internet, which permits Niko to send and receive emails and set up prospective dates with potential girlfriends, Niko can use Internet cafés located around the city. [13] The game also features a subway system, permitting players to quickly traverse through the game’s world. [14]
The online multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto IV permits up to thirty two players to loosely wander across a recreation of the single-player world. [15] [b] Players determine which game mode that they wish to play, including deathmatches and street races. [16] Both cooperative and competitive game modes are available. These game modes are split into ranked and unranked matches. For players to level up through ranks, in-game money must be earned. [17] [Eighteen] The game also features a Free Mode, in which players have the entire map open to explore, with no end purpose or mission to accomplish. Hosts of the game can control many variables, such as police presence, traffic, and weapons. LAN support is available in the Windows version of the game. [Nineteen]
Setting
Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in 2008, in a redesigned version of Liberty City consisting of four boroughs, based on four of the boroughs of Fresh York City: Broker (based on Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (The Bronx), and Algonquin (Manhattan). [20] Adjacent to the city is the independent state of Alderney (Northern Fresh Jersey). There are three minor islands present in the game: Charge Island (Randall’s Island), Colony Island (Roosevelt Island), and Happiness Island (Liberty Island). Originally, bridges are locked down due to a terrorist threat, and players are permanently pursued by police if the bridges are crossed, but the blockades are lifted as the story progresses, permitting the player to traverse inbetween islands. [Four] Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in a different storyline and timeline from the previous games in the series. [21] However, the game takes place in the same canon as its expansion packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, and its successor, Grand Theft Auto V. [22] [c]
Niko Bellic, an Eastern European, [24] arrives in Liberty City to meet his cousin Roman, pursue the American Fantasy, and to search for the man who betrayed his unit in a war fifteen years prior. Upon arrival, however, Niko detects that Roman’s tales of riches and luxury were lies concealing fights with gambling debts and loan sharks, and that Roman lives in a dirty apartment rather than a mansion. [Four]
Niko defends Roman from his loan sharks several times, but is coerced to work for Vlad Glebov, Roman’s Russian loan shark. Niko kills Vlad after finding out he slept with Roman’s gf, Mallorie. [25] After Vlad’s murder, Niko and Roman are kidnapped by members of the Liberty City Bratva on order of Mikhail Faustin and his associate, Dimitri Rascalov. Faustin, not bothered by the murder of Vlad, hires Niko. [26] Niko quickly learns that Faustin is a psychopath after being ordered to kill the son of Kenny Petrović, the most powerful man in the Bratva. After the Petrović family menaces retaliation, Dimitri convinces Niko to assassinate Faustin in order to prevent a gang war. [27] When Niko meets with Dimitri to collect on the assassination, Dimitri brings Niko’s former employer Ray Bulgarin instead, who accuses Niko of stealing from him a few years earlier. When Niko truthfully denies the allegation, a firefight ensues, permitting Dimitri and Bulgarin to escape. [28]
Niko and Roman are instantaneously coerced to flee to Bohan after their apartment and taxi company are ruined by Dimitri’s boys in arson attacks. [29] However, things go poorly as well in Bohan: Dimitri’s dudes kidnap Roman in a failed bid to lure out Niko, who rescues Roman. [30] Furthermore, Niko’s gf Michelle exposes she is a government agent and entraps Niko into working for her company, known only by its cover: United Liberty Paper. [31] Niko kills several known or suspected terrorists for the agency in exchange for the file of the numerous crimes the police have on him and the promise of assistance in finding the traitor of his unit. [32] [33] [34]
The Paper tracks down the man responsible for Niko’s unit’s betrayal, Darko Brevic, and brings him into Liberty City for Niko to determine his fate. [35] Having dealt with his past, Niko is summoned by one of his employers, Jimmy Pegorino, who requests one final favour: to help with an utterly lucrative deal on heroin in collusion with Dimitri. [36] Niko must either strike a deal with Dimitri, or exact vengeance on him. [36]
Should Niko go through with the deal, Dimitri again betrays him and takes the heroin for himself. [37] At Roman’s wedding, an assassin sent by Dimitri kills Roman with a stray bullet. [38] After Dimitri kills Pegorino, he is in turn killed by a devastated and vengeful Niko. [39] Should Niko choose to exact vengeance, he ambushes and executes Dimitri. [40] At Roman’s wedding, Pegorino, furious after Niko’s betrayal, targets Niko in a drive-by shooting, but finishes up killing Niko’s fresh gf, Kate. [38] With Pegorino targeted by the entire Liberty City underworld, Niko tracks him down and executes him. [41]
Development
Work on Grand Theft Auto IV began in November 2004, almost instantaneously after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). [42] Around one hundred fifty game developers worked on Grand Theft Auto IV, [43] led by core members of the team that previously worked on Grand Theft Auto III (2001). [44] For the game, Rockstar used their proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), which was previously used in Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (2006), in combination with the Euphoria game animation engine. [45] Instead of pre-written animations, Euphoria uses procedural animation to control the way the player moves, enabling character movements to be more realistic. [46] The Euphoria engine also enables NPCs to react in a realistic way to the player’s deeds. In one preview, a player knocked an NPC out of a window and the character grabbed onto a ledge to stop himself from falling. [47] The game also uses middleware from Pic Metrics to facilitate intricate facial expressions and ease the process of incorporating lip-synching. [48] Foliage in the game is produced through SpeedTree. [49]
Grand Theft Auto IV sees a shift in the series to a more realistic and detailed style and tone, [42] partly a result of the transition to consoles which suggested high-definition graphics and the fresh and improved capabilities of such consoles. [44] Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser said "what we’re taking as our watchword on [Grand Theft Auto IV] is the idea of what high definition actually means. Not just in terms of graphics, which obviously we are achieving, but in terms of all aspects of the design. [. ] You know, attempting to make something more realistic, more held together, but still retaining the overall coherence that the other games had." [42] Art director Aaron Garbut said one of the reasons they determined to set the game in Fresh York because "we all knew what an amazing, diverse, vibrant, cinematic city it is," and since they were hoping the thrust the "detail, multiplicity and life" to a high level, it seemed that "basing the game in a city so synonymous with these things was a fine fit." [50] Dan Houser added "because we were working in high definition and we knew we’d need a shitload of research, we desired to be somewhere where we had a foothold." [44] The developers consciously avoided creating a block for block recreation of Fresh York City; Dan Houser said "what we’ve always attempted to do is make a thing that looks real and has the qualities of a real environment, but is also joy from a game design perspective." [42] The Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City is far more detailed and larger in size than most earlier entries in the series. [51] Albeit smaller than San Andreas, the main setting for Grand Theft Auto IV’s predecessor Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Liberty City is comparable to it in terms of scope when "the level of verticality of the city, the number of buildings you can go into, and the level of detail in those buildings" are taken into account. [51] The objective for Liberty City was to have no dead catches sight of or irrelevant spaces, such as the broad open deserts in San Andreas. [42] To achieve a realistic environment, the Rockstar North team, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, made two trips to Fresh York for research, one at the begin of the project (which was done with every previous Grand Theft Auto game) and another smaller one further into development. [50] A full-time research team, based in Fresh York, treated further requests for information ranging from the ethnic minority of a neighbourhood to movies of traffic patterns. [44]
The story of Grand Theft Auto IV was written by Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries. [14] Unlike previous Grand Theft Auto games which have a strong cultural or cinematic influence, "[Grand Theft Auto IV doesn’t] indeed have any cinematic influences", [42] as explained by Houser. "We were consciously attempting to go, well, if movie games are going to develop into the next stage, then the thing isn’t to attempt and do a loving tribute or reference other stuff. It’s to reference the actual place itself". [44] Houser also said, "In terms of the character, we wished something that felt fresh and fresh and not something that was obviously derived from [a] movie. [. ] Maybe [we] could do something ourselves that would live alongside that stuff". [44]
Music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich said "[we had] to pick the songs that make Fresh York today what it is, but make sure they won’t feel dated by the time the game comes out." [52] The developers contacted over Two,000 people in order to obtain recording and publishing rights. [53] They even hired a private investigator to locate the relatives of late Skatt Bros. member Sean Delaney to license the band’s song "Walk the Night". [54] Citing sources close to the deals, Billboard reported that Rockstar paid as much as $Five,000 per composition and another $Five,000 per master recording per track. [55] Developers originally considered letting players purchase music by going to an in-game record shop and for Niko to have an MP3 player, but both ideas were cut. [53] DJ Green Lantern produced tracks exclusively for the game’s hip-hop radio station The Hammer 102.7. [55] Record label holder and record producer Bobby Konders, who hosts the in-game radio station Massive B Soundsystem 96.9, went through the extra effort of flying to Jamaica to get dancehall artists to re-record tracks to make references to the boroughs of Liberty City. [55]
The Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, Peter Moore, announced at E3 two thousand six that the game would show up on Xbox 360, by rolling up his sleeve to expose a Grand Theft Auto IV makeshift tattoo. [56] Rockstar Games primarily appeared to be committed to the original sixteen October two thousand seven release date; however, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter suggested that Take-Two may choose to delay the release of the game in order to boost its financial results for two thousand eight and to avoid rivaling with the release of other very anticipated titles, such as Halo Trio. [57] Rockstar responded by telling that Grand Theft Auto IV was still on track for release in "late October". [58] On two August 2007, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto IV would miss its original release date of sixteen October two thousand seven contrary to their previous statements, and would be delayed to their 2nd fiscal quarter (February–April) of 2008. [59] In a later conference call with investors, Take-Two’s Strauss Zelnick attributed the delay to "almost rigorously technological problems . not problems, but challenges." [60] It was later exposed that technical difficulties with the PlayStation three version of the game contributed to the delay, along with storage problems on the Xbox 360. [61] On twenty four January 2008, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto IV would be released on twenty nine April 2008. [62] As the release date approached, Rockstar Games and Take-Two marketed the game strongly through various forms, including television ads, Internet movie, billboards, viral marketing, and a redesigned website. A special edition of the game was also released for both the PlayStation three and Xbox 360. [63] At a Take-Two shareholder meeting on eighteen April 2008, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder announced that Grand Theft Auto IV had already "gone gold" and was "in production and in trucks en route to retailers". [64] The game was eventually released for the PlayStation three and Xbox three hundred sixty movie game consoles in Europe, North America, and Oceania on twenty nine April 2008, [62] and in Japan on thirty October 2008. [65] Overall, Grand Theft Auto IV took over one thousand people and more than three and a half years to accomplish, with a total cost estimated at approximately $100 million, making it, at the time, the most expensive movie game ever developed. [66]
On six August 2008, Rockstar announced that a Microsoft Windows version of Grand Theft Auto IV was in development by Rockstar North and Rockstar Toronto. [67] [68] The game was originally announced for release in North America on eighteen November two thousand eight and in Europe on twenty one November two thousand eight but was later shoved back to two and three December 2008, respectively. [68] It contains expanded features, [68] including traffic density control, draw distance configurations and a replay editor. [Sixty nine] The replay editor permits players to record and edit game clips, movies can then be uploaded to Rockstar’s Social Club website. It utilised Games for Windows – Live for online play [70] and supports thirty two players for multiplayer. [1] SecuROM protection is utilised and a one time online activation is required in order to play the game. [71] The game was made available on Steam on four January 2009. [72] On nine February 2017, the Xbox three hundred sixty version of Grand Theft Auto IV was made available for rearwards compatibility with the Xbox One. [73]
Episodic content
Two episodic packs for Grand Theft Auto IV have been released. These two scenes were very first released separately, exclusively on Xbox Live, [74] as downloadable content (DLC), requiring the original game to play. They were later released together as part of a standalone game, titled Grand Theft Auto: Gigs from Liberty City, which does not require the original game to play. [75] Dan Houser stated the gigs shows "a different side of Liberty City". [76]
The very first expansion, titled Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned, was originally released on seventeen February 2009. [77] The protagonist of The Lost and Damned is Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City’s biker gang The Lost. The 2nd expansion, titled Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, was released on twenty nine October 2009. [78] The protagonist of The Ballad of Gay Tony is Luis Fernando Lopez, an assistant to nightclub possessor Tony "Gay Tony" Prince, and goes after him as he resolves the conflicts of his friends, family, and boss. [75]
Jeronimo Barrera, Vice President of Product Development for Rockstar Games, said that the gigs were experiments because the team were not sure that there was enough users with access to online content on the Xbox 360. [79] Take-Two Interactive’s Chief Financial Officer, Lainie Goldstein exposed that Microsoft was paying a total of $50 million for the very first two scenes. [80] In January 2010, Rockstar announced that the DLC as well as Gigs From Liberty City would be made available for the PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows on thirteen April two thousand ten in North America [81] [82] and sixteen April two thousand ten in Europe. [81]
Both scenes were released for PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows on thirteen April two thousand ten [81] in North America and on sixteen April two thousand ten [81] in Europe. [83] Grand Theft Auto IV: The Finish Edition, including the original Grand Theft Auto IV and its two episodic expansions, was listed on online stores, [84] before being confirmed by Rockstar. The compilation was released on PlayStation Three, Xbox 360, and Windows on twenty six October two thousand ten in North America, and twenty nine October in Europe. [85] The Xbox three hundred sixty versions of both scenes were made rearwards compatible with the Xbox One on nine February 2017. [73]
Soundtrack
Like previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto IV features a soundtrack that can be heard through radio stations while the player is in a vehicle. Liberty City is serviced by nineteen radio stations, three of which are talk radio stations. The other stations feature music from a large range of genres, including tracks from Genesis, David Bowie, Bob Marley, The Who, Queen, Kanye West and Elton John. [86]
Grand Theft Auto IV uses a similar music system to that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). In other games in the series, each radio station was essentially a single looped sound file, playing the same songs, announcements and advertisements in the same order each time. With the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto IV, each sound file is held separately, and sequenced randomly, permitting songs to be played in different orders, announcements to songs to be different each time, and plot events to be mentioned on the stations. Certain songs are also edited to incorporate references to the fictional Liberty City. [53]
A multitude of real celebrities provide voices for the radio DJs in the game, including style designer Karl Lagerfeld, musicians Iggy Pop, [87] Femi Kuti, [88] Jimmy Gestapo [89] and Ruslana, [90] and real-life radio talk showcase host Lazlow Jones. [91] Saturday Night Live actors Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis show up on the liberal and conservative radio talk shows respectively, with Fred Armisen playing several guests on Lazlow’s "Integrity Two.0". [91] Numerous other comedians, including Jim Norton, Patrice O’Neal, Rick Shapiro, and Robert Kelly, as well as radio hosts Opie and Anthony appeared on the radio and/or as characters in-game. [92]
The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV is a two thousand eight soundtrack packaged with the special edition of Grand Theft Auto IV. The disc contains several soundtrack selections. [93] The soundtrack features several genres, from hip hop to rock and reggae. Several artists re-recorded their songs to make references to in-game locations. Two songs, "Liberty City: The Invasion" and "No Hook-up for Ben", were composed specifically for the game and the soundtrack. [94] The theme song of Grand Theft Auto IV, "Soviet Connection", was composed by Michael Hunter, who previously composed the theme for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. [53]
