I’m having a look again at every of the core Grand Theft Auto video games and replaying them within the lead-up to the arrival of Grand Theft Auto 6. What we’ll be placing collectively gained’t be conventional re-reviews, and so they gained’t include any new IGN rating, however they may re-examine what made every GTA outstanding upon the time of its launch. By the tip of the undertaking, utilizing GTA’s beforehand six-star wished degree, it’s best to be capable of get an concept of the place every of those video games roughly rank in my long-term love for this sequence.
In the present day it’s time to revisit Liberty Metropolis in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Grand Theft Auto IV is smaller than GTA: San Andreas. Considerably so, when you exclude water, as its land space is reportedly round solely one-quarter the scale of San Andreas’s bodily actual property. GTA IV additionally has markedly decreased car selection, with a lot fewer of them total and 0 automobile customisation. It has no asset administration, much less mission selection, no RPG-inspired ability system, a fairly paltry listing of cheats, and the one factor you’ll be able to alter about lead character Niko Bellic is his outfit. In truth, when you weren’t round for the arrival of GTA IV, I feel it’s truthful sufficient that you could be truly end up a bit of confused about its place within the sequence pantheon. That’s, how might this apparently smaller recreation with overtly fewer options than its predecessor have immediately turn out to be not solely the highest-rated GTA within the historical past of the sequence, however one of many highest rated video games of all time, full cease? Effectively, the satan is within the particulars. Numerous, unprecedented, unbelievable particulars.
For all his faults as an Japanese European conflict veteran with a shady previous and a brief mood, who might or might not have spent 106 minutes making an attempt to kill Owen Wilson again in 2001, Niko Bellic has truly carved out a spot as probably the most likeable and accessible characters within the franchise. Lured by his cousin Roman’s lies of wealth and alternative, it’s simple to each sympathise with Niko’s disappointment at his first encounter with the American Dream, and share in his distaste for the varied bastards of Liberty Metropolis who search to take advantage of him.
Launched in 2008, GTA IV was the primary recreation within the sequence to be set within the current day since GTA III. In 2026, it’s an attention-grabbing snapshot of the world simply previous to the smartphone takeover – again when the web was nonetheless a vacation spot you took outing to go to on a pc, social media was nonetheless a novelty somewhat than the worst factor to occur to humanity since disco music, and your radio would all the time let you recognize you have been about to obtain a cell phone name. Nevertheless, regardless of the 18 12 months gulf between its setting and in the present day, GTA IV doesn’t really feel remotely as retro as one thing like GTA: Vice Metropolis did in 2002 – despite the fact that there have been solely 16 years between its setting and the time of its launch. The aesthetic distinctions between the ’80s and 2000s are, in fact, profound. What are the visible variations between the 2000s and now, apart from the very fact The Rock used to have hair? It’s not a protracted listing. Monoculture is useless, trend is looping, and – as remarkably detailed as GTA IV is – I don’t assume there’s something Rockstar might have finished to dodge this phenomenon, Dwayne Johnson’s shaven cranium however.
Flashing Lights
Nevertheless, despite the fact that the sensation I glean from GTA IV being an outline of a selected second in time is probably not as robust as that elicited by both GTA: Vice Metropolis or GTA: San Andreas, there isn’t a denying what a victory it’s when it comes to its capability to characterize a real sense of place. GTA IV’s Liberty Metropolis wasn’t simply probably the most convincing digital cities of its technology; I actually don’t assume it’s an overstatement to say its dedication to tiny particulars nonetheless stands as much as scrutiny in the present day.
Revisiting GTA IV’s Liberty Metropolis in 2026 – a recreation that my Xbox 360 play information indicated to me I haven’t touched in round 14 years – I’m instantly reminded of how fastidiously crafted each nook of this world is. Sure, it’s a smaller setting than that of San Andreas, nevertheless it’s one that’s a lot extra crowded, dense, and dripping with depth. It’s extra quick, extra genuine, and extra intimate than something that got here earlier than it – and it’s nonetheless a extra credible and convincing metropolis than these in many of the open-world motion video games I’ve performed since.
Strolling although Star Junction – Liberty Metropolis’s glitzy Occasions Sq. proxy – I discover myself in vacationer mode. I’m too engaged by the very fact there’s one thing to see, learn, or admire all over the place I level the digital camera to be distracted by the temptation of inflicting anti-social chaos. Hoofing it via Hove Seaside – impressed by Brooklyn’s Brighton Seaside – and I’m as soon as once more impressed at how a lot mileage Rockstar extracts from the seemingly mundane. Rubbish strewn on the sidewalks. Individualised storefronts which are trustworthy to the demographics of the world and are by no means repeated elsewhere across the metropolis. Locations with tales you’ll by no means unravel. Like, who is Mikey Pissroll, and the way significantly better at pool is he than Anal Alan?
The structure, the lighting, the lived-in grime; Liberty Metropolis right here feels greater than actual. It feels aged. Rockstar didn’t simply construct streets; it constructed them, after which assaulted that asphalt with many years of simulated put on. Consequently, these streets are a patchwork of potholes, highway plates, and sporadic strips of extra lately re-surfaced segments. The customized signwork, the bespoke graffiti – the truth that no piece of the town appears to be like like some other. A large number of parts mix to create what was an unprecedented sense of immersion on the time, and completely nonetheless holds up in the present day. Certain, there’s an unavoidable murkiness to enjoying GTA IV on unique {hardware} just like the Xbox 360, the place you’re clearly beholden to the decision limitations of its age. It leads to a comfortable and somewhat muted picture, and one which’s admittedly exacerbated by the overly cool and barely washed out color palette Rockstar opted for. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless a surprising place to easily discover, whether or not strolling, driving, or utilizing public transport – which is a viable and real looking method to transfer round this tightly-packed city metropolis.
One Imaginative and prescient
Whereas Rockstar was dedicated to rebuilding its well-known riff on New York Metropolis as realistically as doable inside the constancy it might muster on the time, it additionally positioned an unlimited emphasis on bodily realism. The beating coronary heart of this method was NaturalMotion’s procedural character-animation know-how, Euphoria – an animation and physics resolution that utterly remodeled how individuals moved, reacted to impacts, and interacted with their environment. It wasn’t only a trivial technical flourish; it basically altered the best way the sport felt to play, whether or not you have been reducing enemies down with a barrage of bullets, or mercilessly bouncing them off the bonnet of an vehicle. It reinvented GTA.
Conventional animation depends closely on pre-authored actions, with builders creating and canning particular sequences that characters will carry out specifically circumstances. That’s, fill them with lead and so they’ll sink to the bottom the identical method each time. Strike them with a automobile and so they’ll fly up and flop down identically, whatever the forces at work. Euphoria does away with all of this and, in 2008, it felt like a surprising glimpse of the longer term. Ditching these pre-determined animations, characters in GTA IV react realistically – each based mostly on the forces impacting them, and the world inside arm’s attain of them. A sprig of gunfire might stagger an enemy right into a railing behind, which they’ll tumble over dramatically. A well-placed shot might trigger somebody to lose their steadiness and fall off a ledge. Clipping somebody in a automobile will skittle them in a completely completely different method to clobbering them head-on. One too many drinks might make placing one foot in entrance of the opposite quickly difficult.
The outcomes are sometimes wildly slapstick – like when Niko flies via the windscreen after neglecting to make use of a seatbelt, or when NPCs insist on clutching the door deal with of your automobile because it begins to peel away. I nonetheless reside for these moments. In truth, I’ll typically hesitate earlier than getting on the throttle to permit carjacking victims a short window to seize on earlier than I take them on a short journey to vacation spot highway rash. I don’t know what that claims about me. Nothing good, in all probability.
A lot of the limitless experimentation on provide in GTA IV is a direct results of Euphoria, and the very fact no two encounters will ever actually play out the identical method twice. Nevertheless it additionally works as a result of it’s a part of a a lot wider dedication to granular realism. That’s, what good is a world that oozes a lot character and authenticity if the individuals really feel painted on? Like they’re skating via it somewhat than truly inhabiting it? Every thing about GTA IV is engineered to immerse us into its world; like we’re simply one other residing, respiratory citizen of Liberty Metropolis.
Goodbye Horses
Regardless of the unbelievable vital acclaim GTA IV gathered, it stays one of many extra divisive video games within the sequence. Whereas I’m fairly keen on the slower nature of its extra pragmatic story and easy missions as a change of tempo, it wasn’t to everybody’s tastes, nor was the connection system. It was a wise method to disseminate rewards for fostering relationships together with your in-game pals, nevertheless it admittedly might’ve benefited from a bigger vary of actions to do with them across the metropolis – and ideally ones that have been a bit of extra enjoyable, too. Because it stands, the connection system is simply too chore-like, requiring you to repeat the identical cycle: choose them up, head to one in all a few venues, and drive them residence.
Equally, GTA IV’s extraordinarily weighty driving physics are one other controversial subject. For mine, I’ve truly all the time been fairly keen on the texture of GTA IV, notably in sure automobiles the place I feel the exaggerated physique roll and sluggish steering is sensible – like muscle automobiles and beefy 4x4s. I’d’ve appreciated some extra sharpness in its vary of sports activities automobiles and supercars – they need to have stiffer suspension as they must be the automobiles with the firmest rides – however I do a lot desire GTA IV’s method to wreck modeling over GTA V.
There additionally doesn’t appear to be any actual consensus concerning the radio stations, both, with sentiment that swings between excessive reward for the outright station selection to claims the music listing is essentially the most forgettable within the sequence. I’ve to concede I lean in direction of the latter; coming off the immense highs of Vice Metropolis and San Andreas I bear in mind being a bit of underwhelmed on the time – though the soundtrack expanded and improved fairly noticeably following the arrival of The Misplaced and Damned and The Ballad of Homosexual Tony, the 2 smartest items of DLC Rockstar ever produced.
However that’s a subject for a distinct day.
Verdict
Sentimentally talking, Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t my favorite of the sequence – however I’d say it’s the one I respect essentially the most. It was daring to dial issues again from the unhinged freedom of San Andreas in favour of a slower paced and extra grounded crime saga, nevertheless it was a choice that allowed Rockstar to determine the significance of getting a metropolis so detailed it grew to become a personality itself, in addition to flex a tech resolution for character animation that has gone on to be a defining pillar of the sequence’ model of emergent, slapstick enjoyable. Obsessively detailed and impressively timeless, GTA IV is the prototype for contemporary Grand Theft Auto.
For extra reflections on the unbelievable Grand Theft Auto sequence, you’ll be able to learn our new Legacy Evaluations of Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Luke Reilly is an award-winning journalist with 23 years of media expertise throughout Official PlayStation Journal, Australian 360, and IGN – which he joined in 2011. You’ll find him on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him issues about stuff.