Thoughts On Grand Theft Auto IV

Tom Weber of the Buzzwatch blog over at the Wall Street Journal was one of those folks who went out and bought the GTA IV game yesterday. He’s written some of his key learnings from an afternoon of stealing cars and creating mayhem on the streets of Liberty City - we think the ‘complex games fuel the need for simple games’ is a cracker:

1. GAMES KEEP GETTING MORE LIKE THE MOVIES - GTA IV’s central character, an immigrant named Niko, isn’t in a life of crime for the fun of it. He has complex motivations, and even remorse.

2. VIRTUAL REALITIES ARE REACHING A NEW LEVEL OF IMMERSION. - a 52-inch flat screen TV and cutting-edge game adds up to a virtual world that’s captivating enough to block out real life for a while.

3. MUSIC STILL MATTERS - What’s a movie without a soundtrack? Just as with the earlier Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, music sets the mood with radio stations.

4. COMPLEX GAMES REINFORCE THE NEED FOR SIMPLE ONES - Games like this, which peg the far end of the spectrum for complexity and layered stories, only serve to emphasize why easy-to-play “casual” games have caught on.

5. THE CELLPHONE’S VICTORY OVER OUR CULTURE IS COMPLETE - In GTA IV, the cellphone is practically a character on its own.

Buzzwatch : Grand Theft Auto IV: What We Learned Playing the Hottest New Game