Groundbreaking doesn’t quite cover it

May 7th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Gaming, Xbox 360 |

I finished GTAIV yesterday. Took me 28 hours, 14 minutes, and 29 seconds. And I loved every moment.

Words can’t actually describe how awesome it is.

There are plenty of decisions in GTAIV you have to make. Choices between two people, choices whether or not to kill someone - and they’re hard. It’s a hard choice to make. These characters are so well fleshed out, so intricate, so alive, that killing them is an impossible choice. Some deserve to die, while others do not.

One of the most vital life or death decisions comes towards the end of the game. I’ll try out my new spoiler plugin here. It contains spoilers about the end of the game.

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It’s absolutely phenomenal - I’ve never felt so much for fictional characters, and never considered whether people should live or die.

Mass Effect did it too, but only once, perhaps twice. It didn’t have half the impact that GTAIV had on me. Random characters that you’re sent to kill become agonising decisions, and to feel guilty was common. But when given no choice over the death of someone, it doesn’t feel like a bad thing at all. Those people deserve to die. And I kill them without remorse. But when given the choice - it’s a tough one. Some people I killed, some people I left alive.

I could go on for hours. About how absolutely brilliant the storyline is, about how utterly compelling and believable the characters are, about how utterly hilarious Euphoria never ceases to be, and how much fun multiplayer really is. (Hint: Lots)

This is without doubt one of the most important games of the year. Perhaps for the past 10 years. Even through it’s controversy, it is a huge step forward for true, mature, compelling gaming. Like Portal, it is truly a landmark in gaming. If you haven’t played it, go do so. There’s no news about a PC version yet, but who knows. If it does come out on PC, you’re only ruining your own gaming experience if you don’t play it all the way through.