Why Grand Theft Auto IV Deserves More Recognition?

Introduction

Every once in a while, we like to talk about some of the biggest video game franchises and discuss one of the more underrated games in the series—the least talked about one. Most recently, you probably remember we did it with *Batman: Arkham Origins*. Well, we're doing another type of thing today; we're talking about the most underrated *Grand Theft Auto* game, and that one is *Grand Theft Auto IV*.

Overview of GTA IV

Yeah, you knew we were going to talk about this one, baby. There's totally time for another video to discuss *Chinatown Wars*, which is another example of a game like this, but if we're focusing on the mainline series, *GTA IV* is the black sheep of the family. It's me, Jake, and let's take a quick trip down memory lane and talk about *Grand Theft Auto IV*, the one that people don't talk about enough if you ask us. So, *Grand Theft Auto IV* was released in 2008, and it was an incredibly different game for the series. I mean, yes, it's a return to Liberty City—an environment we've seen before—and yes, once again, you're a crime man running around with guns, stealing cars, and doing all that, but it took a decidedly different approach to tone, storytelling, and just the general vibe that really made it stand out, and it still stands out when you stack it up against all the other *Grand Theft Auto* games. It's a game that I feel like we couldn't get one like this again even if they tried. It's just like a snapshot, a moment in time that worked out perfectly.

Niko Bellic's Story

It's interesting because first and foremost, it kind of told the story of an immigrant, someone coming on a boat to New York City looking for a new life, but with a *Grand Theft Auto* spin. There was revenge and bloodlust to it. Niko Bellic, of course, is now an iconic *Grand Theft Auto* character. He was born in Yugoslavia, fought in a bunch of wars, and was pretty much a child soldier. He has seen all sorts of bad things and done bad things in his life until one day his unit, his group, was betrayed, and he set out to find who betrayed him and killed all his friends. I am really kind of paraphrasing a lot of it because it gets a bit more complex than that as the story goes on. Of course, you meet a bunch of crazy, over-the-top characters, but that core theme—coming to America not only for a new life and not only to close the book on things but also for revenge, most likely murder—is pretty dark, and it cuts to the core of Niko Bellic's character. 

This is a somber, kind of depressed dude, a man constantly filled with regret and very dreary, while still not making the game feel like a total bummer. There was still that good Rockstar tone, that bit of levity dashed in here and there, where it didn't feel like you were just playing a sad man the whole time because Niko's quest was ultimately to get revenge, right the wrong, and close the book on that chapter in his life. So, he's like another *Grand Theft Auto* character, someone who commits crimes and murders, but you kind of want to root for him because, at the end of the day, he seemingly wants to put this stuff behind him. The game calls that into question here and there, but it's a really fun setup. 

In one of the earlier missions, when you make your first true story kill, he really regrets it and laments it and talks about how he doesn't want to do this anymore.And that's something you just wouldn't expect from a game coming hot off the heels of something like *Vice City* and *San Andreas*. They were bold in their storytelling approach, and I think it mostly paid off. Yes, it got a little out there towards the end, but ultimately it was a story of struggle, crazy characters, a look at the American way, the New York life, revenge, bloodlust—is it all worth it? There's some tragedy thrown in towards the end, of course, and from beginning to end, the story itself was just crazy satisfying, especially with supporting characters like Roman, his cousin, who kind of gave that whole spin on things—that fake it till you make it type scam thing, but also kind of having a good heart at the same time. Just the immediate rush of Niko hopping off the boat and realizing that it wasn't like it was on TV. It's not like how his cousin told him it would be, and that's a jarring thing, especially with the setting itself.

Setting and Atmosphere

This game is like a snapshot of New York, basically just before what it is now today in 2020 or 2021. This is a pre-2008 New York, and it was very much on its way to becoming the city it is today that we see as New Yorkers. Yes, there are still some areas that are distinctly New York, but it has also become very expensive and fancy. Many areas and neighborhoods have changed quite a bit from their original vibe, not to mention the actual skyline of Manhattan itself. If you look at it now and look at it back in 2008-2009, it's like a completely different place. It is a rapidly changing, rapidly growing city, and we've always seen it represented in media in different ways, from those dirty crime movies of the '70s to the issues in the '80s. The early '90s was its own thing with Wall Street. Now, a lot of people just associate New York with hipsters. It's always changing constantly, and for me as someone from here, *Grand Theft Auto IV* really captured a really good moment in time of the city, especially considering it's not modeled after New York City completely. 

It's Liberty City; it's a fictional city, but it is just very representative of New York down to everything. So, there's Algonquin, which is Manhattan; there's Broker, which is Brooklyn, where you start out; there's Dukes, which is Queens; there's Bohan, which is the Bronx. And I gotta say, man, they did a really good job of nailing each one of those districts. I think Algonquin is the hardest one to nail just because there are so many different nuances to the island of Manhattan itself, but Duke's legit feels like Queens, down to something like Corona Heights being called Cerveza Heights in the game. The airports are where they're supposed to be. The waterfront, like the Coney Island type area, is representative of Coney Island when it was kind of at its worst. Bohan, the Bronx, actually has little differences in elevation that kind of make sense for the area. Really, it's just a place worth exploring because it captures that vibe.

It also captures that feeling. It's also just a great fall-setting video game, and while it was released in a time where a lot of games were just very gray and brown and drab—it was kind of just a trend of video game graphics at the time—it still had an iconic look to it because it made sense for the setting. I could talk about the setting all day, but it also gave *Grand Theft Auto* an interesting new spin by giving the characters a lot more weight. This was the first time where we saw characters really have some physics, some heft to the way they would walk, control, and run. It was less of an arcadey feel and more of a realistic type of thing while still being fun. Now, the driving in *GTA IV* is definitely divisive, so to speak. It's weirdly slippery, but it was all still a lot of fun. Running from the police, climbing, jumping, shooting, punching—all of that worked really well. It was also the first *Grand Theft Auto* game to really, really nail the heist, to really pull off a whole full heist mission and give you that satisfaction. It was also one of the first games for the time—other games had done it slightly, but this game went all in on the whole having a cell phone thing as a gameplay mechanic, and it was kind of annoying, I'm not gonna lie, but still, it was cool for the time. 

It was creative; it was a novel feature. It also gave us our first online *Grand Theft Auto* experience, and for the time, it was incredible. Yes, it was a little soft around some of the feature departments, and the technology was rougher, but still, it had given a lot of us what we had imagined, like, "Oh man, wouldn't it be cool if you could just play online with your friends in the city and just run around and do stuff?" They gave us that. That was impressive, and I know millions and billions of people still play *Grand Theft Auto Online*, but not as many of those people give props to *GTA IV*, man. That's where things really started. Oh man, of course, then I forgot the DLC expansions. There was a time when this was a thing, and it was glorious. We thought we were going to get a *GTA V* single-player expansion or DLC quest or something, but unfortunately, it never happened. Still, back in the 360/PS3 era, we got expansions on *GTA IV*.

DLC Expansions

First, there was *The Lost and Damned*, which was like 10 bucks and released in February of 2009 on Xbox 360 due to an exclusivity deal, and then in spring 2010 for PC and PS3. This was all two years after *GTA IV* released, which is actually crazy looking back at a date because it felt like it came out immediately after, but like holy hell, it was substantial. We got to see Alderney in it, which is essentially kind of like the New Jersey area of the game. I didn't mention it earlier in the video, but here it's pretty cool. They make you spend a bit more time in it and flesh it out a little bit. 

*The Lost and Damned* follows this lost biker gang that was introduced and set up in the base *GTA IV* story a bit, and they fleshed it out here because you play as a member of the gang named Johnny Klebitz. You might remember him as the random dude Trevor stomps to death in *GTA V* at that one point. Yeah, that guy. Turns out he had his own game, his own storyline—a bit more gritty and gross—and his adventure had different weapons, different gameplay elements, and it came with multiplayer modes, radio station music. Think of the adventure kind of like *Days Gone* vibes before *Days Gone* was a thing, and it was great.

Then, speaking of great, we also got one more expansion, *The Ballad of Gay Tony*, which was released not long after, where you play as Luis Lopez and get into all sorts of crime-filled shenanigans. This was kind of a bit more light if you ask me. Like, it was a bit more weird and out there, it has some pretty exciting set-piece moments, and some really wacky stuff going on. It emphasized some of the crime hustle but with some levity that felt kind of like the precursor to what *GTA V* became. But everything here really, really hooks. Like I said, from the setting itself to the action, the heists, the violence, down to the weird little things you can discover—eating foods at hot dog carts to get health, all the quirks of various neighborhoods, the weapons. 

Also, by the end of the game, getting your own high-end east side penthouse apartment, getting the conclusion to that story, experiencing these characters, experiencing Niko's story, his trip to New York and his new life, really just made it so memorable. Because yes, it is absolutely one of the weirder *Grand Theft Auto* games. Yes, it isn't filled with the most insane amount of wacky side diversions as the other games are. It's also not always as laugh-out-loud hilarious as some of the other games are, but it's got the most heart. It's got the most interesting story. It wears it on its sleeve, and it tried to do something different. And it tried to do something really, really weird for one of the biggest video game franchises of all time. We really got to give them props for that, man.

Legacy and Appreciation

And I gotta say, *Grand Theft Auto V*'s little reference to Niko, I really, really appreciated. Most of you guys probably caught this line, but it was Lester talking to Michael, and he said there was an eastern European guy making moves in Liberty City, but nah, he went quiet. And honestly, if anything, that is the best wrap-up for Niko we can hope for. He finally got what he wanted—some rest, some quiet—even despite some of the tragedies at the end of the game. So it's nice to know, hopefully out there, Niko is resting, despite probably killing millions of people in a video game. I don't know, video game characters deserve retirement too, right? I don't know how this works, but thank you guys for humoring us here and allowing us to talk about *Grand Theft Auto IV* for a little bit.

Conclusion

Like I said, from the story to the gameplay, some of the stuff it did for the future of games moving forward was really important and worth highlighting. And we just had fun putting this video together. So thank you for reading it, and thank you for giving a minute of your time because we're talking about a game that isn't necessarily the top of the headlines. Let us know in the comments if there's another title you'd like us to revisit. And of course, tell us your favorite thing about *Grand Theft Auto IV*. We want to hear that—your favorite area, your favorite mission, your favorite character, weapon, situation, whatever. Let us know in the comments. We'll see you guys next time.