N'Gai Croal
|
Jun 17, 2008 10:45 AM
Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games
In our last, egregiously truncated Vs. Mode exchange on the PlayStation Portable game Patapon,
the Level Up staff, our regular opponent Stephen Totilo and our
commenters got into a spirited debate about the nature of the grind in
videogames (click here
to see for yourself, as it's well worth reading). This week, as we revealed yesterday, we're
tackling Rockstar North and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, in a
back and forth discussion that will also featured be featured on Totilo's blog Multiplayer.
Totilo kicks off the debate by singling out his favorite moment in the
game--a long drive with a woman who ought to go, go, go to
rehab--before examining whether Rockstar North may have taken a wrong
turn with this newer, more stately GTA. For our part, we defend the
developer's refusal to be all things to all people with GTA IV and
suggest that Rockstar North's planned downloadable content might be the
best vehicle for delivering the wilder ride that a number of GTA fans
are still looking for. Some excerpts:
Stephen Totilo: In playing GTA IV I was reminded that GTA is at its
most fun when it's tweaking, when it has the shakes, when it can't
abandon the violence, the transgressions, the subversions of its own
rules. The other style of GTA --the one that bottlenecks its story,
that keeps Niko moving forward and lands him with a bunch of mobsters,
that picks your vehicle for you sometimes, that tries to keep
characters consistent and deliver a moral over the course of 30 hours,
this classy, more respectable, more constrained, more cleaned up,
rehabilitated GTA--doesn't feel like the GTA I've known. Or at least
the one I like telling friends about. That GTA has always been there,
but it's been subdued. With GTA IV, though, it may be on the rise. Is
this the new GTA and one that we want?
N'Gai Croal: I'm a little surprised at your response to the game. After all,
you're Mr. Innovation Bias. Shouldn't you be wildly applauding the
shock of Rockstar North's new vibe rather than expressing your
conservative longing for past Grand Theft gameplay, masked as a call
for the subversive over the sublime? Eiji Aonuma does the same ol',
same ol' with Phantom Hourglass; you say you're getting bored. Rockstar
North attempts something novel; you say you miss the way things used to
be. The only thing left for you to do is urge them to remake the
previous GTAs using the latest tech, amirite? Besides, weren't
you the one who advanced the theory that multiplayer was where we would
find the bulk of the sandbox-y pleasures of GTA IV? You want Rockstar
North to roll it for you, when perhaps what they've done is given you
the Philly and the Purple Haze so that you can roll it yourself.
To read Round 1 of our exchange in its entirety, click on the link below.
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