BRETT MCCALLON | AT PLAY | July 11th 2008

Silvio Sousa Cabral/flickr

Sure, Grand Theft Auto is a game in which you can kill a prostitute you just slept with. But did you know you can also sit peacefully on a Liberty City park bench and listen to strolling lovers? Brett McCallon has some homework for you ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

As even the least video-game-conscious person knows, the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series is more than a video game, much like the way that the Super Bowl is more than an American football game. Both attract casual fans to something they otherwise ignore; both provoke an orgy of media coverage and over-analysis; and both make piles of cash for those who own the rights.

But there is a big difference between the two: while the Super Bowl has been a disappointment in past years, the GTA urban-crime series from Rockstar games has yet to leave fans wanting. In a world where Metacritic scores and sales figures are what make and break game developers, the GTA series holds a very comfortable first place.

GTA is also near-universally admired in the gaming world, whether for its free-form gameplay, its carefully constructed (if somewhat optional) narrative, its keen sense of humour or its shocking violence. There's something for everyone here.

Of course critics have long derided the series for the aforementioned violence. Among non-gamers, GTA has simply become that game "where kids can shoot cops"; "where you can kill a prostitute you just slept with"; or "where you can run your car up onto the sidewalk and mow down pedestrians" (that last one is a particular hoot, frankly). GTA certainly encourages players to enact a well-known litany of crimes as they wreak havoc on a densely populated virtual city. Most notoriously, it does allow players to pick up and have (non-graphic) simulated sex with prostitutes, and then kill them afterwards. Ever since this grisly innovation was introduced in the 3D Grand Theft Auto III (2000), the release of each new game provokes lurid evening-news stories about how it is corrupting youth and destroying western civilisation.

While I don't believe the series should hide its seedier side from the public, it's important to recognise that this series is also an incredible technical and artistic achievement. And it just gets better with each iteration.

*****

GTA III stunningly demonstrated that it was possible to create a huge, sprawling world without boundaries. Whereas most games guide players through tightly controlled levels, Rockstar's game actually rendered an entire virtual city. Not a small one, either, but a huge metropolis in which players could lose hundreds of hours immersed in all sorts of activities, legal and illegal, without even engaging with the deep, intricate plot. The game literally launched a new genre--the "open world" or "sandbox" game--and has spawned countless imitators (many of them quite good).

The next two games in the series, GTA Vice City (2002) and GTA San Andreas (2004), added interesting wrinkles to the series' basic formula. By replacing GTA III's nameless, voiceless protagonist with developed characters; adding new vehicles, activities and other polishes; and placing each game in an interesting setting (the 1980s Miami of "Scarface" and the early-90s Los Angeles of "Boyz 'n the Hood", respectively), each earned stellar reviews and sold in unprecedented numbers.

But it is with Grand Theft Auto IV that anyone--gamer or non--can truly begin to see the full scope of the company's ambitions. With GTA IV, Rockstars seem to have mastered its instrument: the large-scale open-world simulation. And this time they have poured an estimated $100m into making it sing.

The new protagonist is Nico Bellic, an immigrant from an unnamed eastern European country. Like most maverick heroes, he has a past he's trying to escape from. He and his cousin, a cheerful, friendly exaggerator named Roman, are struggling to build stable lives for themselves in a strange new land. They soon find themselves neck-deep in the underworld of Liberty City .

Nico is a deeply sympathetic figure. His moral quandaries very quickly become moral quandaries for the player. Granted, these dilemmas typically involve deciding which criminal associate should die. But for all that, such questions make many players think twice: unlike most games, these choices aren't black-or-white. And their consequences are permanent: the game's auto-save system kicks in immediately after an irrevocable point has been reached. This generates much hand-wringing, as players face imperfect choices that will significantly affect the game later on. Kill the wrong person, and he won't be there to help you at a key point in the story.

But the biggest innovations in GTA are the depth of non-violent options available. For example, Nico has a group of friends (all characters in the game) who periodically call and invite him to go bowling, or get a couple of drinks, or see a cabaret show (each of which is fully acted and motion-captured; and there are many). These experiences feel authentically chummy and engaging, full of pleasantries and small talk. The game also includes a number of potential love interests, making a virtual romantic relationship possible.

If you aren't quite feeling like a night out, you can also choose--as Nico--to stay in and watch some TV, as the game has hours of custom-made programming. Or you can sit on a bench in Liberty City and people-watch, listening as characters talk on their mobiles, engage in lover's quarrels, get into fights or simply natter on about local affairs. As Nico, you can also get in a car and drive around the hundreds of square miles of lovingly crafted ersatz New York boroughs. (It did my heart good to hear a familiar, clanging thump when my virtual car rolled over one of those thick metal plates that cover potholes in Broker, the game's take on Brooklyn.) Or you can steal a police car and apprehend criminals with extreme prejudice. You can go to one of the city's internet cafes and tool around on the hundreds of in-game internet pages Rockstar has developed (all with their trademark brand of cutting social satire--check out the page that appears when you click a link within a Mexican Pharmaceuticals spam e-mail). Or you can steal designated cars and motorcycles for fun and profit. Or do insane trick jumps with any vehicle in the game. Or go to a fast food joint or a hot dog stand and get some dinner.

Here's some homework. You must know someone who has a console and a copy of this game. When you get a chance, try out some of the activities I've suggested here. Remember, violence begets violence in this city; non-violent citizens here have no cops or vigilantes to worry about. Just drive around and admire the remarkable view. Without ever committing an in-game crime--without even breaking a traffic law--it's possible to enjoy GTA IV for hours. Then you might get a better sense of just how unique the experience is of playing an open-world game. There's a whole (virtual) city out there--go out and make it your own.

Picture credit: David Schexnaydre/flickr

(Brett McCallon is a writer based in New Orleans. He has also written about the high-art of "BioShock" and about being in a "Rock Band" band.)