Grand Theft Auto IV - Halfway to a Conscience?

Every fucking blog post you’re going to read for the next week is about it: Grand Theft Auto IV.

But not this one!

This one’s about the economy, the pressure facing an increasingly global market, the importance of maintaining low food prices, and only very, very barely about murdering hookers with a flaming Corvette.

I’m just fucking with you; it’s entirely about murdering hookers with a flaming Corvette! If this post was any more about murdering hookers with a flaming Corvette it’d have passes to the GOP convention.

The Details:

It’s an odd feeling playing this game. The controls, physics, setting and atmosphere are all completely different. The cars drive much more realistically, swaying on their suspensions as you take hard turns. The city is no longer vaguely suggestive of a cartoon New York City, it’s a grimy, exhaust choked obituary for New York City. And the characters react authentically; no more pedestrians stepping gingerly over the massive pile of corpses at the intersection, never stopping to wonder why the heads of everybody that stands at this particular corner inexplicably explode as though by sniper fire (but that would be ridiculous, of course.)

For example, if you let go of the control stick and let Nico go idle right before a rainstorm, he will feel the first few faint rain drops. He’ll check his head, hold his palm out to see if it catches the drops, check the skies and swear under his breath. The citizens caught in the ensuing downpour will cover themselves with newspapers, briefcases, or just pull their jackets over their heads as they jog to sheltering alcoves.

Bizarre Morality:

It’s all a level of realism that was carefully non-existent in the other Grand Theft Autos, supposedly leaving you free to indulge your homicidal rampages without guilt, but it’s here now. And you will, at…