Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 4, celebrated by fans and vilified by politicians, was released April 29th to universal acclaim and a $500 million opening day, beating last year’s $400 million record set by Bungie’s Halo 3.

I’m not a GTA expert, but I did play GTA III in 2001 and GTA: San Andreas briefly in 2003. I was excited by the prospect of GTA on the newest generation of hardware, and, after reading all the rave reviews, I bought it for the PS3.

Let me say a few things about the GTA series. It is probably the best example of what people in the gaming community call “sandbox” design. “Sandbox” design is described by some as non-linearity, i.e. that you, the gamer, does not have to follow a set path to the end of the game. You can go and do whatever you want. Oblivion on PC was another good example. While you have missions or quests that you can complete and follow in order to follow myriad of plot lines, you can also do nothing at all.

For me , the “sandbox” design is a little more specific than that. For me the sandbox only means that everything in the game can be manipulated and follows the rules of the universe in which the game takes place. The Halo series on XBOX and Crysis on PC are good examples where, although linear, follow certain rules of physics and behavior that result in some interesting gameplay opportunities. The sandbox design is what allows warthog flipping and 3,000 barrel explosions.

The work that went into creating Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto 4 is nothing less than awe-inspiring. A causal glance at pages of names listed in the credits at the back of the manual provides poor testimony to the hours and hours of work that went into creating a virtual city that feels like a real place.

And though pundits and politicians and angry parents will argue, some justifiably, against the violence and content matter (though it’s obviously been created for a much older audience than any of those groups will admit), one of the standing strengths of the series is its service as satire for the lifestyle others claims it promotes.

But all of this is only a diversion to my point. Though fun to drive around, see the city, and even do some of the “missions,” I contend that GTA is no longer a game. It’s a simulation, and one that I find hard to invest lots of time.

Video games, like reading, watching TV, going to movies, etc., are a form of escapism. I don’t watch TV, and I view games as an interactive form of television that requires manual dexterity to move through what is essentially a puzzle you have to figure out. A non-gamer would be surprised at the level of strategy and puzzle-solving involved in playing 10 minutes of “Free Bird” on Guitar Hero 2 or getting through a level of Call of Duty 4.

The quick, repetitive nature of the missions may be testament to the desire of gamers to get in and out of a game quickly to accommodate our busy lifestyles, but it gets on my nerves. I end up spending all the time walking and driving around town to spend a couple of minutes running and gunning, followed by more driving and walking around. Yes, the story propels the action to some extent, but you end up having so many things to do you end up doing nothing.

Additionally, in its desire to provide a convincing real life experience, the series bogs you down with doing things you don’t even want to do in real life, even less in a game. While I can appreciate the novelty of changing clothes in a game, I don’t want to go to the store, try clothes on, haggle with the store clerks.

It’s still admittedly better than the last GTA. In GTA: San Andreas you had to watch what you ate and work out in order to stay fit. I have enough guilt about my own diet and work out habits. I don’t need more from some pixelated street punk.

The protagonist of GTA 4 also has a cellphone, which after a while begins to ring constantly from your partners in crime. It’s well done and doesn’t obstruct game play, but it still bothers me. When I get home from work and turn on my console, I throw my cellphone as far away from me as I can. The last thing I want to do is be pestered by people who don’t really exist.

Lastly, one of the draws of the GTA series is the variety. There are a million things you can do - fight, shoot, drive, explore, climb - you get the picture. While it does all of these better than previous incarnations, it doesn’t do it particularly well when compared to other games. Frankly, if I want to shoot at other people, I’ll play Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4. If I want to drive, I’ll stick in a driving game like Burnout. So, in the world, you end up doing what it does best.

Again, all of this is not saying anything against the technical or satirical marvel that is GTA 4, but I can’t enjoy it as a game any longer. I use video games for a break from my own life, not to go live someone else’s.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Memphis Overnight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.