Fond Memories Of Violent Times

Posted on | April 26, 2008 at 12:22 pm | 1 Comment

So what are you doing to celebrate the release of Grand Theft Auto IV this Tuesday? Will you be waiting in line at you local Best Buy when the doors open? Will you steal a car to get there? Beat up a hooker and take her money so you’ll have some cash to buy it? The possibilities are endless.

I kid, but I do really want this game and will be buying it this week. Although I’ll probably use a Target gift card I got for Christmas, and I may not buy it right on release day. If it’s like the release of the previous GTA games, all the stores will be well-stocked. I didn’t bother with a pre-order. Heck, this thing is bigger than a major movie release.

So, what am I going to do to celebrate GTA IV Release Week besides buying the game? I’ll be thinking of my late friend Bryce. Part of why I want to get and play the game is because of my memories of those late Friday nights playing GTA III (and later, GTA: Vice City) with Bryce. Those were magical, fun, and humorous (if somewhat violent) times, and I cherish those memories like I do little else. We used to take turns doing the missions, and it was just as fun to watch him play as it was to play myself. It was Bryce who kept telling me that I need to get a PlayStation 3 back when I was considering getting an Xbox 360 – he was a die-hard Sony supporter, and really wasn’t much into Nintendo either. Though I never actually made a promise to him about it, it’s one I ended up fulfilling anyway.

So now I’ll be able to play the game on my sparkling new PS3. One of the main reasons I wanted a next-gen system was for GTA IV (and also Bionic Commando, due out soon). I just can’t wait to immerse myself in Liberty City again and I hope the game doesn’t disappoint. According to this review in the Rocky Mountain News yesterday from columnist (and Kotaku guy) Brian Crecente, the game does live up to the hype. Heck, the guy spent five days holed up in a San Francisco hotel room doing nothing put playing the game, so he must know what he’s talking about.

I do have to admit that the GTA franchise has had diminishing returns for me. I loved GTA III and played all the way through it. GTA: Vice City was fun, but I got bored with it after awhile and didn’t finish it. GTA: San Andreas was just too much – I got stuck on some stupid motorcycle mission and then just stopped. GTA: Liberty City Stories was a bit hard to play on the PSP, so I didn’t get much into that. I never got GTA: Vice City Stories. But I think GTA IV brings enough new stuff to the table to make it interesting again. It really does look like the biggest, best virtual world yet, and I can’t wait to play around in that sandbox. Like the original GTA III, I’ll probably spend just as much time running around exploring and dishing out mayhem as I do completing the missions and such. It’s not just a game – it’s a way of life. Okay, it’s a horrible and violent way of life, but at least that’s different from my real one.

I feel I should add, perhaps needlessly, that’s it’s not the violence and such of the game that attracts me to it – it’s that big open world where you can explore and do anything you want. I love finding new things and new ways to interact with the virtual world. I also like the satisfaction I get from completing missions. But I’m not sure how I’ll ever get through the game without Bryce there at my side, yelling at me to watch out for that cop or to make that left turn NOW!

Latre.