Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Games Without Frontiers: 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Delivers Deft Satire of Street Life

I'll just get this up front: I enormously enjoyed Grand Theft Auto IV.

But here's the thing: It's kind of hard to explain why.

There's no single thing to point to -- no must-see scene, no gotta-do moment of gameplay, no deliriously fun weapon. No, the game's pleasures come in weird, subtle, unexpected moments.

Let me give you an example. At one point, I was having a typically thuggish day: I'd killed a few drug dealers with a semiautomatic, and while trying to flee, whoops -- I accidentally rear-ended a cop car. Then it was a car chase, all wailing sirens and shrieking pedestrians diving out of the way, before totaling my SUV in a brutal collision and escaping on foot. A total Hillary Clinton nightmare, in other words.

I finally escaped by ducking into a subway station, and while catching my breath, I decided to explore a bit.


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