I received my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV a day late, this Wednesday. But hey, that’s a fair price to pay when Gamefly is the most financially sound option. Especially, in the era where games retail for $60. Thus, my not writing about it after my first session — I was already anxious enough as it was, so I just went on to the whole actually playing the game part. And now, I’m kinda glad I didn’t instantly write it up after my bit of time with the game. Had I done that, it’s more than likely that I’d have ended up glossing over it’s unbelievably dense and believable open-world nature and phenomenal writing, among other things just as every other review has, instead of the unique moment I just had.
And before you ask, it didn’t involve auto theft, homicide, nor hooker runs. No, this moment completely blindsided me and more than likely won’t mean anything to anyone else as it was unique to me and my life.
Early on, you meet this girl, Michelle, she immediately takes a liking to Niko (a fresh off the boat immigrant from Eastern Europe), at the end of the mission you drop her off at home and the two of you exchange numbers. Pretty standard stuff so far. Not long after, you find yourself on your first in-game date with her.
It’s a mandatory mission and serves as a tutorial for the dating and hanging-out-with-buds element that’s interwoven throughout the game. Niko and Michelle go bowling, throughout the night they got to know each other a little better. At the end of the night Niko drives her home and that was the end of the mission as well as, for me, the end of seeing Michelle.
Throughout the game, calls are made to and from various characters, I found myself blowing them off because I was much more interested in advancing the story than going bowling or playing darts with some fool. But this particular call was different as it had an almost unbelievable amount of congruency as to what is going on in my life at this particular point and time.
10 hours into the game Niko receives a call from Michelle and she says something to the effect of, “Hey Niko, remember me? It’s Michelle, the idiot you’ve been ignoring for a weeks.”
It hit me hard. Harder than I ever thought a game, or even any form of entertainment would ever be capable of. I’m aware that it was incredibly circumstantial, but that doesn’t negate its occurance. But man, if my heart didn’t sink a little at that comment. Exactly what I’d just done to this blotch of pixels and splatter of polygons is exactly what another person had been doing to me.
I know that this moment was extremely circumstantial and of inconceivable specificity, but damn if it didn’t have a substantial impact.
On a broader note, I am really enjoying GTA IV and the re-imagined Liberty City. It’s really fun, and isn’t that all that matters?
July 7, 2008 at 5:04 am
For whom it may concern:
I’m almost positive that Niko wanted to call but was too busy trying to remove her head out of her ass.
im sorry <3