There are the got-it-on-a-plate, spoiled types of Michael and Franklin, and then there’s Trevor who’s violence personified and with about as much depth as a pre-school paddling pool. Grand Theft Auto V would innovate by featuring three playable protagonists, but that doesn’t make it better. Rule number one of good character development: establish someone in who the audience can get invested. Being a recent immigrant to Liberty City who is almost involuntarily drawn into the dark and terrible underworld of its crime lords, Niko Bellic is a man with whom it is easy to sympathize. Like every Grand Theft Auto game leading up to it, Grand Theft Auto IV opts for one main protagonist as the central focal point of the action. It’s just that the latter is preferable over the former. Rockstar were obviously going for a totally different feel which they nailed perfectly, just as they nailed the more gritty theme of Grand Theft Auto IV. It also dumbs down a series full of hard missions by introducing mission checkpoints. Like the very characters it portrays, it’s a game that feels like it’s sold itself to the devil. Altogether darker and less playful, it’s about the American dream and the subsequent breaking of that dream.īy contrast, its sequel goes full Hollywood with its over-the-top narrative. Minus the chance escapes and implausibly large killing sprees, of course. Whilst Grand Theft Auto V’s story involves the occasional – albeit dreamlike – stage battling psychedelic aliens, Grand Theft Auto IV’s is way more serious and reminiscent of something that could and does happen in the real world. In fact, Grand Theft Auto IV is still so good today that, quite frankly, it doesn’t need a remaster. Okay, so the unsung hero that is Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t one of the three that’s getting the remaster treatment, but in light of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, now seems as good a time as any to reflect on 10 reasons why its understated brilliance outshines the more widely acclaimed merits of its younger sibling, Grand Theft Auto V.

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