Synopsis
Plot
Niko Bellic is an Eastern European[16] immigrant and a veteran of the Bosnian War who, after persuasion from his cousin Roman, comes to Liberty City to pursue the American Dream and escape his criminal past. After his arrival, however, Niko quickly learns that Roman's tales of riches and luxury were lies, concealing Roman's struggles with debt and gangsters. Niko aids Roman in his troubles while hoping to carve out a new life for himself in the city.
It is later revealed that Niko came to Liberty City primarily to search for the person he blames for the betrayal of his old army unit: Florian Cravic. Niko soon creates ties with the Liberty City Bratva through Roman's loan shark Vladimir Glebov and later makes acquaintance with a major figure of the Bratva, Mikhail Faustin and his associate, Dimitri Rascalov. Niko completes jobs for Faustin before joining Dimitri's plot to betray Faustin and take over the organization. Niko assassinates Faustin on Dimitri's orders and later meets with him to collect his reward for the killing. Dimitri, however, betrays Niko and reveals that he is in collusion with Rodislav Bulgarin, a former employer of Niko who orders his men to kill him. Little Jacob, a Jamaican arms dealer whom Niko befriended earlier, arrives on the scene and rescues Niko. Dimitri and Bulgarin escape, however, and Jacob suggests dealing with them later.
Niko receives a phone call from Roman, who is hiding in a remote location after having received several silent calls. The two meet up and they drive back to find both Roman's apartment and taxi depot in flames. The two escape to Bohan, after receiving death threats from Dimitri, and Roman reveals his plans to propose to his girlfriend Mallorie. Niko progressively obtains new allies in the city, gaining the money to provide for his and Roman's life while furthering his connections towards locating the person he is searching for. Niko eventually locates Florian, but discovers that he has changed his name to Bernie Crane, and ultimately Niko determines that Bernie is not the person responsible for his unit's betrayal leading him towards the only remaining suspect, Darko Brevic.
Towards the conclusion of the storyline, a shadowy government agency (under the name of "U.L. Paper") that had forced Niko to help them in collusion with an aging mobster, Jon Gravelli, locates Darko in Bucharest and arrange to have him brought to Liberty City as a final reward. Niko confronts Darko, who has become a drug-addicted, guilt-ridden wreck. The player is then left with the option of either executing Darko or sparing his life. Afterwards, having dealt with his past, Niko relaxes at a bar when mob boss Jimmy Pegorino shows up and asks him one final favour; to obtain a shipment of heroin for him that he can sell to a buyer: Dimitri Rascalov. [22]
Finale
The story features two possible endings depending on the choice made by the player at this point in the game. The player can choose to have Niko exact revenge on Dimitri or make a deal with him.
If the player chooses to exact Revenge, Niko ambushes Dimitri on his tanker while he is supervising a shipment. A gunfight ensues within the hull of the tanker and Niko kills Dimitri in cold blood. In the aftermath, Roman and Mallorie's wedding takes place and Jimmy Pegorino, furious after the betrayal, commits a drive-by outside the church killing Niko's love interest, Kate McReary. Niko, Roman and Little Jacob follow some of Pegorino's men, who lead them to an abandoned casino in Alderney. Niko attempts to kill Pegorino, but he escapes to Happiness Island via boat while Niko pursues him with a helicopter. Niko kills Pegorino, before lamenting on the supposed "American Dream" to Roman and Jacob.
If the player chooses to strike a Deal, Niko meets Phil Bell at the docks to make the exchange. Dimitri sabotages his side of the deal but Niko and Phil eventually retrieve the drug money regardless. Kate, who was against making the deal, is furious with Niko and refuses to attend Roman and Mallorie's wedding. The wedding takes place and an assassin sent by Dimitri to kill Niko inadvertently shoots and kills Roman during a struggle. A devastated and vengeful Niko teams up with Little Jacob and they go to an abandoned casino in Alderney to kill Dimitri, who is now in partnership with Pegorino. Jacob then leaves to formulate an escape plan for Niko after he kills Dimitri. In the casino, Dimitri kills Pegorino and attempts to escape. Niko and Little Jacob follow him to Happiness Island, where Niko kills Dimitri. The story ends with a parting shot of the Statue of Happiness, with Niko concerned for the well-being of his soul.[22]
Setting
Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in a redesigned version of Liberty City consisting of four boroughs, based on four of the boroughs of New York City. Broker is the equivalent of Brooklyn, Queens is Dukes, The Bronx is Bohan and Manhattan is Algonquin. Adjacent to the city is the independent state of Alderney based on New Jersey and named after a Channel Island. A Staten Island-esque area is not featured in the game as the developers believed that gameplay in such an area would not be fun.[42] Initially the city's bridges are locked down due to a terrorist threat, but eventually the armed police blockades are lifted and the player is able to lead Niko across the Broker, Algonquin, and Northwood Heights bridges and explore the rest of the city.
Several real-life districts and landmarks exist within Liberty City, including "Hove Beach", based on Brighton Beach and named from Brighton and Hove; "Firefly Island", based on Coney Island, featuring the "Screamer" roller coaster modelled on the Coney Island Cyclone; "Middle Park", a replica of Central Park; "Statue of Happiness" modeled on Statue of Liberty, featuring a Styrofoam coffee cup in place of a torch; "Star Junction", a replica of Times Square; "BOABO" (Beneath the Offramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass) a parody of DUMBO; the "Triangle Building", a replica of the Flatiron Building; the "GetaLife Building", a replica of MetLife Building; the "Booth Tunnel", modelled on the Lincoln Tunnel and named after Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth; "BAWSAQ", a parody of NASDAQ; the "Rotterdam Tower", the in-game equivalent of the Empire State Building and the "Zirconium Building", Liberty City's equivalent of the Chrysler Building.
Characters
The characters that appear in Grand Theft Auto IV are diverse and relative to the respective boroughs of Liberty City they are based in, belonging to various gangs and ethnic groups. The player controls Niko Bellic, a veteran of the Bosnian War from Eastern Europe.[16] According to Dan Houser, virtually none of the characters from the previous games are returning, as "most of the characters we liked were dead,"[42] further evidenced by in-game graffiti bidding farewell to these characters.[22]
Unlike previous games in the series, the voice actors of Grand Theft Auto IV do not include notable and high-profile celebrities, instead opting for lesser known actors such as Michael Hollick, Jason Zumwalt, Moti Margolin, Thomas Lyons, Timothy Adams and Coolie Ranx. However, several high-profile DJs host the various radio stations within the game such as Karl Lagerfeld, Iggy Pop, Luther Campbell, Daddy Yankee, and Lazlow Jones. Saturday Night Live actors Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis appear on the liberal and conservative radio talk shows respectively. Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais also have their likenesses and comedy depicted in an in-game comedy club.[22]
No comments:
Post a Comment