In The New York Times’ Seth Schiesel described “Grand Theft Auto IV” as a “violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun. It calls to mind a rollicking R-rated version of Mad magazine featuring Dave Chappelle and Quentin Tarantino.”
In the Los Angeles Times, Pete Metzger wrote that “while some might argue that games as morally bankrupt as the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series are leading to the demise of society, those who can appreciate decency-eschewing escapism will find nothing better than this one.”
Andrew Reiner of the Game Informer — something of a bible for people of a certain age — was far less restrained. “I now know how film critics felt after screening ‘The Godfather.’ ”
It’s going to make its corporate distributor, Take-Two Interactive Software, and its creator, Rockstar Games, a great deal of money. A number of Wall Street analysts believe the game, which costs about $60, may earn more than $500 million during its first week of release. One analyst estimates that purchases of
“GTA IV” may represent more than 3 percent of all U.S. and European software sales in 2008.
There’s a new world of entertainment here, proceeding under its own power and following its own stars. But what does it contain? In this case, the story of a former Serbian militiaman (the protagonist through whom the players act) lured to a fictional version of New York. He kills, maims, has sex, then kills and maims some more, while also stealing various forms of transportation, all with a nifty range of music on their radios. (Available for download.) The graphics are stunningly realistic, and the opportunities for a player to interact with the characters and the physical setting are quite gripping.
Still, where earlier generations of youthful art crossed boundaries — the critics call that being “transgressive” — they also affirmed something else, some alternative or countercultural value. The Beat generation, just to take one example, rejected middle-class morality and aesthetics for Buddhism, ecstasy and sexual expression. “GTA IV” affirms the pleasure of eschewing decency for obnoxious violence.
That’s why a spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted with horror over the use of that city as a backdrop. The mayor, he said, “does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers.”
One of the most interesting things about this game is that it’s the product of a global youth culture whose frame of reference has been shaped by mindless American action films, by post-apocalyptic Euro-American fantasy fiction and Japanese graphic novels. The game’s “authors” are a pair of young Englishmen, and the technical crew that put it together is in Scotland. They’ve thrust their Balkan protagonist into an America of the imagination that exists nowhere and, in a virtual sense, everywhere.
Censorship will not avail against this kind of compelling cultural shift — nor should it. “GTA IV” is a work of genius, but it’s genius in the service of nothing more than sensation and profit. With this game, the interactive video industry is now an art form in search of an artist.