The Next Level: 'Grand Theft Auto IV' expected to rev up sales

By Matthew Price

Published: April 25, 2008

It's spurred record sales and congressional inquiries. The bad boy of video games is back on Tuesday, as "Grand Theft Auto IV” is released. It may "launch a million PTA meetings,” says Game Daily editor in chief Libe Goad. But "Grand Theft Auto IV” brings more realistic physics and mature storytelling to next-generation consoles, she said.

This time, the mature-rated game allows gamers to take the role of Niko Bellic, an eastern European lured to Liberty City by the promises of his cousin.

"He's coming over to America to live the American dream,” said Goad, whose Web site is found at www.gamedaily.com.

"(Bellic's) cousin moved over and was apparently having a very Scarface lifestyle — yachts, hot ladies etc.,” Goad said. "(Bellic) came over and discovered that's not the case — his cousin was actually in trouble and needed some help.”

Goad, who played the game prior to release, said it will be recognizable to fans who have played previous games, but with improvements.

"There's a lot that's new in the game,” she said. "When you play the game it'll be very familiar ... but in a lot of ways it'll be very advanced. There's amazing graphics; there's more realistic physics with driving the car. There's a totally new main character and a new storyline. There's a new environment.”

That new environment has a familiar name — Liberty City — but it's been redesigned for "Grand Theft Auto IV.”

"Basically you're going back to Liberty City again, but it looks a lot more like the real-life Liberty City aka New York City,” she said. The game offers multiplayer for the first time. And, while it still keeps the "sandbox” style of gameplay, "IV” looks to be even more action-packed than the earlier installments.

"If you look at all the series together, it probably won't be as open-ended as say, ‘San Andreas,'” Goad said. "That had some parts where you could go roam in the desert and things like that. Those kind of elements where you're just roaming around in areas where there's not much to do, that's kind of been taken out of the game. You can definitely roam, but it will be action-packed wherever you go.”

The game has its mature-rated moments, and Goad urges parents not to buy the game for their younger teens.

"The mature rating is for age 17 and older. Familiarize yourself with these ratings, which you can find at ESRB.org.”

Even limiting sales to gamers 17 and over, "Grand Theft Auto IV” is expected to be a financial home run.

"I think people are expecting the ‘Halo'-killer,” she said.

Some analysts attributed a decline at the box office to the release of "Halo 3” in September. Is a similar box office slump likely to result from "Grand Theft Auto IV?”

"I did hear some stories where analysts predicting that it will affect (the movie) ‘Iron Man,'” Goad said. "The funny thing about ‘Iron Man' is, ‘Grand Theft Auto' and ‘Iron Man' appeal to very similar audiences, so maybe they'll buy ‘Grand Theft Auto,' play that, take a break to go see ‘Iron Man,' then go back and play.”

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