Grand Theft Auto IV (GTAIV) is easily the most widely acclaimed game of this console generation, having the highest Metacritic scores for any game on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms, including perfect scores from IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer, G4 TV, 1Up and so forth. However, this is an occasion when critical acclaim does not directly translate into fun.

Players take on the role of Niko Bellic, a recent immigrant to the United States who is trying to leave his haunted past and the ghosts it contains behind him. In short order, he learns the eternal lesson that we may be through with our past, but our past is rarely through with us. As you might expect, learning this grim lesson does not make the game fun or even particularly enjoyable.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see why this game received such critical adulation – it is a fantastic story about the American Dream and how quickly it can turn into a nightmare. It’s a story about how far people will go to find closure, and how that closure may not exist. It’s a story about what success truly costs. As a work of fiction, it’s an outstanding story which Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler might have written had Eastern European crime syndicates been as prevalent in their day. Unfortunately, GTAIV is a game and must be assessed as such. And as a game? It feels like a job.

First and foremost, it isn’t all bad. GTAIV features significantly less frustrating game mechanics than its predecessors and some features point to innovations we’ll later see in Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire, like autosaving at the end of a successful mission and being able to restart failed missions more easily. The consequences of dying are significantly reduced (dying no longer results in the loss of all weapons). The stereotypical drive-across-town-at-top-speed-without-denting-the-car mission doesn’t really exist; while some missions (driving a hearse and transporting a kidnap victim come to mind) require high-speed driving while being fired on, there’s more tolerance for damage to vehicles than in the past. Players can hail taxis to fast travel to any location in the game, greatly reducing the volume of mind-numbing required driving. There are other improvements over previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series, but these are among the most notable.

But while GTAIV is generally moving in the direction of being more accessible, it isn’t there just yet. There are clunky cover mechanics, you still have to drive all over hell and back, and each mission starts to feel a lot like a job. Hanging out with friends, a process which unlocks bonuses like reduced-cost weapons and ammo, free car rides, helicopter rides and so forth, feels like punching the clock. Even dates come to feel mechanical and repetitive. It’s a lot of driving here, picking this person up, doing something (bowling, stealing truckloads of cocaine, having dinner, shooting down helicopters with RPGs, getting drunk), then dropping them off and proceeding to the next location to do another activity with another character.

The critical acclaim for the game likely stems from the richness of the story around these activities, but from a gameplay perspective, it doesn’t change the fact that these activities have a substantial sameness about them, broken only when someone shoots you from behind with a shotgun. Although it doesn’t really have anything like that horrendous limo driving mission from Vice City in it, you’ll still find yourself grumbling as yet another police car swerves and skids directly into your path, running you into another tree.

In short, the story is great, but getting the game to reveal the story can feel like a chore. With that in mind, let’s move on to specific accessibility concerns.



Accessibility Issues / Concerns

Grand Theft Auto IV is essentially one extended accessibility problem. Nearly every part of it will present challenges for gamers with precision concerns or with use of only one hand. There are extended high-speed pursuits, gunfights involving multiple enemies with high-powered weapons, helicopter flights which require maintaining a certain altitude at key moments and so forth. In short, there are very few ways to succeed, and no shortage of ways to fail.

If you have played Red Dead Redemption, you’ll be familiar with the auto-aim feature which snaps to nearby targets, making combat somewhat easier. However, sniper rifles still require manually aiming, and the volume of enemies and the damage they do – even with body armor – can result in frustration and failing missions repeatedly. While GTAIV offers two controller layouts, neither is particularly accessible for one-handed gamers.

Furthermore, the targeting reticle, much as it was in Red Dead, is nearly invisible. Selecting the complex weapon target in the Display menu places a circle around the reticle, providing players with a better idea of where bullets are likely to hit.

Subtitles are present and are in a sans serif font, but they are small and do not identify the speaker. Sounds (such as car alarms) aren’t closed captioned, nor is most ambient chatter.

GTAIV does use red and green for meaning, which is problematic since both are used to indicate a player’s health – when a player’s health is low, the health bar turns red. Red and green are used elsewhere in the game (green is used to show the route to a waypoint on the minimap, etc.), but usually not at the same time.

There doesn’t seem to be a way to skip missions, or to jump past a chase or particularly difficult part of the game. GTAIV typically restarts the entire mission, instead of breaking missions into individual segments which can be restarted when necessary (as we saw in L.A. Noire).

Ultimately, while GTAIV points to the accessibility innovations that would appear in Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire, those features aren’t present. While GTAIV is worth playing for the story, gamers with accessibility concerns should rent it to make sure that it’s sufficiently accessible for them.



Mobility: 1
Visual: 3
Hearing: 5

My original purchase price: $29.99
Recommended purchase price: Rent to evaluate individual accessibility before buying

At A Glance

Precision: Gamers with precision concerns and low vision alike should use the complex reticle. The default reticle, like many other Rockstar games, is a small white dot which is almost invisible. The complex reticle enlarges that dot and places a circle around it, making it easier to see what you’re shooting at. Pulling the left trigger locks to a nearby target, although this target is not always hostile. Driving and losing wanted levels still present significant challenges. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Deaf Gamers: Speakers are not identified, nor are sound effects closed captioned. Recommend rating of 5 out of 10.

One-handed: Players will need both triggers to drive and fight – accelerating and aiming are mapped to the right trigger, while braking and aiming are mapped to the left. When in a vehicle, the left bumper controls firing. Driving and losing wanted levels still present significant challenges. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Subtitled: Subtitles are in a small, sans serif font which stands out against most backgrounds. Some low-vision gamers may have challenges reading them due to size, and background colors may present challenges on infrequent occasions. Recommend rating of 5 out of 10.

Color Blind: Health is measured in green, and turns to red when health is low. Color-blind gamers will need to watch health and armor levels carefully. Enemies are typically marked with red dots on the mini-map, while the route to a waypoint is shown in green on the mini-map. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.

Checkpoint / Save System: Players can enable autosave, which will save the game after completing a mission or a night out with a friend. However, autosave does not save after buying ammunition, clothes, etc. At all other times, players must travel to a safe house to save the game. Recommend rating of 5 out of 10.