8 Video Games Where Everyone Loses
2. Grand Theft Auto IV
Of
the many criticisms leveled at the GTA franchise over the years, the
perceived glamorization of the criminal lifestyle is one that has
dogged it almost since day one. With its more down-to-earth and
serious presentation, it would seem that GTA IV would be the entry to
destabilize this notion with its multiple-choice downer endings.
Following
recent immigrant Nico Bellik, who comes to America to escape his
criminal past, the game plunges Nico deep into America’s own
illegal underworld, as he attempts to make it in this new world and
search for the man who betrayed his unit in a war ten years prior.
Joined by his bowling enthusiast and Navi-level irritant cousin
Roman, after a cavalcade of crossed paths, betrayals, and
multi-cultural ne’er-do-wells, Nico gains closure and finds himself
with a final choice. At the behest of Italian Don Jimmy Pegorino, he
must either help with an extremely lucrative heroin deal involving
the treacherous Dimitri Rascalov, or pursue his new personal vendetta
and kill the Russian mobster.
Whichever path the player chooses, Liberty City’s criminal underworld does not forgive easily, and at Roman’s wedding, a drive-by retaliation shooting from Dimitri or Pegorino will either claim Roman himself or Nico’s girlfriend Kate. Although many within the gaming community would likely term Roman’s death as the ‘good’ ending, and the responsible party is indeed taken down, there’s no way that Nico gets out of this game with a sense of victory, as the cyclic whirlwind of violence and revenge claims yet another bystander in its path.