I must disagree that this is about "raising interactive video to the level of cinematic art". This is just a demonstration of director talent that hasn't been tapped as other big wigs run dry.

Give Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries the opportunity to do some film-writing and directing, and you will have masterpieces to the tunes of The Dark Knight.

I have to agree with SpikeDelight, especially on the movie comparison. Computer games have become more and more mainstream and "movie-like" at the cost of gameplay. Games today aren't any more complex than games of the early 90s, the only thing that has evolved is graphics technology and physics emulation. This cinematic boom just keeps on adding pressure to develop eye candy and leaves the substance behind. GTA 4 is fun game, but it isn't neccessarily do anything better than games of the 90s.

Holy shit, people mentioned Planescape. That is indeed the epitome of a good computer game story. Definitely the best story in a computer game, and would make for a good novel too. That game oozes story, from the great characters with real substance (all your party members, Ravel, Transcendent One etc. are fully developed), the way you uncover your past, great setting to the bittersweet ending (I don't want to spoil anything, but seriously, you hardly find something so badass in movies, let alone in games). It lacks in graphics and all that though, the combat is pretty bad, worst of the infinity engine games, but then, there are only about four mandatory combat encounters. The fact that the entire game revolves mostly around (well-written) dialogue is great. I guess you could call it a thinking man's game.

Yea, sorry, I got carried, but one often does when discussing things they love.

Should anyone play it, make sure to get the custom resolution mod: http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/

---Love the review Peter, but I'm going to have to respectfully say you've got it all wrong. I don't think that video games need to be judged as if they could be movies. I think they are two separate entities. We always see video-game based movies and movie-based video games, and everyone wonders why they turn out badly. They are two art forms that don't cross each other well. The reason why Grand Theft Auto IV is so good is because it has all the time in the world to tell its story. If you try to compress that down into two hours, I don't care who's at the helm, it's not going to be as compelling. Think of a TV show. You care about the characters in Band of Brothers more than the ones in Saving Private Ryan, just because you've been with them for so long. That is one of the strengths of video games as well. If you've gone through Niko's struggles for 30 hours, you're going to care what happens more than if you've been watching him for a mere 1 and a half.
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---Grand Theft Auto also lets you create your own story, which makes it more successful than most games with a linear progression. Only part of the fun is watching the characters do things in the cutscenes, but then you get to pick the controller back up and play through all of Niko's mishaps. You decide how to go about it, and you can even mess around and do something nobody has done before in the living, breathing City of Liberty. Games with a completely linear plot progression I think are less successful because they don't give the player any breathing room. They're trying to be movies and I think that's the wrong way to go about it. They don't take advantage of the medium's strengths, they are just trying to be "cinematic."
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---I honestly think that the word "cinematic" is the biggest problem the gaming world has today. Don't get me wrong, I love movies, but the sooner gaming as an art form sheds its ties with Hollywood and the movie industry the better. Movies are great at what they do, but games are all about interactivity. When you take the interactivity away all you have left is a hollow experience that always feels like it should have faded to black and allowed you to take the reins.
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*also in case you're wondering, the dashes are to make these sentences form paragraphs instead of just being mashed up into one big block of text.

If you think Torment lacked presentation, then I suggest you pick up a dictionary and look up the word sometime. Torment is the epitome of good storytelling. That it has a wealth of text is inconsequential; The images, ideas and moods it evokes will only fall short to the most unimaginative person.

And here is the bottom line as far at this whole MGS dilemma is concerned: we are talking about a difference in genre here. Travers is trying to say that the average moviegoer could be drawn to the plot of GTA IV, because practically anyone who has seen a crime drama will be treading on familiar ground. Now here is where you need to not take me the wrong way, because I love MGS and its storytelling... BUT it is a complicated and twisted assortment of items ranging from sci-fi (especially in the most recent installment) to the downright absurd (looking at you, MGS2) all wrapped up in the skewed vision that Japanese game developers seem to impose upon reality. In other words, it isn't NECESSARILY for Joe Moviegoer who is looking for an alternative to summer movie drudgery.

Absolutely wonderful. It really is about time that someone with credibility helped to usher video games into the realm of high art from a critical standpoint, and I am certainly glad Mr. Travers is the one to do it.

Eh, the game was fun and I'll agree Niko was a well-conceived character but his arc was not really well done. There is no resolution. By it's very nature, the game has to "continue" infinitely after the story, so there is no catharsis. Niko is just kind of left where he started. Only very superficial character development over the course of the game. Good, and I highly recommend, but it's far from Scorsese or Tarantino in telling a story.

This is ridiculous. Did you PLAY through GTA4? How many 'popcorn movies' don't have actual endings? They tend to get MORE exciting as the story progresses, not less. GTA peters out after the first third, leaving a ton of unresolved plot holes.

As to other posters. Torment's plot is good, no doubt, but it's fantasy novel good, not really in the league of popcorn movie. There's a ton of reading and very little presentation. Not that reading is bad, but storytelling isn't just having pages and pages appear on-screen.

And finally... Half-Life? What? Half-Life's plot is Doom's plot is Unreal's plot is every other FPS' plot. They did something new by never breaking from the first person view, but having a silent, blank slate protagonist means a protagonst with no character.

Just because MGS4 succeeds at telling a story doesn't mean GTA4 doesn't.

Again, nice article.

Stop commenting about Metal Gear. Seriously.

OK - If you like the immersion found in GTA4, you may like the immersion found in the Metal Gear series. Or in the Castlevania series. Or in the Legend of Zelda series. Or in the Final Fantasy series.

Nowhere does the author compare GTA4 to Metal Gear.

Nowhere does the author mention Metal Gear... or ANY OTHER game.

All he says is this: play GTA4 if you want an enthralling experience, so much that it is better than most movies released this summer.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Wow, a brilliant review. Thanks for such an honest examination of a game in your movie review page.

While I agree that the game isn't a tour de force of the same level of some classic films, it does handle moral ambiguity well and makes a great a story with characters you can associate with. Not that we're all going to go out and kill people, but it does make you wonder how far we might slip if we started on such dark roads.

Also I agree with the idea that Hollywood will continue to suffer untill people stand up and start releasing films that are worth getting away from your Xbox360 for.

Thanks,
Scott

PS: Iron man was good aye ;)

Please don't cite Metal Gear Solid as highlights of video games. They are about as much of an engrossing story as your typical action movie is.

Story telling top honors goes to games like Halflife or Planescape: Torment. MGS is entertaining, no question, but has no standing amongst the few games that can compare with the drama of good movies.

Video games are the entertainment media of the future...HEAVEN HELP US!

Not to be impolite, but I noticed that you said that GTA IV was a "wow of a start". This is not quite true. The 3 major Metal Gear Solid games (4 starting today) have been wowing gamers for close to a decade now with its incredible mix of interactivity and cinematic splendor. Video gamers have been saying for years that director Hideo Kojima is the Steven Spielberg of the gaming industry.

I would encourage anyone to pick up a copy of Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for PS2 (It will also work on PS3). You get the the first three groundbreaking games, and it only cost $30. And if you love them, Metal Gear Solid 4 just came out today, and judging from the reviews that I've read, it should be even better!

Nice to see the older generation noticing what us young'uns are into. Interactivity is improving with technological discoveries. Soon I think video games will compete not only in profits, but in story telling. Some older games(with the help of a bit of imagination) have already gone there. There are storylines and memorable moments from more cerebral games that are just as powerful as some of the best scenes from movies. They aren't common, but they do happen.