Video Game Trailers – Grand Theft Auto IV

I have had little success in the past with the GTA games. Once a long time ago I played Vice City on a friends PS2 and I loved just driving and flying around the map and causing a bit of destruction, it was fun. I got a copy of San Andreas for the PC many years later but really struggled with it quite possibly due to the frame rate allowance of my Mam’s laptop. The most recent attempt at playing one was in summer 2009 at a games exhibition in Manchester at the Urbis. Since then I have not touched a game in the series.

While not really touching a game-pad in the playing of a game in the series, it has been on my mind to play them again at some point. Other than that though, the only exposure to the games I have really had is this awesome trailer for GTA 4. It’s an old tv ad for the game; I remember first seeing the cut down version on TV around April 2008 just before the game was released. Since then (plus a few more viewings since then) it has remained one of my favourite trailers for a video game.

The trailer is a nice breakdown of many elements. It shows the lead character; Niko Bellic, strolling through the streets of Liberty City showing the great expanse of locations and environments the player could find themselves in. The background shows moments and incidents that the player could wind up in. And it also shows varying forms of vehicles plus character customization that the player could choose from. The trailer’s theme song is pretty cool too. At its full length you hear two different tones of vocals reading varying different lyrics. One part of the lyrics I like is how the opening lyrics sound like “I’m hiring a mate of mine!”, which in turn produces a level of idea as to what the player’s character may end up being. The soundtrack has nice riff to it, plus it sounds like good walking music.

With it’s varying uses of its own elements plus general choreography (I think there is a moment where some gun shots match the beat), this is a nice trailer. It can be viewed with a nice easy-going manner of understanding, or it can be read much more deeply. Either way, it is an amazing trailer!