CHENNAI: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a gamer in possession of Grand Theft Auto must be in want of a cheat sheet. However righteous, they will succumb to the thrills of GTA cheats. Evolved over the years, it has still not lost its cult following. Did you know that the most recent edition broke seven world records? Here are a few reasons for the game’s continued success.
1) Characters: All the games feature quirky anti-heroes with a flair for robbery and crime. In GTA IV, Niko Bellic travels illegally to Liberty City from Albania. His idiosyncratic cousin Roman and his bowling interests are somewhat of an inside joke to players — he rings Niko even in the middle of a wild helicopter chase, to just chat. The protagonist’s friends and enemies are racially diverse: a Rasta named Little Jacob (no littler than an armed robber) is Niko’s partner in crime; he goes bank robbing with a family of Irishmen, works for a Russian named Vlad, and hurls bricks on a China shop. The variety of accents and interactions with people of different degrees of psychopathy really keeps you on your toes.
2) ‘Easter Eggs’, Secrets: GTA IV introduced an internet browsing centre, where at one point, Niko sets up an online dating profile for an assassination mission. The websites are quite intricately designed, with realistic adverts, even! ‘Easter Eggs’ are hidden messages in games, and GTA has no dearth of references to real world movies.
3 Side missions: Admitted, it is quite thrilling when you are right in the middle of a drug deal that goes awry, or suddenly figure out that your friend is actually an FBI agent. However Sai says he prefers the side missions more — “I use cheats when I’m free, take the ol’copter for a spin and explore. I also enjoy the occasional golf.” GTA lets you call your ‘friends’ through the protagonist’s smart phone to hang out to play pool, or shoot darts. The conversations that unfold could also change the course of the story (like, in case your friend needs to go to the hospital when you accidentally punch him).
The game offers over 200 hrs of gameplay — and it is the little details that sink us into its world — as softly and subtly as chewing a ghee dosai pre-moistened in sambar.
(The writer is an economics graduate who spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)