Late in Grand Theft Auto IV, the player is tasked with kidnapping a daughter of a local don, Gracie Ancelotti, for ransom. Like many missions in GTA, getting Gracie to her destination becomes a lesson in creativity and random experimentation, chiefly because she tries to wreck the car the entire trip. What most players figure out is that the drive-by fire button allows protagonist Niko Bellic to knock Gracie unconscious, making for a smooth trip to the safe house. And that’s just the beginning of the required domestic abuse. Subsequent missions have the player taunting and photographing her in a battered state.
Missions like this one are the embodiment of what makes GTA:IV so compelling. Comparably to the darkly comic mockumentary Man Bites Dog, GTA:IV lures the player into its satiric world of dick jokes and leftist politics, eliciting the feeling that nothing that bad is going to happen. But then the player reaches the latter third of the game and becomes party to hedonist violence and difficult moral choices, all underscored by the fact that Niko Bellic is an illegal immigrant whose every action spells political commentary of various sorts.
In other words, GTA:IV is every bit the controversial video game the moral watchdogs say it is, just for an entirely different set of reasons. Players don’t just watch Niko, they play him, which means that even if they disagree with how he feels, they still take up his ideals in order to advance the game. This overtly politicized gameplay is a first for the industry, but it’s also a breakthrough for all arts. No other medium can claim to be so uncompromising and it’s a wonder more games haven’t been this way since narrative was introduced in the mid-80’s.
For these reasons, I believe Grand Theft Auto IV to be game of the year.