Yet he quickly discovers that corruption, greed and " flying rats" are just as prevalent in the so-called land of the free, and that cousin Roman is even being extorted by gangsters. Having fled the Balkan wars, Niko hopes to be re-energised by the bright lights of Liberty City (a fictional re-working of New York City). He dresses in cheap tracksuits tells a love interest of his PTSD nightmares and tends to prioritise emotive philosophy ("War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and the bitter into killing each other") over giddy quips while driving to missions with his co-conspirators. When Niko drives past sex workers, he utters the line: "You poor wretches!"
However, whereas previous GTA games leaned towards toilet humour over sincere messages about the human condition, and lead protagonists tended to be silent assassins addicted to mischief (GTA 3's Claude Speed) or recycled male Hollywood rags-to-riches archetypes (think GTA: Vice City's Scarface-esque Tommy Vercetti), the Niko Bellic character was a bold left turn from developer Rockstar, directly forcing millions to see through the eyes of a jaded immigrant. There is a nagging sense throughout the game that Niko is having an existential crisis while committing his miscreant acts (including stealing cars) something shaped by voice actor Michael Hollick's crestfallen delivery. Created by Rockstar, a games development studio based in Dundee, Scotland, the GTA games have always been a parody of US excess, with witty in-game jokes on everything from heart attack-inducing burgers to smart homes. Started in 1997, the Grand Theft Auto series almost immediately created a name for itself as a nihilistically provocative and crudely satirical pop-culture sensation, in which players took on the roles of urban criminals testing the frameworks of US society as they tried to rise up the ranks of a gangland underworld. "You just need to know where it is." His first cousin Niko Bellic – a man who has newly emigrated from the Balkans, and is completely unconvinced by America's abilities to fix their broken lives – bluntly interjects: "Yeah, but most people don't know where it is, so they stay at the bottom of the food chain! They stay there until they're burnt out or dead."Īlthough this profound exchange occurs in a throwaway side mission about a quarter of the way through Grand Theft Auto IV, it's a perfect reflection of how the 2008 game, now celebrating its 15th anniversary, dared to take the blockbuster gaming franchise (which has sold more than 400 million copies globally) somewhere darker and more political. "The fast food, the cheap gas, the fake – there's a shortcut for everything here!" beams Roman Bellic, the big-hearted immigrant owner of a failing taxi firm.
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