GTA, Humor, and Protagonists - Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games - page 90

to the dark humor that runs throughout the game.” 34 A dif erent review
goes out of its way to warn readers that the content of the game is “easily
the most 'mature' M-rated game on the market today” and that “the game
and its dialogue have been written specifi cally for an adult audience, and it
defi nitely isn't for kids.” 35 However, that kind of content is not the reason
to play the game, the draw is that “Rockstar and DMA Design [the game's
publisher and developer] have obviously spent a lot of time adding tons of
little touches to the game that, while almost completely unnecessary, make
the world seem like a living, breathing place.” 36 The game progressed in
critical acclaim not because of the violence or mature content, but because
buggy elements of the earlier versions of the games were fi xed and the game
was developed to a greater degree of depth. Adding detail to the world to
make it feel 'real' and enhancing the humor meant that GTA became more
than just a chance to play as a criminal, separating it from competitors by
honing the design of the game world.
Acknowledgement of what makes GTA interesting for gamers is made
even clearer in reviews of the other games from the GTA III generation of
the series. One critic notes that “while Grand Theft Auto has always been a
violent, mature-themed series, it has always balanced the violent crime with
an equal amount of tongue-in-cheek humor and style,” and in Vice City “the
humor comes mostly from the radio, which really drives home the sort of
form-over-function mentality that most people associate with the ' 80s.” 37
The version of the series developed for the PlayStation Portable marked an
interesting juncture for GTA , as the game was able to leverage the highly
praised design elements, but the debut on a new platform led to substantial
technical issues, hearkening back to the days of GTA and GTA 2 . However,
this time reviews were far more favorable, with one critic noting,
By now, you may be wondering why a game that we've basically talked
about negatively for half the review deserves a rating of 9.0. Regardless
of how bad the story is or how little innovation is in the game, it's still a
Grand Theft Auto title through and through. Rockstar has consistently
imbibed a sense of humor into an expansive and fun world, and it keeps
you coming back for more. This is 100% true of Vice City Stories .
Navigating the world, be it on foot, in vehicle or in the air is fun as hell.
Even though the story sucks, the characters are unique and intriguing
enough that you likely won't skip the cutscenes. And most of all, it's
simply and purely fun . 38
By 2006 GTA had reached the point where the formula for the game, based
on 'unnecessary' details in a darkly humorous world, was refi ned enough
to earn a very strong critical review in spite of technical issues and a thin
overarching storyline.
The importance of humor and depth in game design can be seen through-
out the run of the GTA series, but the high watermark games, at least in