Summary
Grand Theft Auto 4dev Obbe Vermeij has revealed that the 2008 game changed the way cheat codes were entered to maximize the use of the in-game phone. In the process,GTA 4also broke a seven-year-old series tradition that was established in 2001’sGTA 3.
Throughout the franchise’s 3D Universe, the period beginning fromGTA 3and ending withGTA Vice City Stories, cheats were activated by using certain letter sequences on PC and via certain controller button combinations on console. InGTA 4, developer Rockstar Games did away with this tradition that was consistently present across multiple mainline games, such asVice CityandSan Andreas. The devs did so by using one ofGTA 4’s many novelties, namely the in-game cellphone, which played a bigger role in this game than in any of its predecessors. Instead of inputting letters or button combos, players needed to dial certain phone numbers usingprotagonist Niko Bellic’s cellphone to use the cheat codes.
On Twitter, former Rockstar North employee andGTA 4technical director Obbe Vermeij shared that the different approach to entering cheats came about because the in-game phone was “one of the new things.” Shedding light on the studio’s commitment to make the most of Niko’s cellphone, he said that the devs tried doing “as much as possible with it.” Moreover, the industry veteran stated that, owing to the break in tradition introduced byGTA 4, the cheat codes for thehighly celebratedGTAtitlewere “done by the level designers” instead of himself.
GTA 4 Broke a Series Tradition But Avoided an Issue From GTA San Andreas
This revelation about whyGTA 4ended a long-running series tradition, which lasted across six different entries, stemmed from one of Vermeij’s frequentGTA-related trivia posts. In the main post, theGTAveteran revisited how aGTA San Andreas-specific “coding glitch” resulted in cheats being “unintentionally triggered” through multiple different letter sequences. For instance, the now-popular “HESOYAM” cheat code worked in addition to the original code created by the devs, “INEEDSOMEHELP,” because of this technical issue. As explained by Vermeij, this was down to the implementation of “hash codes” for storingSan Andreascheats, which was done to better hide the cheat codes in the game’s files compared to previousGTAgames. By removing the need to thump in letters to trigger cheats,GTA 4devs effectively avoided having to deal with this kind of glitch.
Even 16 years after its release,GTA 4is still rated very highly by fans of the open-world action-adventure franchise. Although there werewhispers of aGTA 4remasterbeing in the works some time ago, they have unfortunately died down at the time of writing. However, fans may expect Rockstar Games to show an interest in pursuing such a project once it has finished work on its next game, the hotly anticipatedGTA 6, coming in 2025.
Grand Theft Auto 4
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What does the American Dream mean today? For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity.As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves, and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don’t.
