When you’re not committing multiple felonies in ‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ consider the art

Okay, okay, The Art of Grand Theft Auto IV?

From Rockstar Games, the same people who (cover your eyes) made it possible for us to have videogame sex with a hooker in a stolen car and not pay—and yank a traffic cop off his motorcycle, kill him, take his weapons and ride away?

Yes.

If you buy the deluxe edition of the muchly-hyped Grand Theft Auto IV for $90, you get assorted geegaws plus this slender, hardcover book, with all kinds of neat full-color frames from the game, scene cut-aways showing how they designed it, and about as much inside dope as they’ll let you have on one of gaming’s most notorious franchises.

Or, if you’re too busy keeping GTA IV’s heralded anti-hero—the thug Niko Bellic—alive, you can buy the book on eBay for $20 and under. Which, really, is more in keeping with the ethos of the GTA series.

Whatever. The Art of Grand Theft Auto IV is as calm, thoughtful and well-written as the game is a bleak descent into Liberty City hell, serenaded by the sound of your own hollow-point bullets poppin’ off. Sample, from its introductory essay:

“ . . . [O]ur goal was to add detail to the entire experience and to create a world in high definition, both in terms of the visual richness and the opportunities to interact with it.”

It’s as intellectual as the game is ultimately meatheaded-ed, offering full-color, glossy pages of pimp style and Liberty City scenes (their Times Square is apparently Star Junction), motion-capture sequences, catalogs of weaponry and whips—and the obligatory view halfway down the top of a well-endowed woman leaning in a car window. (She’s animated, so is it okay to look?)

That’s about as crass as it gets. Otherwise, this is pretty much a coffee table book—but you may know that already if you’ve paused the game long enough to admire its scenery.

THE ART OF GRAND THEFT AUTO IV ROCKSTAR GAMES | HARDCOVER | 78 PGS | ROCKSTARGAMES.COM | $89.99

Tags: art, Books, grand theft auto 4, liberty city, Rockstar Games, video games