Damn, it looks like our gaming world just got more complicated. Remember the good ol’ days when we only had to open a door to rip off an auto? Now there’s window smashing and hotwiring involved.

It’s almost like work. Even the pedestrians in Grand Theft Auto IV will get in your way. This time out they’re programed to squeal to the cops via cellphone. That’s trouble. Because, if you aren’t on a vengeful killing spree in Grand Theft 4, you probably should be home with your little sister playing Donkey Kong.

The best part of games like “Vice City,” “San Andreas,” and “Liberty City” is you get to do all the shit you’d never do in the real world: set up on a building and shoot pedestrians, drive drunk, get into gang fights, steal an ambulance, stomp a hooker, remember your wife’s birthday.

Not that the game doesn’t have a sense of humor and irony. It satirizes and mocks society with its every pulse. My favorite is a billboard that reads:

Abstinence … life is great when you just don’t get it.

GTA IV was released April 29th for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. And this time out they seem more focused on realism and detail. Cool. That means all those scenes in the strip club will be particularly tasty.