You know, it has crossed every single human being’s mind before, at least once, how cool it would be to pull off a heist. To calculate all the moves perfectly and be one step ahead of the people you are trying to rip off. Just the idea that, if done correctly, it is like a ballet. A finely tuned machine where, as long as things go according to plan, no one gets hurt. But the reality about heists, and why they are always awesome to see in movies, and even more fun to play in games, is because something HAS to go wrong (unless Brad Pitt or Clooney are leading the operation). That is the kicker about a heist. If they were easy to pull off, heists would constantly be going on everywhere, but they aren’t.
Though GTA has had many heist missions before this particular mission in GTA IV, Three Leaf Clover was about as perfect and movie-like as video game levels go. Thinking you may pull it off, and then having to fight your way through Chinatown was insane, intense, and amazing. Finally, feeling like the odds are against you and you have no chance, you take to the subway tunnels under Liberty City and walk away with a genuine sense of accomplishment. It is a complex series of events, but when it finally ends, and you finish that level, you really felt like you pulled off the impossible. Made you want to put the controller down for a second and just take a breath, didn’t it?
So many people loved and raved about the Three Leaf Clover level from GTA IV that it become the blueprint for the heists (which happen regularly) in part five. That is also why you can swap controls between three characters at any time in GTA V, to really give the player the sense that they are in control of these heists and how they go down. So, in essence, I really hope you liked the Three Leaf Clover mission from GTA IV, because if you don’t, you probably won’t be a fan of GTA V.
Honorable Mention:
I REALLY wanted to put the In The Air Tonight level from Vice City Stories on this list, because you get to f**king PROTECT PHIL COLLINS FROM ASSASSINS, but I knew too few of you had played that game, and even fewer of you would get the ironic and iconic humor, so I let it go, but I want you to know that is eating at me. Eating at me so bad.