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Finding any information on Rockstars’ GTA IV is really hard, as not much of it is available and in these hard times we are all just guessing that it will be awesome and as shocking as the early games have been. During these tough times, Game Informer has come out with a huge ten page exclusive on Grand Theft Auto IV, which includes tons of details about the game. Here I have tried to summarize some of the major features:
The protagonist’s name is Niko Bellic - an Eastern European immigrant who has come to Liberty City to live the “American Dream.” He was persuaded to move to Liberty City by his cousin Roman, who claimed to be living a wonderful life there with two beautiful women, fifteen sports cars, and lots of money etc. The plot thickens when we learn that Roman was infact telling a lie in order to hide his own failures. Roman is a polite guy, whereas Niko is ballistic and Roman needs Niko’s help to pay off his debts.
The game is set in Liberty City of 2007, but it is bigger than the Liberty City we saw in GTA III. Moreover there will be no planes in the game and the rumors are that there wont be any deserts or country sides either. The game only focuses on one city, and thats the reason for not having planes or helicopters at all. Rockstar wants the game to look and feel more realistic, thats why there wont be any jetpacks or rollerblades either. Motorbikes will remain though.
As far as the city goes, Rockstar has recreated 4 of the 5 main boroughs of New York. The missing one is Staten island. Senator Andrew Lanza (who was born there and is currently the Senate representative for the south of Staten Island) said, “I’m glad Staten Island is left out, frankly,” and he went on to described the game as “poisonous,”. He reflected on the real reason his borough did not make the cut.“Perhaps it’s because they know Staten Island is the safest place in the entire city,” The irony is the Staten Island will be the first downloadable content available for GTA IV.
As far as the gameplay and the feel of the game is concerned, Dan Houser has compared the leap from GTA III to GTA IV, to the leap from GTA to GTA III. And here’s why: The game will only load once in the beginning and after that there will be no loading sequences in the game. Not even while moving from the interior of a building to the outside world. While you will walk you will be able to feel the weight of the body and the different surfaces will result in different walking animations. The physics have been improved and character animations are also above par. Its important to mention that there are many game screenshots available over the internet, but Rockstar has insisted that these screenshots are not representative of the quality of the game and the game will only look better as the release will draw closer.
In earlier versions of GTA, you received your missions from different persons, and somehow the game stuck to the storyline. It changes in GTA IV as the players will have a better control over their destiny. You will have more choices and options to work your way around in the game now as you will be able to contact the people thru your cell, directly talk to them or by many other ways to obtain information.
Rockstar have been emphasizing on the reality this time and that’s the reason why everything has been drawn closer to the life. Pedestrians will be more realistic as they will sit on benches, smoke cigarettes, read books and generally act like any real pedestrian would in the middle of a street. Even the police will make its presence felt in this draw of the game. Many crime experts were consulted in the making of the game and being a criminal will be harder this time around as it is in real life.
The insistence on reality will also reflect in the voice over of the game as this time around Rockstar hasn’t hired just big names, but have actually gone for hiring the voices that will suit the characters and their temperaments. Even the OST is not going to be a collection of namedropping of the big names. The music will be suiting the Liberty City of 2007 in all its glory. Now one wonders what will we have on the radios this time..!!
The game is being developed as a multiplayer but it wont be on a massive scale. Also Rockstar is going to launch a special edition of GTA IV on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe, the same day as the regular edition of Grand Theft Auto IV. The special edition will be presented in a customized Grand Theft Auto metal safety deposit box. The box will contain the Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system or the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, both with special packaging. Then there will be the Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book, featuring never-before-seen production artwork from the game. A selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists will also be there along with an exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys. And all this will come packed in a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag. The Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition is available for pre-orders today and will retail for $89.99 in North America.
While people will be getting their safety boxes, I’ll be more then happy if I could just get the game in India on time… There are many screenshots of the game available on net which make you go jump around in the room and here are some links for you:
Grand Theft Auto IV Preview [1UP]
Grand Theft Auto IV First Look [Gamespot]
GTA IV: An Introduction to Liberty City [IGN]
Source: [GTAIV.net]
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May 31st, 2007 at 1:05 am
Looks like there is more to GTA-IV. When these guys got a playable demo they found that car trunks can be opened up too. I wonder if you can keep anything in it
maybe your arsenal will need to be carried on vehicle, you can’t carry a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, 10 grenades, machine guns and swim at the same time. Just some dreams 
June 1st, 2007 at 8:50 pm
That sounds amazing… in the demo Niko also breaks the side mirror of the car and opens the car. I wonder if that will also be possible in the game
June 2nd, 2007 at 8:33 pm
OK, there’s more too. Niko can climb any (almost) structure like poles, sewage pipes etc. Most of the missions will be conducted via phone and R* says every street will have a name.
There won’t be any planes as R* is covering only a single city; and there won’t be any jetpacks either, to make it reailstic that is. Wonder if Statue of Miss Liberty would be climbable
Oh! yes, its being said that just like it happens in real world, Niko can’t just drive away a car in seconds. He’ll break the window glass with his elbow and hot-wire the car. Now if a citizen spots him then well, he gotta run for his life for cops gonna be on his ass.
June 3rd, 2007 at 8:55 am
yeah, i already wrote about the jetpacks and communicating through cell phones, direct talk or sms in the article. The world in GTA 4 will be interactive and you can communicate with almost everything.. Lots of roof chasing will be there this time and police is also strong.