GTA IV trailer

[BigJKO]

Looks next-gen. Color me excited, at least. (Game Excit-o-meter up one point)

And I hated Vice City and never bothered trying San Andreas, so I thought I'd never be intererested in GTA again.

[miffy495]

I'm not sure how I feel about going back to Liberty again. I've played GTAIII, I've played LCS. Do I really need a third game there? Whatever. Always loved GTA and as long as it keeps the quality, I'm in.

[Marek]

Yawn.

High-res but ugly world.

Liberty City again.

Only the protagonist seems interesting.

So far.

But I'm sure Rockstar will manage to turn it into a or even a with their tightly controlled monthly PR blasts each focusing on one set of new features, as they did with San Andreas.

[ysbreker]

I sort of hoped they would look outside of the US for once. But I guess that wouldn't sell too well with the American crowd or something.

Verdict based on this one teaser:

[Roderick]

I was hoping for 1. a unique and new city, and 2. a female protagonist.

Having said that, I liked the trailer. I like how the Russian guy has something tragic. I see plenty of openings for cool stories in there. The way they set everything up (rural Russian dude in a city where he doesn't understand life yet), has promising opportunities to have a neat narrative. The one thing I hope is that they don't make him into another pathetic thug, but that he retains that distant aloofness. I didn't very much like the GTA protagonists, hopefully this is one different.

As for the city, it looks pretty nice. As long as there's enough diversity and interesting layouts, it'll be fine.

[brkl]

I like the Koyaanisqatsi like bits.

[Oath]

I don't know what people were expecting, but this pleases me at least. Given the wide audience the series has, I was expecting someone more "mainstream" for the lead role. I don't really mind the setting either, as I'm sure Rockstar could make whatever locale they choose interesting.

[Wrestlevania]

Honestly? I've watched it twice and it's made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up both times by the end.

I think it'd be foolish to write this off as simply a prettier version of GTA 3--especially as I think Rockstar North will be taking design cues from Bully, making the game all about the narrative and (superb voice) acting. Also, don't discount just how much better considerably more powerful hardware could make the series, specifically in terms of AI and physics. (The GTA franchise really needs to toughen up in both of these aspects, if it wants to rise above imitators like Saints Row and Crackdown.)

And whilst a female protagonist would've been welcome, I don't think we've been left wanting with our Eastern Bloc friend in the trailer; truckloads of potential here, especially with the allusion to escaping a remote and tragic past.

For the record, I loved Vice City - but was never excited about it beforehand. But this one I'm genuinely looking forward to even more now.

[DanJW]

I Never played GTA III or LCS, so correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that real-life New York rather than Liberty City?

I really enjoyed Vice City, and San Andreas looked pretty good even though I didn't play it much. I was wondering if they would continue with the "decade" theme, but they've pretty much exhausted them (70's was done well by Driver: Parrallel lines, and 60's would be too cliché). Looks like Rockstar are running short on ideas. I guess a different country would be nice, maybe Italy or Japan.. The Russian is a nice touch.

Hmm, just a thought, but what if it covers more than one location? San Andreas had a number of cities didn't it? Could be that our comrade will make a trip back to the Fatherland

[JJZ]

I keep seeing things about it being NYC, but the boat in the trailer has "Liberty City" on the back, and while boats can move to new places, I'm betting it's not the case here. It's functionally NYC anyway. Just with more ramps.

[DanJW]

But did Liberty City have the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building and Times Square, amongst other NYC landmarks?

[brkl]

Yes. Well, apparently there has already been an Empire State Building lookalike and a Times Square lookalike, so the rest are not so odd.

[StarEye]

It's not even a discussion, everything in the trailer suggests it's Liberty City. Since Liberty City is based on New York, it can have several landmarks and location look the same, but at the same time have the freedom to make up their own structure.

[DanJW]

Okay-dokey then. This makes me slightly less interested in it though.

[elmuerte]

It looks impressive, and that's pretty much it.

And I agree with others, a new city would have been nicer. Are we going to see a Vice City 2 after GTA4?

[n0wak]

All the GTA3 games made allusions to a lot of pop culture related to its setting, but I'm having a hard time thinking of good Russian mafia-esque films. Granted, there's that whole "immigrant rises to the top of the criminal world" genre and, often, New York seems to be that setting, so I'm sure there'll be a lot to draw on. Just can't think of many eastern european immigrant crime films. Anyone?

(Also, the dialogue loosely reminds me of season two of The Wire)

[Erkki]

I still hope some kind of splinter group will form inside Rockstar and produce Grand Theft Horse, while maintaining all the scale and quality aspects of GTA. That would be awesome.

Still, GTA IV seems pretty good too -- GTA III was definitely a positive surprise by handling the jump to 3D very well (at the time it was questionable whether it would) and this looks like it might be a jump of a similar scale. But then again, GTA 2 was a flop*, and this one is also evenly numbered...

* I personally kind of liked it though.

[toblix]

But I'm sure Rockstar will manage to turn it into a or even a with their tightly controlled monthly PR blasts each focusing on one set of new features, as they did with San Andreas.

What features did they focus on?

[Roderick]

Grand Theft Carriage.

[vimes]

Maybe, you're going to tell me I'm wishing GTA IV would be something the GTA series is definitely not but here is why I liked this teaser :

1 - It's really well put together in the cinematic sense.It's smart, subtle and has a great soundtrack. It's like the teaser of AI but for a game.

2 - Is it me or does it seems that the GTa series is moving from grotesque/clichéd storyline to more subtle one ?

I really didn't like any of the storyline of the previous installments, but the fact that the main character seems to be seeking a life out of crime is a good start to get a storyline that isn't a rip off of gangster's movie. D'you think it might impact the gameplay?

Another question to English natives, are you sure the guy is Russian? The accent reminded me more of a middle-east guy than a Moscow guy but I could be wrong.

There is only one thing disappointing though, no huge rural area as the ones from San Andreas appears in this, but this is just a teaser after all.

[elmuerte]

Grand Theft Pogo-Stick

[DanJW]

Grand Theft Safari!

I wanna ride me that elephant, boiy.

[elmuerte]

What would be nice if in GTA4 if you could actually choose between becoming a criminal or not. And not that good/evil stuff like the starwars games.

[vimes]

And ElMuerte, Id' like to have this kind of gameplay too, but that wouldn't be a GTA, would it ?

I ranted about it in the past, I would definitely like to see a GTA/Mafia clone with an overarching storyline that set itself in time. What I mean is that the world wouldn't stay idle between two missions and you could choose to get involve in the story happening or not, but you would see the side effecs on the environment and use that for your own purpose.

[Roderick]

I think it's too much to ask that there are all kinds of things in it that are decidedly not what Rockstar want with GTA, but I think it's safe to say there's a high probability that they're trying out some new things. More subtle things. Which is always to be lauded, lest the game becomes just a remake from the earlier ones.

And the thought has circulated that it might be a middle-Eastern guy, which would be GTA again laying a finger on the pulse of contemporary American issues. Though I'd prefer it to be a Russian guy, because it opens up more perspective for change; what with Russians being really cool and easy-going, as opposed to all the hotheads like CJ.

*Bang!* ,,Welcome to San Andreas! I'm CJ!"