Ordinarily with a trailer I would just embed the video here, but every site with this thing is getting hammered (which is not surprising given the anticipation behind this game), so I’ll just let you know that this link worked for me. Right click and save as to watch it. Anyway. So, first off, graphically, the game looks pretty damned good. It definitely seems like Rockstar is going for a slighly more realistic style of graphics here, made clear by the emphasis placed on environments and the quality of the game world found in the trailer. We’re given a glimpse of a statue that very much resembles the Statue of Liberty, though given Rockstar’s history of fictional cities, it’s not clear that the game will be taking place in the New York; besides, given Ubisoft’s recent problems with the real world settings found in Rainbow Six: Vegas and GRAW 1 and 2, and the target Rockstar carries on their back by, well, being Rockstar, I somehow doubt they want to take on Michael Bloomberg, Eliot Spitzer, and the New York Tourism Board.
Judging by only the appearance and voiceover we get from what would seem to be the game’s protagonist, this installment of GTA deals with former Soviet bloc organized crime, probably the Russian Mafiya, and to be completely honest, this could lead to the most brutal GTA we’ve ever seen. Mafiya tactics and methods of enforcement make Italian, Cuban, and California Gang based organized crime look like Human Rights International, and knowing Rockstar, this will be played up in some way. Whether or not that means you’ll be wielding a Shotgun whose shells are filled with broken glass remains to be seen, but I’ve got hunches.
Unfortunately, my biggest issues with the GTA franchise are issues that a trailer just simply aren’t going to address, especially control. I have hope for this installment even amidst my ennui for the previous games given the enormous jumps in the Sandbox-game genre over just the last 18 months; I didn’t play Saints Row, but people seemed to think that it improved on a lot of GTA’s shortcomings, and Crackdown has displayed the best targeting and driving controls of any of these kinds of games I’ve had the opportunity to play. Given these advancements, and the extended development time for this installment (November will mark 3 years between GTA installments, in a franchise that saw games in 2001, 2002, and 2004), it would be hard to imagine that these issues could be ignored. Besides, the excellent control found in Table Tennis shows me that Rockstar has staff that are adept at crafting well controlling experiences. Now if they’d just implement meaningful moral consequences, then I’d be all set. But again, we’ll have to see. I’m guardedly optimistic for a franchise I haven’t cared about in years.
-Aegies
P.S. Wired has their story on Take Two, Terry Donovan and the Houser brothers, and the rocky history of GTA up on their website. If you’ve got time, it’s a hell of an interesting read.