Grand Theft Auto IV
- January 23, 2008 10:52 AM PST
- Email this!
After six months of silence, GTA IV is still king. Find out why in our extensive preview.
2008: The Year of GTA IV
"GTA IV is definitely not getting delayed again," a Rockstar representative boldly states before an hour long demo of Grand Theft Auto IV, the first footage shown to GamePro (and other gaming press) in approximately six months. Since that showing last July, GTA IV missed its scheduled fall release and was pushed back to spring 2008.
Back in July, GTA IV looked impressive, but it was clear that it needed more than a couple months to polish up a potential masterpiece. "This game has to be that much better than everything out there," says Rockstar, keying in on just how much the game is pushing the boundaries of gaming as a form of entertainment.
The big question is: How far has GTA IV come? A very long way. As huge fans of the GTA series, Travis and I are here to explain exactly why it's time to start getting excited for GTA IV.
Grand Expectations
GTA 3 was a mega breakthrough in gaming, and Vice City and San Andreas were great expansions of the same general sandbox formula. Where GTA 3 introduced a style of play that changed action gaming forever, the subsequent games expanded in scope and features.
The jump from the PlayStation 2 trilogy to new hardware is looking like it could be as influential to the series as the 3D jump to GTA 3. Of course, we're not talking about a dimensional upgrade (2-D to 3-D was the biggest, most obvious change from GTA 2 to 3), but more subtle changes such as lifelike facial expressions, targeting, seamless play and a story that is an integral part of the game. And of course, there is the obvious graphical upgrade on the PS3 and Xbox 360 that makes everything come together as a whole. With eyes wide open on this first showing of the game since July, we saw why it's time to start getting excited for Grand Theft Auto IV.
