http://ps3.ign.com/articles/807/807625p1.html

Grand Theft Auto IV Extended Preview
Rockstar shows us 45 minutes of chases, shootouts and hot dogs.
by Chris Roper, Hilary Goldstein and Matt Wales

July 25, 2007 - After waiting for years for the true sequel to one of
the most influential games of the past decade, Grand Theft Auto III,
we finally got a taste of the future about two months ago. Rockstar
Games headed towards the West Coast (a.k.a. the Best Coast) with a
very special parcel in tow - a build of Grand Theft Auto IV. While
what we saw then was certainly impressive, the presentation parlayed
to us was nothing short of a teaser. We never even saw a gun.

This time though, things were different. Rockstar recently gave us a
double-dipped walkthrough of about 45 minutes of play time, once
without commentary or explanation so that we could just take it all
in, and then a second time with a full presentation to clue us in to
all of the details. Though we've all played countless hours of the
GTAIII trilogy, this second time through was necessary simply because
of the amount of stuff thrown in here.

Our demo began with Niko Bellic standing at the ready in Star
Junction, Rockstar's version of Times Square. The area is filled with
neon signs and glowing billboards which blanket buildings that stretch
toward the sky. People scurry everywhere, doing whatever it is they do
between jobs, drinks and sleep in Star Junction.

We predict sightseeing will take up many, many hours of our play
time.After looking around a bit to allow us to take in the rather
impressive sights, Niko takes a short stroll over to a nearby hot dog
vendor, hands over some cash and chows down on a dog. With his stomach
full, he whistles for a cab, hops in and takes a ride.

Indeed, as immersive and open as past cities in the Grand Theft Auto
games have been, none are more alive, realistic and seemingly
involving than the Liberty City you'll find in GTAIV. Pedestrians
perform all manners of activities while walking around. From smoking
to reading to eating to dialing phones while not paying attention to
where they're going, they seem much more alive than ever before.

Cabs aren't only for use after failed missions but can be hailed at
any time by whistling. If one is nearby and without a passenger, he
may pull over and pick you up. After you've taken a seat and told him
where to go, be it a mission point or any place you've chosen on the
map, you can sit in the back and watch the city go by. A quick press
of a button will skip the journey and get you right to your
destination, but there's something calming about sitting in the back
of a cab in virtual traffic.

While cruising the streets you'll notice that not only every major
section but every street in the game has its own name. While this may
wind up helping the directionally-talented figure out how to get from
place-to-place more easily, it also gives life to the city and brings
about a feeling of history and time to Liberty City. In other words,
the idea is to make sure it doesn't seem like the city only exists
when you turn the game on.

While an engaging and immersive city certainly helps draw you in and
keep you hooked, a Grand Theft Auto game wouldn't be the same without
a healthy dose of violence...

The two missions we witnessed were centered around a character named
Francis McReary, a corrupt cop who winds up with some rather
incriminating evidence pointed his way. But what government worker
would be worth their salt without dirt on someone else? Alas, our poor
Niko is talked into taking on a few missions to make sure McReary
stays clear of his business - "You look out for me, and I won't look
out for you", as McReary puts it with a smug look on his face.

As often as you'll use your cell, it's a good thing there aren't phone
bills in GTAIV.Niko has two targets, each with their own handfuls of
evidence. One is a high-priced lawyer from the firm of Goldberg,
Ligner and Shyster; the other, a blackmailing thief. In order to get
into the law firm, Niko heads to the closest Internet cafe, hops
online and submits a slightly-exaggerated resume in order to land a
one-on-one interview.

Indeed, the Internet is accessible all over Liberty City, and you'll
be able to get online at any working computer that you find. While
you're contained within the realm of the game's Internet (you can't
surf IGN in other words), you'll be able to browse various sites at
your leisure, send email, use online dating services and more (we'll
get back to the dating part in a bit).

Once Niko has his resume sent off it'll usually take a couple days to
hear from the office for a one-on-one, but for demo purposes
Goldberg's secretary calls back almost immediately and an interview
time is set. Instead of simply sitting around a waiting for time to
pass, Niko turns his attention to target numero dos, the blackmailing
thief.

The thief is scheduled to meet McReary near a park at a lookout spot
in order to exchange a suitcase of cash for a memory stick with some
incriminating photos. Neither McReary nor Niko knows what the thief
looks like, which is where a bit of investigative phone calling comes
into play. Once Niko is at the spot and in position to see everyone in
the area, he calls the thief's cell phone. Scanning the crowd and
picking out someone who may be on the other end of the phone, Niko
keeps him talking while he gets closer, then hangs up to see if his
potential target follows suit. He does and confirms his identity, so
Niko quickly pulls a gun and fires two shots into his face.

The first killing we witness in GTAIV is a brutal one, and it's
quickly evident that the game's violence matches its more realistic
look. Shots ring out from Niko's handgun like claps of thunder and
startle everyone in the area. The thief's head kicks back oddly when
hit as his body goes numb, quickly slouching to the ground. His death
isn't as brutal as those that we'd seen in another recent Rockstar
title, but it's certainly not as cartoony as what you would find in
the last three GTA titles.

With people scattering everywhere, Niko grabs the evidence, puts away
his weapon and heads off to find an escape. Jumping into the nearest
vehicle, he speeds away as cops flock to the scene. Unlike previous
GTA games where you simply must stay hidden for a bit to escape, you
must now flee the scene and get outside of the cops' search radius.

Based on the severity of the crime(s), the police will search a
circular area of a given radius. Every time you're spotted, the search
area re-centers on your location and you have to go that much further
to finally get away. Switching cars and such helps in that while
you'll still have to exit the search zone in order to rid yourself of
wanted stars (of which there still appears to be six), the cops will
have a harder time recognizing you and you'll be more likely to drive
past them.

Once free, Niko buys some time before his interview by picking up some
new threads. Gone are a number of the expansive customization options
from San Andreas, like the ability to gain and lose weight (that
compromises the physics interactions) or wear a pink wig. Instead,
your options here are more grounded in order to make Niko and the
overall experience feel more realistic.

Inside a high-end men's clothing store called Perseus, Niko slips on a
chocolate suit and some new shoes in order to pass for an up-and-
coming, fire-talking lawyer. His phone goes off and alerts him that
it's time for the interview, and he's off.

Ringing the front buzzer, Niko tells the secretary that he's there for
his interview. After being buzzed in, he's escorted into Goldberg's
office and sits down across from him on the other side of his desk.
Our anti-hero calmly takes in the opening sections of the interview
and lets things settle before standing up, brandishing his weapon and,
surprisingly, impressing the lawyer with his "go get 'em" attitude.
Though the interview seemed to be going well even after pulling a
weapon, Niko isn't in need of a job and points his weapon at the
lawyer and demands the evidence against McReary. After learning that
it's right there on the edge of his desk, Niko fires off a couple
shots into the lawyer's chest and sends him hurling through his office
window.

Heading back towards the main lobby to get outside again, Niko quickly
runs into a series of guards and must trade bullets for survival.
Here's where we get clear looks at two new elements of combat for the
series - the ability to freely aim and the cover system.

While you're still able to use a lock-on targeting system in some
manner (which Rockstar is waiting until later to fully unveil), free-
aiming will allow you to shoot anywhere your heart desires, much like
you might find in a third-person shooter such as Max Payne. While it
should certainly cut down on problems like having the game aim at
inappropriate targets or swinging the camera wildly, it also allows
you to hone in shots at people who are taking cover but are still
partially visible. Unlike the free-aim weapons of GTAs in the past,
such as the sniper rifle or rocket launcher, you're still in a third-
person view and, from the looks of it, are able to move and aim
simultaneously.

The ability to take cover is brand-new to the genre and looks to
change shootouts entirely. Instead of running around wildly while
firing off clip after clip, taking cover means that you can calm down,
wait for an opening and take more opportune shots. We're told that
you'll be able to take cover behind anything that would make sense,
though most of these objects won't last long as most cover is
destructible and can be chipped away with bullets.

The new gunplay mechanics are big and obvious changes, but the
franchise has a whole lot of small tweaks and additions to be found as
well. In fact, it looks like every element of the franchise has been
reworked in some fashion. For example, you'll no longer be able to
stroll into your local Ammunation to pick up weapons and ammo.
Instead, once you've befriended him you'll call up a guns dealer by
the name of Little Jacob and purchase weapons from him out of the
trunk of his car. This is both more realistic and a big time saver as
you won't have to drive half-way across the map just to load up on
weapons before a big mission.

Speaking of calling people, your phone is an important part of the
overall experience as it not only allows you to call people for
missions instead of having to go and meet them like an errand boy, but
it also lets you check your email, keep a list of contacts, take
pictures with its camera and remind you of events via its calendar,
like your interview at the law firm.

Calling people won't be used solely for getting missions.
Relationships will play a part in your progression, like who you'll
work with and who will be able to help you out (like Little Jacob).
You can choose to use an online dating service to find a lady friend,
or hang out at the local pool hall to pick up some new buddies.
Rockstar is being a little cryptic on how deep this relationship
system goes for the moment, but it's clear that it's a very important
part of the overall experience.

A number of other small, but important tweaks, are to be found. Food
and rest will be your sole means of health recovery this time around
as heart containers are a thing of the past (link to the past?). The
map and its functionality is a work-in-progress, but it currently
features GPS tracking that shows you not only your destination but the
quickest route to get there.

And lastly, the camera has been tightened a fair bit. The default on-
foot camera is a little closer to you and lower than before, giving
you a bigger and more expansive view of the environment. Likewise, the
driving camera is much closer and lower, though it's also set off to
the left side a little bit in order to allow you to see straight ahead
a little more. Whether or not the view will impact your overall or
especially right-side vision at all remains to be seen, but other
camera options will always be at your disposal if you don't like it.

The one last piece of the game that we've seen (or rather, heard) is
the soundtrack. Unfortunately, licensing is still in progress so none
of the music that we've heard can be confirmed as final, but what's in
there now is very, very good. If it's indicative of what we'll see in
the final game, expect to find a soundtrack that's a little more off-
the-wall than previous games, but one that seems to fit the atmosphere
and mood of its surroundings better. So though it might not wind up
having the most hits, if the final track list is anything like what
we've heard, it could wind up being the best yet.

Chris Roper's Impressions
After having finally seen actual, core gameplay from Grand Theft Auto
IV, I can safely say that it looks like Rockstar is delivering on my
hopes. There are enough changes to things like travel, mission
structure and, most importantly, the action that should make it worthy
of the moniker jump from III to IV. Will all of these things work
perfectly? I have no idea. But I know Rockstar is trying its
damnedest, and most every new addition it's added to the series in the
past has worked wonderfully, so I have confidence it'll be the same
here.

The cover system is certainly a nice edition, and hopefully it winds
up controlling well. It was a little hard to tell from the demo just
how well it worked, but it could prove to really heighten the battles
in the game. The shootout that we saw as Niko exited the law firm
reminded me a little bit of the shootout in Heat, which is saying a
lot.

The world looks fantastic, and I can't wait to hop in a car or on a
bike and just drive around and see the sites. As much as I want to
jump into the game and get the story progressing so that I can gain
access to better weapons and whatnot, I'm going to have a hard time
keeping myself from just exploring for hours on end like a tourist. I
just hope there are as many insane stunt jumps as we've seen in the
previous games.

My only concern at this point is how well the game will wind up
running when it's finished. Rockstar has always tried to push consoles
to their maximum with every release, and it looks to very much be
doing so again with Grand Theft Auto IV. The demo ran well when Niko
was alone and wandering, but during shootouts it slowed down quite a
bit. The Rockstar reps on hand seemed confident that everything would
be fine in the end, and I really, really doubt the company would
release anything that wasn't as polished as possible, so hopefully
everything will run smooth and peachy when we have it in our hands.

We have less than three months before we find out first-hand, and I
can't wait.

Hil's Impressions
Grand Theft Auto fans are in for a shock. This is not your typical GTA
game. It's not over-the-top and it's no filled with sly movie
references. That isn't to say GTA IV won't have moments of the
ridiculous. During our demo, we saw that Rockstar's sense of humor
remained intact, despite having a game more grounded in reality. In
the span of an hour, I must have laughed at least a half dozen times.
But more impressive, was that I actually gasped in shock.

And what was it that could get an old, jaded GTA player like myself to
be surprised? Believe it or not, it was when Niko pulled out a pistol
in public and shot a guy in the face. No, his head didn't explode as
if Gallagher had smashed into a watermelon. That single act was
jarring. And that kind of reaction is exactly what Rockstar wants.
What was one a casual public killing suddenly has some weight to it.
Much of that is due to the fact that the replica of New York Rockstar
has created is as real and as believable a city as any I have ever
seen in a videogame.

There are potholes on the street, weed poking up between the cracks in
the sidewalk, and pedestrians that don't look like cardboard cut-outs.
The buildings have age to them. That's one thing many who recreate New
York (even if it is given a different name) fail to get right. This is
an old city outside of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The
streets and buildings of New York have a history to them. And Rockstar
has -- at least from what I've seen so far -- managed to infuse that
sense of age into Liberty City.

The special attention paid to the physics also adds to that sense of
reality. Niko has some weight to him. He shifts as he walks. He
appears much more substantial than CJ or past GTA stars. And that
cars, wow, the cars have suspension. You can see the weight
distribution shift to one side on a turn. It's impressive little
details like this that really brought Liberty City to life for me. For
the first time, I can see a GTA game as something other than a giant
arcade world.

Of course, it wouldn't be Grand Theft Auto without some violence and
the threat of the police. All of the realism I spoke about works to
create new tension in combat. Niko can take true cover behind pretty
much anything. And the moment I saw him blindfire, I knew GTA IV would
give me things no other Rockstar game has. The final fight to escape
the cops is intense. And yes, there's still lots of bullets, tons of
death, and plenty of mayhem. But it seems a more visceral experience.
It's almost like past GTA's kept you pulled back from the violence, as
if you were some puppeteer controlling the action. Now it's as if
Rockstar has brought us to the ground level and ever time Niko's gun
fires, we're the one's pulling the trigger.

Except when people are in front of you.One thing Rockstar did not
show, was the possibility of a rooftop escape. Fences and other
obstacles can be climbed. So conceivably, you could run into a back
alley and try to find an unexpected avenue for escape. The new line-of-
sight system sounds promising, but it's definitely something we need
to see more of (and to fiddle around with) to see if it truly pays
off.

I won't lie, I got bored halfway through GTA: San Andreas and gave up.

story, and exploration. Will that make it the best GTA yet? I'd
imagine that will require several dozen hours of hands-on time to
determine. In other words, I'll find out October 16, just like the
rest of you. But after seeing the extended demo of GTA IV, that's a
date now circled on my calendar.

Matt Wales' UK Take
Hello there, loyal IGN reader. I have a shocking secret I wish to
impart on your visual ears: I don't particularly like the Grand Theft
Auto series. Call me funny, but I've never yearned to be a scheming
crime lord. Cars are merely a convenient means of getting from place
to place in my world and endlessly bouncing around a juddering, blurry
shoebox style city never really screamed fun. Likewise, my capacity
for entirely broken fighting mechanics is limited at best. Sure, I can
appreciate Rockstar's searing sense of humour that positively crackles
through the GTA series - and I've always wanted to run someone over
with a golf cart - but beyond that, well, I've always found the whole
thing a bit tedious.

So, imagine my surprise when Rockstar unveiled its first Philip Glass
underscored GTA IV trailer and the sheer majesty of its revitalized
Liberty City absolutely blew me away. Here's a series I've managed to
muster up something approximating casual disinterest for over the last
couple of years and, suddenly, I'd quite happily beat my grandmother
to death if someone told me there was a finished copy of the game
hidden in her colostomy bag. Of course, a cannily edited slideshow of
pretty vistas only takes you so far so, it was with some degree of
trepidation that I attended Rockstar's most recent GTA IV gameplay
demo.

How to say: first impressions weren't exactly stellar. But that's
because I'm both cynical and entirely superficial. Let's get this out
of the way now because it's the least fair criticism I have to make.
Visually, GTA IV's a shocker at the moment - sluggish, spasmodic frame
rates, horrendous pop-up and bland interiors all brought back
uncomfortable memories of Rockstar's previous insistence on pushing
its PS2 engine much harder than it should feasibly be pushed. That
said, when stationary, the game looks absolutely beautiful, with
massive amounts of detail, impeccable modeling and some simply
gorgeous lighting effects and texturing - all amounting to degrees of
life we've yet seen in a videogame. Admittedly though, any technical
complaints are pretty mute at this point in development - the demo
build we saw is weeks old by now and Rockstar is adamant that engine
wrinkles will be completely ironed out come release.

Trouble is, there's such promise instilled in GTA IV that you simply
don't want to consider the possibility that presentation flaws might
serve to bring you out of the experience. For instance, Rockstar's
refined combat engine looks to lay the more awkward aspects of
previous titles to rest for good - which is no bad thing considering
how crucial fighting's always been to the GTA universe. Not only does
the use and abuse of cover make its long-overdue debut, but neat
touches like the ability to duck behind a desk, firing blindly over
the top with your pistol, finally seem to be bringing the action
element of GTA into the realms of the sort of Hollywood spectacle the
series has always strived for.

Similarly, the refined Wanted system makes for a far more sensible,
and strategic, form of retribution for your crimes. No longer are
police chases a ridiculous lunge for the nearest paintshop - instead,
observation is key as you play a dangerous game of cat and mouse,
listening out for police officers announcing their whereabouts on the
city streets and staying firmly out of their line of sight, lest your
new position is radioed ahead, placing you right back in the fray.

That said, these are all much-needed refinements for perennially wonky
aspects of the series and we're hardly going to congratulate Rockstar
on achieving something that should have been fixed a long time ago.
Instead, what've really made me stand up and take notice of GTA IV are
the features Rockstar is only hinting at right now, but which have the
potential to make for a completely new experience. We know that
relationships will play a big role in the game and simple touches like
when you choose to answer your phone will make all the difference -
for instance, when it comes to the jobs your given and your standing
in people's eyes. Likewise, with a much more freeform missions
structure - enabling you to participate in numerous jobs at once -
it's possible your choices will have a genuine impact on the world.
For instance, what happens if you choose to skip your interview
appointment in favour of something else? Where does the story go if
you let McReary's blackmailer off the hook instead of shooting him in
the face?

Part of my general GTA malaise comes from the nagging sense that
Rockstar has been too happy resting on its laurels when it came to its
colossus franchise behemoth. However, for all the questions still left
unanswered, the sheer ambition and potential embodied in Grand Theft
Auto IV has gotten me more excited about the series than I've been
since it exchanged sprites for polygons. Here's hoping it can deliver.

_______________________________________________________________________________

http://games.kikizo.com/news/200707/115_p01.asp

Grand Theft Auto IV: Kikizo Preview 2

Kikizo's second massive first-hand preview of GTA IV is so detailed
that we're a bit worried about our own mental health. Get your FULL
update on the game of the year fresh from our extensive meeting with
Rockstar.

By Adam Doree

Welcome to our second massive first-hand preview of Grand Theft Auto
IV. Last time, we took an in-depth introductory look at the game and
cruised around the streets of Broker (Brooklyn), winding up with a
fascinating view across the water to Algonquin, which left us
wondering what things might be like over there in the game's version
of Manhattan. Here in our second private preview, we found all the
answers - and more.

We'll continue to update this page with all our regular previews,
based on our rather privileged, direct access to the game at Rockstar.
Remember you can subscribe to this RSS feed or simply bookmark
GTA4.kikizo.com if you don't want to miss a single beat.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Kikizo Preview 2

Once again, our demo takes place on the Xbox 360 version of the game -
in fact, nobody has seen anything of the PS3 version to date, outside
of Rockstar and Take 2. We actually expected to see the PS3 version
this time. "It's still a week or two behind," Rockstar told us, saying
that we'll "absolutely" get to see it soon, but that for demo purposes
this version was easier to show. The build is actually specially made
for our demo, so certain things happen much sooner and more obviously
that they will in the final game, so that we can really get an
understating of all the new features.

And even though this build is five weeks old, we can reveal that frame
rate is much improved - certainly more stable since the last build we
looked at - so anyone worried about the version shown off at Take 2's
conference at E3 two weeks ago can relax. We're almost certain that
was precisely the same code that we saw for our first preview, which
was already quite old at the time we saw it back in May. When they
warn that they are showing unoptimised code, strangely enough, they
mean it. Now, the game is graphically a lot more stable, which is why
they didn't hesitate to put the game engine through its paces this
time with some very fast driving and shooting action around the city,
that rarely struggled to keep up, unlike the more, shall we say,
'fragile' old build people have seen.

So, we have absolutely no concern about the technical quality that the
final game will offer based on this latest viewing. The only issue at
this time, is that as we slowly pan the camera around when there's a
very broad view of many buildings, the many windows in sight are a bit
jittery as they reflect the world - though this is not the case during
typical in-game scenarios, where building detail is usually closer as
you pass it by. Of course, the game is still a work in progress -
visuals, voice acting, AI and so forth still have a few months' of
thorough optimisation and finalisation time.

In the scheme of things - as we'll explain today - it's a minor detail
to iron out, as this game is looking absolutely stunning. Rockstar's
ultimate goal, they told us, is to set the standard for what a true
next-gen action adventure videogame can be - and frankly it looks like
they're already there, judging by the small portion of the game we've
seen so far.

Indeed, the entire team at Rockstar is virtually unchanged since
before GTA III - it's the same lead producer, executive producer, art
directors. "What we have changed," Rockstar explained, "we have added
a group of incredibly talented people on top of this pile to help us
come up with something really special. They have an ambition which we
believe is unmatched in the industry for what we're trying to achieve
with next-gen GTA."

The music is also placeholder - "it's a very important part of any
GTA, and something that we like to hold back for the fans to find out
for themselves, plus it's something that could easily change",
explains Rockstar. We did previously reveal that the placeholder music
in the last build, however, was Fela Kuti's Sorrow, Tears and Blood,
just to give a sense of how great a New York vibe we got from the tour
through Broker - and we noted many readers went off to YouTube to
picture cruising in next-gen Liberty City to this classy beat.
Unfortunately, Rockstar doesn't want us to name the tracks this time,
but the vibe was mostly similar and a little more well-known, too. One
thing's more certain - as we revealed last time - there'll be a lot
more, probably "spanning genres and decades", said Rockstar.

The purpose of the demo this time was to get a true sense of the
fundamental design changes that have been made to the game and get a
solid look at how missions, game structure and freedom of choice are
all going to work in GTA IV.

The theme with lead protagonist Niko Bellic is 'small fish in a big
pond'. It's not the rags to riches story that has highlighted past
GTAs; rather it's "rags to slightly better rags", as Rockstar puts it.
The character has different motivations this time around - in the last
trailer, Looking for that Special Someone, we learn that Niko's not
only there because of his cousin Roman, he's also there because he's
looking for someone. But who?

We start with Niko at Star Junction, Rockstar's version of Times
Square at 5AM early in the October morning, and it's still dark, yet
full of all the real character of dazzling neon Times Square. An
overweight 'De Vito-in-Friends'-looking cop passes by and like all
other NPCs, is animated uniquely and walks just like a fat New York
policeman should. There's a theatre show on called T.S. Pirate at the
Thespian Theatre, as well as a camera store called Liberty Cameras -
in fact we're pretty sure it's the exact store where Kikizo picked up
a videocamera many moons ago. Yes, we like Times Square shopping, and
we're not sorry about it.

As a newly arrived immigrant into Liberty City, Niko - or 'Nikolai',
as he's referred to later in this demo - is about to embark on another
day. Local police officer Francis McReary has some sort of dirt on
Niko, and is asking a few favours - in return, he'll keep quiet about
what he knows about Niko. One of the favours he's asking is to kill a
lawyer from the law firm, Goldberg Ligner & Shyster - a mission that
forms the basis of this demo. But if you've already heard about the
basics of that from a games magazine, keep reading, because throughout
this article we're going to cream on many of the extra details every
one of them missed out.

He's about to call a buddy of his, a guy by the name of Little Jacob,
and this simple phone call is emblematic of a couple of fundamental
changes in the game. The series has always emphasised non-linear
gameplay and player choice, and the phone call he's about to make,
Rockstar says, extends this concept. "Whereas past GTA games have been
about accepting missions, now that line is blurry and you actively
take more of a part in telling the story yourself." More on this
later.

He's got a long day ahead of him in this part of the game, so he's
going to need some firepower. He's about to call Little Jacob - a
Jamaican gun dealer from Dukes, Liberty City's interpretation of
Queens. Little Jacob is in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam, one of the
many areas you'll get to know as you play the game. For that matter,
Rockstar has actually named each individual street in the whole of the
city, and the name of each street is displayed in the bottom right as
you enter it, as well as 'street signed' graphically in the game - a
first for GTA. We set off for Rotterdam on a breezy motorbike ride,
and stopped next to a pizza store that sells pizzas at the very
reasonable price of 99 cents, and a large cocktail bar lit up in
fluorescent pink called Bahama Mamas.

Weapons are a core part of any GTA game, but this being October 2007,
Niko can't just walk along 5th Avenue into an AmmuNation store and
purchase an Uzi; he's going to have to find them in basements, back
streets, alleyways and car boots - weapons are a precious commodity in
GTA IV, and aren't easy to acquire. Little Jacob - a friend of Niko's
cousin Roman - is our man for the job this time around, and one of
Roman's many associates Niko will build trust with through the game,
Rockstar told us. And he's a pretty useful contact to have in the
phonebook; when he needs weapons he can call them up, they can be
somewhere and he can go and buy.

"Niko, how's it going? Check this, rasta", says Little Jacob,
presenting Niko with the trunk of his car containing a 9MM, an SMG and
a Micro SMG, all $100 a piece. We pick up all three as well as 540
rounds of ammo. Considering we started the demo with $7500, it's not
exactly breaking the bank - although some purchases later will come
close. "One love, Niko. I and I be seeing each other soon," says Jacob
as he 'gestures' farewell. It's getting light now, and the sun comes
out visibly quickly in game-time - we can see the soft shadow receding
on the sidewalk.

Next, we need to head to the local internet café, ingeniously named
"TW@". He and Francis McReary, the copper we mentioned earlier, are
trying to work on gaining entrance to the law firm Goldberg Ligner &
Shyster, and they figure that the best way to do that is if Niko
submits his resume to them, then organises an interview without
raising any suspicion.

A cab can be hailed at any time as Niko whistles to get its attention
- (one time when we hailed one, a passer by was hit by the cab - the
animation, as always, was superb) - Liberty City is a huge place so
you might not want necessarily to drive yourself there. You press Y to
enter a cab once it pulls over for you. You're given the option to
just relax in the cab, skip the trip, or pay double the fare and the
cabbie will drive twice as fast, but we opt to take the full ride and
enjoy the views and sounds. Of course, you can still jack cars, which
is a little more risky if the cops are out.

Inside the cab from Niko's perspective you can see and talk through to
the driver in the front. The camera view of the cab as it goes through
the city changes every five seconds to make things more interesting to
look at; we see a three-quarters driver's window view from the front
that shows the cabbie (who looks just as detailed as Niko), as well as
views from the hood, the top of the rear wheel, underneath the window,
and even a racing game-style replay cam panning around from up high,
showing off some exceptional roof and top-of-subway rail detail that
many developers simply wouldn't bother with - nothing is hidden here,
and the world is constantly moving and dynamic. Undoubtedly, the RAGE
engine is starting to show what it can really do here, and it makes
you wonder whether Take 2 might license out this technology in the
vein of Valve's Source engine or Epic's Unreal engine - it's that sort
of benchmark quality we're talking about for the new consoles.

The way the HDR light glares off from the yellow bodywork looks like
money, and touches like the proper tyre detail and fare prices etched
onto the cab door are just another example of full-on detail in the
world. Whenever the cab brakes suddenly, the passengers can be seen
leaning forward and then setting back with the momentum, which looks
very cool. The player can change the music selection in the cab to the
next track, but isn't in control of what track is next. Rockstar
couldn't confirm if the player can change their destination in the
middle of a cab journey.

We're still in Algonquin, north of Middle Park, and after the ride we
arrive at TW@. Like in all windowed building in the game, the outside
world and its traffic can be seen and heard from inside the café -
(here we see the underneath of a raised subway rail), and the traffic
hum sounds like real traffic. We touched on this in our last preview
but seriously - wow. It starts and stops so when the traffic is
stationary, there's heavy noise like large trucks rumbling against a
backdrop of extremely varied car horns and perhaps smaller parking
traffic. You don't even need to see outside to know it's a living
world, though you can do that too of course, thanks to seamless
connection between interior and exterior environments all modelled in
one consistent game world that never loads, never takes a technical
short cut, and never feels cheap. It doesn't sound like a game, it
doesn't even sound like a movie; it sounds like New York. And the
detail on every vehicle is amazing; the grille at the front of a big
truck we saw is shiny and reflective, and every mirror on every
vehicle appears to reflect the world - useful, when often-paranoid
Niko is always looking over his shoulder in the rear view.

The TW@ café advertises that you can get online for just a dollar, is
"totally wireless", and also takes credit cards (might we see some
sort of credit card fraud activity later in the game? With the
technically advanced world of 2007 now emphasised, cyber crime is very
likely to put a new spin on things, though this is just our
speculation).

Rockstar is putting Internets in the game because it is an integral
part of modern day life, and it should offer a good opportunity to
channel gameplay elements. Liberty City is also a massive place that
has its 'own Internet', and Rockstar promises that in true GTA fashion
there's going to be lots of fun things to do and explore on it. "We're
not going into this any further today," our rep says, but we still get
a brief look at how it works. It also acts as a discovery tool and an
information aggregator; Niko has his own account that can be accessed
from any computer in the city, so there's always a way for him to find
stuff out.

Inside, terminals are all neatly laid out and it's basically a pretty
standard looking independent Internet café. Pressing LB sits us down,
and once sat at the terminal, the screen is displayed, as you would
see it on your monitor. You control the pointer with the analogue
stick - certainly the first time Xbox 360 users will feel like they're
browsing the web a 360 controller. There are plenty of easy-to-find
visual links, so it's not hard to navigate around the web. Rockstar
asked us not to write about some of the web addresses that appear
while browsing GTA's quirky version of the web, "because it's still
stuff that's being worked on at the moment"; interestingly we checked
out some of the domain names we noted down on WHOIS and none are
registered by Take 2 yet, so we best keep quiet and not register them
ourselves if we want to go back for a third preview.

Anyway, Niko navigates to the Goldberg Ligner & Shyster website so he
can submit his resume. A fake one, obviously, that says his objective
is to (and we quote), "rise to the top of my profession in Liberty
City" - he claims to have experience in criminal law with cases such
as manslaughter under his belt, claims that he deals with emerging
markets in the West Indies (particularly 'Jamaica and Puerto Rico'),
claims to have been associate attorney at Mediterranean Shipping
Enterprise, and even an intern at a police force - but best, it says
he was educated at 'Walford University', UK with an MA in
international relations and a first class degree to boot. First class
bullshitter, more like?

According to the resume, he reckons his skills are people management,
coping with cultural differences, athletic ability, shooting, boxing,
running, and swimming "to a professional level", while his interests
are world affairs, importing and exporting goods, and free market
competition. There's perhaps more truth to some of his claims that
others, as we're sure to find out during the full game. He submits the
CV, and if his plan works, the address he'll need to go to according
to the website, is 44 Emerty Street, The Exchange, Algonquin. They
also had a phone number listed (area code 669), which didn't work when
we tried to call it in the name of investigative journalism.

With that submitted, he's now going to make a few phone calls. First
he's going to call officer McReary to let him know that he's submitted
his resume. "Call when you hear about the interview," advises McReary.
Niko's phone rings after the call. And, as part of our plan to tell
you everything we saw - and then some - we present the proper first
dialogue we've encountered in GTA IV in full (and we're going to do
the same with every conversation, even the bits that had no voices in
yet and just had subtitles).

Caller: "This is Karen from Goldberg, we'd like to arrange an
interview at your earliest convenience. Come into our offices at noon
tomorrow, is that alright?"
Niko: "I can free that period up in my schedule."
Karen: "Super, your interview will be with Mr Goldberg. Identify
yourself to security and they will show you up. Have a nice day."

As we mentioned before, this specially built demo of the game is sped
up, and so phone calls and appointments won't all occur this quickly
in the finished title. Indeed, our eventual appointment with Mr
Goldberg would be just a bit later today in game-time, rather than
"noon tomorrow" as scheduled by Karen.

Finally, he calls McReary back (he's on speed dial, judging by the
dialing sound) to let him know that he's organised his appointment for
the interview. "Perfect," says McReary, "the smug bastard ain't gonna
know what's coming at him. Teach him for sticking his nose in other
people's business - and get the files."

An interesting feature about the phone is Niko doesn't have to accept
phone calls if he doesn't want to, but if someone is intent on
reaching him, they'll become increasingly annoyed. This call we just
took from the lawyers though, and when we set up the appointment with
Karen, it automatically dropped that appointment into our organiser on
the phone, to remind Niko when it's time. "We really want to use the
phone as the primary gateway into Niko's life", explains Rockstar,
"it's his contacts list, a daily calendar, organiser, text messages
and camera, all working through his cellphone, and of course that's
exactly how life is for most of us these days." It also helps to hide
the game mechanics, in an interface that 99% of us are already
intimately familiar with, of course.

Right now we've got a bit of time to kill until our appointment, so
we're going to hail another cab and meet up with McReary in person,
who has some other favours to ask.

Time for an ad break! Yes, during our journeys, we made a note of the
commercials we hear, and here's the first. Boring note - these are
placeholder too, and may or not change. "From the people who brought
you the Domestobot, we proudly present El Comercio Roboto! It's the
robotic future... from south of the border! 'Politicians may demand
illegal aliens leave the country, but I want a Mexican gardener I can
ogle!' El Comercio Roboto! You little devil. He can mow the lawn, if
you know what I mean! Comes with six different attachments!" Awesome.
And there's more where they came from.

We exit the cab. Holding A makes Niko run at a good pace, although
control layout is not finalised, and even changes from build to build
during development. Still, the center of gravity that Niko has, and
the very convincing, organic animation of his body tilting slightly
when steering his direction, was still as impressive as the first time
we saw it in May. In this scene, we hear birds singing, in a peaceful
and relaxing pedestrianised area next to the river, with a circular
water fountain area, views of the city and scrapers, and a glimpse of
the Statue of Happiness quite close in the background. We see a yellow
light cone representing an objective, and walk to it to trigger a cut
scene.

In GTA IV, the cut scenes look better than ever, with up-close texture
and animation detail on the characters' faces and bodies really shown
off. Here the cut-scene is with Niko and McReary, who is wearing a
black suit and tie, and sports a moustache and strong side parting in
his slicked blonde hair. Niko still looks best though with his
unshaven face, his eyes blink and flick left and right as he scans the
horizon and they both lean against the railings overlooking the river.
"Now we can really convey emotions and subtleties that weren't
possible previously", comments Rockstar; the expressive body movement
of both characters during the conversation is impressive, and the
Statue of Happiness is in the background at Niko's five o'clock.

Rockstar told us that there are reasons for Niko being in Liberty City
beyond just escaping his past, and in this scene, there is a plot
spoiler, so the rep had to mute the TV for a few sentences of this
section. (That means don't worry, there's no plot spoiler here).
Here's the dialogue:

McReary: "Were you followed?"
Niko: "Hey, strange seeing you here, Officer McReary."
McReary: "I told you to come here, you f.cking maggot!"
Niko: "You did? Why?"
McReary: "I know about you."
Niko: "Know what?"
McReary: "I know enough, boy."
Niko: "Oh, what do you know, boy?"
[Rockstar mutes the TV because of a plot spoiler in the dialogue]
Niko: "I don't know what you're talking about, chief."
McReary: "Do you think this is a town that can keep a secret?"
Niko: "I really don't know what you're talking about."
McReary: "Yeah you do. You know that a man's gotta do what a man's
gotta do. The people ain't perfect, their life is a mess..."
Niko: "Sure, everybody knows that."
McReary: "So. You look out for me, and I don't look out for you. Know
what I mean?"
Niko: "I think so."
McReary: "So, there's a guy trying to blackmail me."
Niko: "Who?"
McReary: "I don't know. Thinks he's getting paid though. The guy's
smart. He arranged to do the exchange by the Humboldt River off
Silicon Street, said to call him from the viewpoint there."
Niko: "OK..."
McReary: "Listen, I did what I did. I made a mistake. That don't make
me the devil. Now obviously I can't go, because then he gets a picture
of me giving him money and then I'm admitting guilt. I ain't guilty of
nothing, other than being a man."
Niko: "To be honest... I don't really care one way or another..."
McReary: "Call me when you get to the spot."

So, Officer McReary's asked Niko to retrieve a memory stick with
compromising images of him from an unknown blackmailer. The only
information McReary has is the blackmailer's location and his
telephone number. So Niko's going to make his way to the viewpoint of
this location at Union Drive East. He's going to phone McReary, who
will then text Niko the phone number of the unknown blackmailer so
Niko can call him and hopefully pick him out in the crowd. And once he
knows who it is, he can do whatever is necessary to retrieve the
memory stick.

We jump into a black Comet that has been left unlocked - one of those
many different jacking and car theft animations obviously includes
just opening it the easy way! As mentioned earlier, with this more
graphically stable code, we rev the engine a lot more in this demo as
we speed up down the freeway type roads, which is a great chance to
check out the next generation sounds of the engine that are right up
there with Forza or Gotham. The cars look great as they react to every
bit of undulation in the road.

When driving, the default camera angle is slightly over to the
drivers' side now, for a better line of sight. There are different
angles and you can move the camera, but if you're not touching it, it
will remain at the more central position leaning towards the drivers'
side. When driving, the field of sight and sense of direction we have
is superior to previous GTAs, thanks to the driver's viewpoint bias,
full-on HD detail, awesome draw distance and of course widescreen
display - you'll really be able to see what you're doing better this
time. Feel the power.

Route navigation is also simpler, since it's 2007 and we have a GPS
system in the car, and the recommended route shows up in yellow on the
radar at the bottom left. You don't have to follow the route, but if
you're playing the game for the first time it's often easier to use
the assistance of the GPS system to get where you need to go. It's a
much more natural experience than having to keep checking a separate
map of the city as in previous games.

Time for another ad break! "Are you ready to live the real estate
dream? Whether you're new on the market or an old hack, we'll take
your dream to the limits of prestige, in a spacious loft or an
outstanding penthouse! It's a 500-square ft glass coated box in the
sky, with windows that won't open and a doorman that masturbates in
your bed while you're at work! Only three million dollars, only three
blocks from the ghetto!"

"Texture and detail in the city is unquestionably the highest quality
we've seen in any next-gen game in a realistic setting, bar none."

Let's also take a minute out to talk about the graphical detail in
every square inch of this new Liberty City. Riding through the city,
we see supremely detailed stuff everywhere, a visual fidelity that is
simply not comparable to anything before in the series; bus stops,
people on cells and payphones, people smoking, all manner of different
trees and flower plant boxes on the sidewalk, roadworks and workers.
We even saw one everyday pedestrian on their cell 'gasp' at something
she'd heard in her conversation. We see trashcans with individually
modelled items of different trash in them, newspaper dispensers,
American flags hanging from many buildings. We pass a Cola van with
the slogan 'Deliciously Infectious' and a hot dog stand (we're told we
can buy a hot dog if we like) as well as a food joint called Burger
Shot and a Chemist both right next to the TW@ internet café earlier.
We also spotted a 'Vinewood' branded video hire store (Vinewood was
San Andreas' rendition of Hollywood).

We see extremely detailed and varied sidewalk textures, steps,
brickwork, street markings and so on, and the natural shadows cast by
all the different moving traffic. Car lights convincingly light up and
reflect the street tarmac and all their surroundings, and the
different surfaces Niko walks on are distinct, including a shiny
marble type surface in a scene earlier. Simply put, the texture and
detail in the city, as well as the overall effect of it all in motion,
is unquestionably the highest quality we've seen in any next-gen game
in a realistic setting, bar none.

Street names pop up at the bottom right as we enter them. On this
particular journey towards the park, we pass through Chinatown,
Presidents City, Lancet, Hatton Gardens, Middle Park East, and a
stretch of freeway, on to Lancaster, and Ruby Street. "I'm in the
park, now what?", Niko asks McReary on his cell. (The name of the cell
network, by the way, is 'Whiz'). "This guy told me to bring the money
there and call him," says McReary. "That means he's somewhere close
and he's got a phone. I'm gonna text you his number. You've got to
call him and keep a look out for someone answering a phone. He won't
be far." McReary then follows up with a text message, signified by a
note at the bottom left - '1 text from Francis'. It reads: "Call the
thief's mobile and see who answers their phone. Keep him talking until
you identify him."

Niko makes the call:

Blackmailer: "Hello? Who is this?"
Niko: "A friend. I am calling about your exchange with McReary."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. He better have my paper. I ain't f.cking around."
Niko: "I'm sure he's got your money. Have you got the stuff that he
wants?"
Blackmailer: "Yeah I got it. We going to make this sh.t happen? I
don't mess about you know. Push me and this sh.t is all over Weasel
News. I got them on speed dial."
Niko: "Really..."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. And there's a lawyer called Tom Goldberg who's
real interested. He's hungry for McReary's blood and sh.t. Yeah."
Niko: "Good thing Francis is paying them."
Blackmailer: "Call me when this exchange is going down. I don't like
all the talking, yeah?"

We then call the guy and can hear a ringtone, so we have to figure out
who it is as we get closer. Just at the bottom left of the steps
there's a guy speaking on his phone on a bench, so we follow the guy
to see where he goes. Niko pulls out his gun, triggering an over the
shoulder aiming view, and we cap him nine times to make sure he's a
goner. We see the memory stick that we have to return to McReary and
collect it. As soon as the shots were fired, police sirens were heard,
and we immediately got a two-star wanted level. Pedestrians start
running all over the place in panic, and they're all running in
different ways and directions.

"Escaping the cops' search radius is realistically based on the line
of sight; if you're seen the radius is refocused to your last known
location."

The way the 'wanted' system works is that when a crime is committed,
it triggers a wanted level, and a blue and red search radius appears
on the radar at the bottom left of the HUD. Police dispatch will
notify officers in their area of the details - who they're looking
for, description, last known location, and direction they're heading.
It's the player's job to try and get out of this search radius as
quick as possible, and escaping the radius will lose the wanted stars.
It's realistically based on the line of sight as well; if an officer
sees you changing cars or spots on the road after your description has
been given out, then the search radius is refocused to your last known
location.

And the bigger the crimes you commit and the more people you kill,
your stars go up and the search radius expands. "It's a lot more
realistic and a lot more fun, more of a game of cat and mouse",
explains Rockstar. We can see cops on the radar so we know where they
are, but new ones can appear as their backup comes to help out. As we
exit the search radius, the stars will keep flashing so you have to be
careful until they're gone. Once the stars disappear this time, we can
head towards McReary to return the memory stick. We head down Cod Row,
Denver Avenue, Exeter Avenue and stop at Northwood / East Holland.

Niko: "Yeah, he's dead."
McReary: "Great, I can get rid of these now. I feel like a new man.
Not many people get a second chance like this. Thank you."
Niko: "Your sins are absolved, I guess."

So, job done there but, earlier in the day we organised that interview
with the lawyers, so we're going to head to a store called Perseus - a
quality menswear shop with prices to match its flashy décor - to
change into something a bit more presentable for the interview and not
to raise any suspicion. A t-shirt icon appears on the radar to mark
our destination and we head towards Silicon Street, through Quartz
Street, and Middle Park East.

Street names pop up at the bottom right as we enter them. On this
particular journey towards the park, we pass through Chinatown,
Presidents City, Lancet, Hatton Gardens, Middle Park East, and a
stretch of freeway, on to Lancaster, and Ruby Street. "I'm in the
park, now what?", Niko asks McReary on his cell. (The name of the cell
network, by the way, is 'Whiz'). "This guy told me to bring the money
there and call him," says McReary. "That means he's somewhere close
and he's got a phone. I'm gonna text you his number. You've got to
call him and keep a look out for someone answering a phone. He won't
be far." McReary then follows up with a text message, signified by a
note at the bottom left - '1 text from Francis'. It reads: "Call the
thief's mobile and see who answers their phone. Keep him talking until
you identify him."

Niko makes the call:

Blackmailer: "Hello? Who is this?"
Niko: "A friend. I am calling about your exchange with McReary."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. He better have my paper. I ain't f.cking around."
Niko: "I'm sure he's got your money. Have you got the stuff that he
wants?"
Blackmailer: "Yeah I got it. We going to make this sh.t happen? I
don't mess about you know. Push me and this sh.t is all over Weasel
News. I got them on speed dial."
Niko: "Really..."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. And there's a lawyer called Tom Goldberg who's
real interested. He's hungry for McReary's blood and sh.t. Yeah."
Niko: "Good thing Francis is paying them."
Blackmailer: "Call me when this exchange is going down. I don't like
all the talking, yeah?"

We then call the guy and can hear a ringtone, so we have to figure out
who it is as we get closer. Just at the bottom left of the steps
there's a guy speaking on his phone on a bench, so we follow the guy
to see where he goes. Niko pulls out his gun, triggering an over the
shoulder aiming view, and we cap him nine times to make sure he's a
goner. We see the memory stick that we have to return to McReary and
collect it. As soon as the shots were fired, police sirens were heard,
and we immediately got a two-star wanted level. Pedestrians start
running all over the place in panic, and they're all running in
different ways and directions.

"Escaping the cops' search radius is realistically based on the line
of sight; if you're seen the radius is refocused to your last known
location."

The way the 'wanted' system works is that when a crime is committed,
it triggers a wanted level, and a blue and red search radius appears
on the radar at the bottom left of the HUD. Police dispatch will
notify officers in their area of the details - who they're looking
for, description, last known location, and direction they're heading.
It's the player's job to try and get out of this search radius as
quick as possible, and escaping the radius will lose the wanted stars.
It's realistically based on the line of sight as well; if an officer
sees you changing cars or spots on the road after your description has
been given out, then the search radius is refocused to your last known
location.

And the bigger the crimes you commit and the more people you kill,
your stars go up and the search radius expands. "It's a lot more
realistic and a lot more fun, more of a game of cat and mouse",
explains Rockstar. We can see cops on the radar so we know where they
are, but new ones can appear as their backup comes to help out. As we
exit the search radius, the stars will keep flashing so you have to be
careful until they're gone. Once the stars disappear this time, we can
head towards McReary to return the memory stick. We head down Cod Row,
Denver Avenue, Exeter Avenue and stop at Northwood / East Holland.

Niko: "Yeah, he's dead."
McReary: "Great, I can get rid of these now. I feel like a new man.
Not many people get a second chance like this. Thank you."
Niko: "Your sins are absolved, I guess."

So, job done there but, earlier in the day we organised that interview
with the lawyers, so we're going to head to a store called Perseus - a
quality menswear shop with prices to match its flashy décor - to
change into something a bit more presentable for the interview and not
to raise any suspicion. A t-shirt icon appears on the radar to mark
our destination and we head towards Silicon Street, through Quartz
Street, and Middle Park East.

Street names pop up at the bottom right as we enter them. On this
particular journey towards the park, we pass through Chinatown,
Presidents City, Lancet, Hatton Gardens, Middle Park East, and a
stretch of freeway, on to Lancaster, and Ruby Street. "I'm in the
park, now what?", Niko asks McReary on his cell. (The name of the cell
network, by the way, is 'Whiz'). "This guy told me to bring the money
there and call him," says McReary. "That means he's somewhere close
and he's got a phone. I'm gonna text you his number. You've got to
call him and keep a look out for someone answering a phone. He won't
be far." McReary then follows up with a text message, signified by a
note at the bottom left - '1 text from Francis'. It reads: "Call the
thief's mobile and see who answers their phone. Keep him talking until
you identify him."

Niko makes the call:

Blackmailer: "Hello? Who is this?"
Niko: "A friend. I am calling about your exchange with McReary."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. He better have my paper. I ain't f.cking around."
Niko: "I'm sure he's got your money. Have you got the stuff that he
wants?"
Blackmailer: "Yeah I got it. We going to make this sh.t happen? I
don't mess about you know. Push me and this sh.t is all over Weasel
News. I got them on speed dial."
Niko: "Really..."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. And there's a lawyer called Tom Goldberg who's
real interested. He's hungry for McReary's blood and sh.t. Yeah."
Niko: "Good thing Francis is paying them."
Blackmailer: "Call me when this exchange is going down. I don't like
all the talking, yeah?"

We then call the guy and can hear a ringtone, so we have to figure out
who it is as we get closer. Just at the bottom left of the steps
there's a guy speaking on his phone on a bench, so we follow the guy
to see where he goes. Niko pulls out his gun, triggering an over the
shoulder aiming view, and we cap him nine times to make sure he's a
goner. We see the memory stick that we have to return to McReary and
collect it. As soon as the shots were fired, police sirens were heard,
and we immediately got a two-star wanted level. Pedestrians start
running all over the place in panic, and they're all running in
different ways and directions.

"Escaping the cops' search radius is realistically based on the line
of sight; if you're seen the radius is refocused to your last known
location."

The way the 'wanted' system works is that when a crime is committed,
it triggers a wanted level, and a blue and red search radius appears
on the radar at the bottom left of the HUD. Police dispatch will
notify officers in their area of the details - who they're looking
for, description, last known location, and direction they're heading.
It's the player's job to try and get out of this search radius as
quick as possible, and escaping the radius will lose the wanted stars.
It's realistically based on the line of sight as well; if an officer
sees you changing cars or spots on the road after your description has
been given out, then the search radius is refocused to your last known
location.

And the bigger the crimes you commit and the more people you kill,
your stars go up and the search radius expands. "It's a lot more
realistic and a lot more fun, more of a game of cat and mouse",
explains Rockstar. We can see cops on the radar so we know where they
are, but new ones can appear as their backup comes to help out. As we
exit the search radius, the stars will keep flashing so you have to be
careful until they're gone. Once the stars disappear this time, we can
head towards McReary to return the memory stick. We head down Cod Row,
Denver Avenue, Exeter Avenue and stop at Northwood / East Holland.

Niko: "Yeah, he's dead."
McReary: "Great, I can get rid of these now. I feel like a new man.
Not many people get a second chance like this. Thank you."
Niko: "Your sins are absolved, I guess."

So, job done there but, earlier in the day we organised that interview
with the lawyers, so we're going to head to a store called Perseus - a
quality menswear shop with prices to match its flashy décor - to
change into something a bit more presentable for the interview and not
to raise any suspicion. A t-shirt icon appears on the radar to mark
our destination and we head towards Silicon Street, through Quartz
Street, and Middle Park East.

Street names pop up at the bottom right as we enter them. On this
particular journey towards the park, we pass through Chinatown,
Presidents City, Lancet, Hatton Gardens, Middle Park East, and a
stretch of freeway, on to Lancaster, and Ruby Street. "I'm in the
park, now what?", Niko asks McReary on his cell. (The name of the cell
network, by the way, is 'Whiz'). "This guy told me to bring the money
there and call him," says McReary. "That means he's somewhere close
and he's got a phone. I'm gonna text you his number. You've got to
call him and keep a look out for someone answering a phone. He won't
be far." McReary then follows up with a text message, signified by a
note at the bottom left - '1 text from Francis'. It reads: "Call the
thief's mobile and see who answers their phone. Keep him talking until
you identify him."

Niko makes the call:

Blackmailer: "Hello? Who is this?"
Niko: "A friend. I am calling about your exchange with McReary."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. He better have my paper. I ain't f.cking around."
Niko: "I'm sure he's got your money. Have you got the stuff that he
wants?"
Blackmailer: "Yeah I got it. We going to make this sh.t happen? I
don't mess about you know. Push me and this sh.t is all over Weasel
News. I got them on speed dial."
Niko: "Really..."
Blackmailer: "Yeah. And there's a lawyer called Tom Goldberg who's
real interested. He's hungry for McReary's blood and sh.t. Yeah."
Niko: "Good thing Francis is paying them."
Blackmailer: "Call me when this exchange is going down. I don't like
all the talking, yeah?"

We then call the guy and can hear a ringtone, so we have to figure out
who it is as we get closer. Just at the bottom left of the steps
there's a guy speaking on his phone on a bench, so we follow the guy
to see where he goes. Niko pulls out his gun, triggering an over the
shoulder aiming view, and we cap him nine times to make sure he's a
goner. We see the memory stick that we have to return to McReary and
collect it. As soon as the shots were fired, police sirens were heard,
and we immediately got a two-star wanted level. Pedestrians start
running all over the place in panic, and they're all running in
different ways and directions.

The way the 'wanted' system works is that when a crime is committed,
it triggers a wanted level, and a blue and red search radius appears
on the radar at the bottom left of the HUD. Police dispatch will
notify officers in their area of the details - who they're looking
for, description, last known location, and direction they're heading.
It's the player's job to try and get out of this search radius as
quick as possible, and escaping the radius will lose the wanted stars.
It's realistically based on the line of sight as well; if an officer
sees you changing cars or spots on the road after your description has
been given out, then the search radius is refocused to your last known
location.

And the bigger the crimes you commit and the more people you kill,
your stars go up and the search radius expands. "It's a lot more
realistic and a lot more fun, more of a game of cat and mouse",
explains Rockstar. We can see cops on the radar so we know where they
are, but new ones can appear as their backup comes to help out. As we
exit the search radius, the stars will keep flashing so you have to be
careful until they're gone. Once the stars disappear this time, we can
head towards McReary to return the memory stick. We head down Cod Row,
Denver Avenue, Exeter Avenue and stop at Northwood / East Holland.

Niko: "Yeah, he's dead."
McReary: "Great, I can get rid of these now. I feel like a new man.
Not many people get a second chance like this. Thank you."
Niko: "Your sins are absolved, I guess."

So, job done there but, earlier in the day we organised that interview
with the lawyers, so we're going to head to a store called Perseus - a
quality menswear shop with prices to match its flashy décor - to
change into something a bit more presentable for the interview and not
to raise any suspicion. A t-shirt icon appears on the radar to mark
our destination and we head towards Silicon Street, through Quartz
Street, and Middle Park East.

Ad break! "You can begin living a life of luxury. Why worry about
health, your weight, or what people think of you? Now, you're faster!
Motorised scooters are the future of the American lifestyle -
carefree! Take the wait off!"

GTA IV is undoubtedly more focussed on Niko as a complex character
than CJ was in San Andreas, so to make this more realistic, there's
been an effort to minimise some of the more fantastical customisation
that was seen in San Andreas; there'll be no Niko with a Mohawk, and
no create a character mode for this reason either, Rockstar told us.
For Niko not to raise suspicion in his interview however, he needs to
change into a suit. At the Perseus store, we pick up a Chocolate suit
for $1000 and some nice shoes for $200. There's a lot of classical
museum style architecture outside in the area of this store, looking
fantastic in the HDR-lit sunshine. Now, Niko looks pretty much ready
for his interview - were we to forget to change his clothes, we'd get
a reminder about it.

So it's off to the lawyers for the interview, past Star Junction, The
Triangle, Easton, Chinatown, Diamond Street, and Calcium Street.
Amusingly, as well pull up outside Goldberg Ligner & Shyster, we knock
over a trashcan (Home Alone style) - maybe not the best first
impression to give! Luckily, nobody saw. "Welcome to Goldberg Ligner &
Shyster, sir" says the security doorman. Again, no load time
whatsoever as we enter the building, which is something that just
makes us smile every time.

Inside is a very slick and attractive corporate décor, very smart with
browns, whites and greys, nice natural and artificial lighting, a
foyer with executives' pictures framed on the walls - and the building
structure is great to look at on multiple open floors, with
escalators, elevators and stairs in the open-plan core of the
building. The receptionist welcomes Niko:

Karen: "Mr Bellic, welcome. I will just see if Mr Goldberg is
available... Mr Goldberg, Mr Bellic has arrived for his interview."
Goldberg: "Alright great, tell him to come to my office."
Karen: "Uh-huh, I'll bring him through. Would you please follow me, Mr
Bellic."

We set off with Karen towards meeting room, passing different rooms,
offices and boardrooms, all glass, so that the detail of each suite we
pass is very much visible, each one labelled on the glass door. "He's
just in here. Don't be nervous, he doesn't bite," advises Karen. Mr
Goldberg has a friendlier, more all-American kind of voice than we've
heard in the game so far. Up here on maybe the third floor we can see
through the Goldberg's window all the way down to the street below
which remains as busy and detailed as when we pulled over on it just a
few moments beforehand.

Goldberg starts talking, it's not a cut-scene, and we can move about
and take the shot at any time during his speech: "Hello, Niko! I'm
looking for a man who can get jobs done right. Nikolai, I like your
resume. You seem to be the sort of man who would go the extra
distance, a man who's struggled. I just need to take another look and
get myself reacquainted with your experience.... So you're the sort of
man who doesn't wait to get told what to do, a guy who looks at the
world, sees problems, and..." - then Niko pulls his gun out. "Woah,
woah, hold on second there friend! We're lawyers, we don't need guns!
Strong move though, I gotta say, I like that style... I'm all about
the Second Amendment... guns don't kill people, videogames do!"

And with that, Niko demands to know where the McReary files are, then
puts a bullet in Goldberg before he smashes and falls through the
window of his office down to the street below - that's him taken care
of. One can't help but wonder if Rockstar was thinking of its own
special someone when designing a scene in which a smug anti-videogame
lawyer is disposed of. Of course, we get a little bit of bother
afterwards because ten seconds after Goldberg 'leaves the building',
the police sirens start again and we need to make an escape.

Since Niko has a dark criminal past, he's familiar with just about
every weapon you can throw at him - there's no need to train him like
a nancy. "We're about making a game that's accessible by everyone,"
Rockstar promises. The targeting system works accordingly; you've got
your auto targeting as well as manual aim, for people who are happier
to do that. Rockstar also has a brand new cover system for the game -
Niko can basically take cover behind anything (in this office
environment, a cleaner's maintenance trolley does the job), and you
will see the cops taking cover as well. The gunfight and chaotic
rhythm of hiding, taking cover, shooting and reloading is classic
gameplay that is great fun to see action, particularly with the
ragdoll deaths of everybody in sight - against walls, down stairwells.
We rush downstairs to the central area of lobby, and we're still up at
three wanted stars (six is the current total), so the cops keep coming
into the building to try and bust us. We make an exit using various
emergency stairs - it's a tactical exit in which, once again, the
player has a choice and things could go either way depending on your
actions.

On the PS2, the overriding theme in GTA was to exploit the technology
through freedom, but what Rockstar says it's adding now is "immediacy
and intimacy" with that freedom; it's not simply about making things
bigger and broader, it's adding a significant level of depth,
diversity, and detail. "The game is now about the experience as a
whole, it's not just a features list anymore, and everything in GTA IV
is done to a very thoughtful design, for a specific purpose." The
experience when you play, Rockstar told us, is all about choice and
consequence, and the fact that everything you do has weight to it -
"so whatever choice you make will have a consequence to that
particular action - that is something we're trying to highlight with
the game."

We actually went through the demo twice at Rockstar this time. On the
second play through, after we take out Goldberg, instead of pursuing
the missions from the first play, we instead opt to get our hands
dirty in a massive outside shootout, in an area full of opportunities
for cover. Cops, pedestrians, traffic and choppers all get in on the
action, and we even blow up a gas station for the hell of it with some
carefully aimed shots at the refill terminal when we switch our weapon
to the Micro SMG. Awesome, as it explodes out in different directions
out of the pump and the screen shakes with a bassy boom. This place is
full of highly destructible environments - this particular shootout
looks like a bombsite once we're done with it, with street lights
fallen all over the place and trash spilling everywhere. Paper
dispensers nudge around as bullets ricochet off them, and bullet
shells line the sidewalk. Even the Walk / Don't Walk sign box is
unceremoniously deposited on the floor.

In addition to the involving cover system, there's also the ability
for Niko to blind fire. Throw in the stupendous level of animation on
Niko and everyone else, and these shootouts often look, sound and
generally feel as involved and intimate as some of our favourite
dedicated first person shooter games, and often, better.

What's cool in GTA IV is that players can finish a mission, and then
carry on with one that was started earlier in the game, something that
was exemplified on the second play. It's an indication of the how the
structure has changed, with the intent being to blur the line between
on- and off-mission, as we revealed in our first detailed preview.
Back in San Andreas, if you embarked on one mission, that was it, you
couldn't do anything else apart from complete the objective of that
mission; you couldn't do any side missions, and certainly couldn't
embark on another mission altogether.

Unfortunately for Niko on this second play through he dies; battered
from the shootout and outnumbered by aggressive LCPD cops, he falls to
the ground and the camera pans high looking downwards to show that
you've botched the job up.

Interestingly, between the second and first play through, we had to
leave the room while Rockstar went through some "secret menu stuff".
It makes us curious what could have followed the reboot sequence and
title screen (which our sound recorder picked up)- it makes us think
there's still a lot we have to learn about in this epic title in the
run up to release. After all, Rockstar confirmed to us that this whole
demo only showed off one third of Algonquin, and when you consider
there are five boroughs - Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Algonquin
(Manhattan), Boham (Bronx) and Albany (New Jersey) - it's about 1/16
of the full game map we saw here. Combine that with the area we saw of
Broker last time, and we reckon we've seen only about 15% of the full
playground that is Liberty City 2007. But we bet there are some
surprises in there too. How cool would it be to go see how CJ is
getting on in next-gen Los Santos a decade later?

GTA is quite a unique series for the games industry today. It has the
ability to excite a massmarket, and not many games can boast that.
Using the cellphone interface in GTA IV, people should automatically
know what's going on, and the same goes for the Internet usage in the
game. GTA IV could be a release that convinces people to buy next gen
consoles; Rockstar probably deserves to be in this fortunate position
owing to the quality of the series to date. There's no doubt in our
minds that GTA IV will set new standards here, and frankly, it's tough
to predict anyone outdoing them right now.

And yes, Rockstar again reconfirmed to us that it is still on course
for its stated release dates. Only three months to go!

Stay with Kikizo for unrivalled depth of GTA IV first-hand coverage
anywhere in the world, as we follow up with continuing previews, which
will most likely include PS3 impressions, online features, multiplayer
modes, and pre-release hands-on impressions, before our final review
in October.

more:

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1707/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/p1/
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/807/807831p1.html
http://tinyurl.com/2bk7e4
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=168874
http://tinyurl.com/299ksm
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3161490