Fresh GTA IV details

By Robert Purchese Published 24 January, 2008

Get drunk with your friends.

Rockstar has revealed fresh details about Grand Theft Auto IV ahead of its expected release in the next few months.

Among the most welcome changes are those to vehicular shoot-outs. Previous drive-by controls of aiming left or right (or forwards on a bike) are gone, handed over to the right analogue stick instead, allowing you to pinpoint tyres or trigger environmental obstacles like snapping straps holding logs on lorries.

On-foot combat reflects these changes too, now sporting a very Gears of War-like approach. Diving and skidding behind cover is fluid and done with a single button, while blind-firing and aiming from hiding spots is also in.

When you snipe enemies their deaths are played in a short cinematic sequence for dramatic effect, and the camera follows enemies blown up by grenades into the air. You now lock-on with grenades for more accurate throwing.

Rockstar is still mute on the health system, although enemies already display hit-points. You can pop them in the leg to maim them these days, as well as shoot their brains out and whatnot.

Another big new feature is the mobile phone, as we have seen. You can do snazzy things like report crimes to automated police systems and then pinch their cars when they arrive. Oh, cop cars will have an on-board computer for looking up names and addresses, too, and you will be able to upload pictures from your phone to have a look through the database for details.

Running away from the police is a little different now as well, with a radius that pops up around your character when you become wanted. Get outside it without being spotted and it goes down. Get spotted and it centres on you again. But then we knew that already, from memory.

Phones, incidentally, are most useful for chatting to friends. And making good friends is rewarding as each acts like a pseudo quest line which, once completed, will yield a free taxi service or free helicopter rides or even a chap who delivers guns to you anywhere on the map.

Increasing your friendship levels involves scrolling through to their number and picking a reason for phoning: to go for a drink, bowling, darts, pool or more. The more active of those are handled with mini-games, but even drinking has been given an overhaul.

Get smashed with your friends and you will stumble out onto the pavement and be given control of Niko now sporting wobbly physics, blurry vision and the driving skills of a horse. Make it home in one comedic piece and friendship level goes up.

Another welcome addition are autosaves after each mission, although you can still travel to safe-houses while faffing around to checkpoint your progress. Missions can be restarted quickly by texting a number on your handy phone, too.

More importantly, the extra development time has allowed Rockstar to get to grips with lots of the niggling issues from earlier play-tests. Frame-rate is said to be solid with occasional texture pop-ups, and the visual level of detail from environmental effects like lighting and reflections, or just much more complex textures on objects, lend it the visual sheen we've all hoped for.

Physics from the Euphoria engine have had a considerable impact as well, allowing cars to drive realistically and chases to be exciting rather than frustrating. Characters are also animated much more believably and so can deliver the reassuringly quirky script and dialogue seen as such a staple in the series - Niko consistently spits out one-liners as he pursues enemies or is under enemy fire. Jokes ahoy, if you like.

And now the world as a whole is much more alive, with random events happening around you such as police chases or careless drives bumping into pedestrians or maybe a man eating a hot dog and singing to himself as he dresses up in his wife's clothing. That last one might not be real.

Then there are the little touches like Sat Nav systems in posh cars to giggle at or quick time events to make car chases or battles more cinematic, as well as the crucially important inclusion of motorbikes. Also, speedboats.

Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City.

Grand Theft Auto IV is due out on PS3 and 360 sometime between February and April.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (55) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Razz #1 4 years ago

    Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City.

    Oh no! :D
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 12:13

  • miiiguel #2 4 years ago

    This game alone makes one feel uterly happy for owning a 360.

  • the_dudefather #3 4 years ago

    Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City.

    was hoping a GTA would do this at some stage, hope it includes radio stations

  • That_Happy_Cat #4 4 years ago

    It's the DEVIL'S music!

  • Razz #5 4 years ago

    Get smashed with your friends and you will stumble out onto the pavement and be given control of Niko now sporting wobbly physics, blurry vision and the driving skills of a horse. Make it home in one comedic piece and friendship level goes up.

    Game rewards drink driving! 0_0

    The PC Brigade will not be pleased! :D

  • cloud_ix #6 4 years ago

    a drink driving mini game - the new hot coffee, there will be a media shit storm

  • The-Bodybuilder #7 4 years ago

    Oh boy, the daily fail will have a field day with this one.
    But yet, rockstar knows that...

  • OllyJ #8 4 years ago

    ACE! Quick time events!!!!

  • monkie_king #9 4 years ago

    Hmm, that's quite the list of trivial minutiae you have there, Rockstar. Sounds like Crackdown for trainspotters.

  • bad09 #10 4 years ago

    GTA4 just sounds better and better can't wait to play it. Apparently it is now confirmed that the release date is April.

    3 months...just 3 months......
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 12:36

  • LeD #11 4 years ago

    This all sounds very good I must say!

  • Moribundman #12 4 years ago

    Loving the sound of continuing the minigames and date/friendship side missions, but I completely agree that the press will have a field day scaremongering things like drink driving after reading this on a site such as this (whereupon they'll drag in a well-intentioned but clueless mouthpiece from an anti drink driving campaign to fuel the fire).

    To be honest, we are talking about a game in which you are rewarded for killing people, not all of whom are EEEEEEVILLLLLL, and for stealing cars and other forms of lawbreaking. Drink driving is just another criminal act to add to that list (and in terms of game mechanics should be fun).

    The thing that bugs me is that this is an easy, lazy headline for the papers to include. GTA will be an easy, lazy target given the Hot Coffee and Manhunt 2 fiascos, and yet the press never learn or give R* a break (cf: Keith Vaz and his lazy, hideously ill-informed rant about Bully being recycled now that it's coming out on the next gens).

  • jack_klugman #13 4 years ago

    But will it feature explicit sex like that Mass Effect game everybody's talking about?

  • konstantinos #14 4 years ago

    All this sounds interesting, to say the least... but it's all in the implementation, folks...
    we'll just have to wait and see if they indeed pull all of this off in the gameplay...

    oh, and and hey, it's almost February, by the way, Rockstar...!
    all this hide 'n seek/pseudo-suspence with release dates is getting kinda bothersome...

    cheers...

  • Benno #15 4 years ago

    Media is going to loooove this

  • alpha-0ne #16 4 years ago

    Sounds great cant wait for it to come out..

    The drink driving sounds a bit questionable though especially as the game has coop
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 12:39

  • Moribundman #17 4 years ago

    Yeah, I think they should be revising the "February" part of their "February to April" release window since apparently they are still seeking to close licensing deals on music...

    Btw does anyone know where the best place is to pre-order the special edition (in terms of value, extras and likelihood that the game will actually arrive on the release date?

  • Triggerhappytel #18 4 years ago

    I've thought the series needed an on-foot MP3 player since Vice City. Glad to see its optional inclusion.

  • jonsaan #19 4 years ago

    Sounds GREAT!

  • rudedudejude #20 4 years ago

    GTA IV: The Sims Edition
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 12:50

  • killest #21 4 years ago

    do they show it going in?

  • sharpfish #22 4 years ago

    2 things I want to know:


    1. How much does it look/feel like manhattan (if at all)

    2. Can it be played on an Xbox360 with 3 flashing red lights.



    XD

  • StevilKnevil #23 4 years ago

    R* love it dont they? Should be interesting once the mainstream press get hold of this lol. Here we go again!

  • tonynibbles #24 4 years ago

    as well as the crucially important inclusion of motorbikes.

    /\/\0T0RB1K35!!!!!

  • Mettlehead #25 4 years ago

    most of these new features were in Saints Row, no?

    apart from the bikes, but they're not really new...

  • KreyAtiv #26 4 years ago

    Some people may get up in arms over the drinking and driving part of things.
    Looking forward to seeing how the cars handle and everything else.

  • Greebo #27 4 years ago


    Don't forget when they do come up with a firm release date to allow the usual one week delay after that!

  • XdarXideX #28 4 years ago

    Funny that Hot Coffee should be mentioned. Apparently the first mission (or one of the first missions) in the game requires that you go get a hot cup of coffee for someone and bring it back without spilling it! Genious!

    If this doesn't get past the BBFC I would be surprised, because Condemned 2 sure as hell will. At least in GTA4 the consequences of being drunk and driving while intoxicated will be pretty accurately portrayed on screen. The only reward is that you increase your friend levels by going out for drinks and arriving home safely... not crash the car due to being smashed.

    The first GTA I've looked forward to since GTA3. Woot!

  • Thornhillboy #29 4 years ago

    Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City.

    Finally, I can play out my dreams of being an annoying chav on the back of the bus!

  • Jo0j #30 4 years ago

    There was a drunk driving mission in one of the earlier GTA's. You and this guy had some moonshine or somethin, then he hurt himself, then you(wasted, blurry vision, crooked steering) had to drive him to the hospital before he died. Though the mission was good for a chuckle, I didn't expect them to keep it, flesh it out, then turn it into a main game mechanic.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 13:56

  • Psiloc #31 4 years ago

    Hmm... the drink driving thing might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Probably the most risque thing they've attempted so far, it's far more prone to copycatism than any of the other elements. Doesn't help that the target demographic is pretty much the people at most risk of doing it anyway.

    Yeah, I actually personally think this is irresponsible of them. Although it depends how it's implemented I guess.
    Edited by 2 at 24/01/08 @ 13:46

  • NthSimulachum #32 4 years ago

    Wow, GTA IV? More Like GTA Fable. But in a good way. Interacting with complex systems is always fun.

  • bodypopper #33 4 years ago

    In GTA IV drinking is shown to seriously impair your ability to drive. Isn't this in itself a good thing?

  • bivith #34 4 years ago

    Grand Theft Sims??

  • asphaltcowboy #35 4 years ago

    "Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City."

    Fail!

    /shoots up all mobile phone owners that do this!

  • SomaticSense #36 4 years ago

    Phones are for ringing people. Mp3 players are for listening to music. WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN!

    Fools.



    :)

  • Psiloc #37 4 years ago

    "In GTA IV drinking is shown to seriously impair your ability to drive. Isn't this in itself a good thing?"

    This is true, thankfully. But the difference between this and all the other questionable activities in GTA is that drink driving already has an elevated risk of being attempted amongst the target audience, and is a deadly risk at that. That's not to say that I think people will copy said activities, just that there is a definite lack of responsibility being demonstrated here.

    I'm dreading the tabloids picking up on this.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 14:17

  • Moribundman #38 4 years ago

    Bear in mind that only adults should technically be drinking or driving in the first place, and that people in the main target country for this game can get their hands on a shotgun or rifle as easily as a crate of booze and a vehicle.

    This drunk driving won't really elevate anything in the USA (apart perhaps from a certain vengeful lawyer's blood pressure) but it may well be seen as more easy to mimic in this country than buying and firing guns, and therefore it might raise a few more eyebrows...

    Yeah, I remember the level with the moonshine from Vice City :-) LOL. There was also one in Vice City Stories I think, where you burned some drugs and drove around high as a kite... Jack Thompson clearly doesn't own a PSP!

  • QPRHOOPS81 #39 4 years ago

    not sure on the drink driving thing. If its done where you get horrifically killed when you crash it might actually work as a anti drinking thing. In a similar way to those adverts on TV. It all depends on how its done

  • Luvbeers #40 4 years ago

    You forgot...the PS3 version can't play music through your mobile and is missing environmental effects like lighting and reflections.

  • Luvbeers #41 4 years ago

    In GTA IV drinking is shown to seriously impair your ability to drive. Isn't this in itself a good thing?

    Normally, but in GTAIV after you get in a head on collision you simply get out and steal a new car... which may or may not be skewed reality.

  • Salvia #42 4 years ago

    "You forgot...the PS3 version can't play music through your mobile and is missing environmental effects like lighting and reflections."

    Really? Where did you hear that?

  • tinners #43 4 years ago

    The glory days of GTA3 are not far away now, really cant wait for the next gen of GTA.

    One question tho which i hope never becomes reality, however you have all seen the mass effect broardcast on Fox news i take??
    if not watch it on game trailers its hillarious but also true to today's blinkered perception of mature games and gamers etc. They reckon MS marketed this game for kids even though it has a Mature rating on the box, and they also reckon it contains full digital nudity scenes. Both claims are total bullshit but it still impacts todays dumbed down society.

    So if the media do have a field day with GTAIV is there any chance it will get banned??? because the world isnt getting any smarter, and adult gamers are getting banded together with teenagers :(
    Edited by 2 at 24/01/08 @ 15:25

  • Greebo #44 4 years ago

    "You forgot...the PS3 version can't play music through your mobile and is missing environmental effects like lighting and reflections."

    Really? Where did you hear that?

    Rockstar's currently claiming that the PS3 and 360 versions are now identical (some interview with Jeronimo Barrera on MTV News.com, sorry don't have a link). They did state that the PS3 was part of the reason for the initial delay from October - but really it doesn't matter to us how hard it was to make it work, so long as it works!


    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 16:21

  • bad09 #45 4 years ago

    R* have OFFICIALLY confirmed worldwide release 29th April!!!!

  • bushwod #46 4 years ago

    "Another welcome addition are autosaves after each mission"
    -About bloody time

    "Plus you can play music through your mobile phone so you will never be without a catchy tune to whistle along to while exploring the streets of Liberty City. "
    -Argghhh! Grand Theft Chav Simulator

  • jachap #47 4 years ago

    However deftly the drink driving is handled is pretty irrelevant. Simply the fact that its a feature at all will be enough to cause outrage, I imagine. Must Rockstar constantly find new ways to bait the conservative press? It'll be utterly pathetic if such a trivial, superfluous aspect of the game gets it delayed or cancelled... but I don't think it will.

    I hope not, anyway.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 17:55

  • napalm68 #48 4 years ago

    I love the idea of drunk vision. I loved that game Redneck Rampage, and that was an awesome feature in that. If you drank too much moonshine, your vision blurred and you couldn't drive straight.

    I miss that game. I wish they'd bring out a new gen one.

  • Ryze #49 4 years ago

    Fixed the targeting system, fixed the save system, then?

    About time!

  • Davemanz #50 4 years ago

    Can't wait. I hope it's not too hard to find a copy as I don't know if I'll have money to preorder it.

    Euphoria looks quite impressive from what I've seen so hopefully it shines through in the driving mechanics and all that stuff.

  • SomaticSense #51 4 years ago

    "One question tho which i hope never becomes reality, however you have all seen the mass effect broardcast on Fox news i take??
    if not watch it on game trailers its hillarious but also true to today's blinkered perception of mature games and gamers etc. They reckon MS marketed this game for kids even though it has a Mature rating on the box, and they also reckon it contains full digital nudity scenes. Both claims are total bullshit but it still impacts todays dumbed down society.

    So if the media do have a field day with GTAIV is there any chance it will get banned??? because the world isnt getting any smarter, and adult gamers are getting banded together with teenagers :(     "

    I think the Fox News thing hopefully should signal the end of the media's obsession with games. They took it to such as absurd level of stupidity that it should make them all aware of how foolish they sound. I just saw it for the first time after hearing all about it for the past few days, and just about everything in that piece was factually incorrect. It made a mockery of their entire profession, and I can't see that being allowed again.

    I'm far from a fan of the US's 'lawsuit culture', but I feel MS or EA are well within their rights to take them to court claiming libel. In fact I feel they should, as someone has got to put a stop to not only the media targetting just one form of entertainment when all are just as equal as another when it comes to inappropriate content for kids, but also to stop the complete lying and unprofessionalism involved in all of these 'stories'. I genuinely believe EA and MS should sue.

    Although saying this, I feel Rockstar are being massively irresponsible for this drink-driving mechanic. We all know why they are doing it, but this is a step too far even for them. If the media get a hold of this (and you can guarantee they will eventually) then I really couldn't argue with them this time.
    The Mass Effect and Bully 'controversies' might all be total rubbish and fabrication as regards to the media's point of view on the subjects, but I don't think anyone could truly argue with them on this issue, assuming they use only the true facts at hand and don't coe up with a load of lies again.

    Like someone said before, if Rockstar have made it so that if you crash while drunk you die horribly, then I think it could actually be a good thing. But we all now that probably isn't going to be the case......
    Edited by 2 at 25/01/08 @ 13:17

  • imperial_seal #52 4 years ago

    With all these mobile phone features and texting etc, is GTA IV sponsored by Orange by any chance ?

  • nevernow #53 4 years ago

    I see a mention of the Euphoria engine being beneficial to driving dynamics. In my understanding, Euphoria brought the ragdoll principle to active actions of living beings, in place of "canned" animations. Am I wrong?

  • Moribundman #54 4 years ago

    Think of all those poor, unsatisfied adolescents who are going to be tremendously let down when they sit there with their joyst... pads to play Mass Effect... They should sue Fox too. Or at least they should get their parents to. Although in the US, technically they could since there's no legal barrier to stop them buying the game. To be perfectly honest, there's nothing horrific or sexy in Mass Effect that you wouldn't see in a 12 rated film or on late night TV.

    GTA on the other hand should probably be regulated if only to shut up the people lazily decrying it. If this happened, what would Jack Thompson do? He'd have to start focusing on how kids could still get hold of it though irresponsible parenting and playing the system. Now I despise the man, but at least this would have him chasing a more sensible target. Someone really needs to get a dedicated media spokesman out there to dialogue with the likes of Thompson and Clinton, to TRY to get them to understand that under the US constitution there the likes of R* are perfectly within their rights to make a product like GTA. They are perfectly within their rights to make something a damn sight worse/less subtle than GTA with less intelligent content, less social awareness and more low brow content. The only things stopping this are the commercial restrictions of releasing as AO and the fact that it would be in genuine bad taste.

    If the US would just wake up and impose BBFC style legally enforced age ratings on products this would stem the problem. Why aren't they? That's open to debate - you could say they are well aware of the revenue generated from selling to underage teens and ignorant parents. You could also say that in a country that (constitutionally) still lets kids into the equivalent of an 18 cert film as long as they are with a "responsible adult" you're not going to make much traction with computer games. You could say that the people on Capitol Hill are 50+ year old farts who have no experience of what a video game is beyond pong, but know they're a "kids medium" and believe whatever horror stories people like Jack Thompson tell them. In any case, we in Europe are largely dependant on the social and political viability of the US market... Just look at Manhunt 2 for an example of this - if there hadn't been as much of a furore over there then perhaps the BBFC wouldn't already have got their shields up.

  • Mav #55 4 years ago

    I see a mention of the Euphoria engine being beneficial to driving dynamics. In my understanding, Euphoria brought the ragdoll principle to active actions of living beings, in place of "canned" animations. Am I wrong?

    You are not wrong. The Euphoria engine has nothing to do with driving dynamics. Euphoria is a "true biomechanical AI", as they say it in the star wars: force unleashed clips. It controls the character animations on-the-fly and very realistically, which is a huge leap from the usual "canned" motion captured animations.
    Check out what Euphoria can do here.... Or check out their showreel (6.6mb).

    Can't wait to drive into a crowd and let them roll over the hood...
    Edited by 1 at 30/01/08 @ 00:40