Fans of the Grand Theft Auto series have, at this point, largely come to know what to expect from the development team at Rockstar Games. A little graphic, a little gripping, more than a little crass, but always extremely polished. Much the same was expected from Grand Theft Auto 5 long before it was even announced, but the evidence and rhetoric that’s been used to describe the game and drum up excitement seems to be implying more of a change than many might have predicted.
The developers may not have unveiled the game at Gamescom like we’d hoped, but the time since has offered a few juicy tidbits. The newest screenshots highlight rural dirtbiking, parachuting through a forested canyon, and a taste of Los Santos’ finer things. We’d like to assume some of the activities look a bit more exciting than others, but who are we to judge?
Obviously the team behind Grand Theft Auto 5 will be striving to outdo the last installment, both in terms of mechanics and the larger game world itself. Rockstar has explained their preference to keep quiet on details until the launch is a bit closer, but the writing on the wall is slowly becoming clearer, and much more promising. With massively improved graphics visible in all assets released so far – not to mention fighter jets! – and some claims that Los Santos and the surrounding environments will be four times larger than Liberty City, fans may have the most complex and realized open world in the series yet to look forward to.
If the screenshots offer any insight into possible game design and aren’t just nice to look at, they most likely imply just how much of the fictionalized California setting will be utilized to round out the urban crime and carnage. The GTA V announcement trailer showed just how much the city environments will shine when the game is released, despite it being unavoidably throttled by current consoles as compared to the PC. But if the standard game world offers players the chance to truly escape to the countryside and mountains to engage in extreme sports, as opposed to isolated missions or set-pieces, that’s a completely different story.
The chance to immerse players into the shoes of the still-mysterious main character would be heightened by such a commitment to realism…whether that’s a good thing in a game no doubt filled with explosions and mass mayhem is a debate for another time. It goes without saying that the undertaking would eclipse most of Rockstar’s development work to date, offering a possible explanation for the lack of any urgency or marketing just yet.
Fans could have a lengthy wait ahead of them, but it might be worth it in the end. Grand Theft Auto 5 is expected to have a mid-2013 release for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
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Source: Rockstar Games
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Well this is truly amazing to see couple more screens from the game. With activities with area instead of causing armageddon in the city, it’s a little change of pace. I’ve been a fan since I was little boy playing vice city like no tomorrow. I hope the cheats will be just as ridiculous.
Bingo, definitely get a Red Dead vibe from the implied wilderness.
Can’t wait!
theres only 3 ? wheres the other 2?
please ignore i am an idiot
Awesome! It seems like Rockstar is really trying to expand GTA and make even more things for you to do. Bicycling, piloting fighter jets, dirtbiking, parachuting, playing tennis…GTA V is going to be incredible!
nothing says EXTREME like tennis!
the sport mechanics wont be anything ground breaking people, they will be very basic (and boring) versions of the actual sports, ohh and parachuting existed in TBoGT for all of you thinking it’s a new feature. dirt bike racing seems a little interesting, but then again didn’t vice city and san andreas already have those ?
i find it funny how everyone is acting like these features are new etc when they’ve been in previous entries to the series… just b/c they didn’t appear in gta4 doesn’t mean they didn’t exist and are ‘totally new’.
off topic, anyone see the jet-ski and paragliding in far cry 3 ?
I don’t think anyone is excited about the fact that there IS bikes or parachuting, or bikes from the last batch for that matter. I think most people (and what I was commenting on in the article) was the possibility of a much larger, more open-ended world to utilize them freely, a la Red Dead.
yeah i suppose that’s what it is. i mean the gta games have never really had depth beyond the ‘narrative’, the game world have always felt hollow like most open world games.
it would be nice if they actually had a gang management feature or something like that which increased play time. the one thing i really hope they have though is proper property management – being bale to buy most houses/buildings in the game and watching your money grow, that feature alone is what made the fable games fun for me (about the only thing really)
Chinatown Wars allowed you to buy safehouses.
i mean beyond the usual or expected stuff, like actual real estate such as houses, unit blocks skyscrapers etc.
You want a real estate sim inside GTA V? You’re crazy.
Don’t worry there will be property management, The game is all about money soo…what does Property and business mean? Money!
@jwalka
Parachuting existed in San Andreas. And why can’t people be excited for features, new or old? Lol you’re always so “Doom and Gloom”, cheer up, guy.
I saw these screens on my phone at first, it looked next-gen haha
That tennis shot looks unbelievable!
Need this.
Open world games have a lot to live up to after Just Cause 2, which just took size and action to the absolute extreme. I hope this has a better story than GTA:SA and GTA4 because I never even finished the main story, got bored with the characters, especially in SA.
i hear the 2 expansions to gta4 have a tighter narrative due to the short play time (each go for around 5hrs and vastly improve on gta4 in terms of side missions and characters/narrative).
Just Cause 2 had a massive world, but so little to do beyond blow up the same kinds of structures over and over, and maybe mess around with linking things together.
Like thd crotch of a soldier to a flying barrel, crotch rocket!
GTA San Andreas all over again with just new graphics.
Even if that were true (which aside from ‘Los Santos’, it isn’t), who is going to complain? San Andreas was arguably the best game in the series.
po quero qui chega logo o dia qui eu quero compra o gta esse jogo vai ser o melhor do seculo