GTA IV - Further Details Emerge News

Having watched the countdown and the subsequent trailer in recent weeks, new details have emerged surrounding Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV, which is due to hit stores this October.

Despite unveiling the return to Liberty City, a host of recognisable monuments that nod to the Big Apple, and an Eastern European protagonist, the trailer left a lot of questions unanswered. Which is where the upcoming issue of US publication, Game Informer comes in.

Details have already been leaked from the issue, including news that there won't be any planes in the game (perhaps not that surprising given the events of 2001 - though when did Rockstar care about causing controversy???), and that Liberty City will be broken into four distinct and dense boroughs parodying their real-world counterparts: Algonquin (Manhattan), Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), and Bohan (Bronx). Parts of New Jersey will also be included, renamed Alderney. A contemporary setting with an up to date soundtrack, GTA IV will apparently include a modern criminal atmosphere, along with some sort of multiplayer gameplay. NPCs that walk the streets of Liberty City will speak with a variety of accents, and there'll be seamless transitions between exterior and interior environments.

The Eastern European protagonist has also been given a name: Niko Bellic, who arrives in Liberty by a dodgy cousin. According to the article, many of Bellic's activities will be surprisingly criminal...

No doubt there are many details and features held back from the article, however, there doesn't seem to be too much revealed that suggests 'IV' will be quite the same leap that we saw with both GTAIII and San Andreas - though the promise of a dynamic storyline and conversation is one that we're desperately holding onto with both hands.

It's early days yet, but maybe this time things won't be that different.