4 Questions About Grand Theft Auto V
By Jared Newman | Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Rockstar has released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, and as expected of a game with no release date in sight, it doesn’t reveal much. The narrator speaks of returning to southern California–the fictional Los Santos, presumably–to get away from “that line of work” and to start a family, his voice accompanied by establishing shots of the city and of crimes in progress.
With so much information left off the table, here’s what I really want to know about Grand Theft Auto V, the next major sequel to one of the most iconic video games of all time:
Who’s the Protagonist?
I think we get some glimpses of him in the trailer–a thick-built white guy with no major defining features–but the trailer doesn’t give him a name or even clearly state that he’s the star of the show. The last two major Grand Theft Auto games, GTA IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, have respectively been tales of redemption for an immigrant with a dark past and a gangbanger from the ghetto. The protagonist is a major detail that Rockstar isn’t talking about for now.
Is Cartoon Violence Coming Back?
Grand Theft Auto used to be kind of silly. Its violence was unbelievably over-the-top. Grand Theft Auto IV was different. The story’s subject matter was more sombre. The emphasis on playground mayhem dimished. I expect GTA V to have a similar tone, but I wonder whether Rockstar will restore some of the series’ old playfulness or cede that territory completely to Saints Row.
Why San Andreas?
Sure, Rockstar revisited Liberty City (the fictionalized New York) for Grand Theft Auto IV, but why keep returning to the same old haunts? I hope Rockstar has a good reason for going back to Los Santos instead of celibrating another city.
Is This a Next-Generation Game?
Most video game trailers list their platforms–Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, etc.–at the end of the video. But that information is conspicuously absent from the GTA V trailer, causing speculation that Rockstar is working on the game for the next generation of consoles. Don’t expect to hear more on that front until console makers announce their next systems, probably around E3 next year.
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9 Comments For This Post
November 2nd, 2011 at 7:49 pm
I believe the definer of whether this will be a next-gen console game or not is whether they use just Los Santos or the entire state of San Andreas on the launch. If they do indeed use the entire state on current gen hardware, they have some AMAZING compression tech.
November 3rd, 2011 at 6:45 am
There's a story at Kotaku this morning that says it'll be Los Santos and the surrounding area only:
http://kotaku.com/5855980/grand-theft-auto-v-will…
Probably better that way. It always struck me as odd that GTA:SA let you drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Las Vegas in a matter of minutes.
November 3rd, 2011 at 12:09 am
Nice and crisp graphics and quite an engaging plot as I could grab that bit from the trailers. I wish they are planning something surprisingly innovative for the next gen console gaming.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:12 am
The game looks great. Now all we need is a release date. I typed in gtav.com and its a website with information on grand theft auto 5. Is that rockstar games fan site for the game? They have some good details about GTA V. Anyways the graphics looked pretty good and it has me excited!
November 8th, 2011 at 1:05 am
I hope Gta 5 will be better, I swear I could play these series of games till i am 90 lol. Graphics will only get better as technology progresses or is “released” i should say. Im sure GTA 5 will be fun but I dont buy games I jailbreak my ps3. I dont have all that money but If i do buy it it will be used on ebay or some other store if the jailbreak scene does not progress.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
I was thinking Grand Theft Auto V might have REAL BRAND NAME car’s like… Toyota/Ford/Honda/BMW/Lexus/and so on… Do you guys think Grand Theft Auto V will use real brand name car’s like that in Grand Theft Auto V? Because that is what I been hoping. And I just don’t understand why they did not use brand name car’s in the first place on GTA4
November 12th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I miss playing in San Andreas.
January 26th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
They can’t use name brand cars cuz f copyright crap, that would be really cool tho…
January 26th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
They can’t use name brand cars cuz of copyright crap, that would be really cool tho…