Here’s What You Missed: Grand Theft Auto V

So far in the GTA series we’ve had Mafia hitman Tommy Vercetti in Vice City, gang member Carl “CJ” Johnson in San Andreas and lastly the eastern-european war veteran Niko Bellic in GTA IV. From the trailer it appears that Rockstar have moved on to a new style of character – a gravelly-voiced gentleman who appears to be in his late 40’s or 50’s, sporting a sort of New York gangster accent.

The demo showcases some fantastic sweeping shots across the area in which the game is set, which looks to us to be California – a return to the San Andreas days. We get a glimpse of some everyday people going about their everyday lives, a look at some fantastic looking sports cars, including one which looks remarkably like an Aston Martin, and even what looks to be the beginning of a mission.

We’re going to be expecting a lot from Grand Theft Auto V when it eventually arrives, from a vast open world to lush graphics and exciting adventures. But one thing that GTA has always had in abundance, is a good story.

It’s what keeps players around, keeps them focused and gets them invested in the game, as doing your own thing in a sandbox environment can get boring after a while. GTA V knows this all too well, and it seems that developer Rockstar Games has roped in some outside help in order to play to these strengths.

Speaking to VG24/7, sources told them that the 2K Czech Studio was collaborating with Rockstar Games, helping them with cutscene animations alongside some cinematic expertise and gameplay ideas.

2K Czech last worked on Mafia 2, which received mixed reviews from critics. Despite having excellent voice-acting and a cinematic quality that matched up with the polished gameplay, Mafia 2 was criticised for its lack of sandbox activities, as the story focus left very little room for sight-seeing and diversions.

Still, it was an above-average game, and with the developers currently working on a Mafia 3 after a year of pre-production, a collaboration of this magnitude can only spell good things for both sides.

It makes perfect sense as well, with the two studios falling under the 2K Games umbrella, to pool resources, as only good things can come out of such a brief partnership.

After a lot of excited pointing at mountains and dogs, the PC Gamer office got chatting about the sneaky hints Rockstar have dotted throughout the new GTA 5 trailer.

You’ve probably noticed the narrator sounds a lot like Ray Liotta, who voiced GTA Vice City’s player character Tommy Vercetti. But the greying middle-aged man we see in the footage isn’t the only one in player-character situations. There’s also a shaven-headed youth in a car chase with the police, and a tattooed black guy running from a cop chopper. And hey, isn’t that all three of them together breaking into the jewellery store? Click below for a full size image of the evidence.

Chris Thursten points out that GTA IV used a deal gone wrong to link three characters that you ultimately ended up playing: Niko in the main game, Johnny Klebitz in the Lost and the Damned DLC, and Luis Lopez in the Ballad of Gay Tony. GTA V might give us a choice of three protagonists from the off, each with their own stories, and use this robbery as the flashpoint that links them.