After a sleeping it off with a nice, quick reload, Niko heads over to the pimped-out pad of Playboy X, a big-shot looking to take out some pesky union bosses at a construction site. Here we get an updated taste of Star Junction, Liberty City's stunning version of Times Square. It's a hive of activity, bustling with traffic and pedestrians and lit up like a pinball. This kind of environment with this much action simply couldn't have happened on a last generation console without dropping the framerate to a crawl. Driving through the heart of the city, the 360 barely even hiccups.
Eventually Niko arrives at his next mission ("Destruction for Beginners") in Algonquin, loads up on weapons and starts sniping at lookouts perched high atop cranes at the construction site. Thanks to Rockstar's implementation of NaturalMotion's euphoria technology (the same tech used in LucasArts' upcoming Force Unleashed and Indiana Jones games), the victims' reactions aren't scripted. One crumples in a heap, while another slips off the crane to plummet a hundred feet and smash through the roof of a car. If you did it three more tines, you'd get three different results.
But that's just the beginning. The following shootout is unlike any we've ever seen in a GTA game, filled with huge explosions, realistic movements and -- I'm thrilled to be typing this -- solid targeting. Auto and manual options let you quickly and smoothly target different bodies or, better yet, body parts; coupled with the Euphoria tech, this means an enemy shot in the leg will limp appropriately, while an enemy shot in the nose will fly backwards and land with a satisfying thud. Niko can also take cover behind just about anything and even blind fire weapons if things get too hairy, though most cover will erode over time, so turtling isn't going to be a great option. The whole shebang is just a massive leap over the problematic gunplay in older GTA games.
The last mission in the demo, "Truck Hustle," involves a scene made famous in one of the game's early trailers. A mob boss named Bell asks Niko to deliver a truck filled with drugs to his son-in-law...but he's got to steal it from the Triads first. That's a lot easier said than done. After another wicked firefight filled with rocket launcher and grenades, Niko finally finds the truck as it barrels out of a garage. Niko grabs on to the back, and in a move pulled straight out of a Jackie Chan movie, starts shimmying up the side and on to its roof.
Thus begins one of the game's mid-mission mini-games: inching forward on the roof of a truck as it swerves in and out of traffic in an effort to shake you off. It's a truly harrowing affair, Niko bucking back and forth, his limbs instinctively grabbing or letting go of the sides courtesy, once again, of NaturalMotion's procedural animation system. This could be the centerpiece of an entire action game - in GTA IV, it's merely a five minute diversion. By the time Niko reaches the front, breaks through the window, clambers into the passenger seat and offs the driver, the demo winds to an end.
But speculation over the fate of GTA IV is interminable. Will it get delayed again? Will it live up to its lofty expectations? Ask Rockstar and they'll tell you that such scrutiny is the price for greatness. If this most recent demo is any indication, they certainly have the dream of another landmark achievement in game design squarely in their sights. All that's left is to pull the trigger.
Update: Apparently, Rockstar was listening: a mere 24 hours after this preview was posted, they officially announced that GTA IV would be available for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 on April 29. Mark your calendars."
Posted: 23 Jan 2008
