The 18-page cover story covers the entire narrative, characters, mission structure and setting. However, if you want to get a quick overview of the game, here’s a succinct summary.
The Characters
Grand Theft Auto V builds on the concept of multiple playable characters introduced to Episodes of Liberty City. It features three main protagonists.
Michael, a former bank robber, lives in luxury because of a sweetheart agreement with the FIB. His wife is a thief and he has to return to the game after she spends all of his money.
Trevor is a regular drug user and is prone to violent outbursts. He was a former pilot in the military and used to rob banks. But now he struggles to make ends meet by living on the fringes at Los Santos.
Franklin is a hustler for an Armenian fraud artist. He sells cars to young children that they cannot afford. Franklin takes the cars back when they default on their loans. When he is looking for a larger score, he meets Michael.
These characters can be switched between by players at any moment while they are on mission.
Rockstar claims that celebrities aren’t suitable for leading roles due to the high volume of voiceover recordings. Trevor, Franklin, Michael and Niko Bellic will all have unknown voices.
Each main character has their own hobbies.
Rockstar didn’t identify any characters but confirmed that certain faces from Grand Theft Auto IV available here or Episodes From Liberty City might be resurfacing in Los Santos.
Niko Bellic won’t be a recurring character.
Grand Theft Auto characters from the PS2 era will not be appearing.
Missions
There are many styles to choose from when creating story missions. Some stories have one protagonist while others may include two or more participants.
Players often have the option to switch between multiple protagonists during a mission. Rockstar chose to use this method to keep the player engaged in the action and eliminate any flat spots.
Each of the main characters has their own story. However, Grand Theft Auto V doesn’t wait for the ending to introduce complicated missions. Instead, Grand Theft Auto V sprinkles many complex, multi-tiered, multi-tiered thefts in Grand Theft Auto V’s “Three Leaf Clover”, mission that runs through the narrative. These missions include prepping for the heists as well as the actual break-ins.
The live gameplay demo began with Trevor and Michael flying a helicopter to IAA headquarters. This is the equivalent of the CIA in the GTA.
Michael repels towards the skyscraper as soon as they reach it. He then locates his target, a person being interrogated by the FIB and wanted to be taken from the IAA’s hands.
The player has two options: Michael can break through the glass to grab the target or he can switch to Franklin. You can choose to stay with Michael or to switch to Franklin who is in a nearby building holding a sniper rifle. This will allow you to eliminate the IAA agents. These changes occur instantly and seamlessly, with cinematic angles that allow you to reorient yourself in the new perspective.
After the player has cleared the room of IAA agents, Michael is safely able to make it into the helicopter with the extraction target. A helicopter chase follows. The player has the option to switch between flying the chopper with Trevor or shooting out the back towards the tailing helicopters in either Franklin, Michael, or both.
Rockstar uses a score for the first time in GTA games to add tension to missions.
The World
- The world of Los Santos has more space than any of the other worlds.
- Grand Theft Auto V brings together the best of GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto V. It offers players the most open-world experience in Rockstar history and a large and diverse city as its epicenter.
- You can find locations such as beaches, wine country and a vast wilderness area around a fully-explored Mt. Chiliad is a region that was modeled after the Salton Sea and the Alamos Sea. It also includes a military base and sprawling suburb hills leading to Los Santos. You can also bring your scuba gear to explore the detailed ocean floor along Los Santos’ coastline.
The Gameplay
Rockstar claims it has rebuilt the shooting mechanics and driving as well as melee combat completely from scratch.
Rockstar has given players more Grand Theft Auto vehicles to encourage them to explore the vastness of this game.
Confirmed models include a BMX bicycle, road bikes and dirt bikes, as well as a variety of cars, trucks, planes, ATVs and Jet Skis. It doesn’t matter if you wait until the endgame, if you want to fly the skies, it won’t be necessary. Trevor is an ex-military veteran with flight experience. You just need to find the right plane.
Rockstar intends to make off-mission activities even more fun with side missions and minigames that are similar to Red Dead Redemption’s poker.
Yoga, Jet Skiing and base jumping are some of the confirmed activities. There is also a full-fledged game of golf.
Grand Theft Auto V doesn’t offer the RPG-style customization that many people enjoyed in San Andreas because Trevor, Michael, and Franklin are fully fleshed out characters with specific skill traits.
You can customize the appearance of the characters by wearing different clothes.
Rockstar claims that the GTA V dating system has not returned to GTA V because of the character nature.
GTA V doesn’t allow players to purchase real estate. However, Rockstar knows that players didn’t have much to spend money on towards the end of GTA IV and plans to rectify this by releasing the sequel.
If you want a deeper dive into the world of Grand Theft Auto V and give some context to these bullet points, find out how to purchase a copy of our December issue here. You can find new content every month by checking our hub.
