GTA IV -UK Games magazine preview

Games™ Preview with new GTAIV info

UK magazine Games™ has the world's first hands on preview of GTA IV's new gameplay. There are many new screenshots in the article, as well as a fair amount of new information.

• Times Square is called "Star Junction"
  
• Few people were on the streets in the demo that Games™ played (this could be attributed to early code)
• Niko can use his cell phone to call for weapons - Games™ say that Niko calls his associate Little Jacob, a Caribbean arms dealer, the conversation ends with Jacob telling Niko to meet him in an alleyway in Rotterdam Hill
• The player can call a taxi cab to go to a destination and view the ride in first-person or use trip-skip to speed the experience along
• On one mission, Niko must retrieve a memory stick with sensitive data on it from a person identified as McReary. The problem is that McReary is standing with a group of people and Niko doesn't know who he is, so he takes out his cell phone and calls McReary. When the now-revealed target pulls out his cell phone, Niko walks up and puts a bullet in his head.
• Missions can supposedly be "interrupted." This suggests that multiple missions can be done at the same time and that some will span several days
• Niko received a call in the demo, which concerned a "shady lawyer" by the name of Goldberg, of Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster. On this mission, Niko must upload his resume to Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster's website, get an interview, and kill Goldberg. In this mission, Niko purchased a $2000 suit from a clothing store called "Perseus," then ventured to the law firm and talked to the secretary over the intercom, before being let in. Niko then went to see Goldberg and promptly killed him. This caused the secretary to trigger the alarm and Niko to receive a 3-star wanted level.
• The "TW@" internet café from GTA3 is present but this time you can surf the web (which is "huge" and "very important," according to Rockstar)
• Any crime committed will give you a wanted level
• The star rating will create a visible search area on the radar, which, if escaped, will dissipate the wanted level
• The police radio returns and you can hear the police talking about where you were last spotted as in previous games, only this time, the police will know exactly where you are at because every street is named
• There is a clothing store called "Perseus" where suits can be purchased
• The draw distance is "unreal"
  

This is certainly exciting, as never before have players been able to "surf the web" in a GTA game. The police also seem to be much more vigilant and realistic in the game, as in the missions Games™ played, killing a single person warranted a 3-star wanted level on both occasions.