GTA V "evolves nearly every mechanic, features the biggest world in series history and introduces a new technology that radically changes the way players control the game.
Three main characters are called Michael, Trevor and Franklin
Michael is retired, early 40s, a highly successful former bank robber. Retired in luxury after making a deal with the FIB. He's in the witness protection program, he hates his wife who spends his m oney and hates him too, he doesn't understand his two teenage kids Tracy and Jimmy, he's forced back into the game as his money is about to run out
Trevor is a career criminal, early 40s, drug user governed by his desires, prone to violent outbursts and destructive rampages, a loose cannon, former military pilot, used to work a bank jobs with Michael back in the day, always up for a heist
Franklin, repo man, mid 20s, a young and ambitious hustler, works for an Armenian luxury car dealership that sells cars to those who can't afford them, when they can't pay up he plays repo man. He stumbles into Michael while looking for a hustle.
A quick menu can be called up to switch characters, the camera pulls away into a Google Earth-style vantage point and then drops into wherever the chosen character is
Trevor is described as having a "maniacal personality"
Trevor is in Blaine County, a barren, rundown desert region filled with bikers, meth heads and other people from the fringes of society
Characters can "flick off" people and people react differently depending on the area. In a rough-and-tumble
neighborhood the reaction will be different from someone in a posh boutique store
Rockstar's playtester pours a trail of gas away from a vehicle and drops a zippo lighter on it, the flame travels back and causes a huge explosion.
Franklin is seen on Vespucci Beach looking for a car he's to reposess
Waterfront activities include a muscle beach gym
He drops the top of the car once he gets in
Ammu-Nation is back
Each character has his own personality motivation and skillset
They go about their daily business when you're not in control, so you might find them in surprising situations when you take control of them again
Each character has a fleshed out story arc
Complicated, multitiered heist missions inspired by GTA IV's Three Leaf Clover are "peppered" into the game
Heists are a big theme
Rockstar is adressing mission diversity in pairing characters, it showed off a mission involving all three characters
The trio need to perform a snatch-and-grab to get the FIB off their bakcs
Trevor berates security agent guarding a chopper, Michael urges him to calm down but he keeps running his mouth, he only agreed to do the mission in exchange for help springing his friend Brad out of jail.
Franklin isn't to comfortable with Trevor
The three change outfits and rapell down the side of a skyscraper, when they arrive players take control of Michael rapelling down, the mechanic is reminiscent of Rainbow Six Vegas
The musical score seems to react to the action
They extract the target by holding him hostage with one arm while pointing a gun at interrogators with the other, at that point an icon appears giving the player the option to switch character
You can stay as Michael and try and pick of the enemies or select franklin, switch to his perspective and snipe them from afar.
Transition is smooth and camera angle helps you adjust
During the chase through Los Santos the player can switch to Trevor to pilot the getaway, snipe the other pilots as Franklin, or fire an assault rifle out the back of a chopper as Michael
Rockstar is leveraging cinematic tricks learned from Max Payne 3
Rockstar thinks GTA V is its strongest plotted game yet
Most of the gameplay mechanics have been built from the ground up
Cars hold better to the ground, Rockstar thought they were a bit "boat like" in GTA 4, it feels more like a racing game
Shooting has evolved "a long way" in terms of feel and mechanics
Melee is better, "it's never going to be as big a deal as shooting" but Rockstar "wants to make it feel really fun and strong"
Sam Houser and lead artis Aaron Garbut were both really interested in doing a proper LA, which R* felt it didn't do with San Andreas
The world is described as "the largest open-world playground in Rockstar history"
R* chose one large city over three small ones to create the best possible experience and realise its proper version of LA
World is bigger than RDR, San Andreas and GTA4 combined
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