The details and screenshots are starting to leak. . .
Plot details from Gamespot
"Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers.
Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster.
On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets."
General
- The game is more serious than the others, but the elements of comedy are still there.
- A full staff of reasearch personnel at Rockstar have been studying Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles for months to ensure that they truly capture the feelings of these cities.
Location
- The game will not take place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Las Vegas. It will take place IN ALL THREE as well as the countryside in between.
- Los Angeles will be called Los Santos, San Francisco will be called San Fieero, and Las Vegas will be called Las Venturra.
- Each city is about the same size as Vice City.
- Not all cities will be open at the start of the game.
- The entire game will be about four to six times as large as Vice City.
- San Fierro (San Francisco) will have hills. This city is more driving based.
- You can drive from LA, through the countryside, up a mountain, into San Fran, and onto Las Vegas.
- Driving through the desert won’t be empty and plain with a couple cacti...it will be vibrant and alive with weird things to see.
- There will be a lot more buildings with open interiors.
Graphics
- The graphics engine has been tweaked. Smog will be present in LA, and real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, as well as new techniques like radial lighting, which allows for more realistic shadowing, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels will be present.
- Everything in the game now has independent models for day and night to give better lighting and shadowing.
- The game will have ragdoll physics, or “impact animation” in Rockstar’s words.
Vehicles
- As for vehicles, there will be pimped-out lowriders, and 90’s versions of some GTA3/VC cars will return.
- There will be bicycles.
Story
- Characters from the past will return.
Gameplay
- In the Las Vegas city, you will be able to buy and build a casino - and then run it.
- You can then gamble your money in the casino.
- Your character can dual wield pistols and potentially other weapons.
- You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.
- You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however.
- You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by’s.
Weapons
- The choice of weapons will match the time in which the era of the early 90's.
Artificial Intelligence
- Enemy/pedestrian AI will be greatly revamped and they will think more logically. You can't beat someone to death in broad daylight and not have people notice and react.
- Your enemies will be smarter, which will make robbing houses take a lot of skill.
Music
- There will be a rap station, but there will be a variety of other stations as always.
http://www.gtagaming.com/
