14 DAY TRIAL // Grand Theft Auto V is coming, but we already knew that for quite some time. Now, however, it's official, with Rockstar counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds before it unleashes the first trailer and details about its new game.
Until this week, when the logo for the game was presented, there were quite a lot of rumors about the new game, so let's run down some of the most important and add our own opinions on what we might see from GTA V.
Before we start, however, we need to remember that Rockstar always wants its numbered installments to bring huge changes to the series, just like GTA III introduced a fully explorable, 3D open world, or how IV introduced the RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine).
First and foremost, the location is extremely important for any Grand Theft Auto game. Whether it was the old Liberty City from III, the glitzy Vice City, the huge San Andreas state, or the new and expanded Liberty City from IV, the places where the action of a game takes place are as important as what you're actually doing in them.
For quite some time, Los Angeles has been rumored as the most likely location for GTA V, but this does pose some interesting issues. Since the release of GTA III, the series has taken place in fictional locations, even creating its own versions of U.S. cities, from the New York-like Liberty City, to the Miami-like Vice City, or even its own state, San Andreas, a version of California, with cities like Los Santos (Los Angeles), Las Venturas (Las Vegas) and San Fierro (San Francisco).
Many are debating that GTA V might make the jump into real life, offering an actual recreation of Los Angeles. Much of the work has already been done with Team Bondi for the recent L.A. Noire, although a 1947 version of L.A. was used instead of a modern one.
Still, we believe that Rockstar will continue with its fictional version of the USA, and Los Santos will make a new appearance, although it might certainly grow in size, in the same way as Liberty City, which was overhauled from III to IV.
Another major rumor that appeared straight after the confirmation of GTA V, was the possibility of multiple protagonists. This is reinforced by the fact that the regular GTA IV, like the rest of the games in the series, focused on one character, Niko Bellic, while its expansions, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony, followed other characters, who went through their own adventures at the same time as Niko, and even crossed paths.
For GTA V, Rockstar might plan and implement this straight from the get-go, especially since players are now getting more and more accustomed to controlling more than one character throughout a story.
We believe this rumor is quite possible, although Rockstar may once again plan ahead and just leave tidbits of information in the final game to hint at possible expansions.
Our own guess relate to the launch date of Grand Theft Auto V. Rockstar has always taken its time to make sure it has fully playable version of its games before presenting them to the public in a video. As such, it's pretty safe to say that the end of 2012 might see the new open world game be released.
These are just some of the reports concerning GTA V, but we think all will be revealed on November 2, when the actual trailer of the game is going to be presented to the world.