E3 07: Grand Theft Auto 4 Demo Walkthrough
"What you are seeing today is unfinished code," the presenter continued, "very much a work in progress." He went on to state that none of the assets were final and that placeholders--particularly for the music--were still in use.
As the Xbox 360 version booted up, main character Niko was standing in the Liberty City rendition of New York's Times Square. There were few people and cars around, seeming to be late at night or perhaps early in the morning. After wandering around for a bit, Niko--in true GTA form--walked up to a black sedan, opened the door, tossed its former owner onto the street, and took off in his recommissioned vehicle.
While the presenter drove around town accompanied by generic light jazz, two graphical points were immediately obvious. The first was the constantly-shifting reflection of light off the car's shiny exterior, which incorporated both the passing street lights and the gradually increasing bits of sunlight. The chrome surrounding the vehicle's license plate behaved similarly. Combined with GTA4's more believable character design and architecture, as well as its modern day setting, these touches present a far less stylized and more realistic appearance.
The second point was the slightly choppy framerate. It never got to the point where it dipped into the single digits or became a slideshow--certainly it never seemed like it would interfere with gameplay--but the on-screen action was a little sluggish. This can actually be briefly glimpsed in the trailers, such as when the camera pans around Niko at the end of the second teaser.
Eventually, the tall buildings of downtown Liberty City gave way to the squatter structures of the warehouse district. Parking the stolen sedan behind a warehouse located along the river, Niko emerged from the car. He turned towards the river, providing an indication of the river's vast size along with that of the large bridge spanning it, and pulled out his cell phone.
Instead of just receiving call as in past Grand Theft Auto games, Niko used his phone to buy weapons and arrange deliveries as well. This process, including the whipping out of the cell phone, was controlled entirely by the player. However, voice acting had not yet been incorporated, so the conversation itself was silent. As the call ended, so did the unfortunately bite-sized demonstration.
"[Our] goal is to create [the] defining next-gen action adventure," the rep declared. "No one is resting on their laurels."
Grand Theft Auto 4 is slated to arrive on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 16, 2007.
