GTA: V Previews Simplified

Many previews of Grand Theft Auto: V have gone live today and we have read through the previews and will give you all the highlights from the previews. As always, if you see that we’ve over looked something please let us know in the comments below. Let’s get started!

New Images:

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The Highlights:[checklist]

Car customization is back.
Customizable license plates.
Fully explorable map from the beginning.
The map is bigger than GTA: San Andreas, GTA: IV, and RDR combined.
When changing players the camera will zoom out and then pinpoint the next player and zoom in.
Character change options on screen bring up a wheel that is divided into four equal triangles: Franklin, Trevor, Michael… and a slot for your multiplayer avatar.
Some boats include scuba gear that you can wear.
More responsive AI than in previous games.
Republican Space Rangers makes a return.
Complete a heist and you’re rewarded in cash to spend on luxury vehicles, businesses, marinas, and even property!
Each character is rated according to these guidelines: Special, Stamina, Shooting, Strength, Stealth, Flying, Driving, Mechanic, Lung Capacity.
Customizable weapons – Laser sights, scopes, silencers and high capicity magazines.
Full eco system
Exploring reaps rewards
Five times as many pedestrians than GTA: IV
You can get on a tour bus and ride along with the tour and see celebrity homes.
Your cell phone is called the iFruit and you can snap photos in game and upload them to your Social Club profile.
There are 9 apps on your iFruit, camera, internet, contacts, social media, a calendar, and an option to go back and replay individual missions. (The last 3 Rockstar wasn’t ready to divulge yet.)
Pay N Spray’s double as mod shops
Vehicle Mods include: paint jobs, wheels, window tint, spoilers, grilles, suspension, brakes, and engines.
Customize your looks by getting haircuts, new clothes and getting tattoo’s.
Activities you can do: Yoga, golf, tennis and bike races. (Probably more to come)
Heists are a major part of the game.
[/checklist]

The Previews:
Kotaku – URL | Twitter
Preview: “The other big change to the series that might merit the number at the end of the title? GTA V is a heist game. It’s a three-criminal, third-person, open-world action-adventure that involves about five or six major heists—major acts of thievery that will involve lots of missions to set them up, choices by the player about how to commit the heists and, Rockstar claims, the kind of big moments that previously were saved for the ends of their games.”

GameSpot – URL | Twitter
Preview: “For something that’s not technically a role-playing game, Grand Theft Auto V sure looks like a great role-playing game. For starters, it’s the first GTA to feature multiple protagonists, essentially giving you the chance to jump between three different characters leading three different lives whenever you want to gain an alternate perspective on the action. Beyond that main narrative, however, is a sandbox full of activities and distractions. With that openness comes the opportunity to carve out your own new role in this world of crime and greed. Here are a few identities you might find yourself assuming as you explore the streets of Los Santos and the sprawling wilderness of Blaine County.”

IGN – URL | Twitter
Preview: “GTA V tells its story from the perspective of three playable characters — Franklin, Michael, and Trevor – a well-known fact about the game at this point, but still a bold and daring choice for Rockstar to make. I admittedly harbor fears that a more focused experienced based on a lone character might actually be the desired path for an adventure like this to take, and yet it rapidly became clear that this trifecta of characters makes GTA V quite different from its amazing predecessors. Indeed, this design choice represents the single biggest change in the series since the jump from 2D to 3D over a decade ago, especially when it comes to how each character interacts with each other within the confines of Grand Theft Auto V’s all-new, robust mission structure.”

Destructiod – URL | Twitter
Preview: “As you play GTA V, you’ll slowly be leveling up your character’s various stats which are: stamina, shooting, strength, stealth, flying, driving, mechanic, and lung capacity. There’s also a stat called Special, which gives each of the characters a very unique ability.”

CVG – URL | Twitter
Preview: “Straight off the bat, it’s hard not to be impressed. Incidental detail is king here: what looks like a cargo plane arcs up into the sky in the distance, having taken off from the military base; a mountain lion scutters for cover in the hillsides of Mount Josiah (in a GTA first, Chilliad is no longer the only peak in the series); a quad bike moves along one of the countless mud trails, and cars along the mountain roads; and, gradually, the river edges closer, shimmering in the sunlight, and we can see two people fishing on its banks, a Winnebago parked next to them. Laid across it all (again, for the first time in a GTA game) is evidence of one of the game’s dynamic scores, a soft, ambient track that perfectly captures the serene nature of the descent.”

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Edge Online – URL | Twitter
Preview: “Grand Theft Auto V’s playable trio – retired heist mastermind Michael, car-loving adrenaline junkie Franklin and the unhinged Trevor – have their own lives, and tastes too. Switch from one to the other when off-mission (by pressing down on the D-pad to bring up the character wheel) and they could be doing one of any number of things. Franklin kicks off our demo 1000 feet up in the Blaine County sky, ready to jump out of a helicopter. Michael is stepping out of the Von Crastenburg hotel in Vinewood in the early evening. Trevor, meanwhile, is just waking up on a remote beach, blood-spattered with bottle of whisky in hand, wearing only his underwear.”

Game Informer – URL | Twitter
Preview: “The core combat of Rockstar games has evolved quite a bit since Grand Theft Auto IV released in 2008. Red Dead Redemption streamlined the cover system first implemented in GTA IV, made gunfights more visceral thanks to the animations provided by the Euphoria technology, and introduced the slow-motion Dead-Eye mechanic. Max Payne 3 took the combat even further with destructible environments, kill cams, a last stand mechanic, and more natural feeling movement when you’re running and gunning. For Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar is taking the lessons learned from all of its previous games to bring the combat into the future.”

USA Today – URL | Twitter
Preview: “Since 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III — the game that elevated Rockstar Games to headliner status — the series has offered varying takes on the criminal element, from the ’80s Miami drug wars in 2004’s GTA: Vice City to the immigrant experience in 2008’s GTA IV.”

VideoGamer – URL | Twitter
Preview: “GTA 5 feels like a combination of the developer’s efforts rolled into one package. The world is bigger than nearly all of Rockstar’s previous environments combined; the three characters exist to introduce a new and more complex narrative; for the first time it has its own soundtrack which will change depending on your current situation; you can go scuba diving. All of the above will become staples that define GTA 5 but, much like my new friend the deer, it’s the aquatic action which threatens to open many-a-gamers eye.”

Foreign Previews: (Thanks TGTAP)