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UK, May 24, 2007 - Following our brief tour of Liberty City, we
couldn't help but blab out a load of questions we desperately wanted
answers for. Thankfully Hamish Brown, head of PR for Rockstar UK, and
GTA product manager Hugh Michaels were on hand to dish the dirt...
IGN: You've just showed a 15 minute walkthrough of GTA IV. How much of
Liberty City have we seen in that time?
Hamish Brown: We've only showed one small area of Broker, which is our
version of Brooklyn. When you take into account we've got four of the
five boroughs, plus we've got Aldernay, which is our version of part
of New Jersey, it's absolutely huge. Algonquin is our version of
Manhattan, Broker is Brooklyn, Dukes is Queens, Alderney is New Jersey
and there's Bohan, which is the Bronx. The only one we're not doing is
Staten Island because it's very similar to the others and didn't
really offer anything new aesthetically.
In terms of footprint, it's the biggest city we've ever done but if
you walk from one side to the other it's not going to be as big San
Andreas. When we say it's big in terms of scope we're taking into
account all the detail within that city and also the verticality of
it. There are some huge buildings in the game, some of which you'll be
able to go up - although not all of them."
IGN: We saw Niko walking into a random building and there were no load
times. Surely you won't be able walk inside every building...
Hamish Brown: It's physically impossible to create the inside of every
building, plus that would be incredibly confusing for the player. So
while there will be more interiors you can go into than ever before,
you'll only be able to go into them if there's a purpose, whether it's
a skyscraper or office block to have a meeting, or house if you're
meeting someone.
IGN: You demonstrated the cycle of the day in the game. Will there be
a cycle of seasons too?
Hamish Brown: We can't really say at this point.
IGN: Going back to San Andreas, a key part of the opening section of
the game was building up your gang and taking over territories and
properties. Can we expect something similar in GTA IV?
Hamish Brown: The property element of the game is being downplayed.
It's been culled quite a lot because we don't really think it fits
where we've gone with the game. Niko is an Eastern European who's come
to Liberty City with only a suitcase to his name so it wouldn't be
realistic if he ended up as a huge property baron. Also we don't know
how much fun asset management is and if, in the context of the game,
Niko has properties worth $10 billion then why would he want to do a
mission for 150 dollars? So that aspect of the game has been trimmed
down. Also, Niko's ambition when he came over was never to run New
York, it was just to see his cousin and live the American dream, but
it hasn't worked out that way because his cousin is a compulsive liar!
Niko wants a better life though, so it's not as if you're only
maintaining what you've got in the game; he wants a piece of the
American dream but he probably won't end up in the penthouse of some
skyscraper in midtown.
We can also say that his past starts to catch up with him from the old
country and there will be a gang element to the game. Maybe not in
such a prolific way as before, but the Russian Mafia will be involved.
So yeah, the whole gang thing will be in the game to some extent.
IGN: How much control will the player have over the physical and
emotional development of Niko?
Hugh Michaels: If you think about San Andreas, the character's face
had shape but not much texture. There wasn't much scarring or wrinkles
or anything like that, so it was much easier to fluff it up a bit to
make it look like a fatter person or suck it in so they appear
thinner. Doing something where there's this level of texture - with
the level of graphics and the detail on the character's face - you'd
literally have to map how the face would look like at every
permutation of it. I'm also not sure how long people actually spent
working out in the gym too; I think most people did it once or twice
just out of curiosity but after that just got on with the game, so I
think we could probably use the space needed to give that flexibility
for more fun things.
IGN: Does that mean the eating aspect of San Andreas has been ditched
too?
Hugh Michaels: Niko certainly won't get fat or thin but a lot of the
smaller details - what you do here or there - are still being tweaked.
IGN: GTA IV's style is much more realistic compared to previous GTAs.
Will that affect the way traditional in-game mechanics such as Wanted
stars and health picks ups - which are almost cartoony in style - are
presented?
Hugh Michaels: You're absolutely right, there is a more realistic,
darker side to it and it wouldn't feel quite right if it mixed styles.
The more realistic approach also has an effect on the characters -
some of them were extreme, almost cartoon-type characters in previous
games and that will also, to some extent, change to become more
realistic.
Hamish Brown: Following on from that, criminals don't actually lead
particularly exciting lives. So even though some of the more
fantastical elements of the game have been toned down, so you're not
going to be flying around Central Park on a jetpack, that doesn't mean
the game is devoid of fun or humour. That's always been an integral
part of the GTA experience, it's been synonymous with it. Ultimately
the game needs to be fun, so even though it's matured graphically -
aesthetically it's a bit more realistic but it's still not photo-
realistic - and the storyline is slightly grittier, it doesn't mean
it's going to be any less enjoyable or the humour's not going to be
there or we've forgotten the power of satire. That's all going to be
firmly in place. You'll be doing things that are still outlandish
because that's the nature of GTA. You just might not be on a UFO!
Hugh Michaels: Trying to engage the player emotionally is really
important for next-gen. There are few titles in the last-gen that did
it - certainly having relationships and family in San Andreas added to
the experience. Obviously there were missions you wanted to do for
yourself but there were also missions where you wanted to help other
characters out. It's totally normal in film for people to bond with a
character emotionally but it's still pretty rare in videogames.
There's no reason why we can't do that and more - we've got a 100-hour
game and you're controlling the guy so by all rights you should feel
closer to him than some guy your watching detachedly. That's certainly
something we're aiming towards.
IGN: How will GTA IV compare to, say, San Andreas in terms of the
number of missions it will include?
Hamish Brown: It's difficult to quantify in terms of gameplay and how
big the how experience is going to be. As for how long it takes to
play through, we haven't got a figure on that but there will be more
to do than ever before. There will be more options, there will be
loads of new things to do. Every aspect of the game is evolving and
we're blurring the line between things that are on-mission and off-
mission, so things that you do off-mission also have consequences. The
world will be much more immersive and it'll be a more interactive
experience, so in theory you could spend a whole lot of time playing
it.
We're fortunate to have a team that's worked together for the last 10
years. We have Aaron Garbut, our art director, who's been working on
GTA from the beginning and he's probably the most talented person in
the games industry in terms of art direction. If you've seen the
trailer you know what he's capable of. Before, we were limited by the
hardware, not by the team. Now he's got these next-gen toys to play
with you're going to see something incredible.
IGN: Niko can obviously run and drive. How else will he get around
Liberty City?
Hamish Brown: He can swim and there are boats, because there are a lot
of waterways around the city. There are the subway trains too,
although we're still figuring how they'll work in the game.