SPOnG and other sources have lasciviously pored over a ten-page GTA IV preview featured in this month's Game Informer magazine. Some of the titbits include confirmation of a multiplayter mode as well as Xbox 360 exclusive episodic content available for download at a later date.
The game centres around Eastern European immigrant Niko Bellic who arrives in a contemporary Liberty City to pursue the American dream after a few years spent working in the up-and-coming areas of human trafficking and murder. He is, then, a sort of cross between Scarface and the Daily Mail's perennial nightmare of Balkan madmen coming for our jobs. And daughters.
This is a rather downbeat set-up for the series, eschewing the idealised period placement of previous titles, and opting for an ethnicity that exudes none of the easy allure of previous gangsta characters. There have been no mainstream rap records, no flashy Brian de Palma movies, about Croatian killers seeking American redemption. And still, no female lead character - perhaps they're saving that for the next generation.
