Grand Theft Auto IV preview bonanza

After months of delays and announcement-silence from Rockstar Games, the developer held a special preview of Grand Theft Auto IV this past Tuesday. MTV News' Stephen Totilo provided a rundown of the preview, and the overall opinion seemed very positive. We've compiled some of the highlights here in bullet form, conveniently appropriate for the GTA franchise. (Do you see what we did there?)

• Play as Niko, a recent immigrant who (in a new turn for the franchise) ends up in a life of crime and theft.
• You can hail a taxi and use it to get to your desinations legally and (with a bit of extra cash) quicker.
• Cars will have GPS systems that show the route that the player must follow.
• Your "stars" only appear when a policeman sees you perform a crime, and simply hiding will not make the stars go away.
• A circle will show up on your map, and while you are inside of it, the police will be after you. As you perform more crimes within the circle, it will grow in radius.
• A much-improved, more Gears of War-style combat and targeting system.
• Unscripted events such as unrelated car chases and uniquely generated dialogue scenes will add variety to every time you play.
• The ability to get drunk has been added, while getting fat and wearing ridiculous clothing have been removed.

[via MTV News]