Rockstar Games took the press by storm last week by releasing three sets of screenshots for Grand Theft Auto 5, a game currently under heavy wraps. Little had been revealed about the game since the studio released a trailer late last year, with the company remaining relatively quiet on its development and focusing most, if not all of its marketing efforts towards Max Payne 3.
In any case, the screenshots—ten, in total—are out, and each of them contains a host of details that were otherwise overlooked upon first glance. Now that we've calmed down a little and managed to regain our composure from all the excitement each of the screnshot releases has sparked, we'll take a closer look at each of them and try to figure out what we missed the first time around.
The Driver
If we're to assume correctly, the protagonist is being pursued by a group of armed police in helicopters and cruisers. Interestingly, if we raise the contrast on this screenshot we can see what appears to be the driver—who looks nothing at all like the old white guy presumed to be the protagonist of GTA 5 in the original trailer. Instead, there's a young black or hispanic man in the driver's seat.
Police Sniper
A police sniper can be seen perched on the doorway of the helicopter, so the chase is likely to be a three-star incident if it is indeed a gameplay screenshot.
The Sniper, New Protagonist?
First up, where's the protagonist? The screenshot appears to be taken at an angle, but it gives us the impression that the person taking shots at the police helicopter is the protagonist—a balding dude with a laser-sighted AK47.
There's a good chance that the screenshot was taken in multiplayer—which would explain the protagonist's appearance.
Docks
As the screenshot takes place upon the docks, there's a good chance that we'll be piloting boats in addition to automobiles and airplanes in GT A5.
The Red Baron
The airplane could be briefly seen in the first release video of the game, flying over a group of plantation workers as it sprays pesticide over the field, causing them to cough. Here, it looks like the player's flying the aircraft over a river. It should be noted that there are two seats in the aircraft.
Action Hijack
We can see what looks like a character hijacking a car-transport truck in this screenshot while being pursued by cops. Previous GTA games didn't have action hijacking, but it's a possibility given that Rockstar may want to borrow a feature from the recently released GTA-like game, Sleeping Dogs, which allows players to perform an 'action hijack' on moving vehicles.
New Protagonist
Like the picture of the guy in the car, the protagonist appears to be a young black man and not the old white guy we saw in the original trailer.
Cheetah
So here's the Cheetah. The glare omits the last letter, 'h'. We know this because the previous games spelled it properly with an 'h'. It also wouldn't look right if the word wasn't centered.
As you can see, the Cheetah has a San Andreas license plate which looks pretty similar to the license plates in California. That's intentional. It reads "56PMA440", a number that's probably randomly generated except for the special cars driven by NPCs.
BMX Biking
Here's a nice, Miranda-ish buttshot of a character riding down what looks like the Santa Monica pier (or Santa Maria, in GTA) on his BMX-ish bicycle in bike pants. We know it's a guy because of the size of his calves and musculature in general, so it probably belongs to the protagonist.
With any luck, we'll be able to perform stunts with the bike. Wouldn't that be something?
Let's just hope there's no vampires in GTA's version of Santa Monica. Vampire: Bloodlines was just teeming with them.
Custom Outfit
The character appears to be biking along in a customized biking outfit—an indication that you'll have plenty to wear based on your activities.
Original Protagonist
When we raise both the contrast and brightness of this screenshot, we can see what looks like the game's original protagonist (as opposed to the new one showcased in the previous screenshots) as seen in the trailer. It's an old white guy in a sports coat and button shirt.
Trials
So here's two characters who are partaking in what appear to be partaking in a dirt-bike trials race. The screenshot's a good indicator that we'll be able to do some off-road trials racing. Hopefully on multiple courses.
Vice City had one mission in which you partake in trial bike racing, but given the amount of detail in the screenshot, we can hope for a whole lot more this time around.
Custom Outfits
It's hard to tell whether the main character is among the two racers given that the outfits they're wearing appear to be customized for the race. Perhaps the outfits you don in GTA 5 will correspond to the activity, much like the previous bicycle screenshot.
Parachuting, BASE Jumping
Here, we can see one of the main characters (presumably the young black guy) parachuting down a valley in one of the game's wilderness locations.
Dirt Roads
GTA 5 is set to offer some off-roading in the wilderness locations. Only the presence of dirt bikes has been confirmed thus far, but it'd be great if there were also rally cars although there's no evidence of those…yet.
New Character
The character in this screenshot resembles the same guy in the car and the one performing the action hijack of the truck earlier.
Tennis, Other Sports
As we all know, the Grand Theft Auto titles are packed full of minigames—although previous titles were limited to relatively simple stuff like bowling and darts. Based on this screenshot, we can assume that GTA 5 will be seeing the much larger addition of tennis this time around.
Property Ownership
That house in the background? It probably belongs to you. At least, we hope so. What's the point of a nice house if you can't have a chance to own it?
