How GTA IV will reshape the series

Shootouts straight from Hollywood
As explosive as GTA gun battles have always been, firefights in GTA IV promise to be a whole new barrel of ballistics. Vastly improved AI means that GTA's dunderheaded kamikaze cops are upgraded with much smarter enforcers of the law - expect them to work together, take cover and use flanking tactics to flush out Niko. At this stage we've only seen a very brief glimpse of Liberty City's SWAT team in action, but we're guessing that they're going to be double-hard bastards and another reason to keep that wanted level down to a minimum whenever possible.

The shootout we saw in the demo (after Niko kills a lawyer) looked positively Hollywood and a far cry from the chaotic, haphazard massacres of previous GTAs. The way Niko moves throughout the game is - as you'd expect - much more natural, but his body movements are particularly bloody impressive when he's dodging a hailstorm of gun phlegm. The way he sprints and crouches (think Gears of War's roadie run) to avoid being Swiss cheesed before ducking behind cover and blind firing wildly with empty shells spewing from his SMG is all incredibly dramatic stuff and quite unlike anything we've ever seen in a GTA game before.