RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Prepare for six stars, two playable characters and one hell of a ride.
Rockstar Games/Take Two Arguably the most anticipated video game of all time is almost upon us. Netflix bagged an exclusive 26-minute extended look of GTA VI for all of six hours, before the bumper trailer hit YouTube and other platforms ahead of the game's release on November 19. Now that we've been given our deepest glimpse yet into Vice City and the surrounding bayous and forests of Leonida, what new information can we glean from a potential open-world opus that is poised to smash every sales record?
It turns out... a lot. Seeing as Grand Theft Auto VI could take you more than 80 hours to finish , it's no surprise Rockstar North has cooked up a bunch of new in-game mechanics. Key improvements to gunplay, more in-depth carjacking , a whole new respect-style system and a plethora of refreshed minigames are just the tip of the homicidal iceberg. Let's get into all the details from the GTA VI extended look you may have missed.
Rockstar Games/Take Two You sure can. Much like large parts of GTA V , you can readily swap between Rockstar's take on Bonnie and Clyde in the sequel. There's a good example of this at the 18:41 mark in the extended look, when the action switches from Jason to Lucia, as both leads try to manage the chaos of a high-octane chase sequence from their red convertible.
It also looks like certain missions will only allow you to play as one character, making you choose between the two crooks or forcing the decision upon you in a cutscene. There's a brief moment at 10:50 in the extended-look trailer when Lucia and Jason are offered a job by their criminal chum Brian Heder , while having drinks in a glitzy rooftop bar called the Effluvia in downtown Vice City. The couple briefly discuss who is going to accept the mission before Lucia stands up, leaving Jason with the gig and his Pißwasser (that's GTA's trademark lager, in case you'd forgotten).
Rockstar Games/Take Two A real "blink and you'll miss it" moment occurs 14 minutes into the extended look. As Jason does his best to keep cop cars and a whirlybird at bay with an automatic rifle while hanging out the back of a getaway vehicle, you can briefly spot the return of six Wanted Stars. This is significant, as GTA V capped its Wanted system at five stars. That makes the Los Santos masterpiece stand out in the GTA pantheon, with every other 3D iteration adding an additional sixth star (signaling the SWAT-like NOOSE forces, in the case of GTA IV ).
This beefed-up Wanted level is joined by a new Criminal Profile system. Detailed in IGN 's preview , it apparently acts a bit like Red Dead Redemption 2 's Honor system, though it promises to be more nuanced. The site claims that GTA VI doesn't view all crimes as equal; firing back at an angry NPC who is acting as the aggressor won't be judged as harshly as going on an unhinged killing spree.
The game will also give you the chance to walk away from potentially violent encounters by deescalating situations through onscreen dialogue options that let you either taunt or talk nice (another throwback to RDR2 ). Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson told IGN that "consistent actions may have an impact in terms of how the world reacts to you and how the narrative plays out," while chatting about GTA VI 's big new mechanic. Apparently, throwing trash in a garbage can or feeding one of Leonida's many critters can help improve Lucia or Jason's Criminal Profile.
Rockstar Games/Take Two Rockstar has been tight-lipped on what changes it has made to GTA's gunplay and melee systems. Still, eagle-eyed fans may have spotted a few clues as to how GTA VI is evolving the franchise's trigger-happy skirmishes. The first major tweak is that you can finally swap between two firearms on the fly, without dipping into a weapon wheel. You can see this as Lucia blasts her way around an outdoor target range at 18:31 of the extended preview, with the bank robber seamlessly swapping between a high-powered rifle and her pistol.
There are other subtle evolutions from GTA V 's combat model if you squint hard. Guns appear easier and quicker to pick up, as seen when Jason smoothly equips an enemy's Duke 556 assault rifle during a hectic office firefight toward the end of the trailer. Aiming also appears to be more seamless overall. At various points during the latest trailer both Mr. Duval and Ms. Caminos down goons in extra slippery style — though how much of this is down to the studio using auto-aim during the recorded gameplay footage is tough to tell. Oh, and it looks like you can now wield certain weapons one-handed. Witness Lucia wasting fools at the 09:21 mark as she wields a shotgun in one hand while the other is lugging around a big bag of cash/weapons/narcotics.
Rockstar Games/Take Two Grand Theft Auto has continually set the bar when it comes to open-world minigames and side activities. Darts! Golf! Pool! Tennis! Triathlons! Blowing all your criminal earnings on Los Santos' seedy stock market! Though it's unclear whether GTA V 's, ahem, "BAWSAQ" exchange is returning to Rockstar's Miami-inspired follow-up, GTA VI isn't messing around with new side activities that you'll likely lose all the hours to.
Throughout the trailer you can catch Lucia and Jason indulging in all sorts of relaxing (or occasionally exhilarating) pastimes. Basketball, dirt bike races, scuba diving, timed target practice challenges, stock car racing, kayaking and backyard wrestling with WWE signature finishing moves can all be spotted at various points. If the standard that GTA V set with its minigames is anything to go by, each of these activities will lean on strong mechanics that make them a pleasure to replay.
There's also a new minigame that makes carjackings a little more interesting. Whereas Franklin merely had to press Triangle/Y to break into any vehicle scattered across Blaine County, there's a moment at 06:07 when you can witness Jason initiat...
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