Breaking Down the GTA V Trailer

To no one’s surprise, Rockstar has been hard at work on their next groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto installment.

The official announcement that followed the wildly popular trailer’s release—it hit three million views on YouTube in about two days—promises a “bold new direction in open-world freedom, storytelling, mission-based gameplay and online multiplayer.”

So what’s the one minute and 24 seconds of trailer told us? Let’s check it out!

• 0:03 – Is this narrator our hero’s voice? Anyway, he indicates he’s not a native, likely indicating that like prior series entries, we’ll be starting at the bottom of the food chain once the game starts in earnest.
• 0:07 – A sun-kissed beach and a Baywatch-style lifeguard station. Looks like we’re going back to California-based San Andreas. And it’s clear the graphics have gotten a major upgrade.
• 0:12 – A sweeping scene of palm trees, skyscrapers, and even a helicopter off in the distance, likely indicating we’ll be able to steal/fly them once again. The city looks to be massive.
• 0:17 – A golfer tees off at a gorgeous course, the first sign of excessive opulence under the San Andreas sun. Could there be a rudimentary golf mini-game, expanding on the driving range we played in GTA IV? And a blimp flies by at the upper right. Oh, please, please, please let us be able to pilot it or get atop it! The mind boggles with possibilities.
• 0:19 – The Speedophile 2000 personal watercraft may get more of a snicker in England than here in America.
• 0:23 – Cars retract their convertible tops now? Cool!
• 0:25 – The narrator indicates he wants to “be a good guy for once.” Will we be playing as a criminal trying to go straight, only to get sucked back into a world of crime?
• 0:26 – The first returning in-series product is advertised: a poster for “Deliciously Infectious!” eCola brand soda is visible.
• 0:34 – At lower left, confirmation that we have indeed returned to Los Santos, one of the three cities from GTA: San Andreas.
• 0:35 – The first real signs of the recession in the game world, as some less-than-nice scenes start appearing. And is that brightly dressed fellow strolling down the sidewalk our protagonist?
• 0:40 – A rough-looking gentleman surveys the city below, almost like he owns it. Might he be someone who eventually needs ‘dealing with’?
• 0:43 – A biplane crop duster flies across a field of migrant workers tending to trees. I’ll bet anything that’ll figure into a mission at some point, perhaps to poison a group of people.
• 0:46 – Yay, crime! As our narrator hints at getting sidetracked from his hopes upon moving to Los Santos, we see a gaggle of heavily armed men leave an exterminator’s van and burst into what looks like a jewelry store. Some of GTA’s trademark tongue-in-cheek humor is evident in the form of the “Putting the FU in fumigate” slogan on the van.
• 0:55 – Blink and you miss it! A Brute done up in a USPS-style theme bears the clever logo “We aim not to lose it” as it whizzes past a foreclosure home sale sign being posted.
• 0:56 – It’s not really a GTA game until we see some prostitutes.
• 0:59 – Someone begging for money, followed by homeless under an overpass, yet more signs the recession’s effects are reflected in the game.
• 1:01 – A fighter jet streaks through the city. Is there a Naval Air Station we can ‘borrow’ it from? I sure hope so!
• 1:05 – I smell bacon! A sporty car seeks to outrace a pursuing police cruiser, followed by a heavily tattooed man seeking to outrun foot patrols and a police helicopter.
• 1:08 – A car seems to have met a fiery fate (possibly the end of one of those chases?) And there’s that blimp in the background yet again, at least its third appearance. I’m thinking more and more we’ll be able to use it.
• 1:10 – It ends with a private jet passing overhead of the VINEWOOD sign and carrying on over the entire city.

So what’s this all mean? It’s all guesswork right now, which is fun as we all get to imagine our own scenarios. While they may be simply showing economic decay to reflect reality, my gut’s telling me it will be a major story-driver, with possibly even a foreclosure or lost job being the inciting incident that leads us (back?) to a life of crime.

Also, any indication of what online multiplayer will be like is totally absent. GTA IV’s is an absolute blast to play, and fans agree, as it’s still in the top ten most played multiplayer games over Xbox Live as of two weeks ago, a full 3½ years after its release.

It wasn’t best-of-breed in shooting or racing, but it did them both in an immensely fun and rewarding manner, utilizing the entirety of large city sections as the maps. As long as that’s all not strayed from, it’s sure to be an amazing treat.

So that’s it. Rockstar’s done their job well in teasing us with glimpses that seem to spoil nothing, give very little away, lead to tons of speculation on forums, and leave us wanting more, more, more. Well done.

Grand Theft Auto V is confirmed as being in development. No release date has been set.

Jeff is currently playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3; follow him on Twitter at JKLugar.