As if the upcoming GTA V didn’t already look downright amazing, the first official gameplay trailer shows just how amazing it actually will be. Check it out below as well as some of my thoughts.

First off, I’ve been curious how the three protagonists were going to be integrated into a single game. Would it be broken up into separate stories you jump in and out of at specific points in the game. Well, my answer is here. You can swap between characters at what appears to be any moment. It looks lie this will be performed using the d-pad. This looks very promising and can provide some interesting gameplay.

New activities to distract! Customizable cars, diving, sports, hunting, and planes!

A weapon wheel is a huge improvement to the old weapons system. I can only assume assets from Red Dead Redemption were used to integrate this into GTA. The hunting and bounties were probably also carried over.

Planning crimes looks very interesting. I really want to see how deep the decision-making actually is in these things. Adds a huge element of strategy in what used to be run-n-gun missions. I’m also curious how the rewards/investment system will work. Yeah, there’s the obvious clothes, tattoos, gear, and cars, but stocks and real estate? Will there be a chance for these investments to fail? It’d be a nice risk/reward scenario.

But after all of that, the tease of multiplayer (which has been big this year) looks absolutely amazing. Hopefully, free roam returns with all the improvements that can come from previous experiences.