GTA GBA details splatter the web

Rockstar's attempt to bring Grand Theft Auto to the Game Boy Advance for the first time is starting to gain some media exposure as we draw closer to its late October release target, and the signs are that the collaborative efforts of Digital Eclipse and Rockstar North may have produced an old-school top-down GTA game with some semblances of the 3D elements that made GTA III such a success on PS2 and PC.

According to preview information in the US press, GTA GBA sees the player take control of a chap called Mike, a retiring mobster plying his trade in Liberty City with a few more errands to run before he and his partner Vinnie can give it all up for good. Unfortunately, Vinnie is soon killed in a carbomb attack, and Mike is the prime suspect; the narrative, then, focuses on his attempts to clear his name.

He'll do this by trying to uncover whoever it is that happens to have set him up, Fugitive style, but in the meantime there's plenty of other things to take in. The top-down Liberty City is said to be some three times the size of its PS2/PC/Xbox incarnation, and the engine, while 2D top-down for obvious reasons, apparently manages to ape some of the things that made the first 3D GTA so enjoyable - flippable vehicles, hidden packages, and of course a stats menu that documents your progress in fine detail.

Like the very first GTA games, the camera system will zoom out and then back in as the player builds up speed and comes to a halt, allowing the game to stick to its top-down presentation without forcing you to race largely blind. On top of that, you'll be able to adjust the camera to one of three distinct heights if you prefer, and the game is intelligent enough to use a transparency effect to show you what's happening when you zip under bridges or overpasses - of which there should be plenty, giving the game a slightly more three-dimensional feel.

We're also told that vehicles now lean over as they shift weight, that there will be rampage missions, optional vigilante/taxi driver/ambulance missions, and a strafe function to help out with on-foot combat, which often proved tricky in the top-down PC originals. Then of course there's the usual sprinkling of traffic and pedestrians, handbrake turning, copious story missions and all manner of other tricks and jumps to uncover. We only hope we'll have some GOURANGA to go with our cunning stunt bonuses this time.

Grand Theft Auto for Game Boy Advance should be with us a week before Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which launches on PS2 this October 29th. We'll have a full review of both of those in October, presumably...