Will Grand Theft Auto V be too serious?

With all the force of a meteorite impacting the earth, 4pm November 2nd saw the Grand Theft Auto V trailer open up to the minds, eyes and ears of gamers everywhere and saw message boards, Twitter and Facebook's collective bandwidth pushed to breaking point.

Naturally I've watched it too many times already and while I'll admit, it does look incredible, I'm worried about one simple thing – will it be too serious?

One of the biggest issues people had with GTA IV was its focus on being so believable that the realistic elements started to encroach on the game's playability. It was still a brilliant title but many saw it as a restrained, po-faced cousin to the last generation clown.

GTA IV belonged to a series that, before itself, knew that some people just wanted to dive into an unrealistic recreation of middle America and have fun instead of following a repetitive, grounded storyline and adhering to 'sensible' physics. This meant that GTA IV stood out as a slight misstep for the franchise. Slight but noticeable, with Gay Tony as its last-minute fan-pleasing reminder of its over the top roots.

The level of detail is astounding, but does all this really enhance the GTA experience people want?

So here's the Grand Theft Auto V trailer. Brimming with sandy shores, gorgeous sun sets and reflections on the old San Andreas, it looks like it might be the perfect compromise of realism and entertainment. Nothing we've not seen before but with all the classic GTA themes to effectively recreate San Andreas for the HD era.  The city remains adorned with the usual array of tongue-in-cheek Rockstar brands while the main character seems like a more approachable and light-hearted character than Nico 'I don't want to kill anyone but fine, if I have to' Bellic.

But the GTA IV trailer had much of this. It had the fun naming on billboards and buildings. It showed people doing people things. Sure, Nico was much more hard-edged even at that early stage and the music was far more foreboding but all the hope, all the speculation that we're seeing right now for GTA V, was all present and equally excitable in 2007 at the prospect of GTA IV.

Look closely and GTA V has a clear dark side. A host of people slumming it under a bridge. Houses for sale. Populated and developed slums. Burning cars. A drunken chap being thrown out of a bar. For every jetski, every jet and every moment that seems to promise a return to lovely, happy revelry there are just as many to show us that Rockstar are intending to hit us where it'll hurt again.

Company - STD contractors. Building - Mile High Club. That typical GTA humour in full force

Grand Theft Auto V's story will no doubt be dealing with a San Andreas that has some very serious people issues, and you're going to feel guilty for them and for the world of GTA V, if Rockstar have anything to say about it.

Will it be sillier than Grand Theft Auto IV? Unlikely. More light-hearted, probably, but it appears that, as with GTA IV, Rockstar's intentions lie in creating an environment with which to tell a memorable tale rather than in designed a location primarily to facilitate pure player entertainment.

While there is still a great deal of unknowns about Grand Theft Auto V it seems safe to say that if you want over-the-top, morality free, city-wide ultra carnage you'd do better to grab your suspenders and over sized dildo for a ride with Saints Row The Third later this month as Grand Theft Auto V looks to be treading the serious road once more. Is this what players want? Is Rockstar's pursuit of the serious side for better or worse? Only time will tell...

We see a car chase in the trailer but nothing truly crazy. It's all rather sensible really

Words by James Bowden (Twitter: @Dalagonash)

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