Rockstar have unveiled the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer online tonight (despite their website initially falling apart under the load). You can view it at www.rockstargames.com/IV/ or alternatively just download the video here. As the words above suggest, it’s set in Liberty City, rather than the ’80s or Tokyo like many had speculated.

You can decide what to make of it yourself. Personally? It really looks underwhelming and uninspired – dull visuals even for a trailer, clunky models, and it appears as if all the charm that previous versions had has been completely removed. It definitely doesn’t look as colourful as Vice City.

Apart from the setting, the only new information the trailer reveals is that the lead character is an Eastern European or Russian criminal type, who has recently moved to Liberty City to start a new life of murder, theft and smuggling. Whether or not the trailer’s graphics are representative of the game, the visuals are quite poor – dull, sterile, not really what we’d hoped for from a next gen GTA. Many of the models look distinctly low polygon and the characters all walk with a stick up their arse, but that may just be due to a rushed trailer.

It’s due for release on 16th October this year. Enough of our moaning, go watch it for yourself.