Now that this year’s most anticipated game is almost out, everyone is curious what is the ‘new’ in the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar North wanted to make it even more exciting than its previous games and added new features meant to offer players more control over their characters. “The game still follows the narrative path, but its’ quite different in the sense that the story can be told in a number of different ways, depending on the player’s actions,” the official site says.

On a sneak preview to what the new missions have to offer, players are given the possibility to arrange missions the way they please, execute several missions simultaneously (unlike in the other games of the series): “To a certain degree. You call the shots now,” the site says. Niko will not only receive calls, but also make calls, the taxis can be stolen or simply taken for a relaxing trip, and the player now decides how the mission goes.

There are five new missions that a player can complete: “Call and Collect,” “Final Interview,” “Search and Delete,” “Deconstruction for Beginners” and “Truck Hustle.” The game that is set to be launched on April 29 has already created a hustle among fans, and the GTA IV achievement list even made its way out onto some websites (only as unconfirmed rumors for now).

Real or not, the Grand Theft Auto IV for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 is expected to add up some more GTA gamers to the already big community (the Grand Theft Auto series sold over 65 million units since its release in 1997). GTA IV was supposed to come out in October 2007, but the release date was postponed to April 29. Not only did the game create a worldwide phenomenon, but it also inspired similar games…however, nothing compares to the original, right? The game is already available for pre-order in US and Europe.