There are four more days until Grand Theft Auto IV will hit the store shelves and still, there is little known about the new title created by Rockstar.

So far, the company has released several trailers, but it seems like the gamers will have many surprises.

The story is revolving around Niko Bellic, an immigrant-turned-gangster from Eastern Europe, who is coming to Liberty City, a fictional city based on New York. There are several references in Liberty City on buildings and objects, as well as several distinct features, which make the city a replica of New York. For example, Liberty City includes replicas of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Judging by one of the trailers available on GTA IV official website, Bellic is a former soldier, although it is unclear in which war he fought. “I was very young and very angry,” he says in one of the trailers.

Niko Bellic is invited by his cousin, Roman, to change his life and live the American Dream. "Life is complicated; I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different,” he says in the first GTA IV trailer released by Rockstar.

However, our “anti-hero” seems to have an additional mission: he is looking for that special someone. “For ten years I’ve been searching,” Bellic says in another trailer.

Niko and Roman will live in the same mansion and it will not take long until they will run in some troubles with different gangs from Liberty City.

GTA IV’s website is listing names and locations like Vlad Glebov, Manny Escula, Bledar Morina or Super Star Café and Majestic Hotel. Still, it is difficult to say what will happen with Bellic in Liberty City and who are the bad or the good guys.

Apparently, the outcome of the story will be heavily influenced by the player’s decisions during the game and we can speculate that Grand Theft Auto IV might have different endings based on the choices made by the player during the game. Or not? However, nothing is known for sure.

In addition, besides what can be seen in the trailers, little is known about the gameplay. It seems like the players will have an unusual degree of liberty regarding their moves and the interaction with the surroundings. The trailers show lots of vehicles, weapons and fistfights, car chases, so definitely the life in Liberty City will be anything but boring.

According to an interview given by Rockstar’s Dan Houser to Variety, the gaming studio’s ambition was to create something more like a gangster movie then a game.

"We also felt over the last few years there hadn't been a great standout gangster movie. Maybe we could do something ourselves that would live alongside that stuff," he said.

Besides the story, GTA IV is bringing for all the gamers out there something they have been waiting for years: the multiplayer mode. Apparently, the game will have 16 multiplayer modes. Some of them need no explanation, such as Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch, while others seem to have been invented especially for GTA IV.

For example, the Hangman’s NOOSE mode is similar to a mission from the single player mode. The players will escort a mobster, while being pursued by a SWAT team. The map is the same as in single player mode. Cops n Crooks is a multiplayer mode in which a team of players will play the cops which are trying to prevent the crooks from escaping.

With this nice addition, there is little doubt that GTA IV will become an instant hit on Xbox Live.

GTA IV is expected to register sales of $400 million in the first week of availability. If the analysts’ forecast will turn true, GTA IV will gain not only the title of the best debut in videogames industry, but also the title of “the biggest debut ever for an entertainment product”.

Last year, Microsoft’s Halo 3, the last “chapter” of the trilogy created by Bungie Studios, grossed $300 million in the first week. However, GTA IV has the potential to surpass the record sales of “Halo 3”. Unlike Microsoft’s game, which was available only for Xbox 360, Rockstar’s creation also has a version for PlayStation 3.

For Take Two, the publishers of GTA, the success of GTA IV could also mean the possibility to avoid the tender offer from Electronic Arts.

On April 19, Electronic Arts extended the deadline of its tender offer for Take-Two Interactive Software. The company said Take-Two shareholders have until May 16 to accept its offer, which was lowered from $26 a share to a $25.74 share.

Let us hope that the next week will bring some answers not only for Take Two, but also for all the gamers who are eager to play the new game.