Though mostly cosmetic, small touches like allowing Niko to peek out of cover or the way hell slide into it if hes gained enough foot speed give it that GTA touch.
When youre squeezing them off outside of cover, the game reverts to a Resident Evil 4-style, over-the-shoulder view, which is also becoming a third-person standard at this point. You can lock onto enemies, and then use the analog stick for fine tuning for head shots and rewards for other well-placed pieces of lead. If you shoot someone in the leg it will hobble them, making them eventually stumble and fall realistically to the ground. Enemies will play dead, desperately scramble for their weapons, and use cover intelligently. Rockets will skip on the pavement if theyre fired at the right angle, and otherwise, its looking like the first time that the gunplay has been seriously addressed in the series history. Wed almost go as far as to call it Grand Theft of War.