In a mailer sent out in the wee hours of the morning, New York-based publisher Rockstar Games confirmed that its once-delayed, but heavily-anticipated sandbox opus, Grand Theft Auto IV would be headed to store shelves in just a few months. The official GTA IV website was updated with the same information not too long afterwards.

on 360 & PS3

Apparently, despite our frequent doubting, Grand Theft Auto IV will be hitting the February to April target that Take 2 set when the game was delayed last year, if only just barely. The game has now been slated to drop on April 29th.

The game looked as good as it does in its trailers, with advanced lighting, and a special physics system that makes characters walk, fall and leap in natural and often distinct ways. It had short load times; slightly out-of-sync lip-syncing, which is still getting polished; a line of sight that made buildings 10 blocks away viewable; and a bounty of unexpected visual and gameplay details.

Just think how different the last 99 days could have been. Going by the originally planned release date of October 16, 2007, today would be the 99th day of ownership for any gamer who bought Grand Theft Auto IV on its first day of sales. Of course, that would make this preview article look pretty dumb, if it came more than three months after the long-awaited sequel in Rockstar Games’ incredibly popular series was due to ship to stores.

Cruising under broker bridge, into the busy estuary and lodging up on the rocky coast, Rockstar answers one of our final concerns over GTA IV. Going from interior, to land, to water and back again, it's clear that GTA IV is still as sandbox and open-ended as ever before, not limited at all by the bloody impressive detail put upon the environment. By the looks of it, Rockstar could've made the most epic sandbox yet.