In a shocking turn of events, Rockstar’s highly anticipated and epic crime-saga Grand Theft Auto IV has been reviewed and praised by none other than the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine, which reached the hands of its subscribers this week. This is the first ever official review of the current-gen offering of GTA. Xbox 360 has a lot of interests invested in GTA IV so we’ll have to take its perfect 10 score from their official magazine with a side of salt soda, despite the review containing some remarkable new details about the gameplay that have been previously unreported.

For anyone who might find the incredibly positive score to be surprising and remains sceptical of the heights this game is expected to reach, or for anyone who salivates over every single bit of information leaked to the public you might be interested to read the following quote from reviewer John Hicks:

“It says something that even at the end of a three-day session, with every island and a substantial chunk of the sidequests unlocked, I was still ploughing on because I wanted to see how the story ended. And I was still finding new stuff: the way a police klaxon goes strangled and gargley if you dent the light bar, the pedestrian who had the original GTA theme as their phone ringtone, the way that headshot drivers can fall on the horn and accelerator so you’re run over by a dead man…This sets the standard for what you should expect from a truly next-gen game. You owe it to yourself to play it.”

Wow. Sounds like GTA 4 will have some capabilities that have been so far unprecedented in this generation of gaming. But that’s not all. Other details that were gleaned from the article:

• When you take a cab ride, you get an absolutley stunning view of the back of your friendly driver’s head from the back seat. If you are in a hurry and want to skip the trip, you are free to do so, but it wont be cheap.
• Ever wondered what the Statue of Happiness was holding in all those trailers? Well it has been revealed: A coffee cup.
• Hidden items in GTA IV will be audible when you get close to them, much like the orbs in Crackdown. I imagine it will be a cooing sound since the hidden items are rumored to be pigeons.
• There will be some cameos by celebrities playing themselves (PLEASE be Samuel L Jackson!).The Internet will make a cameo appearence of its own in the game as has been publicized, Niko will even have an email address that will receive spam messages from time to time.
• Tires will catch fire if driven through flames, and there’s a mission involving escorting 2 dead bodies in a car trunk that will pop open if the ride gets to be too bumpy.

Other details are provided over at the GTAgaming forums where there are more direct links to the actual article.

The days have not exactly been flying by for fans of this title since it’s announcement and further delay last year, but they can take solace in knowing that there are only 2 weeks left before this hits shelves on April 29th.

[See also: Grand Theft Auto IV gallery]