Cover System
The Cover System is a new feature in the GTA Series. The first appearance of a proper cover system is in Grand Theft Auto IV and its downloadable episodes The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, although it is the one that is not so different from the one used in the Gears of War series.
Cover is basically what the name suggests; it is a way to remain partially concealed and shoot if necessary from the the source of cover. Some examples of cover may be a door, under a window, a pillar, a vehicle, or a box of sorts.
Some players are hoping for a better cover system, as even the current generation of the GTA Series has some cover flaws. For example, in GTA IV, the game will allow the player to take cover facing the enemy and could even do this by accident, wasting some health that could have otherwise been banked.
Description
GTA III - GTA Vice City Stories
In games before GTA: San Andreas, the cover system was not present however a player can improvise. For example, in the final mission for GTA: Vice City, once you chase Lance to the roof, you can crouch behind the barrels and just toss grenades above the barrels. Or, you can just slowly strafe right and shoot the enemies like that. However, this can be difficult to players has they will receive damage if the cover is not properly used.
GTA San Andreas
In GTA: San Andreas, the cover system was still not present however improvising for one is much easier than previous games. For example, with the revamped physics system, you can use gun bullets to shoot doors open and for a few seconds before it closes by itself again, you can shoot the visible enemies and back away/close the door while reloading. Some players uses cover-roll-cover system as this technique is very useful and it will be easy to kill any enemy without recieving any damage.
GTA IV
By pressing a button, the Protagonist will hide behind the nearest available cover, with a great number of animations for each way he enters cover (such as crouching behind a car, rolling to reach a cover faster, and even sliding on his knees).
Behind cover, the player can do several things depending on what the cover is. Behind a vehicle, the player can strafe left and right in cover and shoot once he is taking cover behind a part of the car that is not much higher than he is (e.g. trunk, hood...). If you are taking cover behind a vehicle stopped by a red light in Star Junction-esque traffic, the vehicle can start moving and any body parts that were under the car or holding onto the car will get squished and/or hurt.
If you are taking cover behind a wall, you can strafe left and right if the wall is long enough. Adding to that, you can shoot only if you are at the very edge of your cover.So don't try shooting in the middle of a huge wall when the enemies are on the other side. You have to be on the edge closest to them.
If you are taking cover behind a box or some scaffolding, you are limited to moving a short range until reaching both edges of the cover and can blind fire with ease. Shooting accurately can be sometimes annoying, though. If you are at the middle of a row of boxes and are trying to shoot, sometimes the game forces you to shoot from the edges of the boxes.
In multiplayer, using cover can save your life in many occasions. Since the players are real, the opponent will try to sneak up on you and shoot you from all directions if possible. Using cover, you can counteract that motion. However, on multiplayer, using cover is one of the most "noobish" things that can be done. While it can easily save your life, it is sometimes impossible to kill someone in cover.
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