what do YOU want from the next Grand Theft Auto game?

[mortifiedballer]

GTAIV, i thought, was a somewhat shallow and empty installment and the two dlc stories did little to add to the recipe. I felt that following such a gaming epic as San Andreas, they failed to meet the open-world benchmark they had set those years previous. They seemed to cut back on a lot of the fun elements they had clearly worked so hard on in SA in favour of better graphics and physics, which I personally didn't really use after I'd finished the main story.

So I ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the Escapist community, what would you like to see Rockstar do for the next installment (which i believe is coming out late next year; THERE'S STILL TIME)?

I'd like to see a revisitation of the customisation elements (clothing, vehicles, etc) and their effect on gameplay, the RPG elements of gaining skill in various areas of the game like gunplay and driving, and missions which take you to all corners of the massive expansive GTA universe.

Also learning to fly in the desert while listening to Free Bird was pretty awesome too, one of my favourite video game moments.

Over to you guys!

 

[Furious Styles]

I want a sense of fun and mischief, it was fatally lacking in the last game.

And red dead's aiming system (not dead eye, just generally)

 

[katsumoto03]

Some Saints Row 2 esque side missions would be nice, though let me progress through the story without having to beat all of them.

 

[pyrosaw]

A Walrus costume. You know you'd like it.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I want a cutscene of the main characters family reunion and all of his family get's killed so we don't have to babysit any cousins by going bowling or playing darts with them.

 

[ImprovizoR]

I want fun. Which means I want an interesting story, and interesting city, and fun gameplay with a lot of features. None of which was present in GTA IV. So basically I want something like San Andreas only newer and better if possible. No more useless cover system too. GTA IV has the worse cover system ever and worse character movement as well. Niko moved like a drunken brick.
And I want normal run and gun system like in San Andreas with dual wield options for every weapon. Shooting system in GTA IV sucked as well. It was the most simple version of over the shoulder camera in the history of gaming. And in free roaming games, over the shoulder shooting sucks.

 

[Imp Poster]

I want to be a "John Rambo" coming back from a war. With some PTSD, no money, no family, I start with nothing, but want to get a lavish life taking short cuts. City Police messing with me but I show them what's up by my war experience.

BUT for the love of god no more IMMIGRANTS!

 

[lostzombies.com]

Ditch the realism aspect and go back to a 'saints row 2 / vice city' style.

If you want to go realistic then do it properly and not 'do all the boring day to day stuff realistic while doing the fun stuff not at all'

 

[Admiral Stukov]

A brittish protaganist.
With a top hat and a monocle.

 

[mortifiedballer]

I think that GTA and Saints Row are going different ways in that regard. I can appreciate them going the realistic route; if done properly it can make a game AMAZING. However I think they went wrong in compromising customisable and exploratory fun FOR realism.

 

[YourlocalPCsnob]

GTAiv took its self way too seriously.
Bring back the pitch black humor and ridiculousness.
e.g
A British 'the getaway' styled game with monty python humor.

 

[mortifiedballer]

I'm just posting as I remember things i liked about San Andreas (mad fanboy).

I liked the simplicity and the almost innocent honesty of the opening Act. The missions while riding the bikes were a highlight for me, as odd as that sounds. The feel and writing of the story and the atmosphere created by the setting were near-perfect as CJ and his friends always dreamed of a better life, instead of Niko who does nothing but ***** about how shit life in America is.

Flying the hydra was pretty awesome too.

 

[mortifiedballer]

I think the varied settings and storylines were a big part missing from GTAIV. I liked a lot how both Vice City and San Andreas took us from Act to Act by way of a completely new locale; it really helped distinguish the motives and characters within in part (this is also something that Red Dead Redemption did quite well.). All we saw in IV was grey-brown mundane slum to grey-brown mundane cityscape to grey-brown mundane suburbia.

What really impressed me was how rockstar created the different atmospheres particularly in san andreas. Slummy claustrophobic ghetto pretty much instantly became lush green redneck America. The highlight for me was when we were taken from the country, which i found both amusing and beautiful in its simplicity, to the sprawling metropolis thinly bordered by the vast expansive orange desert.

So clearly level design is a big thing rockstar needs to step up in regards to.

 

[NewYork_Comedian]

A cohesive story would be nice. The series seems to lack those.

Its kind of hard to do that in a +30 hour game, were it is almost completely non-linear. But id say that if you want a sandbox game with a cohesive story you should check out Mafia 2 if you haven't already.

 

[SalamanderJoe]

A cup of tea. And no socialising with your mates. I went bowling so often I refuse to go in real-life now.

 

[hurfdurp]

A female protagonist that beats male strippers, no one would see it coming.

 

[Okuu_Fusion]

Take place in 1980's Vice City once again...

And go all out HARD with the 80's vibe...

Also make it less realistic, or at least more ridiculous like the originals...

Lastly, I want a long, long story... Many story missions...

 

[DustyDrB]

Let's have a European city, like Barcelona. Or I'd like to see them go for a post-terrorist attack vibe, trying to capture the paranoia and propagandizing that follows. Something that gives the game it's own identity and feel.
Stay the hell out of the 80s and stay the hell out of New York.

I loved GTA IV and still go back to it from time to time, but there were some things that bothered me:
-Cell phones were annoying as they are in real life. No mundane phone calls.
-More buildings I can go into. If this means the city has to be smaller, I'm OK with that.
-The save points implemented in The Lost and the Damned were a very welcome addition. Who doesn't hate driving across the map, failing the mission and then having to repeat everything right from the driving portion?
-Have bigger missions, with bigger implications. I want to shut out the city's power and see them all riot.
-Have stealth options. Kind of like how you can blend into the crowd in Assassin's Creed. It pissed me off that I could get the police's attention, then go run into a building without them seeing me, but they would somehow find me. Line of sight should mean something. Incorporate disguises and hiding spots as well.
-Let someone else drive every now and then for Christ's sake. They did this in Red Dead Redemption, so hopefully they'll keep that as a trend. It blew my mind that a bunch of American guys who are proud of their cars would trust the foreigner who is unfamiliar with the city and with traffic laws drive everywhere everytime.