What We Want from GTA V

[A Blissful Ass]

Where next for Grand Theft Auto? We put together our wish-list for the next instalment.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK

UK, November 20, 2009 - The sun has set on Liberty City – The Ballad of Gay Tony marked the end of a saga that began with last year's Grand Theft Auto IV, and what a saga it was. From Niko to Johnny to Luis, Rockstar managed to wring an astounding amount of gameplay out of its magisterial metropolis, and it's with a heavy heart that we said our farewells last month.

But with one city down, we can't help but turn our minds to where Rockstar might take us next. Co-founder Dan Houser's recent comments suggest that the next game hasn't gone past incubation, though we find it hard to believe that the team haven't been working hard on the next step in their bread and butter series since they shipped number four out of the door last year.



Tony and Luis see out Liberty City in style.


And what can we expect? Well, for one it might not even be called GTA V, and we half expect that number to be reserved for the next generational leap in the series, something most likely tied into the next wave of hardware - which we'll likely be waiting on for some years now.

So the next instalment is likely to mirror the progression from GTA III to Vice City and onto San Andreas. But what direction will it take? With nothing more than the vaguest of teasers with which to base our musings, we can only cross our fingers and hope that this is what we see in the next GTA.


A Move to Europe

Some people have interpreted a supposed teaser that featured in the manual of Episodes from Liberty City to confirm this very fact, though we're less certain. We are, however, hopeful that the series shifts its sights away from the lampooning of the American Dream and towards the more difficult target of European culture.

It's not totally foreign territory for the series – a decade ago two expansion packs were released for the first Grand Theft Auto that took players to a cartoonish take of London in the swinging sixties. The new realism that fully blossomed in the fourth game would mean an approach far-removed from the high camp of the last attempt, but the idea of Rockstar turning its eye to London, Paris or Berlin is one that's wonderfully tantalising.


Back to the Past

GTA III was set in a contemporary Liberty City, the subsequent instalments evoking the eighties and nineties in turn with charm and precision. It's tempting to think that Rockstar will take GTA IV's engine on a similar journey, though the question is where to?



Romanzo Criminale - a seventies Italian setting for the next GTA would be awesome.


We'll rule out the thirties, forties and fifties – 2K have another little open world game that deals with that slice of history – and with the last two decades of the last century already claimed by Vice City and San Andreas it leaves but one option – the seventies. Tying in with our previous wish, a take on the Mafia-run Rome of the seventies would be delicious – think Romanzo Criminale but with more car chases.

That is, of course, assuming Rockstar wants to go somewhere new. They'd be forgiven for returning to past glories – after all, it worked in GTA IV – and an HD take on the neon-soaked world of Vice City would be welcomed by many – us included.


A Playground City

We'd never belittle the achievements of GTA IV, but in the short time since its release other games have shown that there can be other ways to exploit an open world. Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed II, in particular, gives players a series of cities that are elaborate climbing frames, and scaling its many heights is one of the game's most thrilling pleasures.

We're not asking for free-running in our next slice of GTA, but for a more flexible lead who's happier in clambering walls and who's given more free reign to explore the world around them, and someone who's nimble enough to make a chase on foot as exhilarating as a chase behind the wheel of a top-end car.


City Breaks

GTA IV's focus on a single city gave it a unique cohesiveness, but we'd love to see Rockstar cast the net further for its follow-up. Whether the RAGE engine can deal with the expanses served up in San Andreas is debatable, though the miracles being worked up in the epic-looking Red Dead Redemption suggest it's possible.

A larger area could also facilitate the return of something sorely missing from GTA IV – planes. But what's more exciting is another aspect that could return. GTA is an innately urban series, but as San Andreas proved Rockstar's just as comfortable when it turns its eyes to suburbia and beyond, and we'd love to go back to a countryside that's rendered with all the pomp that the current generation allows.



We'd love to return to the rolling hills of San Andreas.


Offline Social Play

GTA IV bought the series kicking and screaming into the world of online multiplayer, and it was a move that was handled smoothly. As brilliant as they were, we can't help but feel that the natural habitat of the GTA player was neglected a little. GTA's most often played by groups of friends huddled around one television, and it is high-time this fact was acknowledged.

We're used to creating our own offline modes for the game – how many stars can you accumulate in under five minutes, how many jumps can you make before you die and who high can we get an ice-cream truck to jump – and it would be great if such feats were not only recognised but served by pass-the-controller play. San Andreas made a noble if ultimately flawed attempt to foster such an approach with its split-screen, and we hope GTA IV's successor can try something similar and pull it off.


Celebrity Voiceovers

While relative unknown Michael Hollick's turn as Niko Bellic helped create the series' greatest lead, a part of us misses the colourful roles of Vice City and San Andreas voiced by top talent such as Dennis Hopper, Samuel L Jackson and Ray Liotta – and not forgetting our own Danny Dyer, who lent his not considerable talents to the voice of 'Kent' Paul.
Ricky Gervais and to a lesser extent Frankie Boyle may have scratched that itch in GTA IV, but we'd love to see big names returning to the series and giving it the full-on Hollywood gravitas that the series truly deserves.


Turn the Series on its Head

So well established is the GTA series that it has now got its own readily identifiable archetypes - people such as Yusuf Amir, Playboy X and Brucie Kibbutz are from a cast from which countless characters have been moulded from in the series' past, and it would be great to see this set aside. The Ballad of Gay Tony's eponymous star was a step in the right direction, but why not really upset the form book and introduce a female lead?

Another way to flip the formula would be to put players on the other side of the law, taking charge of the police that are traditionally on your tail. A new perspective would be instantly refreshing, and offers the opportunity to introduce a series of new objectives. Which brings us neatly to...



GTA's been to London before, but we expect a return would be less comic.


Mission Variety

A common complaint about the series is the over-familiarity of the mission structure, which some believe can be boiled down to simply driving from point to point and disposing of a certain character. We wouldn't be so brutally reductive, and The Ballad of Gay Tony provided a wonderful blend of missions over its ten-hour lifespan.

But we would admit to wanting something substantially different for the next GTA, whether it's the full-blooded introduction of RTS-style gang warfare or new ways to wreck havoc – or indeed restore order if our previous wish is granted.

That's our wish-list – but what do you want from the next GTA? Fantasise away in the comments field below.

IGN UK

[DA]

What I Want for the Next GTA Game...

There not being one

[ArJay]

What I Want for the Next GTA Game...

There not being one

Why? If you don't like it don't play it.

Back on topic, good read. I wouldn't mind a game over in London, but if it were to be anywhere overseas Id rather a game somewhere in Asia. Possibly Tokyo. If it stays in the states, then, well as a homer, I'd love a GTA spinoff of Boston. Like, a new city based of off Boston, that's heavily populated by the Irish. Main character could be Packie McCreary from GTAIV. I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't played TBoGT yet, but yea it would work perfectly.

[DA]

^^After playing all the GTA Games it gets old and the same, I wouldn't mind seeing one that gives you a world map, because you could kill about anyone in the world... lol but it gets kinda old after a while, sure you can blow the head of cops and watch their blood flow up, but there are other games that make that happen, it would be cool getting no cheats, so you actually pass all the game w/o cheating, but then you couldn't jump off of rooftops and survive

[JohnCenaFan28]

Gay relationship

[DA]

Gay relationship

:lmao:

[ArJay]

^^After playing all the GTA Games it gets old and the same, I wouldn't mind seeing one that gives you a world map, because you could kill about anyone in the world... lol but it gets kinda old after a while, sure you can blow the head of cops and watch their blood flow up, but there are other games that make that happen, it would be cool getting no cheats, so you actually pass all the game w/o cheating, but then you couldn't jump off of rooftops and survive

Which is all fine and good. That's your opinion and I understand why YOU don't wanna play it. Doesn't mean I or many others don't too. :pirate:

Gay relationship

They have that in The Ballad Of Gay Tony.

[A Blissful Ass]

Like Rick said that's DAs Opinion i love all the old GTA games havnt played the new ones yet but i'm going to soon

[DA]

yeah i'm sorry that i came up that cold blooded, sorry but i was giving my opinion

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

for it to run on my PC