Now that Grand Theft Auto V has officially been
announced, the world’s gone into overdrive with speculation. We jump aboard the
bandwagon with a few ideas we hope make it into the game. Rockstar, are you
listening?
Better economy
Games like GTA IV and Red Dead
Redemption allowed players to earn money through both main and side quests, but
with nothing worth really spending your money on, your income felt useless. Ten
hours into GTA IV, I had enough money to buy my own country, but all I had was
weapons and ammunition. For GTA V, it would be nice if I could actually put my
money to good use. At least this way I’m motivated to rake in the moolah.
Improved quest system
GTA IV had way too many “go here
and kill this random dude” kind of quests for its own good. It was either that
or uninteresting fetch quests. Rockstar definitely needs to add in a ton of
mission variety into GTA V. Adding stealth missions would also be a good change
of pace with the inclusion of silenced weapons and the ability to actually plan
your missions a la Hitman. Stalk your prey and kill him/her when they enter a
dark alley, sabotage the brakes in their cars to make it look like an accident,
or enter their houses at night and kill them in their sleep. All effective ways
to vanish without a trace. Plus, adding in the random encounters from Red Dead
Rewarding side quests
Side quests should also make sense
and should reward the player with more than money. For example, tackling cop
missions should give access to the police database. This way if you have to
whack someone and know the places he visits regularly, you don’t have to tail
him through all the traffic. Redemption would be a pretty sweet
Balance realism and fun
Rockstar should know when to keep
the game realistic and when to let players have a good time. For GTA V, they
should bring back some of the fun activities while keeping the game grounded in
reality. For example, limit the amount of weapons a player can carry on them at
a time just like in real life. Additional firepower can always be stored in
your car trunk; a feature that was promised with GTA IV as well.
Customization
The character customization is GTA
IV, simply put, sucked. A few shoes, suits and some raggedy pieces of clothing
were all players could adorn Niko Bellic with. Even if Rockstar don’t want
players to tweak facial features, they can very well add a plethora of customization
options like they did in San Andreas. Customization shouldn’t be limited to the
character. The tuner culture is still going strong on the West Coast, so they
should allow players to deck out their rides any way they see fit. Similarly, a
player should be able to deck out his arsenal to a certain extent as well. I
mean, who doesn’t like wielding diamond-encrusted AK 47s?
Verticality
In an urban open world environment, it’s a real pity to
restrict all the gun fights to the streets. GTA V should allow players to
tackle them anyway they seem fit, so if I feel I’m at an advantage after
climbing a roof top, let me do so. I’m not saying make me like Ezio from Assassin’s
Creed, but adding a bit of verticality to this series wouldn’t really hurt.
After all, that too was promised to us for GTA IV.
Better combat system
The hand to hand combat system in
GTA IV was not all that hot. In fact, it was pretty rigid and useless. Implementing
the one from L.A. Noire will go a long way towards making fist fights more
immersive. Similarly, they need to tighten up gunplay as well; something on the
lines of Red Dead Redemption with a smooth and fluid looking cover system to
boot.
Set pieces
I know I’m a bit spoilt by the Uncharted series when it
comes to phenomenal set pieces, but if anyone can pull something like this off,
it’s Rockstar. With a place like LA, where earthquakes are a common occurrence,
a mission featuring one would be sweet. Imagine having to speed away from an
earthquake that’s inches away from swallowing your car up!