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Like many others, I was very disappointed with GTA IV and the sacrifices Rockstar made in the name of 'grit and realism.' However, it did get me thinking about what would make the perfect GTA game. These are just ideas, mind you--nothing concrete here and I realize that these ideas need some re-thinking in places. But let me outline my concept for you:
- All of the gameplay elements and vehicles pioneered in GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas.
- The Euphoria engine and other graphical improvements as seen in GTA IV.
In addition to these very broad points, I would also like to see the following gameplay elements incorporated:
- Ambulance Helicopters because so many times during Paramedic missions, I wished that I had a helicopter. Also, can you imagine a mission where, say, some associates attack an assassination target and you, posing as an ambulance helicopter pilot, get to pick up the target, tie him down in a stretcher, and then hang him 50 feet below your chopper by a rope? That would be awesome.
- Motorized Scooters would be perfect. Though not the vehicle of choice, it would be fun to 'scooter-jack' the elderly and obese, taking their rascals to perform 25 MPH drive-bys. Also, an eccentric mechanic type character could easily provide mods to make a motorized scooter into a death vehicle.
- Classic Cars, and by that I mean cars from the 1920's to the 1980's. Now how could you incorporate these vehicles into a GTA game? Simple. A Museum of Automobiles in the city. Hell, with the proper licensing, they could even include famous movie cars like the Batmobile or that car from Animal House.
- Vintage Aircraft could be incorporated in the same way, with a Museum of Aviation. Imagine stealing a working replica of the original Wright Brother's plane--or an old WWII bomber.
- Exotic Vehicles are a must. I'm talking monster trucks (the rallies would allow for another type of gameplay element), Segways, jet-packs, diving gear, drag racers, stock cars, unicycles, tricycles (how cool would it be to jack a kid for his big-wheel?), bicycles, mini-bikes (those tiny ones that are like 1 foot tall), skateboards (I'm sure they could add in a whole new type of minigame with that, too) golf karts, go karts, hovercrafts (and not just like the small one in San Andreas, but the huge ones like in that Jackie Chan movie), experimental aircraft, jet-ski's, fighter jets, stealth bombers, 747's (can you imagine jumping from one of those babies from 30,000 feet?), tanks, dune buggies, vintage war vehicles (Museum of Military Transportation?), parade floats (a mission where you hijack a parade float and wreak havoc with thousands of onlookers? Imagine running that float into a sea of pedestrians.), wheat threshers, tractors, other farm equipment, tow trucks, bulldozers, cement trucks, wrecking balls, cranes, other construction equipment, etc.
- Environmental Variety like in San Andreas. Hell, have the next game in a larger, more detailed San Andreas where each city is the size of Liberty City in GTA IV. But we need cities, towns, suburbs, villages, farms, deserts, hills, mountains, rivers, creeks, streams, lakes, oceans, and more. How cool would it be to have a massive chase along a desert highway like in the movies? Just you and a dozen cop cars hot on your tail.
- Drug and alcohol use are a must. And I want to be able to get drunk/high whenever I want--not just when I take a friend out on a man-date (Oh, and the perfect GTA will have removed those Sims-like relationship meters for all of the NPC's. They can stay for the Girlfriends, but not for the other characters.) How cool would it be to be able to take LSD, Ecstasy, Heroin, Cocaine, and Weed? Each drug could have a different effect. Take some LSD, and the world around you transforms into a hallucinogenic playground, an orgy of colors and sounds that can either be happy and trippy or a total fucking nightmare.
- Ability to enter every building is something long due. You can have certain buildings be locked just like in real life, but if there's a storefront, I want to be able to go in during hours of operation. If there's a building that would within reason be open during certain hours in REAL LIFE, I want to be able to go in.
- A gameplay mechanic where the effects of your falls and the damage done to you are affected by the speed and velocity at which you hit, which means that if I jump out of a helicopter going at 80 MPH 600 feet above the ground and I fly and smash into a building, I want to see realistic effects. I want to be absolutely PULVERIZED just like I would in real life.
- Dismemberment is logical. If I shoot someone in the arm with a shotgun, I want that arm to fly off in a hail of blood and shattered bone.
- Better AI for pedestrians. If I shoot a pedestrian in the hand, I want him to drop what he's carrying and clutch his hand in pain. Then, when he's writhing on the ground, I want to see his reaction if I shoot him in the leg, see him focus on the most intense and immediate pain just like real humans.
- More RPG Elements because they encourage people to practice skills. If I get 1000 kills with a pistol, I want to be rewarded with dual-wielding. And speaking of which,
- Dual Wielding and more weapons are a must. I want every weapon we've seen so far and some other ones.
- More melee weapons which would include tools, cooking implements, a bunch of different kinds of knives, boards, glass shards, etc. Actually, a melee weapon system like the one in Dead Rising would be awesome. Or just more melee weapons--whatever's easier. But I'd love to be able to walk into, say, a weapon shop and grab anything I wanted, be it a paintball gun, a machete, a katana, a medieval sword, axe, mace, or flail, etc.
- More costumes because costumes are fun. Remember that weapon shop I Was talking about? Well in real life they always have sets of armor, and if I'm in the mood, I want to be able to grab that armor and put it on and go wreak havoc ye olde style.
- Business ownership would allow for more money, more control, and a degree of customization. Business ownership could allow for a more Sim-Like gameplay element where you could modify your business to increase profits (though you'd also have an option to set it to 'auto-run' if that's not your scene.) And I'm not talking about regular businesses either, when you get to 'the top,' and are, say, running the mob, I want to be able to keep track of who owes me money and deal with them as I see fit either on my own or by ordering thugs to do my bidding. I would also like to be able to deal drugs ala 'Dope Wars.'
- Custom music because every console of value has a hard drive now. The game could read your music files and play them while occasionally playing an advertisement or news report.
- Children ages 6 to 16. Fallout 2 did it and it was fun to kill a child by hitting him in the groin with a sledgehammer. Now Rockstar COULD go all the way and complete the spectrum of 'realism' by having pedestrians of ALL AGES including toddlers and infants in strollers, but I think that some people would have problems with that. However, kids ages 6 and up would be fine. You could have all sorts of fun--kicking them, popping their balloons, pushing them, hitting them with your car, or, for the sicker people, killing their parents in front of them before killing them, too.
- Cameos from people in other GTA games made my day. Seeing Kent Paul and Ken Rosenberg again in San Andreas was awesome. Seeing Catalina again was slightly less awesome. But if the timing is right, you could have, maybe, an older, now boss Tommy Vercetti. And THAT would be awesome.
- Sex and nudity because then it will FINALLY stop being tabboo. I'm not talking about anything in excess, but come on--it's ridiculous how so many Americans are afraid of tits and vag.
- Multiple endings are a great way to improve replayability. GTA IV failed in doing this. One would think that with so many 'choices' in that game that you'd have some different endings, but no--your choices had no effect on the storyline and it was lazy on Rockstar's part to do that. In the perfect GTA, your choices would have an effect on the storyline. You could have endings where you're powerful and rich, endings where you're imprisoned, endings where you're stabbed in the back like Tony Montana in Scarface, etc.
- Destructible environments are kind of expected. Gamers love 'em, and I wouldn't mind if buildings 're-spawned' when you loaded your game again or certain buildings were invincible...and if that's not possible, at least give us some awesome destruction missions--like levelling a skyscraper by planting charges or something like in Fight Club.
That's all I can think of right now. But what GTA game is complete without a setting and a storyline?
Personally, I'd love the 1970's because, in addition to being an incredibly turbulent time with the political backdrop that allowed for all sorts of groups, it would make sure that the game had some incredibly awesome music. However, a modern-day game would also be fine, as long as this time it had more classic rock stations. (Although if they incorporate the custom music, then that doesn't really matter.)
And as for the main character, there are two ways to go: a main character that can be created from scratch by the player, (Though this would require Rockstar to have many different voice actors to match each possible 'voice' that the player might choose as his own--so, maybe, 6 actors--3 female, 3 male.) or they could go with another pre-made character. For the pre-made character, we've covered the Italian and Russian Mafia. Which one's left? The Irish. Or, if Rockstar REALLY wanted to be awesome, they could have THREE main characters, allowing for THREE main storylines, each as deep as the other. At the beginning you could choose to play through the game as a member of the Italian Mob, the Russian Mob, or the Irish Mob. But at this point I'm just thinking out loud.
Now, considering what I've outlined here, you realize that this game would have to be a PS3 exclusive on a 400GB Blu-Ray disc. There's just no way that this could fit onto a DVD, or even a 50GB Blu-Ray disc. This game would probably be the most expensive of all time and it would probably take several years to make, but wouldn't it be worth it? I'd be willing to wait and I'd pay top dollar for this product.
All of these ideas are (C) Eliot Hagen, 2008. My ideas, bitches, so if you're a Rockstar exec, don't go stealing this shit unless you talk to me. You saw this here first.
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