It’s unbelievable how far we’ve come. GTA has been an on-going series for 10 years. Ten friggin’ years. It’s hard to believe I’m getting so old.
It’s had its ups and downs, but the reality is, it’s one of the most valuable franchises in video games today, and might always be. All the games run on the same very basic outline, and have the same fundamental ideas behind them. These ideas are so flexible that you could do almost anything with them, and put them in any setting, and I’m not just talking about GTA-clones either. Bully and The Warriors immediately come to mind, both of them being Rockstar games, but you would never classify them as GTA clones.

That said, I’m really curious as to how the GTA series will evolve from here. There are definitely some changes I’d like to see.

-An option for live-streaming local radio. Montreal has some pretty decent radio stations, including a classical station, which I think would ironically complement the violence and mayhem a la Hitman. They still should include their normal in-game audio, but it would be nice to hear a dynamic radio station that isn’t secretly looping every few hours.

-A hand-to-hand fighting system. Come on Rockstar, you used it in The Warriors first.

Now, The Warriors was a surprise for EVERYONE. It’s a movie game released over 25 years after the movie, but that didn’t have anyone convinced. What should have convinced us were the big names on the cover, Rebellion and Rockstar. The Warriors is what  happens if you take GTA, and split up the freeform world into smaller levels, then take away guns of any kind, and set it in 70′s New York. It’s not the 70′s we think about however, as street gangs come out at night to brawl in the dark dirty alleys of a crime-infested city. Many of the in-game gangs are cartoony, but the setting probably isn’t too far off from the time period, as street gangs became more and more prominent while guns were a little harder to find.

The Warriors was a beat-em-up. Pure and simple. You were either fighting with your fists, or some other weapon you’d find on the street, like pipes, boxes, bricks (my personal favorite), even busted TV’s. Anything goes. And it was great.

Bully incorporated the same basic fighting engine, but the violence was majorly toned down for the highschool setting and T rating.

Why the same system hasn’t been incorporated into any of the GTA games is completely beyond me. The hand-to-hand in GTA IV is still half-baked despite hiring Bas Rutten of all people, to do the animations. It’s like why I’ve been wondering all these years how EA can make fighting in their NHL games so crappy, while they make the most realistic boxing simulation, Fight Night, next door.  Hello!

-Control and movement. After all these years, simply navigating the world on foot seems a little stiff. Niko walks at a snail’s pace unless you hold A (or X on the PS3 I imagine) to jog. To sprint, you tap A. Why you wouldn’t let him go different speeds based on how far you push the analog stick is anyone’s guess. It’s standard in this day and age. Making Niko turn around a corner feels like turning a top-heavy truck around, swinging weight around like a wrecking ball.  I understand they were trying to make his motions realistic, but they aren’t. They’re cumbersome.

I’m still not sure why GTA controls feel slightly sluggish. Is it that the series just refuses to take cues from every other 3rd-person shooter?

-Customization. San Andreas had a massive focus on customization. It almost felt out of place but it made the game fantastic instead of just great. Suddenly it was decided that GTA IV wanted to take a realistic turn by throwing most of those features out the window. Sure you can pick your clothes to some degree, but most of the available options are just…ugly. It seems like the most choice I have in this game is what colour my ski jacket is. Who’s ever seen a GTA character wearing a wool sweater?? I can understand that Rockstar didn’t want us making him look like a clown, but they took it too far.

-Morality. This seemed like a last-minute decision, to add a few mid-mission choices. One example early in the game is when you’re told to whack somebody for not paying his protection money. You chase him to the edge of a roof and have the choice to spare him or let him live. I beat the game 3 times, I killed him the first time, and let him live twice after that. I was disappointed the first time through to learn that this decision is never so much as mentioned, ever again. It has no affect on anything, rendering it completely pointless. There’s no benefit, no consequence, nothing. That carries on to almost all the decisions of the game. SOME of them have an impact, like which of the two endings you see (honestly, they’re almost identical and amount to the same thing, so there isn’t much point in it), but I would have liked it to be more developed, a la Fable.

-Scripting. Stop scripting car chases! I hate catching up to someone I’m chasing mid-mission, only to realize they’re invincible until the game says so. For a game that’s all about freedom, hell, I should be able to find out what time he goes out for dinner or groceries and pop him there!

-More of a living world. That last complaint give me a new idea. Give plot-oriented NPC’s schedules, like in Oblivion. Instead of me having to chase them across the city, I can now find out when he goes to bed and break into his house to get him. It would add another level of realism that the game needs, to help us forget that we’re playing a game.

-More interiors. I’ve always dreamed of a GTA where I’d be able to enter every building without exception. Maybe that’s an idea for the next generation of consoles, but it’s just a natural evolution.

-Dynamic missions. I dunno how they’d do it. And I don’t care. Find a way to make missions randomized, and make the plot completely dynamic and player-driven, and you will have my vote forever. It would add so much longevity to this game it’s crazy. Do what Far Cry 2 failed to accomplish and make the plot revolve entirely around the player’s decisions.

-Management. In Vice City, and San Andreas, we got a small taste of running our own gang, but it was only skin-deep. Give us the chance to rise to the top of the Layer Cake, and govern our gang in a strategic RTS-style skirmish. I want Gangsters 2, and the Godfather 2 to have a beautiful love child, and it would be GTA V

- Move GTA to other countries outside of the States, or even move into drastically different time periods. Hell, I’d play GTA: Feudal Japan any day of the week.

DRIVE-BY!!

Whether any of these wishes come true, I’m really eager to find out where the future is heading. Rockstar is always top-notch, and I think they always will be. They need to start pushing the envelope though. GTA-clones are a dime a dozen, but they’re increasing in quality and closing the gap between them and Grand Theft Auto. GTA IV was a drastic push in the right direction but it’s far from the perfect game everyone thought it would be. It’s time to stop adding bells and whistles, and think about the next step.

My series of Grand Theft Auto reviews has now concluded. It was rough trip, trying to dig up all my older GTA games and re-living some of the more frustrating moments of my childhood, but it was all worth it to remember where it all came from. The games we love all have history and inspirations that make them what they are, and sometimes we need to take a look at that history to learn and prepare for the future. As for the next GTA, my vote is, let it be set in Vice City, and let me experience the 80′s in HD glory. ^_^

See? I’m not that hard to please.