A Serious Wish List - Our Experience
'Our Experience' is what RockStar should be trying to enhance. However, from reading the list, it looks as if people aren't quite thinking through their wishes as much as I would have thought, and are jumping to concepts, names, sports; whatever it is that appears in their imagination.
GTA games, thankfully; are extremely unique - there are specific concepts to the game that really stand out, and enhance our gaming experience. I would defiantly consider GTA games to be the most entertaining and rewarding (as far as 'achievement' is concerned) console game available.
We just need to understand 'why' this is so, and then add these concepts and features to GTA 5.
GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas and GTA IV all contained their unique concepts that made each and every game an incredible experience to play - we have all returned to the game after completion, and I really honestly think its the ONLY CONSOLE GAME I would re-play the entire campaign on; no other console game has managed to make me do such a unique thing.
So, personally, I think we should sit back, and think about what we really want - Do you really want the ability to fly back to Vice City and San Andreas, or do you just love the unique features they both contained?
I believe that adding such a feature would 'spoil' the atmosphere and experience we gain from the game; instead I propose a more professional approach. Instead, we need to locate these features we love, and put them into GTA 5.
And just to add a 'wish' we've all thought about before I get started on my list; Once GTA 5 is released, a 'Special Edition' should be available, containing a 'box set' of ALL the previous GTA games available on the PS3/Xbox360 too (PC already has that ability) - I, among others, would pay a brief case full of paper to obtain such a package!
So, back to the main subject; my personal Wish List;
A long, lengthy and challenging campaign; with an interesting and emotional storyline – Obviously, this is the first unique factor of GTA; very few campaigns are as lengthy and involving as these.
Remain with the classic structure; A poor, troubled gangster with many problems to solve, that eventually becomes a smart-looking, Bugatti Vayron driver, who owns a Casino, Mansion and a beautiful Girlfriend – Living the ‘dream’.
I really enjoyed the idea of having multiple outcomes in missions; this was unique and effective.
The Graphics; RockStar has been ahead in graphics for all games since the dawn of their creations. Although this is a wish that I’d expect to be fulfilled, I could only ask to spend most of your efforts on the gaming experience, rather than the good looking Graphics – We all spend the fist day or three dribbling over each and every pixel on our HD TV’s; however that isn’t what makes me re-play the entire campaign repeatedly.
Consider 3D if you feel the technologies for it will be suitable and available at the time of its release; 3D is not a difficult concept for games; in fact, I’d consider the task rather easy – it shouldn’t take up too much of your time at all.
The ‘style’ of Game Play; I would really consider GTA games to be dipping into the realms of RPG style games – it’s almost like ‘second life’; you can live a life you want, with endless possibilities and opportunities. You, as a character, have complete freedom over what you do; you could be Sky-Diving off the worlds tallest building one minute, and kicking the machine that took your $5 in a casino the next.
This is a style that clearly should continue throughout the GTA series; and I will mention many of its contents in the next part.
Lastly; the contents ‘Wish List’ – this is the very thing everyone else seems to be focusing on. Clearly, the hype of GTA is the ‘small but cool’ (That phrase came out better than I thought it would) experiences.
So, here are my suggestions and wishes for GTA 5; including new ideas for ‘small but cool’ content. I will try not to repeat any other wishes, unless I really do feel strongly about them.
- Owning vehicles; Cars should not be obtained through theft. Stealing cars should defiantly be part of the game (hence the name), however stolen cars should be at risk, as the police would be searching for them. I believe that you should not be able to ‘keep’ stolen cars, unless you manage to hide them from the police for a specific amount of time (dependant on the quality of the car).
Therefore, we can add a new feature to GTA; the ability to buy vehicles; Cars that you actually ‘own’ should not disappear, no matter where you leave them in the world. This would be more realistic than owning one of the best cars in the game through theft in the first 30 minutes of playing, and loosing it because you ran down the street – but rather see you having to spend your money on vehicles, ranging from $100 to $1,000,000!
And imagine the feeling of watching your $1,000,000 car explode (or get stuck in a ditch) – it would get to your senses; just one of the methods to enhance our experiences.
- Developing and looking after your character; Increasing/Decreasing your Health, Weight, Muscle, developing your skills in Riding, Driving Flying etc – No explanation required; refer to San Andreas.
- A large range of vehicles should be drivable; Cars, Motorbikes, Bikes (Such as a BMX), 3-wheelers, Caravans, Go-Karts, Gliders, Plains, Helicopters, Buses, Trains, Lorries, and Forklifts – the list continues and gets more interesting…
- Don’t be afraid to have open woodland – nothing is more realistic! Of course, for GTA IV it was an exception, as that just simply isn’t practical; however the open space in San Andreas was really effective, and this shouldn’t stop you from having busy cities like in GTA IV.
Make the areas different; one place should be a City, full of casinos and shopping centres, while another has mountings with ski slopes, (snowboarding, anyone?).
I really am coming up with endless suggestions just thinking of the landscape – Really go all out with it on GTA 5, and don’t keep it flat! – GTA IV was an expectation with the New York focus.
- I feel you shouldn't base the game on specific locations; buildings and landmarks can defiantly be inspired from real life; however the world itself should be completely made up (Like San Andreas and unlike GTA IV).
- Stadiums; Racing, Sports, Entertainment – a variety of stadiums is a must of the city locations; maybe even a place to take your friends?
If I am honest; I am going to cut this short; FOCUS on the ‘small but cool’ things – as are being suggested many times by everyone. Such as;
- Ability to steal from houses.
- Ability to have a choice of meals when buying food
- Ability to actually go to the horse races and bet at the location
- Ability to buy your version of the Bugatti Vayron
- Ability to ‘hot wire’ cars
- Ability to use and personalise a mobile phone
- Ability to personalise your character
- Ability to attach ALL types of trailers to our Lorries
- Ability to climb effectively
- Character flies out the windscreen on large impacts
- Ability to jump out of moving vehicles
- Ability to ‘pimp’ vehicles
- Ability to gamble in casinos
- Ability to play a large range of sports
- Ability to use a parachute
- Ability to repair vehicles without changing their colour
You get the idea, the list is endless…
Get what we love; and put it into GTA 5 – Sorry, but I believe flying to previous games would ruin the RPG and uniqueness to the game.
At the end of the day, my main wish is that the game exceeds my expectation - all reviews should contain the words "The possibilities are endless".
Thanks for reading.
Vancouver, Washington, Texas, any new location
and nuclear bombs. nuclear bunker busters. anything really