On Tuesday July 9th, Rockstar Games set the video game industry on fire with their first official gameplay trailer for GTA V. The trailer ran a glorious 4-minutes and 51 seconds long and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that all the early hype behind the game was completely justified.
At the tail end of the gameplay reveal, Rockstar teased their multiplayer component of GTA V appropriately titled Grand Theft Auto Online. While there is no official word yet on what all the multiplayer features will be for GTA Online, I decided to elaborate further on a few modes that I would like to see once the game hits stores this September. So without further ado, here is my list on 5 things I want from GTA V multiplayer.
Grab The Stash
When Read Dead Redemption launched back in May of 2010, the third-person shooter featured a popular multiplayer mode called Grab The Bag. This team-based capture the flag variant featured a bag of gold spawning throughout different areas on a map and teams working together to protect the bag carrier and prevent an opposing team from scoring. Several western and heist films today clearly illustrate this concept with ease.
Grab The Stash can essentially be the updated version of this feature but with an emphasis on teams working together to pulloff the ultimate heist. Every team would be working together to not only complete a successful robbery, but also to prevent the other team from stopping them. As an added bonus, Rockstar could switch things up and allow players to turn on each other. These actions could lead to teams being disbanded and players being thrown into intense free-for-all sessions. Implementing these types of dynamics into GTA V multiplayer can succeed in keeping the gameplay experience both fun and addictive.
Rage Killer
Once Max Payne 3 finally hit store shelves last May, fans were treated to an action-packed campaign and several compelling multiplayer features. One of the more competitive modes was called Payne Killer, where the first and second kill players were transformed into Max and Passos and given special abilities.
In regards to GTA V protagonist Trevor Phillips, Rockstar has stated that the character has a special ability where he can go into a violent rage and inflict more damage while hardly being affected by others. This concept would be the basis for Rage Killer with the only real difference being that the first player to kill someone will enter into rage mode and thus become the sole target of everyone else.
Gang Wars 2.0
Chances are if you’ve ever played a Grand Theft Auto video game then you’ve at least tried out gang wars maybe once or twice. The main objective of gang wars has always been to eliminate the opposing gang by whatever means necessary.
Gang Wars 2.0 can take things up a notch by giving players the ability to claim ownership over different territories throughout the state. Once another gang threatens to takeover an area, chaos ensues and both sides can engage in an all out war. This same rule can apply to gangs living in surrounding areas like Los Santos and invading a region owned by a gang in San Andreas. If done correctly, an idea like this can succeed in showing the true scale of the world and keep players busy for hours on end.
Recreational Activities and Competitions
While leading a life of crime may be one of the main focal points of the GTA V single player campaign, recreational activities and competitions could easily be the framework for multiplayer. Participating in activities like scuba diving, skydiving, cycling, golfing, and playing tennis could easily give players a much-needed break from all the mayhem.
The multiplayer aspect of these ideas could also be expanded upon further to include engrossing competitions between players. Tennis and golf mini-matches, and ski boat races are just two prime examples of what’s possible. Rockstar could even go so far as to do their own spin on major sporting events such as the US Open and Tour De France and place them within their universe. Exploring ideas at this scale would not only be revolutionary, but it would prove that the studio has come a long way from their humble beginnings.
Cops and Robbers 2.0
Cops and Robbers has always been a standard multiplayer mode in GTA games but with the subtle name changes here and there. GTA IV introduced Cops and Crooks, a wild competitive showdown where players could be either cops or crooks.
Cops and Robbers 2.0 can build upon these core concepts and expand the number of players on each team to make full use of the environment. The robbers can be given a clear and concise mission objective to rob a bank and successfully outmaneuver all the obstacles that the cops put in their way. It would also be interesting if players could be given the ability to play as some of the more advanced law enforcement teams that normally show up once someone has maxed out their wanted rating. Making these additions to an already stellar cops and robbers mode could be mind-blowing in more ways than one.
This concludes my list on 5 things that I want from GTA V multiplayer. While none of these are confirmed, I’m more than confident that Rockstar will deliver a phenomenal multiplayer experience that fans will remember for many years to come. Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices? Do you have any other multiplayer mode ideas that you would like to see in GTA V? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
GTA V launches worldwide on the Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on September 17th.
