Grand Theft Auto is a great franchise, especially because Rockstar have the ability to take a city and a basic character, and bring them to life. Rockstar are the innovators of creating living, breathing, authentic worlds. Ever since Grand Theft Auto III arrived on Playstation 2 in 2001, developers have made sure to pay close attention to detail when it comes to creating characters and environments. While the world craves for a new Grand Theft Auto title, many people begin to ask the same questions. What city will the next GTA be based in? Who will be the next GTA character? What should it be about?
With that being said I would like to give a few suggestions of where Rockstar could go with the next GTA game. I will suggest a city and create a possible scenario for Rockstar to consider. Dan Houser are you reading this?
I know Rockstar like to base their games around real life cities, but they always rename the city, making it more of a spoof. However for the purpose of normality, in this article I will use real city names.
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: LONDON
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You knew I was going to go there first right? Well it has been too long since the Grand Theft Auto series visited London. When they last made a game based on London, GTA was still in it’s 2D top down view days. I know Sony’s The Getaway has since made a 3D replica of London, but wouldn’t it be great to see it done GTA style? London has some of the greatest attractions in the world, and living so close to the city myself would make me overly excited to shoot the place up (Can I say that?).
As for a character, he could be a street wise criminal (let’s call him Jamie Stack), who has been forced into a life of crime due to low employment rates. Jamie and his friend one night decide to steal a truck full of dope. Unfortunately for Jamie and his friend, the cops we’re onto them the whole time. They then get chased up the M1 (a British freeway), then they manage to get to a spot where they can bail out from the truck and loose both the cops and the drugs. The drugs are then ceased by the coppers, and there is a big news story about it. Later Jamie finds out that the dope belonged to a very important crime lord, who is now out of millions of pounds.
Instead of having Jamie killed, the crime lord (lets call him Archie) opts to have Jamie work off the dept. Sending Jamie on some of the most frantic missions seen in a GTA game. Then perhaps later Jamie finds out that the reason Archie kept him alive, was because he had an affair with his mother years ago. Perhaps they can have a Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker moment.
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: NEW ORLEANS
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First of all, congrats to the Saints for winning the Superbowl. Now we have that out the way, I think a New Orleans GTA would be very smart if done right. You have a City that suffered an unfortunate disaster, so that leaves a whole lot of options to create a great touching storyline. Due to the events of Katrina, New Orleans suffered an uprise in crime rates. This would give Rockstar the chance to create a very real, controversial and touching experience. Let’s be real though, New Orleans deserves some kind of attention that will make people take notice.
The main character could be somebody who lost everything when the hurricane hit. As the city struggles to rebuild itself, he is left with only one option. To hit the streets and try to build a foundation for himself. Rockstar would have to be very careful to do it in a way where they will not suffer any backlash. Which is probably why this would never happen, it is a little too risky for them. However I feel like Rockstar could do it right; and hey, David Simon has a new show based in New Orleans (Treme), so why can’t a video game touch on it too.
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: TOKYO
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Eastern developers have done a lot of games based in western settings, so how about Rockstar do the opposite. I know automatically you are thinking of the game Yakuza, and the Yakuza is obviously the biggest and most recognized crime organization related to Japan. But Rockstar could show us a completely different side of Japanese organized crime. Though I am sure spoofing other countries will be seen as racism, but heck GTA has always been controversial right?
The character could be someone not directly associated with the Japanese crime syndicates (such as Yakuza), but someone who is possibly on the run from them. Maybe Ryo’s (Generic Japanese name #2) family are in great danger, after Ryo’s older brother died and left a great debt to the organization. The Organization now wants Ryo’s sister to work off the dept in one of their brothel’s, but Ryo and his family have too much pride for that. Ryo moves his family out of town, but knows the organization will track them down, due to the amount of connections they have. So he has to find a way to get the strain of the organization off of his back, using the underground crime scene as his tool. Rockstar, please hire me.
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: DETROIT
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Let’s bring it back to the US, perhaps Rockstar could focus on one of the most violent cities in America. It would be good to see the motor city brought to life in a spoof world, it could be a very dark and gritty edition to the GTA series.
In an attempt to clean up Detroit and bring value back to the city, maybe the government has founded special police tactical units to hit the streets and shut down crime. Putting a strain on all criminal activity. You play as an infamous stick up kid in the area, who has his own team, and stays getting paid from their criminal activities. You and your team are constantly on the move trying to pull of huge robberies, kind of like a small time oceans eleven team. Maybe Rockstar could even have a class system, with one class focusing on engineering jobs (shutting down security systems). One class focusing on scoping out the area for possible threats (a tactical class), and another focusing on stealth. Of course there will also be a full blown assault class, where that character would be right in the middle of a bullet heavy shootout. You could assign classes to each of your team before every mission, to ensure maximum success. Due to all the special tactical units flooding the streets, you are under heavy pressure from the authority, creating a constant cat and mouse scenario in the gameplay.
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So there are four possible scenarios that would be a refreshing look for the the Grand Theft Auto franchise. No doubt Rockstar are already cooking up something great for us, as far as the next game goes. At this point though, there is nothing for us hungry GTA fans to do other than speculate and come up with our own ideas. Perhaps you readers have some ideas of what you would like to see in the next GTA game, if so don’t be a stranger. Leave your comments below, or express your ideas in our new forums.
