While, in the past, I’ve been somewhat critical of the Grand Theft Auto series for taking too much of a serious turn, I’m still extremely excited for the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto V. Going into E3 I was hoping to see more from the game and, instead, we barely heard anything from Rockstar about the title. That’s not totally unexpected, given that they have a history of keeping many details of Grand Theft Auto out of the press. Still, I was somewhat disappointed about not hearing much about GTA V.
In recent years, I’ve personally become a fairly huge fan of the Saints Row series. In fact, I’m such a Saints Row fan that I wrote an article about how much more excited I am for Saints Row IV than Grand Theft Auto V. That said, I still am extremely excited for GTA V for a number of reasons and I’m hoping that GTA V makes some real changes that keep me excited throughout.
Grand Theft Auto IV told a good story, focusing on Niko Bellic and his attempt to leave the criminal world behind him. It had a few very interesting plot moments, as well, with a new emphasis on player choice. However, for as cool as that was, I still found myself longing for the days of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This was the first GTA game that I finished and I found myself enjoying every minute of it.
San Andreas still had a good story, rooted in many films like Boyz n’ The Hood and New Jack City. On top of that story, though, were some hilarious side missions and a world that was just plain fun to roam around in. The story even required you to use a jet pack to fly around the city. There was this tinge of seriousness in a goofy story that made it an absolute treat to play.
While Grand Theft Auto IV still had some of this, it was far more subdued, concentrating on telling a much more self-serious story. That’s fine but at the same time, I’d like it if there were more of a balance between the goofiness of pre-Grand Theft Auto IV games and the seriousness of GTA IV.
Less Cellphone Reliance
This was one thing that many people complained about in Grand Theft Auto IV, but it does bear repeating. One of the major additions was the ability to go out on dates and hang out with your friends. It was an interesting idea, allowing you to bond with other characters while playing mini-games.
However, one of the biggest annoyances was how often they would call you to go perform these activities. Every few minutes, it felt like someone needed to hang out with you and if they didn’t, you would be hurting their feelings. It quickly became a massive pain. You were given the option to totally turn off these events, but the problem wasn’t that you were performing these mini-games, it was the rate of which your companions wanted to.
Arcade Driving
This was one thing I noticed when I came back to Grand Theft Auto IV, only a few months ago. The years have not been kind to Grand Theft Auto IV’s driving. Yes, the driving is meant to be more “realistic” than in previous titles. However, often times that just means if you go a little too fast, you’ll lose complete control of your vehicle.
As someone who’s become more and more accustomed to an arcade style driving experience, I think it would be far more fun to return to that sort of driving. Yes, this is completely a personal taste issue and I don’t think that the newer style of GTA driving ruined the experience for me. However, if we’re judging this on things that would make GTA V more fun, I think that arcade style driving would make the game miles more enjoyable.
Remember how bad the shooting in Grand Theft Auto III was? Now, do you remember how many people thought that Rockstar had finally fixed them with Grand Theft Auto IV? In retrospect, they really hadn’t. Sure, the shooting was better, with the “soft” and “hard” lock on system in place but by more contemporary standards, the shooting feels vastly outdated. This is one change that GTA V desperately needs to make it more enjoyable to many gamers.
In spite of all my complaining about how I want these things to change for Grand Theft Auto V, I still deeply enjoy almost all the games in the series. Each game has a different set of strengths and it’s proof that Rockstar can take something great and make it better with each iteration. If nothing else, going through and thinking of everything that I didn’t like about Grand Theft Auto IV has only made me that much more excited for the next game in the franchise.
