The Grand Theft Auto franchise has certainly done wonders for gaming innovation over the last decade, but how long can you really live a life of crime? Sure, the cities, characters, and motivational storylines change with each passing iteration, but how different are GTA III and GTA IV in the overall aspects? For the series to really continue to be gaming's golden child it needs to evolve into something more. Here are a few ideas that might just make you want to pluck down your pre-order cash today. Every single GTA has featured a lowly thug figure climbing the criminal ladder. The games end when you arrive on the top, after wiping out your competition. It gives the game a reachable goal to drive the plot towards, but what if that was the starting point rather than the finish line?
The view from the top could be infinitely more interesting. Instead of starting as a cog in the criminal machine, why not start the game as the one running it? As the series, and The Sopranos, has proved, the man in charge has plenty of drama all his own. You have never really had a chance to experience the anxious feeling of wondering whether your right-hand man is really looking to turn on you and put one in the back of your head. You have never had to determine when and how to deliver retaliation for another family's disrespect to your territory. Those decision-making dilemmas were the best parts of GTA IV, but were too rare. Not every decision needs to drastically change the story to the degree your actions did in GTA IV. Holding back on retaliating might make you look weak in the eyes of your enemies, leaving you susceptible to a random drive-by or siege by another gang. The constant haze of paranoia that comes with being the boss could make for some interesting gaming. Who would rather be Chrissy than Tony Soprano?
After they deliver the view from the top, why not show you how the other side lives? The series has delivered a handful of memorable law-enforcement characters, but they have all been a little light on the 'enforcement' side of things. A game putting you in the shoes of a police officer in the middle of a crime-ravaged metropolitan city could blow your mind. Branching story paths dealing with realistic shades of grey, involving bribery and corruption, could deliver the kind of high-drama that would make GTA IV look like child's play. Having the choice to shake down businesses for protection money or talking to internal affairs about cops you see doing it could be a very interesting dilemma. Starting the game with a wife and kids, but leaving in the temptations of the strip clubs and hookers, could be affecting and entertaining. Starting as a beat cop, walking around a specific part of town, with a strong desire to get promoted could leave you some interesting choices whether to do things the right way or lean towards the dirty side of the badge. The constant onslaught of calls to respond to on your police radio, and ensuing interactions with your comrades on the force and the people of the city could prove a new treasure trove of memorable gaming experiences.
If the series really wants to go for it, imagine the jaw-dropping moments that a game putting you through the nervous paces of The Departed would deliver. Allowing you to choose to play as a mob member posing as a cop or an undercover cop in the mafia at start of the game would add immediate replay value, by utilizing the same buildings and many of the same characters. The need to sneak off and discreetly stay in contact with the side you are working for could lend itself for thrilling tension, the likes of which the game has not yet seen. The need to cover your tracks and make false relationships with good people on the other side would give all the drama a gamer could handle. It would not need to give the same mole-versus-mole plot, though the race to uncover your counterpart before they do the same to you could be fantastic if handled right.
The cinematic flavor GTA IV brought to gaming was a big step forward, but a game that could realistically capture the danger and intensity of a large-scale undercover operation would become a phenomenon unlike anything gaming has ever seen. If any company can pull it off, Rockstar has the best shot. Regardless of where Grand Theft Auto V goes, it is hard to imagine it remaining at the top of the gaming kingdom if it continues down the same path. You can only play the same basic story so many times before it becomes too easy to anticipate what is coming around the next corner.
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