10 things we want to see in Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V – Multiple time periods

There’s been much speculation as to when Grand Theft Auto V will take place – previous instalments have taken us to London in the 60s, 1990s California and the neon hedonism of 1980s Vice City.

Could GTA V chuck something new into the mix and let us play out a character’s story across several different time periods? Rockstar’s done it before on a smaller scale, with a brief time-jump in Red Dead Redemption. But wouldn’t it be fun if, say, your character started in the 1970s of muscle cars and bad haircuts, was sent to jail for 20-odd years and emerged to a totally changed city? A time shift would be a novel way to open up new areas of the map – it’d make a change from being trapped on one island for the first part of the game.

Grand Theft Auto V – Bigger world

While GTA IV’s Liberty City was by no means tiny, we were still left wanting for vast open spaces like those in San Andreas or Red Dead Redemption, giving us the opportunity to tear up terrain in an assortment of vehicles. Being greedy, we’d also love to see multiple big cities in GTA V, each with its own character.

Grand Theft Auto V – Celeb DJs

The radio stations are one of GTA’s best features – and Rockstar’s constantly surprising us with the famous voices they get to play the DJs.

We’ve had everyone from Karl Lagerfeld to Sepultura’s Max Cavalera spinning the discs in past Grand Theft Auto games. But who could be gracing GTA V’s radio stations? How about a sounds of the 70s station fronted by Quentin Tarantino? Or a pop station with Lady Gaga picking out the choons?

One thing’s for sure, Rockstar needs to bring back Axl Rose’s Tommy ‘The Nightmare’ Smith from GTA: San Andreas. He needs the work.

Grand Theft Auto V – Female protagonist

One thing Grand Theft Auto’s never previously done is let us play as a female protagonist. Come on guys, it’s 2011 – haven’t you heard of equality in the workplace? At least give us the option of choosing to play as a man or a woman in the single-player game.

Grand Theft Auto V – Better multiplayer

GTA IV’s multiplayer wasn’t terrible, but we would love to see a Red Dead Redemption-like open world, full of roaming gangs and tough cops. Spontaneous fire fights and instant jump-in-and-play co-op missions would also be a welcome improvement.

Grand Theft Auto V – More minigames

GTA IV had snooker and darts, Red Dead Redemption gave us the chance to kick back and gamble our money away at the card tables. If the new game’s set in GTA’s own Vegas, Las Venturas, it’d be simplicity itself to port Red Dead Redemption’s poker and blackjack into the casinos.

And here’s a fun thought – imagine if there was a video game console in your character’s safehouse that contained the original Grand Theft Auto? Yo dawg, I herd you like GTA, so we put a GTA in your GTA so you can GTA while you GTA.

Grand Theft Auto V – Improved combat

GTA IV’s cover and lock-on shooting system was repetitive and often clumsy, throwing you out of cover unintentionally, locking on to random passing civilians instead of the vanload of gangsters driving past you, and leaving you bullet-ridden.

A few tweaks here and there should tighten things up, while destructive cover would offer new ways to pop caps in the unfortunate asses of your foes. Being able to call for back up while remaining in cover would also improve gameplay – by about a million.

Grand Theft Auto V – More fun

Not to say that we didn’t enjoy playing GTA IV, but we couldn’t help feeling that it was a bit too serious, gritty and even boring at times, filled with repetitive tasks and inconvenient social arrangements. More content along the lines of the Ballad of Gay Tony DLC would add some much-needed humour and zaniness back in to the series.

Grand Theft Auto V – Outfit perks

Taking a leaf out of Red Dead Redemption’s book, we’d love to be able to undertake challenges to unlock outfits that offer various perks. The thought of donning a police officer’s uniform to instantly remove our wanted level, for example, fills us with giddy excitement. Far more satisfying than killing off randomly scattered pigeons.

Grand Theft Auto V – Zombies

Everyone’s at it, from Call of Duty to Rockstar’s own Red Dead Redemption. And while sniping the undead from horseback was fun and all, how much more entertaining would it be to plow through hordes of zombies in a sports car?

No-one’s done a full-on open-world zombie game set in a fully-functioning city, and we know Rockstar has the chops to pull off a satisfying zombie-themed DLC. Everything is better with zombies.

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