While the Grand Theft Auto franchise used to take us to new cities with every new game, the return to glorious 7th generation Liberty City has taken a different approach: downloadable "episodes" that feature new protagonists and stories in the same detailed environment. After all, it's a big city, and Niko Bellic doesn't make use of every possible location. New York/Liberty City is also big enough to be home to more than one crime story. Movies have certainly proven that, but the game franchise has too. GTA III was a mafia story and Nico, an illegal immigrant/multi-cultural story. With the Lost and Damned, we get a biker gang, and in the upcoming Ballad of Gay Tony, what I can only guess will be a gay mafia. (Vice City was Miami Vice, and San Andreas, Boyz'n'the Hood, both appropriate for their locations.)
But while I'm enjoying Liberty City fine, I do miss the days when every game would bring a new locale to life. Here, then, are my top 5 ideas for future GTA cities that could be given the 7Gen treatment...
5. GTA: Las Venturas
San Andreas is actually an umbrella title for three cities, but the most distinctive, and the one that would be most interesting as a hugely detailed environment is Las Venturas, or as you and I know it, Las Vegas. Organized crime and Las Vegas? Outrageous, right? But as the forensically boring CSI has shown, there appears to be a lot of crime in Sin City. Imagine a game where the CSIs are more dangerous to you than the cops. A game where everybody winds up buried in the desert. A game where you can shoot Cirque du Soleil performers off their trapezes... It is featured so low on my list because we just got San Andreas, really, so let's not go back there so soon.
4. GTA 2120
Grand Theft in the future? Why not? I'm imagining a mix of Blade Runner, The Fifth Element and Johnny Mnemonic, with flying cars as well as ground transport. Think Megapolis. Think a radioactive zone with Road Warriors just outside the city gates. Think cyberpunk and Car Wars and Death Race 2000.
3. GTA Vice City
If there's a second city most likely to get redone, it's Vice City. It even gets a mention in GTA IV. As a counterpart to the Niko Bellic story, it would be great to see the story of an illegal Cuban immigrant trying to survive on the hot and steamy streets of faux-Miami. Any new game in Vice City could and should feature such elements as: Disney World, boat racing in the Everglades, a fixed election, and retired Quebeckers aplenty. And look! The V in Vice City makes for an easy roman numeral pun!
2. GTA: London
London never even got the 3D treatment, but I'd love to see it return, complete with its 1960s background. Nostalgia is IN, and wouldn't you like to ride around in Austin Powers' car? Have we ever gotten a cultured gentleman thief as a protagonist? "Sorry old chap, I need your vehicle, wot?" This game is ripe for Easter eggs: A visit to the Village, Steed and Mrs. Peel walking around, and an odd police box that magically connects you between two faraway points. And it's always been my dream that a Grand Theft city would be cold enough to have ice and snow. I want to ram a snowbank, dammit!
1. GTA: Hong Kong
They've done all sorts of American crime stories, but Hong Kong cinema has provided us with a whole other canon of gangster films. It's time to bring martial arts and gun fun to the GTA universe! And Hong Kong is exactly the kind of super-city you need for that 7Gen detail. Have the characters badly dubbed with poor lipsync. It just adds to the feel. And watch out for Tequila!
Where would you like to drive dangerously?
But while I'm enjoying Liberty City fine, I do miss the days when every game would bring a new locale to life. Here, then, are my top 5 ideas for future GTA cities that could be given the 7Gen treatment...
5. GTA: Las Venturas
San Andreas is actually an umbrella title for three cities, but the most distinctive, and the one that would be most interesting as a hugely detailed environment is Las Venturas, or as you and I know it, Las Vegas. Organized crime and Las Vegas? Outrageous, right? But as the forensically boring CSI has shown, there appears to be a lot of crime in Sin City. Imagine a game where the CSIs are more dangerous to you than the cops. A game where everybody winds up buried in the desert. A game where you can shoot Cirque du Soleil performers off their trapezes... It is featured so low on my list because we just got San Andreas, really, so let's not go back there so soon.4. GTA 2120
Grand Theft in the future? Why not? I'm imagining a mix of Blade Runner, The Fifth Element and Johnny Mnemonic, with flying cars as well as ground transport. Think Megapolis. Think a radioactive zone with Road Warriors just outside the city gates. Think cyberpunk and Car Wars and Death Race 2000.3. GTA Vice City
If there's a second city most likely to get redone, it's Vice City. It even gets a mention in GTA IV. As a counterpart to the Niko Bellic story, it would be great to see the story of an illegal Cuban immigrant trying to survive on the hot and steamy streets of faux-Miami. Any new game in Vice City could and should feature such elements as: Disney World, boat racing in the Everglades, a fixed election, and retired Quebeckers aplenty. And look! The V in Vice City makes for an easy roman numeral pun!2. GTA: London
London never even got the 3D treatment, but I'd love to see it return, complete with its 1960s background. Nostalgia is IN, and wouldn't you like to ride around in Austin Powers' car? Have we ever gotten a cultured gentleman thief as a protagonist? "Sorry old chap, I need your vehicle, wot?" This game is ripe for Easter eggs: A visit to the Village, Steed and Mrs. Peel walking around, and an odd police box that magically connects you between two faraway points. And it's always been my dream that a Grand Theft city would be cold enough to have ice and snow. I want to ram a snowbank, dammit!1. GTA: Hong Kong
They've done all sorts of American crime stories, but Hong Kong cinema has provided us with a whole other canon of gangster films. It's time to bring martial arts and gun fun to the GTA universe! And Hong Kong is exactly the kind of super-city you need for that 7Gen detail. Have the characters badly dubbed with poor lipsync. It just adds to the feel. And watch out for Tequila!Where would you like to drive dangerously?
Comments
GTA 5
GTA 6
Grand Theft Auto: Tokyo
Grand Theft Auto: Bogota
Grand Theft Auto: Sin City
JM: Tokyo could work as well as Hong Kong, I suppose. Bogota has a built-in drug kingpin story. And Sin City would be a better name for Las Venturas to be sure.
A few ideas for gnu locations:
GTA - Moncton ? You could play a kingpin in the illegal trade of lobster and other seafood. LOL
GTA - Azeroth. You know with all the vehicle combat since WOTLK, this would come as no suprise.
Can even the most determined criminal outwit Andy Griffith's homespun country wisdom?
You only need a sniper rifle to finish the whole game.
And why in the world do you want a snow based GTA...Trust me you don't wan't to drive in snow...
Does your aura of vehicle protection extend to GTA cars?
There was Interstate '76 on the PC, and the Starsky & Hutch game on console...
Not that hillbilly stuff, but Memphis or Atlanta.