This week saw the release of several teaser images from Rockstar’s upcoming release of GTA V revealing that yes, there will be vehicles and places in the game. Still, with no news on gameplay we have been left to dream of what may or may not be included in the finished GTA V package.
Even since GTA IV launched, the sandbox game scene has changed dramatically and each new game in the genre has bought new or re-imagined ideas to the table, each with their own successes and failures. We here at WhatCulture hope that Rockstar have been taking note of such releases and borrow these 10 top features for GTA V.

10. Vehicle Hijacking


Saints Row the Third

Considering the vast majority of your time spent in GTA involves driving, getting in and out of cars has never been particularly fast or elegant. Whether it was waltzing up to a car to get in, only to have Niko open the door and proceed to stand motionless beside it or being thrown clean into the air because the car you thought was stationary was still moving at .5 mph. Suffice to say it was all very awkward and very frustrating. Saints Row looked at the age old ‘press button to enter vehicle’ paradigm and thought; how can we make this better yet crazier. Their solution was a simple, when sprinting towards a vehicle, a quick tap of a button would cause you to launch into the air through the windshield and boom! Your away. Of course, at present this wouldn’t quite fit into the semi-realistic world that Rockstar is trying to create, however the idea itself is a sound one and the ability for an easy way to get moving quickly would be a welcome addition to the series.

9. Fists Of Fury


Sleeping Dogs

You could probably count the amount of times you’ve chosen to use just your fists in combat over a gun in GTA on one hand. Hell, you might not even need the one hand. Hand to hand combat in GTA is just terrible. It’s sluggish, slow and unwieldily making you look like you have the fighting skills of an inanimate rod rather than a martial arts master. Sleeping Dogs changed that by putting the focus solely on unarmed combat and crafting it in a way that is interesting and enjoyable to use. That said it does take more than a few cues from the Arkham series of games but truthfully thats only a good thing. In fact when you do finally come to use a gun, it all seems a bit less fun in comparison.

8. Deadeye


Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption combat felt very similar to GTA IV, they tightened it up a little and changed the feel of the weapons but in essence if you had played Rockstar’s previous title, you felt right at home. What they did add is the brilliant deadeye system where, with a click of the stick, you could slow down time giving you the chance to pick of the most troublesome foes with ease. This played very well with the whole sharp shooter western aesthetic, but it would be a pity to confine this ability just to the Red Dead series. It may need a bit of a name change, but allowing players those crucial seconds to get out of tricky situations when swamped is something that would benefit us all.
And I really thing animals should be put in GTA!

7. The Art Of Disguise


Assassins Creed, Hitman Series

Fleeing from the cops is a common thread in any GTA game and involves either driving very fast or scrambling to find the nearest safe house. The question is why drive away when you can hide in plain sight. GTA V needs to take a few pages from the books of Hitman and Assassins Creed and get its stealth on. What if, while evading the feds, you could grab an employee from the local hot dog stand, steal his clothes, and then hang out undetected on the street corner while the cops are none the wiser. It’s seemingly only a small touch, but it would open up a whole world of possibilities.

6. So Little Time….


Skyrim

Remember Skyrim? That game that ate away a good chunk of your life? Of course you do! Skyrim was one of those games that you could sit down intending to play for 30 minutes and end up getting up 5 hours later. What made Skyrim such an engrossing experience was the sheer variety of things you could do outside of the main storyline.With the new location of San Andreas expected to be much larger than the Liberty City of GTA IV, Rockstar should take the opportunity to fully flesh out the city with side quests, activities and more. It not only gives the player plenty to do, but creates the perception of a living, breathing, interactive world. GTA IV fell fowl to the feeling that there was lots to look at, but not much to do. If GTA V can manage to improve on that aspect, then I can feel months of my life slipping away already.

5. The Devil’s In The Details


L.A. Noire

Last year we were treated to the excellent but flawed L.A. Noire. The game had plenty of faults, but no one can argue that the level of detail in characters faces and expressions was astounding. You could see every little nuance, tick and emotion in a way more akin to films than video games. Hopefully this technology wasn’t lost along with Team Bondi’s closure as it could bring a whole new level of storytelling to the GTA series, allowing it the chance to have the most realistic and thought provoking characters to date.

4. You Have Reached Your Destination


Saints Row the Third

When Saints Row the Third launched last year, many probably palmed it off again under the banner of its just another GTA rip-off. While that may of been almost the case with the launch of the first Saints Row, its third iteration shows the series has evolved beyond its GTA similarities and in turn, has bought some great new ideas to the sandbox genre. One such example is how it handles the age old problem of routing you from one destination to the next. I have always found the most frustrating problem with open world games is the driving. I often found myself in GTA VI glancing down at the mini-map to check I was heading the right way only to look up and find myself sailing through the windshield. Sure there was a GPS voiceover you could turn on, but I still found myself glancing at the map constantly. Saints Row the Third takes a slightly different approach by overlaying arrows in the environment to point you in the right direction. It may look a little obtrusive but it works surprisingly well and takes away the focus from the mini-map leaving you, to actually enjoy your drive.

3. Destructible Enviorments


 Red Faction Guerrilla

The Red Faction games I believe, never quite got the recognition they deserved. Yes, they were kind of repetitive, but then what third person shooter isn’t these days. What Red Faction Guerrilla did bring to the table, is the incredible Geo-Mod 2.0 engine, which allowed for fully and realistically destructible environments. It may seem an almost superficial touch, but having destructible scenery goes a long way to adding weight and realism to a world. It also forces you to take a different approach to your surroundings, if you’re inside a building you may think twice about a rocket launcher as chances are the roof may cave in. It’s a difficult and challenging thing to achieve and there are always a variety of pros and cons to deal with, but we won’t know if they don’t try.

2. Bringing Back The Crazy


Just Cause 2, Saints Row the Third, GTA San Andreas
Whether it was intentional or not, past iterations to the GTA Series bought about new levels of lunacy and mayhem with each new release. With GTA IV Rockstar dialled it back a notch, grounding the series in a more realistic setting and removing some of the more unbelievable elements of the franchise. With GTA V, Rockstar has a chance to up their game and retake the crown of crazy for the GTA series. Just Cause 2 had base jumping onto aircrafts, cars, buildings, you name it you could jump on to it, while Saints Row had VTOL jets, virtual reality worlds and gun blazing toilets. So theres a lot of catching up to do. Sure it’s not ‘realistic’, but if the Ballard of Gay Tony proves anything, its that it’s all right to have a little bit of madness now and again

1. CO-OP


Crackdown, Saints Row, Far Cry 3 etc….

After playing Saints Row and Crackdown cooperatively, I have longed for Rockstar to introduce a Co-op mode in a Grand Theft Auto game. While GTA IV’s multiplayer did include some fun collaborative modes, they fell short of offering what we really want, a proper cooperative campaign. Playing any type of large open world game with friends always results in hilarious and unpredictable outcomes, as Saints Row and Crackdown have shown so expertly, and if Rockstar can offer up a lovingly crafted cooperative experience which is as good as their solo experience, then I’m game.
These are just 10 ideas that Rockstar should steal for the upcoming GTA V but there are no doubt countless others. Let us know what features you would like to see introduced for GTA V from other sandbox titles in the comments below.