It’s hard to imagine a gaming landscape without Rockstar North’s crime drama series, Grand Theft Auto. The term “open world game” likely wouldn’t inspire visions of a broad, living world without GTA’s constant groundbreaking. Now that the fifth and latest entry is nearly upon us, we count down the top 5 innovations in this installment, with a little help from our friends at Cheat Code Central.
5: The Phone Is Back, And Better Than Ever
Characters in GTA have been using cellphones for quite a while now, but Grand Theft Auto IV actually gave us a full, functioning phone. This newest game will expand on that even further, upgrading players to a smartphone. It’s from here that you can access the internet, and that opens a world of possibility. Read the news, share pictures, and even manage your stock portfolio all at anytime, anywhere.
4: More To Do Than Ever Before
With Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar showed us that a concrete jungle isn’t always where the fun is. Sure, Liberty City is impressive to this day, but Rockstar is never one to settle. A very, very large of the massive world will be fully explorable forests, mountains and even fully detailed rural counties. You can hunt, scuba dive, parachute, hike, ride ATVs, spend time customizing your characters, your cars, or even just kick back with a round or two of golf. Indeed, GTA V is a true sandbox.
3: Rockstar’s Biggest World Yet
All those side activities are for naught if there isn’t a place to put them. Rockstar has gone on record saying that the world of Grand Theft Auto V is bigger than GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption, and GTA: San Andreas‘ worlds combined. That is the combination of their three largest games so far, and it also means that we will need more than a helicopter to get around quickly. Sure, it’s still available, but this game will re-introduce jets from San Andreas.
2: Three Protagonists
This one may seem like a small point, and one undeserving of the second spot on our list, but it’s a very crucial one. The writing team at Rockstar have proven themselves with each game, but they also have learned quite a bit about creating real, interesting characters. By having three playable characters, each from a completely different walk of life, the writing team has been given a wonderful chance to flex those muscles and give us a truly inspired crime drama. From a gameplay side, each character has their own benefit. Michael has a bullet-time style slow motion ability, Franklin can handle a car better, and Trevor, the unstable psychopath, can deal more damage. This balance of special abilities means that switching between them will be a fun, tactical affair, and that GTA’s signature cop chases will vary wildly depending on who crosses the law.
1: Grand Theft Auto Online
While GTA has had an online mode in the past, nothing compares to this. It could have been released as a standalone package, but Grand Theft Auto Online will come with each and every copy of GTA V. That means everyone gets access to Los Santos, 500 —yes, 500— additional missions, and an entire world of real players, each with their own custom character. It’s probably best not to speculate too much on what kinds of things we’re sure to see in GTA Online, but I can guarantee the the YouTube videos will be amazing.
There it is– five things that GTA V is doing bigger and better than any GTA before it. We’d like to thank Cheat Code Central for allowing us to use their article to help create this list. Now, let’s watch that official gameplay trailer one more time, because I still haven’t gotten tired of it.
Grand Theft Auto V hits store shelves September 17.
Don’t forget when the game is released next week to check out all the cheats, secrets, easter eggs, unlockables, and more for GTA 5 – Xbox 360 and GTA 5 – PS3 at Cheat Code Central.
