At the end of last month's extensive Grand Theft Auto V gameplay video, Rockstar Games teased that details on the game's multiplayer mode were still to come. Unfortunately, we just can't wait that long, and our rabid excitement for more on Grand Theft Auto V has turned to rampant speculation. Bottom line, these are the seven things we hope to see in Grand Theft Auto Online.
GTA Online will blend multiplayer as seen in Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 for a mix of competitive and free roam modes. Hopefully, the developers behind one of gaming's biggest franchises have already thought of these and prepared for hungry players looking for online chaos.
7. Races For All Kinds Of Vehicles
Players won't be limited to a few sports cars and trucks in GTA V. They'll have planes, helicopters, motorcycles and more at their disposal too! We want to be able to hop online and race with everything. Jets, boats, bikes, quads, jet skis, all of them should be ready and waiting for anyone hoping to run an online circuit with friends.
Grand Theft Auto IV let players set up races with specific sets of cars, but in order to breathe virtual life into this silly GTA V dream, Rockstar will have to prepare race tracks on the water and in the air as well. Mountain trails, sandy beaches, intercoastal waterways all need routes programmed for players. Here's hoping you'll have photo finishes on every inch of Los Santos.
6. Tons Of Free Roam Challenges
I was never able to round-up a full 16-player posse for Red Dead Redemption's open wild west, but an organic sort of multiplayer game sprung out of 5-man gangs roaming the plains and squabbling over territory. You started to wear your allegiances proud and holding down the Mexican fort or Blackwater felt more like a last-stand in the dirt.
I want to see that supported with territories "grabbed" by rival gangs in GTA Online. It wouldn't hurt to have expanded hunting challenges, bounty competitions, and criminal hideouts either.
5. Sports And More Minigames In Free Roam
I couldn't get through this list without mentioning another hold-over GTA Online has to have from Red Dead Redemption. While saddling up to the poker table or volunteering your digits for five-finger filet was great, GTA V's distractions are on another level.
I'd love to see 16-player free roam sessions turn into grand golf tournaments. Can you imagine getting frustrated with other players taking too long on the hole just ahead, and dealing with the delay in absurd GTA-fashion? What about other minigames? What about other sports? Will we see casino games or do they await us in the Las Venturas DLC? Could we have multiplayer mountain-bike challenges? Tennis matches? We want all of that and more in GTA Online.
4. Competitive Mainstays
Multiplayer activity in Max Payne 3 died out a lot faster than I had hoped. Perhaps because so many players assumed GTA V was waiting in the wings, they fled the Team Deathmatch, Payne Killer, and other competitive playlists in droves. With Rockstar's flagship franchise drawing millions of gamers to it on day 1, I hope the organized competition stays hot in GTA Online for months. Please give us free-for-all and team-based modes. Give us Deathmatch, but also give us Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Control Points, and even Juggernaut-style modes where one player has bullet time and more on their side.
These playlists are probably guaranteed at this point, but as the saying goes: "Ask and ye shall receive." So we're asking.
3. Dark Souls-like Invasions
I know it sounds like an odd idea, but with such a huge focus on playing with the AI, I'd be entertained to no end if a human opponent popped up in my single player game and tried to take me down. Imagine hopping in one of the Los Santos PD's police cruisers and activating Grand Theft Auto's vigilante missions, but instead of hunting down an AI thug, you're pusuing another player who's haphazardly racked up a high Wanted level.
This sort of happened organically in Red Dead Redemption's free-roam where players could tally up large bounties. Head to one of these dangerous players and do the AI's job for it to collect your reward. That's simple enough, but I want that kind of surprise supported with some fancy server tricks. With millions of people exporing Los Santos from Day 1, there'd be plenty of activity on the servers for this on-the-fly type of matchmaking.
2. Asynchronous Multiplayer In Single-Player
Last year, Electronic Arts released Need For Speed: Most Wanted and basically turned the entire game into a multiplayer leaderboard. No matter which street you drove down, billboards, speed cameras, and more screamed at you about other players on your friends list. You could dedicate your entire virtual life to holding the top times and jumps in a region, and I want GTA V to do that too.
Grand Theft Auto Online shouldn't just encourage head-to-head competition, it should tell you how you and your single-player exploits stack up against your friends. Top-speeds, best race times, best mission scores, best shooting accuracy, best minigame stats, longest freefall time, and more should all be tracked and used to keep players forever in GTA's tangled gameplay web.
1. Options, Options, Options
When hosting your own freeroam session, multiplayer match, or just looking to find new friends online, you need tons of options to tailor the experience to what you want to do. Random chaos is fun for a while, but eventually the most diehard GTA players start specializing and hunting down the obscure in their favorite gameplay systems.
Playing golf, racing high-speed boats, flying jets around the city…. All of these things will be more fun with friends who you can direct to the next free-roam objective. Rules and structure might seem antithetical to Grand Theft Auto, but they'll allow for a much more rewarding and focused experience if that's what you're looking for.
What do you want in Grand Theft Auto V's multiplayer? Will you play multiplayer or single-player first? Tell us in the comments below.
