The release of Grand Theft Auto V has now been delayed from the vague ‘Spring 2013′ release date to an official date of 17th September 2013. In their press release, Rockstar cited that the reason for this was to ensure that the game was completed to the highest standard. That has come as a disappointment for many fans of the franchise. But, maybe taking this extra time with the game is to achieve near perfection, especially as this is one undoubtedly of the most highly anticipated game releases of all time.
However, one of the things that would achieve that level of perfection for me is to do away with some of the awful side missions that fans have had to play through over the years, just to be able to achieve 100% completion. With some of them, they are widely considered one of the most infuriating and monotonous activities in any game, not just the GTA franchise. Now, it’s time to count down the top five.
5. Taxi Driver
It’s surprising to see how many people would like to see this activity return in full. It was present in GTA IV, but you could only drive Roman’s taxi for some quick cash and I don’t think many players even attempted it. After completing one or two taxi missions in earlier games, you realised that they were all the exact same thing but just were further out on the map from your destination each time. The rewards for actually completing many of these in the earlier games wasn’t great, either. Personally, I hope they never make a return to GTA.
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9 Comments
I agree with #3, but think everything else should stay. Taxis are a great way to make money if you’re poor and need something, and races can be pretty fun.
No one forces you to achieve 100%… Taxi rides and hidden packages gives you an opportunity to explore the map and see plcaes you’d never been to otherwise.
Phone calls from friends didn’t happen that often. And you could always not take the call, refuse the activity or cancel the appointement (without losing friendship percentage).
Races are not hard at all (in GTA IV anyway) once you get used to the driving.
Disagree on all of these except #3. A sandbox game is defined by the sheer variety of stuff to do on the side, take that away and what do you have apart from a linear story?
I could understand the rest but “Racing” and “Hidden Packages???” Those were actually kind of fun. haven’t tried “Base Jumping” yet though.
I will agree that GTA IV’s taxi missions sucked pretty hard as they missed the actual point of taxi missions. But another feature of GTA IV killed the need for Taxi missions and also acted as a crutch that severely crippled the experience of the game as a whole, that feature is the turn by turn GPS feature on the minimap. In the previous GTA titles when you recieved a mission You only recieved a dot on your Map/minimap. This had you figuring out the best path to your destination on your own and the more familiar you became with the city the faster you were able to traverse it. With turn by turn directions you are practically sleepwalking through some of the most fun experiences of traveling to various destinations. This is what taxi missions excelled at it was a way to practice and become more aquainted with the city, let you explore shortcuts without any risk of failing a mission and let you make a little money on the side in addition to being more fun than aimlessly driving around town free roam style. I long for the taxi missions of old to return, not the atrocity that was ‘taxi missions’ in GTA IV and I hope that you can still turn off the turn by turn directions like you could in GTA IV for a more immersive experience.
Wow, I disagree with the whole list. Especially the taxi driver missions.
…didn’t we just see a list on this site listing hidden packages as one of the 10 things that we DO want to see?
Agreed – no more lame side missions!
I agree with the Base Jumping, It was more fun in the Saint’s row games where you didn’t have to do it as a side mission & you could just have fun with it, making it a side mission took away the fun factor of driving of the top of a hill or building the parachuting out/off the vehicle
“Is there anything more boring than going around a fictional city, trying to locate hundreds of hidden packages, or as they were in GTA IV, pigeons to shoot?”
Yes, this list. Written for the sake of writing, I suspect.