4. A Liberator
Whilst the GTA franchise has showcased all manner of crime and deviance, it has always been firm in its opposition to the proliferation and consumption of illegal drugs, with
San Andreas in particular showcasing the devastating effects of crack cocaine in deprived urban areas. The Grove Street Families vigorously fought against its distribution, one of its few redeemable deeds. Also making an appearance in that game was a mission during the San Fierro story arc where Carl infiltrates a cargo ship and releases a group of illegal immigrants. At the turn of the new decade,
Saints Row The Third would feature a similar mission to a wholly disgraceful end in the name of 'comedy'. Human trafficking and sexual slavery is, even at a glance, a revoltingly large illicit industry, bringing in tens of billions of dollars every year to assorted scum and villainy. Vulnerable young women from destitute countries with few opportunities, particularly in the former Warsaw Pact states following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, are often lured by elaborate promises of better lives for themselves and their families into squalor and servitude. They leave eagerly, and then are never seen again. At some point during the campaign of a female-led story, perhaps our heroine hears of an unidentified shipment coming into the docks. Upon arrival and investigation, she discovers the true nature and intent of the freight, and much as Tony Montana adamantly aborted his assignment upon seeing that his target was accompanied by his children, forsakes her original objective when faced with deliberate deceit and horrendous suffering. After seeing that they are freed and their plight is reported to the local authorities, she might show her opinion on the matter by hunting down and dispatching the employers that would sully their hands and names with such a deplorable business. The aforementioned
Saints Row chapter thought it was the height of wit to give the player the choice of either handing the women back to their original tormentors or to the Saints' personal pimp for further exploitation and abuse, which was somehow morally acceptable in the latter case as we were 'the good guys'. No. GTA can shame their apparent competition by dropping any pretence of satire and showing this enterprise as the horrific, archaic and inhumane barbarism it really is, and resolutely demonstrate how those who profit from it should be dealt with by a righteously infuriated woman. (Disclaimer: Disregard for the law is par the course for GTA, but the criminal justice system is essential in real life, folks.)