Grand Theft Auto VIce (concept)

[⁣V⁣]

 

Reformatting the whole concept for a third second time, based on the recent E3 GTA 6 "leak", the potential influence of Red Dead Redemption 2 after finally having played RDR2 and me rediscovering my love for Burn Notice.

 

The premise of the game is based around the aforementioned TV series.

 

The Prologue:
Introduction of the protagonist ██████, a spy on an operation in southern Nigeria. He meets the local warlord to make a deal for the IAA when he is burned in the middle of the job.
His objective is to get to the airport and leave the country as fast as possible with a fist fight, a gun fight and a car chase on the way.

(introduction of gameplay mechanics in the prologue)

He gets to the airport to flee the country and passes out on the plane. The pilot is then "instructed" to take him to Vice City.

The Main Story:

He finds himself in a motel on Vice Beach with a few broken ribs and an FIB tail to keep an eye on him.
He's woken up by his gunrunning ex-girlfriend ████████, and he's informed he has been abandoned by all his normal intelligence contacts and is under continuous surveillance with his personal assets frozen.

(a good way to start over from scratch)

Extraordinary efforts to reach his IAA handler eventually yield only a grudging admission that someone powerful wants him "on ice" in Vice City. If he leaves there, there will be a state-wide manhunt. If he stays, he can remain relatively free. 

(bringing back the old GTA's wanted level rise after leaving the city)

██████'s goal is to find the people who "burned" him and find out why. To accomplish his goal he does jobs for various clients with the help of his old friend ███, a retired Navy SEAL and charming ladies man (with the charisma of Bruce Campbell), together with ████████ they make a great trio working on a variety of jobs together.

 

Missions:

The story missions revolve around one of three reasons:

- Money.

To stay alive and stand on his own two feet ██████ does jobs for various clients with different problems. They're all interchangeable and all involve going after various drug dealers, con artists, kidnappers, heroin smugglers and thieves.

- Weapons.

Working with his ex-girlfriend on a variety of jobs for her clients, they go after various rival gun runners, assassination jobs and deals-gone-wrong type of missions. As a reward, you unlock weapons and weapon attachments the more you progress.

- Information.

The only way to find out more about the people who burned him, he works with his old buddy taking on jobs for the FIB or other high profile merchants in need of documents, mostly revolving around infiltrating government buildings or interrogating agents or contacts. As a reward, you get to keep a copy of said documents in order to progress with the story.

 

The show has a "second-person narrative" that I feel would work well for a game like this. Like a voiced tutorial you can enable or disable at any time.

The city:
Vice City is known for it's long and beautiful beaches, the deep ocean, the nightclubs and nightlife, the drug cartels controlling the underbelly and the Wetlands filled with deadly alligators and even deadlier military and militia.
How RDR2 has the various gangs across the map, GTA VI would have something similar with one "gang" occupying a part of it.

 

Police, Government and criminal organizations:

There are the usual Cuban and Mexican drug smugglers, Gangsters, The Lost Motorcycle Gang, Military Soldiers, Private Military Contractors, Militias, former Russian soldiers and foreign wet-work operators with a grudge (sometimes those two are interchangeable).

 

The Vice Metro PD would use the Glock 17. By taking one yourself you can transform it to full-auto. As for shotguns, the Remington 870 Police Standard and, of course, by taking it yourself you have modifiable grips, barrels, shells/ammo types, muzzles, sights, etc.

NOOSE would carry standard police issue H&K MP5 and M4A1 Carbine.

FIB agents would carry the standard Barretta 92FS while IAA, your previous agency personnel carry H&K USPs. I had the idea of having these two agencies use different pistols so when you investigate a scene and find one of the weapons you would tie it to it's agency.

Biggest two gangs aside, we also have various criminal gangs across Vice City and the Wetlands.
I thought about giving the drug smugglers the same loadout from Cayo Perico so that would mean AUG and SPAS-12 are their weapons of choice. Also a S&W Model 500 Revolver for the underbosses.

The various gangsters across VC carry the Mac-10, the Uzi and Desert Eagle.
They are usually located deep in the city and would carry small weapons, easier to conceal and look intimidating when the need arises. Gold plated or engraved Deset Eagles for underbosses.

The Lost usually have the Colt M1911 and 12 Gauge Double Barreled Shotgun, one transformable to it's modern variant and the other with swappable barrel and stock to affect it's lenght.

The Military of course would carry their standard issue M4A1 Carbines equipped with foregrips and random sights as well as laser attachments so you have a clear vision of who's aiming at you. They would also have the Barrett M107 to fire warning shots when you get close to the military base.

Private Military Contractors or Mercenaries took inspiration from Merryweather to operate on US soil as protection detail, hit squad, basically working for anyone with deep pockets in need of problem solving. They have a wide range of weapons to use from suppressed P90s while on protection detail to H&K G36C for general purposes. As for handguns they would use the Walther P99, Remington 700 as the sniper of choice, M249 SAW for covering fire and Armsel Protecta Striker 12 Gauge shotgun for close combat. They would also have the MGL Mk 1L grenade launcher for destroying vehicles. They're completely approved by the government and seen the good guys by the general population but hiding a horrible past.

The Militia is a civilian group with their own rules and weapons. Usually sporting weapons eligible for civilian use such as H&K HK91 as their rifle of choice. A Kar98k-like sniper rifle used to fire warning shots at anyone who gets near their hideout. For now we go with the Winchester Model 70. As for handguns, S&W 4505, 5906 or 945PC, a normal Smith & Wesson customizable to resemble any of the standard handguns. The MP7 and S&W 3000 shotgun for close range. As a militia they would usually have RPGs and the M60 for defending their hideout.
Now these are the bad guys everyone knows they're bad and everyone avoids. But they embrace it. Their hideout is somewhere outside of the city, easier to see people coming.

Former Russian soldiers of course carry the AK-47, customizable from AK-74u to AKM to Modern AK12 to RPK. PKM as a heavy alternative, Saiga 12K as their shotgun of choice, SVD Dragunov as a sniper. CZ 75BD for handguns and of course PP-19 as submachine gun.

 

An example of how weapon importance would work:

A mission revolving around information. You arrive on the scene to find dead bodies and missing files, the files you need. The guns on the floor are government issued Barretta 92FS leading you to believe they were the FIB agents assigned to guard the stolen files. Luckily for you, one of the thieves died while carrying a Mac-10. Your investigation leads you to some local gangsters who has barricaded himself inside their club.

Another mission involves you being ambushed by AK-47s but you successfully escape. Only one organization uses those kinds of weapons so you set up a meeting with some Russian mobsters to find out why they want you dead only for you to discover that a shipment of AK-47s was stolen from them a week or so ago. So you make a deal with them to find the people who shot at you and recover the shipment.

 

Weapons and Customization:

Customization should be a huge part of the weapons as well as they should play a big part in identifying someone.
Every organization has their own personal brand of weapons (for now I've used irl weapons and weapon brands but just like the vehicles, they should come up with some interesting brand and weapon names because names like Assault/Carbine/Special sounds really dumb). The protagonist starts off with a Sig Sauer P228. His gun-running ex-girfriend's weapon of choice is the Walther PPK/S, a small handgun easy to hide. His Navy SEAL buddy carries the Barretta 92FS.

Since Ammu-Nation are told to stay away from a burned spy your only choice for firepower is your ex-girlfriend's client jobs that reward you attachments and sometimes the weapons. After you're back in the IAA, you can put in a request for a special order by having them deliver a weapons case nearby you.

(inspired by the Catalogue/delivery box system in Red Dead)

You have to clean and maintain your weapons in order for them to not jam in a middle of a gunfight.

The weapon inspect from RDR2 is back in a way you can attach/detach suppressors on the fly. Swap magazine types (from normal to extended to drum).

Every weapon is obtainable by you and customizable with the attachments you unlock throughout the story. You cannot carry 50 weapons on your person, only a concealed handgun and a rifle on your back/in your hand. (A combination between RDR2 and Max Payne 3)

Rifles should have a variety of muzzles, suppressors, barrels, foregrips, sights, stocks and magazine types. Handguns should have the same options excluding foregrips.
All the other weapons are in the trunk of your car, your trusty Dukes, a stallion that can get you out of any given situation. You have to properly take care of it for it to take care of you.
Park it in your safehouse and do the job yourself by cleaning and repairing it manually (much like the relationship with your horse or cleaning your guns in RDR2). And that brings us to...

 

Vehicles:
Every organization should have their own vehicles of choice when pursouing you, racing or just driving around the street. From sports cars for the drug cartel menbers, beat-up sedans for gangsters, choppers for the Lost, Armored SUVs and Insurgents for the PMCs, Off-Road Jeeps and Tanks for the Military, Haulers and Pickup Trucks for the Militia and Soviet vehicles for Russians, all of them should be recognizable from a distance as something you want to avoid or look for trouble.

The Wanted system:

One police cruiser arrive on the scene, two officers with Glocks. They approach you and you have an option to surrender.
As a spy you expect to get locked up from time to time. So all you can do is stay put until someone negotiates your release.
RDR2 did it really well with the gang breaking you out or coming to pick you up.

You refuse to surrender, one of the officers takes out his shotgun. More police cars are called on the scene.

NOOSE are called in to set up a parameter to prevent you from escaping.

FIB or IAA agents try to apprehend you, depending on the location. Usually bringing in higher caliber weapons.

The PMCs get called in, ready to shoot everyone in their way to get to you.

The Army gets sent in. Soldiers with military Aircraft, Tanks, Insurgents, heavy weapons, etc.

 

Crafting:

Inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2 and Burn Notice's protagonist's MacGayver ability to make useful items for his jobs using household and hardware store items, I feel like it would immerse you in the client jobs and not make them the usual fetch quests. Combine items to create makeshift explosives, pipe bombs, smoke grenades, molotovs, listening devices, weapon suppressors etc.

Few notes:
I've heard the complain that carrying an arsenal on your person while having to pull any weapon literally out of your ass is one of GTA's things and with no Vice City Customs and no Ammu-Nation, the alternative would be scrap the cold war concept from Agent and start it from scratch with this concept.

I started watching the show again with the mindset like "this would make a perfect open-world game plus mixed with Rockstar's story writing" and it still fits so I hope I can experience this in a video game format, ideally with Rockstar's hand at the wheel.

 

With the recent "E3 GTA6 leak" saying that we would be able to roam across the entire state of Florida and featuring three protagonists (doesn't mean three playable characters) I very much hope it's going in this direction.

 

I have few more ideas, just need to find the right words to construct a sentence but that's all for now, cheers for reading and I'll leave you with one of the better second-narrative lines from the series:

 

There's nothing worse for a spook than knowing you're being played.

Someone is pulling strings.

Who? Not some intelligence agency bureaucrat in a cubicle.

This is someone with more style.

This is someone who knows what he's doing,

someone who wants to send a message.

"Welcome to Vice City."

Edited April 8, 2021 by ⁣V⁣
reformatting for the third time

[Rocket Skates]

This idea has now made me want to watch Burn Notice lol.

[ChoosyCircle]

If you want to make a concept like this you should at least have a bit more of an idea or it would probably be more suited to another thread. Other than this, it does sound pretty cool, I'd keep at it and it could become good

[universetwisters]

So it's basically Agent it looks like.

[⁣V⁣]

So it's basically Agent it looks like.

But Agent is supposed to be set in the Cold War. And might be a linear shooter like Max Payne 3, not open-world like other R* games.

This was a "leak" way back in 2009.

[universetwisters]

But considering all the emphasis on spy sh*t, it could very well be Agent.

[⁣V⁣]

I apologize for bumping a three year old thread but I felt it was better to rework the original post instead of making an entirely new topic based on the same idea.