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What should Grand Theft Auto learn from Sleeping Dogs?

What do you think GTA needs to learn from Sleeping Dogs?
What do you think GTA needs to learn from Sleeping Dogs?

Grand Theft Auto is a lot of things in this industry, from innovative, to controversial, to popular, to infamous, to a beacon of expression for people of all backgrounds, but one thing the franchise is, is not perfect.

Much like every other game that releases into the public spectrum each week, Grand Theft Auto is not perfect and could learn a thing or two from a game that recently was released called Sleeping Dogs.

No Sleeping Dogs does not have the following that Grand Theft Auto does because of the mere difference in years the respective franchises have been around for, therefore making what is about to be said a bit harder for some to swallow than others.

Now onto the matter at hand.

Grand Theft Auto does a lot of things well, but Sleeping Dogs exposed a group of things GTA does not do well and hopefully the developers at Rockstar can learns from these differences to help create a masterpiece in Grand Theft Auto V.

First of all Rockstar, for the love of God, decrease the use of the cell phone in GTA V. That was one of the most annoying and inconvenient features in the last installment.

We do not need our cousin calling us every five seconds to see if we want to hang out. Clearly we are too busy committing other crimes in the game that are far more important than wasting time at a bar or strip club.

But, if you must put in a cell phone feature Rockstar, please make it more practical and simple that goes with the flow of the game. Don't make it seem like a maze of contacts we have to go through just to call a taxi. Sleeping Dogs didn't make us jump through as many hoops to call up our boss for a mission.

Don't make us have to type in a number when we want to perform a cheat code.

What happened to the good ole days where gamers could hit R1, R1, O, R2, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down to decrease our wanted level, instead of locking in a ten digit code every time we want to simplify getting away from the cops.

Yes you could save the text, but using the controls for cheats was part of the fluidity everyone loved when the game was on PS2.

Next up on the list Rockstar, is the combat. Who doesn't love standing on rooftops and using a rocket launcher to destroy the target as they enter their vehicle?

But would it kill you to provide some sort of combat system like we saw in Sleeping Dogs? You can still put in as many weapons as you want, but please provide some sort of alternative to mass murdering people because some of us want a little drama when we are completing missions.

That at least keeps the combat gameplay a little fresher than just always blowing up people.

A fighting system is not your enemy Rockstar, and it's okay if you create a combat system that slightly resembles the one we saw from United Front Games. This is an industry of stealing and copying after all, right?

Thirdly, Rockstar would you please make some halfway effort on car chases in Grand Theft Auto V? Who enjoys spending a half hour on a marginal mission at the beginning of the game that requires you to try and damage your opponent's car to where they can no longer drive it.

And for those who would say well just shoot it, that is not an option in this scenario because when you do that, the car goes up in flames and you have to start it all over again.

Take a note from Sleeping Dogs, Rockstar. Place some sort of mechanic into the driving system where you can crash into your enemy's car and damage it because that would make speed chases so much less of an inconvenience and more of a complimentary aspect to the conflict game play.

Even though it was briefly touched on above, Rockstar needs to learn that placing in eight peripheral characters and missions into the game isn't always better.

In this case it needs to be less in Grand Theft Auto V. Yes it's fun to complete side missions, but not when they are the addictive hindrance that deters you from completely the main missions all together.

Yes Sleeping Dogs had those in there and they could take away from the main story as well, but GTA is notorious for placing copious amounts of side missions and distractions into their new installments.

As a gamer, perhaps that is your prerogative to spend over 50 straight hours completing side missions that don't go away. But for those who wish to actually finish the game, perhaps Rockstar could consider placing a handful less of side characters.

No matter though Rockstar, we all love you for your fearlessness of offending anyone and for your willingness to place things in games most of us sane people would never dream of actually doing in real-life.

Hopefully you all will be able to improve upon the areas that have dragged the series down, and with some luck, the studio can release one of the best video games of all-time.