GTA Online goes a little Saints Row in the Doomsday Heist
The spy who wasted me
One of the more interesting facets of Grand Theft Auto Online's evolution has been a gradual loss of restraint. While the non-story updates have been pretty wacky all round (the most recent patch added the genre-blending Transform races to the in-game track editor), the past few major world-building modules have brought all manner of military-spec hardware to the table in character-led missions, along with a few sci-fi weapons systems for flavour.
It feels like all of that is coming to a head soon with the release of the upcoming Doomsday Heist update for GTA V's multiplayer module. Read on to see just how your crew might just be saving the world in the bombastic announcement trailer.
Due to hit the game on December 12th, the Doomsday Heist will contain - among other things - wanton mass destruction of aircraft, high-tech super-crime, transforming cars, jetpacks, underwater fortresses, a looming threat of nuclear apocalypse and an advanced railgun-equipped tank with reflective purple trim. It's very James Bond by way of Kingsman, although the addition of a crew of player-made criminals embarking on a world-saving heist also gives it a very Saints Row 3+ edge.
It's been a long time since we've seen a new heist in GTA Online. Much of the player-base have spent months (possibly years) endlessly grinding away at the Pacific Standard job in order to afford the fancier cars, guns and properties the game is constantly trying to bleed your wallet dry with. It looks like this one might just be the shot of colour that side of the game has needed.
While the game is still enormously popular, there's something about the audacity of this heist raising the stakes to world-threatening levels that makes me think that this either signals the start of a new, far more unhinged era for the game, or the end of major story-driven content updates in order to free up staff for other projects that Rockstar are working on.
Personally, I'm hoping for the former, but I'd wager the latter is the case. So, who here is still actively playing GTA Online? It's one of those online games that gets quantifiably better the more friends you have with you. Potentially frustrating when played solo, but if you're part of an active clan there's a truly enormous variety of activities. I've been meaning to return to the game sometime over the next few weeks - any RPS crews worth joining?