GTA IV HONG KONG

[K9 Krew]

Ok anyway here goes -> my reasons why R* have to at some point make a GTA: Hong Kong. Im not saying I think its going to be the next GTA, it would be amazing if it was, Im just stating the reasons why its such an amazing place to set a GTA game.

Main points:

Geography/Terrain

Landmarks

People

Language

Vehicles

Combat

Storyline Potential

Geography/Terrain:

Hong Kong has such a varied landscape. There are huge mountains loads of hills, lowlands, valleys, marshy places, forests, jungle, and beaches. Tons of places for races around the countryside roads or late night street racing.

Its conveniently divided into areas already (Check out the MTR map further down the post). HK island / Kowloon / New Territories / Outlying Islands. These places are separated by tunnels (three cross harbour tunnels) and bridges (Tsing Ma bridge and Ap Lei Chau bridge). These would be closed or damaged until they got 'unlocked'. Just like in all the other GTA games.

In terms of zones it has local villages 'out in the sticks', there are housing developments where thousands of people live all stacked up 30-40 floors high, slums (corrogated iron and sheet metal shacks), expensive property areas (mid-levels apartments), really really expensive housing (on the peak - mansions). And its got all the main areas you would expect of a city with an impressive business district where all the investment banks etc are located. In another area just across the harbour are the hotels.

Inspired by another thread. I got to thinking that a trio of Asian cities would also be awesome and I thought:

QUOTE "An Asian setting spanning Tokyo / Shanghai / Hong Kong would be awesome. A triad crime syndicate reaching into these places, like a 'golden triangle' of drug running, fraud, assasinations etc..."

In this situation, you would start say in Shanghai and work your way up the ladder there, before moving/expanding to Hong Kong and then eventually onto Tokyo. These three cities are not physically linked (ie you cant drive to them) but you take a flight there (when the city is unlocked). This would mean driving to the airport or going to the docks to get a plane or a ship to journey abroad. Maybe the next city is unlocked upon getting a passport or after a typhoon has abated or after the bird flu epidemic is called off!

Landmarks:

There are all the places you would want to see in a GTA game. There are shopping centres, country clubs, golf courses, a major airport, a navy yard, stadiums, two racecourses, marinas, hospitals, district police stations and a main central one.

There are ferry piers, suspension bridges, 3 cross harbour tunnels and more that cut through mountains. There are a few prisons dotted about, including a maximum security one.

Theres a massive container terminal and dockyards. Plus also many helo pads.

Most of the places mentioned should be able to be bought eventually.

People:

Naturally the people are Chinese. But its more diverse than that. There are local chinese, mainland chinese, british/US etc expats. In general terms it is a very multinational city.

Language:

The predominant language is cantonese but because HK is such an huge asian business hub and because of its British colonial history, english is widely spoken.

Signage is all bilingual in cantonese and english and most people can speak both chinese and english.

Vehicles:

There are loads of great vehicles that are perfect for GTA.

Taxis, mini buses, main buses, trams, MTR(subway trains), normal trains, bikes, and all the japanese racing cars (skylines, supras, evos). There are ferries and tons of other boats.

Car modding was cool in SA and id love to see a more extended look into this aspect. there are loads of mod shops here.

Id really like to have the ability to be able to drive all the vehicles incl. 747s and other aircraft.

The traffic is so heavy in HK that it would have to be thinned out for the sake of the game. wouldnt get anywhere if it was realistic!

Combat:

I liked how refined the shooting had become in GTA:SA. Of course there is always room for improvement, but it was still really good. Id like to see the shooting interface remain much the same but should GTA get set in Hong Kong, or at least Asia, the hand-to-hand fighting needs to be improved. As mentioned earlier I really think a type of 'Rise to Honour' style of martial art fighting would be awesome. Still have all the flamethrowers and rocket launchers, mini guns and molotov cocktails but really boost up the close combat. Using a similar analog control (hit the stick left to punch left) to RtoH. That way the theme and feel of the asian martial arts would be captured.

QUOTE Storyline:

Here is an elaborate plot scenario Ive come up with for a GTA: Hong Kong.

Back Story/Cut-scene:

Our Main Character Tai Wu Long is sent on a 'meet' to Shanghai when he is 18. It was a set up and he is promptly arrested on false charges. Sentenced to 30 years he languishes in a Mainland Chinese prison. However, somehow he is let out after 5 years (someone on the outside with connections got his sentence reduced). Tai Wu Long has learnt who betrayed him and now he returns to Hong Kong via containership looking for revenge.

Main Story:

He returns to his home to find his family murdered. Grandfather (leader of the syndicate), father and 2 brothers all dead. The family syndicate is now run by his fathers former 'best friend'. His cousin survived the murders but is serving a life sentence in a HK jail. There is no-one to turn to, and he is forced to hide out in a slum area and work out what to do. The only person he thinks of to turn to is a long lost 'uncle'. after visiting him, he learns a little more about whats going on. the person who betrayed him in china is now the no.2 in the syndicate. Rival triad gangs also are out to kill him and there are many hits out on him.

He needs to recruit some unlikely people to help him out and he knows he has to bust his cousin out of jail. which he does with the help of some people brought in by his uncle. Every so often throughout the game there is cut-scenes involving an unknown man that seems to be pulling all the strings in the entire saga. never knowing who it is until the very very end.

He starts out doing really menial jobs and dangerous tasks for people the couldnt care less about him but he builds respect with different people (just like GTA:2 but more important- Respect IS everything in GTA:HK). After rising to prominence in a small gang Tai Wu Long ends up killing the boss and making the gang his own. but he is still small fry compared to the rest of the triad gangs in HK. But now the ball is started rolling for the rise and building of his organisation. Striking deals, business, assasinations etc...all typical GTA stuff. Many side missions involving smuggling, illegal immegrants, drugs, front businesses etc are opened up.

Contact with some crime organisations in china are opened up and it ends up being a big triad syndicate war for hong kong with the police involved etc...massive rioting etc. eventually Tai Wu Long brings the enemy boss to his knees in a huge duel on the top of the IFC (the tallest building in HK) where the bad guy falls to his death!

HK is now Tai Wu Long's. He owns land companies, finance companies etc...

The big twist at the end is something regarding this 'uncle' that has always been there for him. maybe Tai's family being murdered and the collapse of the old syndicate was all sanctioned by his uncle. the uncle has been playing everyone the entire time for some sinister reason. who knows...and it happily leads into a potential GTA:HK 2.

The name: Tai Wu Long roughly translated means Martial (Wu) Dragon (Long)

This was written by ehtrion on gtaforums.com