Grand Theft Auto VI (Johnsonverse)

Grand Theft Auto VI (styilized as GTA VI) is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of Johnson Games. It is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 2013's Grand Theft Auto V. Set across a fictionalized version of the United States (including the cities Vice City and Liberty City, along with the state of San Andreas), the single-player story follows six criminals across the United States and their efforts to make a living while going on the run. The open-world design lets players freely roam fictionalized versions of the entire mainland United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, the Japanese islands, and portions of both Mexico and Canada.

The game is played from either a third-person, first-person or top-down perspective, and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Players control the six lead protagonists throughout single-player and switch among them, both during and outside missions. Many missions involve shooting and driving gameplay. A "wanted" system governs the aggression of law enforcement response to players who commit crimes. The revamped Grand Theft Auto Online allows players to do multiplayer missions in the country in real-time; a new feature was added in which the player can also do these missions with AI-controlled characters in response to issues with leavers and trolls in its GTA V equivalent. In addition, GTAO players can import their protagonist from the GTA V version to the new one.

Development began shortly before Grand Theft Auto V 's release. The game was released on October 22, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch (marking the first Grand Theft Auto game released on a Nintendo console since 2004's Grand Theft Auto Advance), and PC, and will be released on October 21, 2021 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Extensively marketed and widely anticipated, the game broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, earning $900 million in its first day and $1.5 billion in its first three days. It received widespread critical acclaim, with praise directed at its story, multiple protagonist design, open world, presentation and gameplay. However, it caused controversies related to its depiction of violence; one major controversy involved the new destruction system, and the fact that a mission involves flying a UAV into a skyscraper very much like 9/11, as well as the presence of grossly-exaggerated caricatures of Donald Trump, critics of the series, and PETA, and a mission depicting a mass shooting at a school. Considered one of eighth generation console gaming's most significant titles and among the best video games ever made, it won year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. It is currently the best-selling video game of all time with over 200 million copies shipped and one of the most financially successful entertainment products of all time, with about $10 billion in worldwide revenue. Three episodic expansion packs entitled Life in Liberty, Family Hood, and The Corvino Connection, respectively focused on the characters Ellie Dyer, Lamar Davis, and Donny Corvino, were released throughout 2020. This was also the last Grand Theft Auto game with the involvement of Dan Houser and Lazlow Jones, both of whom left Rockstar in 2020.

Gameplay
Grand Theft Auto VI is an action-adventure game played from either a third-person, first-person, or top-down perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of the missions, players may freely roam the open world. Composed of the United States (using locations from past games developed by Rockstar and incorporating the Isles of Nippon, the GTA version of the Japanese states), the world is much larger in area than earlier entries in the series. It may be fully explored after the game's beginning without restriction, although story progress unlocks more gameplay content.

Players use melee attacks, firearms, and explosives to fight enemies, and may run, jump, swim or use vehicles to navigate the world. In combat, auto-aim and a cover system may be used as assistance against enemies. Should players take damage, their health meter will gradually regenerate to its halfway point. Players respawn at hospitals when their health depletes. If players commit crimes, law enforcement agencies may respond as indicated by a "wanted" meter in the head-up display (HUD). Stars displayed on the meter indicate the current wanted level (for example, at a one-star level, a few cops will try and beat the player down with nightsticks to make an arrest, and can also be bribed to leave the player alone provided no police officers are nearby by triggering a money clip, before the FIB and N.O.O.S.E. arrive in higher levels, and at the maximum ten-star level, the Military is called in with soldiers, tanks, and Apache helicopters from any branch to lethally dispatch players, often causing more collateral damage than necessary, as well as a bounty being placed on the player that gets higher the more damage they commit). Law enforcement officers will search for players who leave the wanted vicinity. The meter enters a cool-down mode and eventually recedes when players are hidden from the officers' line of sight that displays on the mini-map.

The single-player mode lets players control six characters—criminals whose stories interconnect as they complete missions. Some missions are completed with only one character and others feature two or three. Outside the missions, players may switch between characters at will by a directional compass on the HUD. In certain missions, players take control of protagonists from past games in the series, either from the HD Universe or the 3D Universe, as well as both Bully games, the Manhunt games, the Agent games, and descendants of the protagonists from both Red Dead Redemption games. The game may switch characters automatically during missions to complete specific objectives. A character's compass avatar will flash red if he or she is in danger and needs help, and flash white if he or she has a strategic advantage. Though players complete missions as any of the three protagonists, the more difficult heist missions require aid from AI-controlled accomplices with unique skill sets like computer hacking and driving. If an accomplice survives a successful heist, they take a cut from the cash reward and may be available for later missions with improvements to their unique skills. Some heists afford multiple strategies; in a holdup mission, players may either stealthily subdue civilians with an incapacitating agent or conspicuously storm the venue with guns drawn. They are prohibited from holding weapons at schools such as Bullworth Academy, and beating up children triggers a four-star wanted level (beating up little kids triggers a five-star level, and actually drawing a weapon on school grounds instantly triggers a cutscene where whatever teacher is nearby pulls a gun and wastes the protagonist; this was so players couldn't do school shootings, and is also a jab at the notion of teachers having guns in their desks to take on school shooters).

Each character has a set of eight skills that represent their ability in specific areas such as shooting and driving. Though skills improve through play, each character has a skill with expertise by default. The eighth "special" skill determines the effectiveness in performing an ability that is unique to each respective character. A meter on each character's HUD depletes when an ability is being used and regenerates when players perform skillful actions.

While free-roaming the game world, players may engage in context-specific activities such as burglaries, stealing guns and ammo from military bases, scuba diving, BASE jumping, street racing, basketball, football, baseball, monster truck racing, stock car racing, going bowling, playing pool, playing golf, playing board games, playing darts, watching stand-up acts, going out on dates, and engaging in conversations with other people (the former three features returning from IV, and the latter returning from San Andreas). Each character has a smartphone for contacting friends, starting activities and accessing an in-game Internet. The Internet lets players trade in stocks via a stock market, purchase special vehicles, listen to the radio (which uses different radio stations for each state), watch DVDs and old VHS tapes, watch TV, including the news, sports, and episodes of shows such as Republican Space Rangers and Princess Robot Bubblegum (with unique shows for each city affiliate), as well as replaying missions and cutscenes, and read social media. Players may purchase properties such as garages and businesses, purchase and upgrade weapons at Ammu-Nation or acquire them from dealers like Emmet Long, Phil Cassidy, and Little Jacob, eat food at Cluckin' Bell, Burger Shot, The Well-Stacked Pizza Co., among other restaurants, buy items, including frozen and fresh food, from supermarkets and discount stores, and modify vehicles at TransFender, Max Paynt, and Pay & Spray, as well as Los Santos Customs in Los Santos. Players may also visit places such as cinemas and strip clubs. Players can also customize their appearance by purchasing outfits (each individual article of clothing is customizable), haircuts and tattoos, as well as altering their body shape, either by eating food or by exercising, as well as their sex appeal, features not seen since San Andreas. In addition, they can do side missions called Rampages, in which they kill a set number of people or destroy a set number of vehicles, and receive $50 "Good Citizen" bonuses for killing criminals running from police officers, while adrenaline pickups (represented by a needle) allows players to temporarily perform feats of strength in a slowed-down game world without having to use up their special abilities. Side missions like "Vigilante", "Taxi", and "Paramedic" return for the first time since Chinatown Wars. Players can also buy and manage properties as they progress, by doing things like changing the building and/or sign, decorations, and wages for employees, as well as customizing the decorations of their safehouses as they gain more money. Also, players can take over turf on behalf of their gangs, and can even call other members of that gang for help, with other allied gangs helping out as well.

New in GTA VI is a destruction system, which was first used in Rockstar sister company Volition's Saints Row: The Third in 2011. Everything, from trees to buildings, can be destroyed, and even the landscape can be physically deformed; humans and animals can also be dismembered in realistic ways, such as decapitations and gibs, as well as being run over by a combine harvester, and body parts can even be cut off using sharp weapons. Every building in the game can be entered, each with its own unique interior and services. Vehicle deformation has also been improved, in that they can now be crushed flat by larger vehicles such as the Rhino. New vehicles include various types of trains (including passenger and freight trains that specifically carry Continental Rail-style lettering and colors, trams in Los Santos and Carcer City, cable cars in San Fierro, monorails in Las Venturas, the Liberty City subway, and an elevated rail system in Vice City based on the Miami Metrorail), riding mowers, combine harvesters, motorized tricycles, excavators, drones (including consumer drones and military UAVs), various military watercraft such as patrol and torpedo boats, other watercraft such as tugboats (which can tow other vessels as well as barges, a mechanic used in a series of side missions) and inland cargo ships, hoverboards (which have a tendency to randomly explode, an intentional feature meant to throw shade at real-life cases of hoverboards spontaneously exploding), and even jetpacks for specific characters. Airplanes and jets can also be entered into, with the player entering the cockpit to use them. All of the vehicles, weapons, and features (such as arcades, casinos, and biker clubs) introduced in GTA V 's online mode are included in the base game, and many weapons from previous games have also been added, such as the Silenced 9mm, Flamethrower, Dildo, Vibrator, Fire Extinguisher, Chainsaw, Shovel, Katana, and Spray Can; new and/or previously cut weapons include the Nailgun, Tear Gas (which was changed so that anyone in its radius is knocked out for two minutes), Paintball Gun (which does no damage but does cover the target in paint and makes them angry), Assault Sniper, MP5, Programmable AR, Claymore, Sledgehammer, Meat Cleaver, Shuriken, Boomerang, Landmine (a cut weapon from all 3D Universe titles), and Bow & Arrow. Also new in GTA VI is a mechanic where vehicles are separated by their model year, which is also displayed at the bottom right corner alongside the model's name, as well as its manufacturer (for example, a 1997-2004 Übermacht Sentinel is based on the Sentinel from III). In addition, NPC characters change clothes from a selection of random choices during every mission. Also, if one is going on a Rampage and gets into a vehicle with a radio, instead of music, the player will hear an Emergency Alert System activation for a Civil Danger Warning or Local Area Emergency, detailing the player's various acts of violence and asking citizens to either remain vigilant, stay indoors, or evacuate the area.

Finally, players can replay missions or cutscenes at any time by selecting "Rewatch or Replay" on their phones.

Casting
This was the first Rockstar game since Vice City Stories to use an all-star cast. The motion-capture sessions began in 201.

Advertising
The game was heavily advertised, in an advertising campaign that tied it in with Grand Theft Auto 2, including the tagline "This Time, Respect is Not Just Everything", along with advertisements on the side of buildings, subways, buses, etc.

"Well, It's Been a Blast" mission
In this mission, Karissa is ordered to fly a UAV into a Papi-owned skyscraper in Vice City by Joey Leone, instantly destroying it. This mission bears similarities to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and has seen criticism for attempting to trivialize the attacks.

Donald Love’s characterization
The character of Donald Love has seen criticism from key Republican figures due to the way he is portrayed; namely, he's designed as an exaggerated caricature of the 45th and current President of the United States, Donald Trump. Radio host Rush Limbaugh called the character "an acknowledgement that Johnson refuses to be patriotic as long as Republicans are in the White House".

"Lockdown" mission
The mission "Lockdown" was infamous for its depiction of a mass shooting at a school, which was caused by Gary Smith on Bullworth Academy. This led to several lawyers attempting to get the game banned from all store shelves, believing that the mission might offend victims of school shootings and their families. Johnson's response was "We took it as seriously as we could".

PETA controversy
The PAAC, designed to be a caricature of PETA, has garnered criticism from the organization, which claims that the game was intentionally designed to slander them. One mission, "Saucy Sabotage", involves Walt being assigned by PAAC to steal a wrecking ball and use it to destroy seven Cluckin' Bell locations and five Burger Shot locations, as well as an Up-n-Atom Burger location in Carcer City, all done without the owners' permission.

M.A.G.G.O.T.S. controversy
The M.A.G.G.O.T.S., designed to be a caricature of people who criticize the series for its violence,

Trailers
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San Andreas
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Vice City
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Liberty City
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