With the new console generation coming into full swing, I've recently been asking myself a myriad of questions regarding the significant lack of Grand Theft Auto contenders within the last decade. Let's take a look at some urban-themed, open-world franchises - new and old - to see what went wrong and where they could go next.

Back in the day there was a considerable group of people against so-called Grand Theft Auto clones, some even went as far to consider established titles such as Driver and Mafia to be clones of the popular open-world series. Could this have been a key factor in the genre's slow decline?

Kings of The Sandcastle

It seems that the only company dedicated to making urban-themed, open-world games now is Rockstar Games. This is startling to think about considering that other genres, such as first-person shooters and RPGs, have a decent amount of competing game series in comparison. With the lack any real competition, the Grand Theft Auto series will just become stale without anything to stand up against. So where are the original contenders? Let's take a brief look at each:

Driver (1999 - 2011)

Reflections Interactive's Driver was well known at the time for being the first 3D urban open-world game. The series started with a mostly linear mission-based design, that slowly became a bit too ambitious overtime. It seemed very apparent that Driver tried to copy its competitor's successes - significantly with Driver 3 and Driver: Parallel Lines. The gameplay of Driver 3 in particular tended to focus too much on gunplay and combat as opposed to car chases and the overall thrill of racing. Eventually, Reflections Interactive decided to take the series in a more creative direction with Driver: San Francisco, which I believe was intended to be a swan song of sorts for the series - especially with the amount of fan service on offer.

Out of all series mentioned here, I highly doubt that the Driver series will ever make a return of any sort. Ubisoft created Watch Dogs to replace it, and Reflections Interactive have since moved to greener pastures. While I understand that the series has come to an end, I would be more than happy with current-gen remasters of classic Driver titles to wrap everything up.

Mafia (2002 - present)

Beginning development as a Driver-inspired game, Illusion Softwork's Mafia stood apart from other similar series primarily for its mid-20th century setting as opposed to a more contemporary one. As the title suggests, Mafia puts you in the shoes of a gangster who slowly rises up the criminal ladder, performing various jobs and tasks for his crime family. Upon release, Mafia was lauded for its storytelling and detailed visuals, but was also polarizing for both its vehicle authenticity and tightly regulated traffic laws.

Because the original game was a best-selling PC title, a sequel was to be expected. 2K Czech's Mafia II was most people's introduction to the series, since it was heavily marketed and saw a direct release to console and PC (whereas the original game's console release took several months). Mafia II helped refine the gameplay of the previous title, while also adding more to the burgeoning narrative with a new and seemingly unrelated protagonist this time round. The only real complaints were due to the lack of post-game content and slow gameplay loops such as driving from one area to another.

As a result of Mafia II's predicted success, a sequel began development a few years after. This time development switched from 2K Czech to newly-founded American studio Hangar 13. Development progress was slow due to language barriers with the game's core engine, which was originally written in Czech. In 2016, Hangar 13 released Mafia III to mixed reviews and lukewarm reception from fans. While the game's 1960s setting, soundtrack and graphics were enjoyable, the repetitive gameplay and various glitches would dampen the experience. Despite this, Mafia III was also heavily marketed and sold well enough - but the polarizing reception caused Hangar 13 to rethink its next steps for the series' continuation.

By 2020, Hangar 13 released Mafia: Definitive Edition - which serves as a complete remake of the original Mafia. Many praised the game for being a return to form for the series and it pleased fans and critics alike. The game would be bundled with the Mafia: Trilogy that also includes a remastered port of Mafia II and a re-release of Mafia III.

Mafia is the only series here that I'm actually happy with in terms of the direction its going in. It seems that the series is likely to continue with news of an alleged prequel in development. However, the series being continued seems to be due to distributing company Take-Two Interactive owning the rights to both Mafia and Grand Theft Auto.

True Crime (2003 - 2005; 2012)

In the advent of games trying to emulate the success of Grand Theft Auto III, no other game expanded on the formula at the time in such a strong capacity than Luxoflux's True Crime: Streets of LA. As opposed to playing the role of a psychopathic gangbanger or unassuming mafioso, True Crime let you play as an undercover cop in a near accurate depiction of Los Angeles. While not perfect, the original True Crime was a great proof of concept with memorable set-pieces and a west-coast style soundtrack influenced heavily by late 90s - early 2000s crime dramas / buddy cop movies such as Bad Boys and Rush Hour.

Due to the success of True Crime: Streets of LA, Luxoflux began work on a sequel called True Crime: New York City. The second entry to the series tried to go big, but unfortunately didn't perform well commercially and was critically derided due to bugs and glitches - especially the Xbox version of the game. There were some interesting ideas and gameplay mechanics implemented in the sequel, one such feature being the amount of enterable buildings on offer. But this didn't make up for the fact that the True Crime: New York City was rushed and ultimately an unfinished product.

The series was abandoned by Activision, and inevitably was succeeded by Sleeping Dogs (which began development as True Crime: Hong Kong). It seems somewhat unlikely that this series will see a continuation anytime soon, especially since Activision are not known to take risks well. Perhaps a remake for modern audiences with a tint of crime film nostalgia would bring the series in the right direction. Regardless, this is a series that needs to make a triumphant comeback - either as True Crime or Sleeping Dogs.

Saints Row (2006 - present)

Partly fueled by the massive success of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, renowned game company Volition created Saints Row. The original game holds the distinction of being the first urban open-world, sandbox games released for the Xbox 360. Although the first entry comes off as a bit unoriginal, Saints Row was particularly innovative with gameplay features such as GPS navigation, replayable missions and cutscenes, customization, and a mobile phone which can be used to call for allies and in-game services. In spite of being a console exclusive, Saints Row was a great success for both THQ and Volition, leading to a sequel and continuation of the storyline with Saints Row 2 and Saints Row: The Third.

As of late, Saints Row has become anything but what it started as. As time went on, later games became more zany, unapologetic and off-the-wall. This all culminated with Saints Row IV, that felt more of a parody if anything. The most recent Saints Row title, which is a reboot, pales in comparison to the previous games - especially when it comes to story, presentation and characters. As of writing, I'm completely unsure what could be the saving grace for this series to continue. It's obvious that the wacky comedic gameplay / story is here to stay, but there is also a growing amount of people rallying for a return to series traditions of thug life. While I completely agree with the latter approach, the former seems more profitable in the long run.

Crackdown (2007 - 2019)

Realtime Worlds' Crackdown was primarily created by former developers of DMA Design - better known now as Rockstar North, the main developers of the Grand Theft Auto series. The original Crackdown was unique from other games at the time as it brought more chaotic, free-form gameplay that would go onto influence competing series such as Just Cause, Saints Row, Infamous, Prototype and even Grand Theft Auto itself.

What I personally believed was the main factor in Crackdown's downfall was lack of true progression with later games. Crackdown 2 almost felt like a complete asset flip of the original game, and Crackdown 3 was also primitive in nature when compared to its predecessors. There was also some elements of false advertising with the preliminary marketing of Crackdown 3 amidst a development hell behind the scenes.

While Microsoft still owns the Crackdown IP, there seems to be little to no interest in bringing it back whatsoever - especially since we already got a sequel not too long ago. Low sales and lack of interest may dissuade this series seeing a return anytime soon. I firmly believe that a reboot, bringing the series more in-line tonally with previous instalments, is more than fitting for this title.

Conclusion

All in all, it seems we are discussing a dying breed. It pains me to think that the only big-budget, open-world crime games we could be getting in the near future will just consist of Grand Theft Auto -- and nothing more. While I may come off as hyperbolic, it's a genre that I've been enamored with for the majority of my life; and I see nothing but unlimited potential with these sorts of games and have spent countless hours in sandbox games, mostly just messing around with game mechanics and exploring the map. I may write another blog another time about how sandbox games in general are completely misunderstood, but for now I'd just like to take a look at certain GTA-types that are known. I didn't talk about every single one of them, but I decided to stick with the ones that are the most discussed on the internet.

What do you think about the current state of open-world, urban / crime games? I'd be more than happy to generate a discussion about this topic. In the meantime, that's all from me - goodbye!

Fable is a game series that's new but familiar to me. My first experience with the world of Albion was through Fable Anniversary around 5 years ago and although I had some issues with the game I relatively enjoyed it for what it was, its sequels I enjoyed more so.

With the last few years being full of noteworthy remasters & remakes (even the obscure Shadow Man game got its own remaster) and some rumors of a Gears of War collection surfacing recently, I thought how great of an idea it would be for Microsoft to remaster the Fable Trilogy to coincide with the announcement and upcoming release for Fable 4.

Now some people might be against this, particularly due to the fact that legacy Fable titles can be played through Xbox's backwards compatibility program, but I feel that all those games (including Fable Anniversary) could do with some tweaks and enhancements for modern consoles. Something similar in scope to the Halo: Master Chief Collection would be a perfect fit for the Fable trilogy, below are a few ideas I would have for a Fable Trilogy remaster (I've also included some possible names as a bonus!)

Toggle Graphics

One thing that the original Fable Anniversary should've had is the option to switch between classic and remastered graphics on the go. It's an option that I feel most major game remasters should make use of, and Fable Anniversary was an obvious leap in improvement when it comes to graphics. Out of all games in the Fable Trilogy, I feel that the original Fable's remaster should remain the same as it graphically looked in 2014 and a Fable II remaster would benefit from a modern graphical upgrade - while also retaining classic graphic settings.

Free DLC Bundles

Let me be serious, Fable has never had particularly good DLC. Fable II offered two underwhelming DLC packs which could be completed in a few short hours and Fable III had copious amounts of game content locked behind paywalls. If it were up to me then the Fable Trilogy would offer all DLC for each game free of charge, and that's something I would hope for a Fable Trilogy remaster.

Behind the Scenes Footage

I believe that Fable's development history was quite interesting if not ambitious, it was clear that the developers wanted to put all they could in the game but were stopped due to technical issues with the original Xbox. When viewing behind the scenes footage of the series' development, we get a sense of how far the series has come and what it strived to be back then. If a Fable Trilogy collection also offered exclusive footage of behind the scenes, then it would help players to appreciate the craft that the developers put into making the games.

For those who are not aware, I grew up on PlayStation - the first console I ever got to own for myself was the PlayStation 3 and before that I briefly had a PSP for sometime. And although I had minor issues maintaining my PlayStation consoles, I still cherish many good memories of playing games like LittleBigPlanet during my youth.

However it has become abundantly clear to me that PlayStation has little to no regard for customer feedback and game preservation. The last straw for me was the immediate shutdown of LittleBigPlanet's PS3 servers last year.

When I first heard about the server shutdown, it was a hard pill to swallow. A game series that I grew up on and yet had a small but active fanbase surrounding it being snuffed out geniunely shocked me for a while. Particularly because there was little to no pre-emptive warning of Sony shutting them down, despite some server crashes in the months prior to the shutdown. The official reason as to why the servers were shut was due to DDOS attacks and low regulation of content being distributed within the game, this was not just a simple shutdown due to cost.

What upsets me the most about this to this day is that Sony still aren't offering any solutions to this issue. Although we have access to LittleBigPlanet 3's PS4 servers and you can still play created levels from previous games, it still doesn't feel like enough. What I think this series needs is a complete modernized collection of all LBP games including the PSP & PS Vita Editions.

We had a glimpse of this through the announced free-to-play game LittleBigPlanet Hub, which was advertised as game solely focused on user-generated content and challenges, also allowing you to play story & DLC levels from previous LittleBigPlanet titles. This game was quietly cancelled due to unknown reasons, presumably due to the fact that Sony stopped officially supporting the PS3 in 2016.

This is a concept that Sony should bring back if they want to salvage the LittleBigPlanet community, and introduce it to a new audience. LittleBigPlanet Hub sort of reminds me of Halo's Master Chief Collection, in the sense that it gives players a collection of legacy titles as well as new features such as medals and skulls to keep old players interested.

To be honest this server shutdown reintroduces a flaw with PlayStation's idea on game preservation; we already had fears of Sony shutting down the PlayStation 3, PSP and Vita storefronts which shows their disregard for digital media. Even some of the higher-ups at Sony Computer Entertainment don't see the true potential the game preservation could bring, which is startling to say the least. Perhaps with Xbox's successful game preservation program & recent news surrounding PlayStation's backwards compatibility, this should be a wake up call for Sony.