GTA Online Getting New Freemode Events Next Week
I don't know about you, but I'm still getting a lot of use out of my copy of Grand Theft Auto V. I didn't love the story mode, but that's not what a majority of people buy the game for, anyway. It just feels good sometimes to create some carnage and blow up a bunch of stuff in Los Santos. It's cathartic.
For me, GTA Online has been very hit-or-miss. It's fun when I'm on with friends, but I'll often just jump on for thirty minute intervals every couple of days or so, which is a small enough window that doesn't make sense to try to organize everyone's schedules in order to play together. So most of the time, I'm rollin' solo, messing around and seeing what kind of stuff I can get into. The heists are great in theory but sort of annoying in practice (at least in my experience, playing with a bunch of randos), and aside from the occasional Job, what else is there to do?
Starting next week, Rockstar is debuting Freemode Events. Kotaku UK had some hands-on time with them, and they describe them as:
Freemode Events are basically a way to have fun in GTA Online without waiting around in menus or lobbies for a Job. You'll get a wee on-screen notification when one is a few minutes away from starting, at which point you can drop a GPS marker to drive to where it starts or just press right on the D-pad to opt in for the non-location-specific ones. You're rewarded for taking part (and doing well) with both cash and RP (or experience).
Watch this:
The Rockstar Editor, which debuted on the PC earlier this year, will also be making its way to PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game next week, allowing players to "direct" anything they want in Los Santos. (Sorry PS3 users — myself included — and Xbox 360 users. Nothing for us.)
But those freemode events sound pretty awesome, and I'm excited to try them out. Here's the full list of what will be available:
Penned In – A vehicular free-for-all to stay inside an ever-shrinking and always-moving dome. If you’re caught outside the dome for more than a few seconds you’ll blow up and be eliminated from the competition.
Criminal Damage – Rack up the biggest property damage bill you can before time runs out. Equip your biggest weapons and go to town on anything and everything in sight.
Hunt The Beast – Players team up to track and kill the beast – a randomly selected player with superior speed and extra health – before it can collect 10 checkpoints scattered around the world within the time limit. The beast is invisible on the mini-map save for whenever it collects a checkpoint, which will cause it to blip for 10 seconds (and increasing in duration with each checkpoint collected).
Challenges - Longest jump; longest skydive; longest wheelie; most vehicles stolen; most near misses; lowest parachute deploy; longest bail from vehicle; furthest distance low flying; and more.
Moving Target - A vehicle is blipped on the map, the first player to deliver it to the marked destination wins.
Kill List - A vehicle is blipped on the map, once the requisite number of players enter they must take out as many waves of enemies as possible.
Kill List Competitive - Same as above, but multiple vehicles are blipped and players compete against each other to rack up the most kills in the given time limit.
Checkpoints - 120 checkpoints spawn in a quadrant of the map. Players compete to collect the most in the given time limit. This mode comes in two variants: land & sea checkpoints and air checkpoints.
Time Trial - A persistent blip on the map where players can try to beat the Rockstar par time and world record on a route that changes weekly.
Hold the Wheel - A target vehicle is blipped on the map for 5 minutes. Players compete to be the one in the vehicle when the timer expires.
Hot Property - Players compete to control possession of a blipped briefcase. The longer you have it, the more points you earn.
Dead Drop - A briefcase is blipped for players to collect and deliver to a location. Players compete for the chance to deliver the briefcase.
King of the Castle -The first player to a blipped location becomes King, and gain points as long as they remain King. Players compete to kill and become the King.