If there truly are remakes of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the way, Rockstar Games could potentially improve the franchise's most enjoyable and underused side mission: burglary. Burglary in GTA: San Andreas is unlocked early in the game through a main story mission with Ryder and then rarely mentioned again, but (if players know where to look) there are opportunities in both San Fierro and Las Venturas for home invasions as well.
The main problem with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' burglary missions is that they lack a large amount of variety. While the amount of different home interiors was novel when GTA: San Andreas released (especially on the heels of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which had comparatively few interior locations) players would quickly find themselves revisiting the same floorplans and decorations in multiple houses across San Andreas. Likewise, the amount of items CJ can steal inside NPC homes, while not terribly lacking, still became repetitive to collect over time - especially when players are finding the same low-end stereos in fancy Las Venturas mansions as they are in the Los Santos slums.
While many of the larger mansions do offer larger amounts of items to burgle, GTA: San Andreas' burglary missions mainly consist of CJ collecting things like television sets, VCRs, stereos, and microwaves. Occasionally players will also find weapons or money in NPC homes, but there are very few unique items and standout locations. If Rockstar Games is remaking Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, these GTA side missions deserve more variety.
San Andreas' Home Invasions Could Be Better
San Andreas' burglary missions aren't bad. For a side mission that only appeared in GTA once, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' home invasion mechanics were actually fairly strong at launch. As the game which introduced stealth options to the GTA franchise, San Andreas also incorporated a noise meter during CJ's burglary escapades. If the player moved too quickly, or made too much noise by bumping into a wall or a door, the NPCs inside the house would awaken and call the police. Removing the NPCs, however, would also cause the sound indicator to disappear, allowing CJ to rob houses much more efficiently.
The core concept of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' burglary missions - steal items at night and sell them to a fence before morning - works well, but one of the main reasons it can feel so repetitive is because of the lack of variety in both the type of items players can steal and the design of the homes they are allowed to enter. While likely a product of the game's development cycle, schedule, or the limitations of PlayStation 2-era memory, a remake or remaster of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would not come up against these problems. While many players may likely prefer video game remakes stay as close to the design of the original as possible, creating more variety in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' best side missions would be something most, if not nearly all, players should support.