GTA 6 Needs Paramedic Side Missions (& They Should Be Fun This Time)

Many players likely hope that Rockstar will incorporate paramedic missions into Grand Theft Auto 6, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Rockstar Games has an opportunity to improve upon paramedic missions in Grand Theft Auto 6. However, given that these fan-favorite side missions were all but excluded in Grand Theft Auto 5, it remains to be seen whether the developers decide bring them back in full force. If they do, however, there are some important changes which need to be made.

Paramedic, firefighter, and vigilante missions were well-beloved in earlier Grand Theft Auto installments, but when it came to Grand Theft Auto 5, Rockstar abandoned these side missions. While returning side activities, like taxis and tow trucks, remained available, players could no longer attempt to act heroically as an essential service worker in Grand Theft Auto 5, unless they have a modded PC version of the game, that is.

Paramedic missions offered an exciting change of pace to GTA games, and it will be thoroughly disappointing if Rockstar again chooses not to include them in Grand Theft Auto 6. It will be even more shameful if they incorporate them without improving the player’s experience in these side missions.

How GTA 6 Can Improve Paramedic Missions

There’s a LOT of bloodshed in Grand Theft Auto games,which is understandable given the criminal characters players take on the role of. However, this is part of what makes paramedic missions attractive – the fact that players can save civilians in the game rather than harming them, offering a complete reversal of roles that can be refreshing at times. The paramedic side mission requires players pick up patients in order to take them to the hospital. It’s possible to fail the missions if a patient dies, the ambulance becomes wrecked, or the police catch up. Players receive monetary rewards for completing the different levels in paramedic missions, and often some sort of in-game bonus upon completion of a certain number of levels.

If Grand Theft Auto 6 incorporates paramedic missions, they’ll be best served by fixing some of the annoying elements. For one, it would be helpful if other cars on the road were more responsive to the ambulance’s lights like they would be in real-life. Cars tend to either stop in the middle of the road or swerve in a random direction when the ambulance’s sirens go on, but without them, then the cars remain an obstacle. Grand Theft Auto 6 should also make the patients more efficient, too. They often run around the ambulance several times before getting in, costing the player time and providing more opportunities for the patient to become more injured by oncoming traffic.

Similarly, at times, it feels as though the pedestrians and police come in unfair numbers, especially compared to when players are completing a normal mission or exploring the open world. Even with a one-star rating, players may have three police vehicles plus more on motorcycles trailing behind them. The pedestrians also seem to flock closely together in large numbers, always during paramedic missions. The civilians seemingly spawn out of nowhere, leaving players little time to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting them.

Perhaps the most annoying part about paramedic missions is that the game requires players to start from the first level if they fail a part of the mission. This can be avoided in GTA: Vice City Stories as well as GTA Advance, as players have the option to start from the last checkpoint. It’s needlessly annoying to have to start from the first level, especially if you were on level 11 and just about to finally be done with the whole thing. It would serve GTA 6 well to allow players to resume from the last checkpoint.

Grand Theft Auto 6 wouldn’t be the same if Rockstar chooses to not incorporate paramedic missions, but if they do decide to include them players will have a much better time if they fix these major annoyances.