Dude Theft Wars

Dude Theft Wars
Grand Theft Auto V: Outdated Meme Edition
Protagonist(s): Jack Richie Genre(s): Action-adventure Platform(s): Android Release Date: March 8, 2018 Engine: Unity Developer(s): Poxel Studios Publisher(s): Poxel Studios Country: Pakistan

Dude Theft Wars (formerly Dude Theft Auto) is a action-adventure game developed and published by Poxel Studios and released on March 8, 2018, after being revealed a month earlier. The game has gained popularity among mobile gamers and especially in South Asian countries like India, due to its meme-like nature and numerous jokes.

Plot

Prior to 2019, the game had no storyline, so the game was basically free roam. A 2019 update finally added a plot to the game.

Jack goes to visit Richie at the local police department, who has been arrested and incarcerated after a botched bank heist with his friend Kiril. Fortunately Kiril was not caught by the police and had resided in a suburban neighborhood. Richie then gives Jack the location to Kiril's house, and Jack goes to visit him. Both guys then work together to get Richie out of prison

Bad Qualities

1. Despite being a GTA clone, it appears to be too comedic and pandering towards the meme community, rather than a real action game revolving around serious crime life. Because of this, the game has too many meme-like instances and references, such as the texts referencing memes that pop up when murdering civilians, the MLG airhorn which can be used as a weapon, or even the infamous bomb prank popularised by the Jalals. While this somehow avoids it coming off as a generic GTA clone, it also comes off as a meme cash-in.
   • The game also uses several outdated trends such as the "Deal With It" sunglasses, the Gangnam Style dance and the Trollface, which were already obsolete by the time the game was released.
   • Kiril, the game's deuteragonist, is of Slavic/Russian descent. While that's not bad at all, it is somehow seen as a meme reference, as hardbass music (a genre that originated from Russia which is frequently joked about) can always be heard playing at his house, and he can be seen doing the famous "Slav squat" pose on two bottles.
   • For some reason, the game has a T rating on the Play Store, despite having firearms and even blood.
2. The game also inherits features from Minecraft and Roblox, especially the former, such as the first person view and the pickup controls.
3. Excessive use of the word "Dude" especially in brands such as Dudenet and Dudemart. Some brands even sound nonsensical such as Ducci and Duber (Gucci and Uber respectively).
4. Like Cyberpunk 2077, the game has no third person view on foot.
   • You can't look around while driving. They did add a left/right view in a later version, but that still sucks since you can't look around freely. Plus, you can only look back/left/right while holding the mirror button.
5. Terrible draw distance. One update removed the default mountain skybox and replaced it with a cloudy skybox, which made the appearance even worse.
6. Framerate issues despite the game's low quality graphics. Thankfully, this is only on low end devices.
7. As stated in #2, the game also rips off other features found in other games.
   • The game's former title, loading screen, death screen and character switch mechanic are taken from Grand Theft Auto V. The game also adapts features found in the other games of the franchise.
   • The idea of hacking into the prison is a copycat of the Watch Dogs series. Furthermore, the Dudenet software is a copycat of the latter's ctOS and Blume.
   • The race countdown cutscene is influenced by Asphalt 9.
   • The song that plays during taxi missions is stolen from the popular mobile game Hill Climb Racing.
   • The phone's wallpaper is actually the default iOS 7 wallpaper.
8. Poorly written plot which only focuses on one protagonist and one deuteragonist. The game also lacks a main antagonist, which makes it less engaging.
9. False advertising: The game's artwork depicts that it will have three playable characters, but the launch version only had Jack while the others were set to 'coming soon'. Also, the storyline update added Richie, but Poxel yet has to add the third protagonist.
10. The map is completely inaccurate, as you will see some geographical errors such as a river and wooden bridges right next to a downtown area, a farm right behind Jack's home area, or even a Golden Gate-like bridge passing through a forest and leading to an airport.
    • Most cars have nitro, but can only be used once and cannot be refilled.
    • If you exit a car, it will not stop moving until it hits a wall or anything that blocks its way.
11. If you die, you'll respawn at home instead of the hospital. Well, the town actually has no hospitals!
12. Like other GTA clones, most of the AIs are incredibly stupid. Here are some examples:
    • The cops will never use firearms against you when you're on foot, even if you're armed. They're even worse in their cars, as all they do is try to ram you to death instead of getting out and attempting to arrest you. If you steal one of their cars, gain control of it, and then get out, they'll go back to their chaos.
    • If you try to aim firearms at NPCs, they will not run away nor freak out at all until you shoot them.
    • You cannot swim. In fact if you enter the water, you go under it.

Good Qualities

1. Despite all the bad qualities, the game can be quite enjoyable by some gamers, thanks to its use of memes and satirical nature.
2. The developers are aware of the game's quality, and try to improve it with every update. They also try to satisfy their consumers by accepting their criticism.
3. At least this game is purely extinct from other GTA clones.
4. It is a good attempt of utilizing a storyline which most mobile GTA clones lack.
5. Because of the sheer amount of Easter eggs and cheat codes around town, the game is quite extensive and exploratory, unlike simplistic mobile games that are used as time wasters.

Trivia

• Before the storyline update, the unused protagonists were placed in designated places. Richie was in the prison, which was definitely a foreshadowing of the game's storyline, while the other character is in a construction site looking at the distance.
• Cheats are referenced on random places around the city.
• A Two-storey building can be found in the city, named after the company themselves, and inside the building there's two whiteboards advertising two of their games, along with a real download button placed under the board. A computer depicting the game's development in Unity can also be seen.

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