Water cannons are unexpectedly among the best things in GTA Online's new heist

The PC Gamer team is gradually working its way through GTA Online's newest Doomsday Heist. So far, it's a mix of pure elation when everything goes right, then disappointment when the game doesn't checkpoint and we're forced to clear out the same enemy-swarmed hangar twice because a glitch wouldn't let us finish a mission. On balance, though, we're coming out on the positive side, even if we feel like GTA's testing our resolve. And that's mainly because the vehicles and missions offer some of the best GTA we've ever played.

As ever with open world games, though, it's often more fun to ignore the objective and do your own thing. Some of The Doomsday Heist's best moments have surprisingly come in the setup parts, where you have to fetch a vehicle on a public server and deliver it to your facility, which is where the Doomsday Heist is activated. In act two, you have to head to an area near the beach in Los Santos, start a riot by throwing tear gas and punching pedestrians, then wait for the riot police to turn up and defuse the situation. This is when you steal the beefy Riot Control Vehicle and take it back to your facility, where it'll come in handy later on. 

It's a fun little mission, and it's nice that you can complete a set of GTA objectives without headshotting anyone. The best part, though, is that the riot van itself comes equipped with two water cannons, which can be controlled by members of your crew. In real life, of course, these things would be scary. But in GTA, it's very funny, because of the physics and animations. Here's myself and PCG's Phil Savage getting knocked over: 

This went on for about 10 very funny minutes, as we each took it in turns. The fun only came to an end when I accidentally drove the RCV onto the objective marker, completing the mission and putting the vehicle in storage, which was devastating. The whole thing reminded me of how fun it was to use the hose on the fire trucks in past GTAs, particularly 3, where knocking down pedestrians with it became a game in itself. Maybe I'll buy one when the heist is over.

If you've been considering gathering some friends to tackle the new heist, the elaborate new vehicles are worth it alone, in my opinion. We're about two thirds of the way in, and so far it's offered an impressive array of new stuff considering it's essentially a free update—from flying cars to the Avenger, a flying base with optional turrets, and more to come. For infrequent GTA Online players, all of these are worth trying once in their respective missions, even if you never plan to grind enough to own any, and they may even hint at what Rockstar has in mind for future GTAs.