It's extremely difficult to review a game knowing that millions upon millions of gamers are going to spend their cash on it. Whether you're a hobo with scant money, a bourgois lawyer with a clean living and an ample sum of money, or you're just an every day average joe- you will all find some excuse for dialing in the next week to experience this monolith. You'll probably steal a wad of cash, wait eagerly in line at your local Tesco and grease your hands up- ready for the honeymoon of a lifetime, with a videogame. Yes, that's right, you will literally fall in love with interactive entertainment. But no human will bat an eyelash- because they'll all be doing the same thing.
Franklin, Michael and Trevor- three completely different personalities with completely different upbringings. Michael, a family man with a torrid history, trying to retire from criminal life, and who visits a shrink on a weekly basis. Franklin, a street hustler who lives with his Aunt and wants to become more professional in his trade. And Trevor, a knuckle bruising, cuss word spewing, hard as nails redneck. Yet all three of these characters are linked by one common thread- the want to be exhaustively rich and being criminal masterminds.
The three characters have their own struggles and goals they want to reach. Yet each of them are blighted by their past. Michael wants to maintain a comfortable and easy-going relationship with his children and his wife. But past deeds, and his present misunderstanding of his children's desires put pay to his earnest efforts. Franklin believes he is surrounded by idiots, and is trying to get into the professional side of the criminal underworld. Trevor is an unpredictable creature of the rural populace, with a stern attitude and has a knack for torturing and maiming individuals who wrong him.
Trevor and Michael in particular have a shrouded past. Without spoiling anything, Michael and Trevor are closely linked criminal partners. Mistakes were made and problems still surface a decade later. GTA V is a tale of the past slapping each character in the face. Michael and Trevor's tangled relationship proves that the struggles to maintain clarity in the present are constantly felt. Compared with GTA IV, the story isn't as immediately understandable, with the strand of regaining former glory feeling a tad less significant than the simple American Dream concept. But the plights of these three characters make for extremely entertaining drama. Further more, the three protagonist structure breathes innovative life into storytelling in videogames.
With three protagonist to control and the entire expanse of Los Santos and Blaine County to explore- you are given free reign over which of the three protagonists you take dominion over. Each character has his own set of missions to explore and people to interact with, on top of the main missions and activities that you will complete in GTA V. Alongside this, dropping into a new character via down on the D-pad will often result in that character participating in an activity inconspicuous to your direct navigation. What this means, is that you may be cruising along in any assortment of vehicles or sauntering out of a swanky strip club. Likewise once you finish missions, characters won't just disappear- they will stay in the game world. Some can even be seen talking via cellphone about the job you've just done. News feeds on radios will continually update with emerging stories too. Information is spread uniformly throughout the game world, which is a mind boggling achievement.
Franklin, Michael and Trevor- three completely different personalities with completely different upbringings. Michael, a family man with a torrid history, trying to retire from criminal life, and who visits a shrink on a weekly basis. Franklin, a street hustler who lives with his Aunt and wants to become more professional in his trade. And Trevor, a knuckle bruising, cuss word spewing, hard as nails redneck. Yet all three of these characters are linked by one common thread- the want to be exhaustively rich and being criminal masterminds.
The three characters have their own struggles and goals they want to reach. Yet each of them are blighted by their past. Michael wants to maintain a comfortable and easy-going relationship with his children and his wife. But past deeds, and his present misunderstanding of his children's desires put pay to his earnest efforts. Franklin believes he is surrounded by idiots, and is trying to get into the professional side of the criminal underworld. Trevor is an unpredictable creature of the rural populace, with a stern attitude and has a knack for torturing and maiming individuals who wrong him.
Trevor and Michael in particular have a shrouded past. Without spoiling anything, Michael and Trevor are closely linked criminal partners. Mistakes were made and problems still surface a decade later. GTA V is a tale of the past slapping each character in the face. Michael and Trevor's tangled relationship proves that the struggles to maintain clarity in the present are constantly felt. Compared with GTA IV, the story isn't as immediately understandable, with the strand of regaining former glory feeling a tad less significant than the simple American Dream concept. But the plights of these three characters make for extremely entertaining drama. Further more, the three protagonist structure breathes innovative life into storytelling in videogames.
With three protagonist to control and the entire expanse of Los Santos and Blaine County to explore- you are given free reign over which of the three protagonists you take dominion over. Each character has his own set of missions to explore and people to interact with, on top of the main missions and activities that you will complete in GTA V. Alongside this, dropping into a new character via down on the D-pad will often result in that character participating in an activity inconspicuous to your direct navigation. What this means, is that you may be cruising along in any assortment of vehicles or sauntering out of a swanky strip club. Likewise once you finish missions, characters won't just disappear- they will stay in the game world. Some can even be seen talking via cellphone about the job you've just done. News feeds on radios will continually update with emerging stories too. Information is spread uniformly throughout the game world, which is a mind boggling achievement.
The magic is bolstered by the world you inhabit too. There are acres upon acres of activities to participate in, random moments to experience, 69 main missions to complete, a bewildering amount of side missions to uncover, where you meet new and interesting contacts. In the general sense, it's clearly tremblingly audacious yet flexibly tough, with the sinew of chiseled granite. Magnifying its appeal will assure you bare witness to parachute gliding, toe truck pulling, strip club dancing, friend bro-mancing, film watching, submarine diving and triathlon sprinting and so much more therein. Activities are too numerous to list and too fun to spoil, just know that its existence shatters GTA IV to broken mirror shards. This is truly bigger than Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas and GTA IV combined, in what is nothing short of a barnstorming achievement.
Then there's the humour and satire which pours and whisks its way into every nugget of the experience. Whether it's the comedy drenched talk radio stations, the nondescript banter between characters or the out of this world hilarity of the films and TV shows you can watch- there aren't many places to go in Los Santos without uncovering something that's funny or weird.
Gameplay is the best that it has ever been in the series. Aiming feels precise and responsive, even without a health meter around the AI. Cover works as well as it ever has done too. The real star of the show, is the consistent character swapping. Many missions give you opportunities to take control of the other two protagonists- usually whilst they are engaging in something entirely different. Missions are branched out to accommodate a rigorously flowing chain of events. So for instance, you might be fending off hordes with Trevor, but with a quick swap out to Franklin- he may be doing something significant to aid the mission along.
Impressively, not a lot of missions involve guns and shooting, at least not as many as you'd think. The variety is astronomically broad with missions taking place in land, sea, air, underwater, at loading docks, at slaughterhouses, at banks and anywhere that you wouldn't typically expect in other open world adventures. Some of these missions bring forward a sense of nostalgia, as a handful of objectives will remind you of your excursions in San Andreas almost a decade ago.
Asides from the typical missions, there are also several heists to commit. These need preparation, so you'll have to gather resources before you proceed to tear into the banks and make yourself a rich-ass gangster. You are given leeway in how you approach these heists, which further establishes the lengths that R* want to lean towards in order to show how versatile an experience GTA V truly is.
One additional if unsuspected wrinkle to the gameplay are the additions of superpowers. No, not the Saints Row IV kind. Powers in GTA V are catered to each character's persona. For instance, Trevor has a rage mode- where he's invincible and destructive for a minimal spell. Michael is able to slow down time, which will greatly enhance sniping accuracy, and Franklin is able to slow time in order to swerve through traffic. The only downside to these powers, is that they rarely feel necessary- with few missions rarely requiring their assistance due to the game's simplicity.
After each mission, you'll receive a rating of Bronze, Silver or Gold- depending on how efficiently you've managed the task. This is very similar to the Ballad of Gay Tony, and is a brilliant source of replay value- but will be extremely tough for those wanting to 100% everything.
Then there's the humour and satire which pours and whisks its way into every nugget of the experience. Whether it's the comedy drenched talk radio stations, the nondescript banter between characters or the out of this world hilarity of the films and TV shows you can watch- there aren't many places to go in Los Santos without uncovering something that's funny or weird.
Gameplay is the best that it has ever been in the series. Aiming feels precise and responsive, even without a health meter around the AI. Cover works as well as it ever has done too. The real star of the show, is the consistent character swapping. Many missions give you opportunities to take control of the other two protagonists- usually whilst they are engaging in something entirely different. Missions are branched out to accommodate a rigorously flowing chain of events. So for instance, you might be fending off hordes with Trevor, but with a quick swap out to Franklin- he may be doing something significant to aid the mission along.
Impressively, not a lot of missions involve guns and shooting, at least not as many as you'd think. The variety is astronomically broad with missions taking place in land, sea, air, underwater, at loading docks, at slaughterhouses, at banks and anywhere that you wouldn't typically expect in other open world adventures. Some of these missions bring forward a sense of nostalgia, as a handful of objectives will remind you of your excursions in San Andreas almost a decade ago.
Asides from the typical missions, there are also several heists to commit. These need preparation, so you'll have to gather resources before you proceed to tear into the banks and make yourself a rich-ass gangster. You are given leeway in how you approach these heists, which further establishes the lengths that R* want to lean towards in order to show how versatile an experience GTA V truly is.
One additional if unsuspected wrinkle to the gameplay are the additions of superpowers. No, not the Saints Row IV kind. Powers in GTA V are catered to each character's persona. For instance, Trevor has a rage mode- where he's invincible and destructive for a minimal spell. Michael is able to slow down time, which will greatly enhance sniping accuracy, and Franklin is able to slow time in order to swerve through traffic. The only downside to these powers, is that they rarely feel necessary- with few missions rarely requiring their assistance due to the game's simplicity.
After each mission, you'll receive a rating of Bronze, Silver or Gold- depending on how efficiently you've managed the task. This is very similar to the Ballad of Gay Tony, and is a brilliant source of replay value- but will be extremely tough for those wanting to 100% everything.
Visually, there's nothing more impressive out there than you'll find in GTA V's Los Santos. The city is packed with verdant landscapes, towering sky scrapers, gorgeous cliffs and mountains, sparkling oceans which ripple and tumble as you speed down on your jet-ski. The exorbitant selection of songs on the 15 radio stations are staggering, and are accompanied by a symphonic score from R* which gives bespoke attention to the action during each mission. The budget and production values are out of this world, and GTA V is undeniably dressed to impress.
To lament on any downsides would make one sheepish, but GTA V has a few minor bluffs. The first being the occasionally stingy character movement. It's easy to try jumping up structures a few inches taller than you, but often your attempts would bound and fling you away, damaging your health in the process. Some might also find issue with having to buy the same weapons for each individual character, but that makes perfect sense given their individuality. Finally, GTA V does rarely succumb to its brevity, with textures failing to load in noticeably. This is made a tad more severe if you install both discs on your Xbox 360 hard drive. But everything else is as refined as a R* game is meant to be.
To lament on any downsides would make one sheepish, but GTA V has a few minor bluffs. The first being the occasionally stingy character movement. It's easy to try jumping up structures a few inches taller than you, but often your attempts would bound and fling you away, damaging your health in the process. Some might also find issue with having to buy the same weapons for each individual character, but that makes perfect sense given their individuality. Finally, GTA V does rarely succumb to its brevity, with textures failing to load in noticeably. This is made a tad more severe if you install both discs on your Xbox 360 hard drive. But everything else is as refined as a R* game is meant to be.
Grand Theft Auto V is a ginormous and infinitely impressive open world sandbox adventure game. The improvements over GTA IV, San Andreas and recent R* magnum opuses are staggering. It may be a cliche, but words cannot describe how successful a game GTA V is. It takes what we adored from San Andreas, gives us the austere nature of GTA IV, smacks them together like a possessed child- and out came the very best of all worlds. Hyperbole has suckered into its canals since day 1, but if there was a game that doesn't deserve it more- it's GTA V. Now the talking stops, the game begins, play GTA V, explore GTA V, and let GTA V absorb every ounce of your world.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
PRESENTATION: 10/10
LIFESPAN: 10/10
SCORE: 10/10
A colossal achievement by any standard, GTA V is staggering in how enormous, impressive and vast it is and the tireless level of variety on display is the most extravagant of luxuries. All told GTA V is absolutely superb and exhaustive. The Grandest Theft Auto of them all.