Grand Theft Auto V reintroduces the sprawling metropolis of Los Santos that we saw last year on seventh generation consoles. Rockstar Games worked to add their installment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise to the 'definitive edition' repertoire alongside The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs. However, Rockstar's port to the current generation consoles isn't simply a matter of compatibility and throwing in some new features; it seems like they've rebuilt the game from the ground up and it's magnificent.
For those who may have missed it last year, for the first time in Grand Theft Auto history, you are put into the shoes of three, vastly different protagonists whose individual lives and stories come together to create an interwoven narrative. Michael, Trevor and Franklin are able to be controlled at virtually any given point in the game and when one of the other two are not being directly controlled by the player. When dropping in and out of the three characters, what they’ll be up to varies nearly every time based on the time of day and previous activities participated in. There is virtually never a time where the player will jump into one of the character’s lives and see them doing the same thing.
Michael, a retired bank robber, is in his early forties living with his dysfunctional family in Rockford Hills. His wife, Amanda, a suburban mistress of extravagance spends more time out and about, spending her husband's money and having innumerable affairs with different men. Michael's son and daughter, Jimmy and Tracey, are entitled whiners fitting numerous pop culture stereotypes and endlessly blaming Michael for ruining their lives.
Franklin, a mid-twenties, tired gang-banger, never really had a family, money or a furthered education to rely on. Franklin and his best friend Lamar work for an Armenian car salesman, Simeon Yetarian, who is really an extortionist and racketeer. Franklin is desperately trying to leave the gang life behind him and make something of himself, but keeps getting dragged back to what he's always known.
Trevor, a sociopath, former Royal Canadian Air Forces pilot and crystal meth addict was once Michael's best friend until an ill-fated heist nine years prior to the main game's setting. Living out in Sandy Shores, the northernmost point of Los Santos, Trevor runs his self-proclaimed weapons and drugs trafficking company against Mexicans and biker gangs.
Grand Theft Auto V's story primarily revolves around the trio pulling off increasingly audacious heists for various purposes, from knocking off jewellery stores to ambushing armoured vans, to high-stakes bank robberies. However, these heists are far and few between. There are only a small handful of them and they all serve as plot devices to keep the story going, some more than others. You won't find yourself earning serious money (ergo, anything more than a few hundred thousand dollars) until the final heist.
Your choices affect the subsequent consequences, including the time you have to collect the stash, how much you’re able to escape with, and how easy it’ll be to evade the constabulary. Before performing the heist, you’ll be able to choose your methodology and following that, select from a list of qualified participants to assist you. Your options range from a hacker, to gunmen that provide assault support, to a getaway driver. Each selection comes with multiple applicants with varied skill; the higher skilled assistants will get their job done faster and more efficiently, but also desire a larger cut of the proceeds. On the other hand, you have the less skilled criminals who may not be able to disable an alarm for too long, but don’t demand a larger percentage. If you know what you're doing, you can pull off every job with the least trained people and still get away with a good amount of money.
There's some customization options in the game, but nothing really different than the first release. I haven't noticed any new clothing, but there's a couple of additions to car customization but no changes to weapon customization. If you missed it, you're able to customize your vehicles, weapons and player characters; the latter with tattoos, haircuts and different clothing. Vehicles can take on tuning upgrades as well as visual like spoilers, tinted windows, bulletproof tires, etc. I was a little disappointed that the options weren't larger with the remaster, but I'm not entirely surprised.
The number one addition to the game is the new first person mode which makes its debut in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. However, it's not like your typical addition; the first person view is an entirely different experience in itself. The new perspective basically changes the core of the Grand Theft Auto experience. One actually feels like they're in the game as Rockstar presents this Mirror's Edge feel to our favorite sandbox title. It almost feels like a completely different game as you partake in shootouts, car chases, violent killing sprees or even just explore in first person mode. It works beautifully and it never feels out of place. Three words: first person skydiving.
Grand Theft Auto Online, however, is still a mess. It's great to see your Online character in significantly more detail or mess around with your friends in first person mode...if you're even able to play. It's almost as if GTA Online is still suffering from the same issues it experience during its first official launch. It's somewhat revamped and caters to up to 30 players in a free roam lobby, but it still suffers with basic connectivity issues. It takes far too long to load and you're frequently kicked from lobbies due to "unknown errors." Two or three patches have been issued since launch, but it hasn't seemed to fix anything that I've been able to notice.
Overall, though, Grand Theft Auto V's remaster here has truly managed to be the definitive Grand Theft Auto game and it is certainly a worthy remaster. I can only imagine the improvements that will come with the PC version though mods and miscellaneous, fan-made inclusions.
The freedom to explore large areas, approach objectives in multiple ways, and stumble across amusing distractions will always be an excellent format for video games, but some do it better than others. To celebrate the formula and parse the best from the best, have a look at the best open-world games of all time so far.
Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5 are both classics, but movement and general interaction sometimes feels like you're possessed by a fridge.
Rockstar need to learn that 12 years of work and 5000 employees doesn’t account for one persons opinion on the internet…
Oh and hundreds of millions of dollars in revanue to boot.
Lots of complaints about gta ever since the hd era started and yet it's bugger than its ever been with gta vi up to 180 million trailer views alone. The next game is shaping it be be another genre defining game
The controls of RDR2 felt a but cluncky indeed, but it’s not as bad as some make it out to be. At no point did I get the feeling my experience with the game was held back or ruined by the controls.
But it can never hurt to optimize them a bit, sure.
I did accidentally beat someone to death a couple times. An unfortunate mistake but besides that I didn't have any problems with the controlls
Red Dead Redemption felt clunky at first but I got used to it fairly quick. I thought 2 was easier to control but it could be my experience with the first game helped me out. Great games
I wouldn't call Rockstar games characters clunky instead they feel like they move with Weight they are not twitch controls press x to instantly snap onto cover the characters instead move like a actor would ducking behind cover they are exposed while they get there.
From their most recent entries in the GTA franchise to their cult favorite racing games, find here the best Rockstar games, ranked from best to worst.
Great review overall, and I agree with a lot of what you said. I think that one of the things that's really overlooked, at least in the graphics department, is the impressive implementation of slick depth-of-field tricks while in first person mode. It gives every shootout, car chase, etc. a cinematic feel, almost like I'm watching a cutscene that's just highly interactive lol.
One thing I disagree with is that you mention that you hear the same songs too often while listening to the radio. While the same songs do play often on the radio stations, I don't think that it detracts from the experience. I mean, in real life you hear the same songs on radio far too often anyway, and most of them aren't nearly as good as the selections in GTAV. Not to mention that the radio hosts/commentators, and even commercials, are almost universally hilarious in a way that only GTA can be.
Basically what I'm saying is that I thoroughly enjoy the radio station selections in GTAV. Other than that, great review.
Valenka I've been reading your work for quite some time now and just feel i need to say this.
i hope you keep doing gaming reviews.
your english, grammar and vocabulary are some of the best ive come across on the internet (not just N4G)
your views are expressed clearly and concisely. For every point you make you give facts or further explanation as to why you think its positive or negative.
you also have unbiased views when reviewing a game. (ie not giving it extra marks coz its exclusive to your preferred system). this alone is what makes reading your reviews a breath of fresh air.
keep up the great work, wish you all the best.
keep reviewing games but most importantly, enjoy gaming.