There is no denying it, Grand Theft Auto V is a gaming phenomenon. It was a record breaker before it even got out of the gates, a mind blowing budget of $270 Million which is more than most Hollywood Blockbuster films, and a Day 1 intake of $800 Million, not to mention reaching $1 Billion in sales in just 3 days. Now 7 years later with a second re-release on the horizon, Forbes reported in February 2020 that GTA V had sold upwards of 120 million copies since its release and it just keeps going!
Grand Theft Auto V is a cultural landmark of the 21st century in many ways. Rockstar brings in all the successes from every game they have played a part in making since the release of GTA IV in 2008, meaning you will spot more than a little of Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and L.A Noire in your journey through the glorious city of Los Santos, San Andreas. To my friends, enemies, strangers, freaks, and psychotic murderers I present to you Grand Theft Auto V.
The story to GTA V is one very different to any GTA game to date, yes it is about the criminal activities in a city nobody would want to live in but V presents us with not one but three main protagonists. Michael, a middle aged husband and father of two; an ex-bank robber who was placed into witness protection for giving the police information on his colleagues resulting in a bank robbery bust 9 years prior to the games setting. Franklin, a young gangster and wannabe gangbanger; raised in the poorest parts of Los Santos, Franklin has always been surrounded by crime, it is all he knows and he has a talent for stealing and driving cars. Finally there is Trevor...oh boy. Trevor is an old friend of Michael's who escaped from the bank job 9 years ago and has been in hiding in Blaine County, San Andreas ever since.
When Michael's son's car is repossessed by Franklin for the car dealership he works at, the two become friends when Franklin helps Michael tear down the house of the tennis coach who is sleeping with his wife. The house however belonged to Mexican crime lord Martin Madrazo, Martin threatens Michael into paying off the damages to the home and so he re-enters a life of robbery with Franklin as his newest accomplice. When the first job goes off with no problems, Trevor sees the news report and goes to find Michael in Los Santos, who is understandably reluctant to allow Trevor back into the business. But regardless the new trio (Michael, Trevor & Franklin) begin to plan and execute a series of ever escalating robberies around San Andreas in the hope of paying off Michaels debt, giving Franklin enough money to get out of crime, and to get Trevor out of their lives for good. But when Trevor begins to question Michael over the problems that occurred 9 years ago cracks begin to show and things long left behind are unearthed causing unexpected problems for the trio.
Grand Theft Auto V is a cultural landmark of the 21st century in many ways. Rockstar brings in all the successes from every game they have played a part in making since the release of GTA IV in 2008, meaning you will spot more than a little of Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and L.A Noire in your journey through the glorious city of Los Santos, San Andreas. To my friends, enemies, strangers, freaks, and psychotic murderers I present to you Grand Theft Auto V.
The story to GTA V is one very different to any GTA game to date, yes it is about the criminal activities in a city nobody would want to live in but V presents us with not one but three main protagonists. Michael, a middle aged husband and father of two; an ex-bank robber who was placed into witness protection for giving the police information on his colleagues resulting in a bank robbery bust 9 years prior to the games setting. Franklin, a young gangster and wannabe gangbanger; raised in the poorest parts of Los Santos, Franklin has always been surrounded by crime, it is all he knows and he has a talent for stealing and driving cars. Finally there is Trevor...oh boy. Trevor is an old friend of Michael's who escaped from the bank job 9 years ago and has been in hiding in Blaine County, San Andreas ever since.
When Michael's son's car is repossessed by Franklin for the car dealership he works at, the two become friends when Franklin helps Michael tear down the house of the tennis coach who is sleeping with his wife. The house however belonged to Mexican crime lord Martin Madrazo, Martin threatens Michael into paying off the damages to the home and so he re-enters a life of robbery with Franklin as his newest accomplice. When the first job goes off with no problems, Trevor sees the news report and goes to find Michael in Los Santos, who is understandably reluctant to allow Trevor back into the business. But regardless the new trio (Michael, Trevor & Franklin) begin to plan and execute a series of ever escalating robberies around San Andreas in the hope of paying off Michaels debt, giving Franklin enough money to get out of crime, and to get Trevor out of their lives for good. But when Trevor begins to question Michael over the problems that occurred 9 years ago cracks begin to show and things long left behind are unearthed causing unexpected problems for the trio.
Grand Theft Auto V's plot is the most complex, interesting, and mature in the entire franchise. Each characters back stories are fully fleshed out for us to see, the secondary characters also have deep and interesting histories that are explored and shown to us. None of the protagonists are 'good guys', they are all the 'bad guys' in this story giving the player a unique experience of liking the characters, not because of who they are but because of what they do with what they have. Two of the three characters don't want to be criminals but they have to in order to get their lives back on track, Trevor though enjoys being a criminal and he cant think of anything he would rather do than kill, steal, and destroy the lives of nearly everyone he comes into contact with, but even this is given context and you cant help but enjoy being someone who is bad because he can be.
Grand Theft Auto has never been a series for kids to play, but this instalment is without a doubt the most adult entry in the franchise. Some of the things they show in the game is surprising that it got past ratings boards. You will regularly get high on various drugs, mercilessly and brutally kill people for the sake of the story, torture, plan robberies, see full on nudity, and hear an obscene amount of language. The torture scene is one that has received much criticism, as expected. In this non-skippable sequence you play as Trevor and are tasked to torture a man to get as much information out of him as to the whereabouts of an individual of value. You must use an assortment of tools such as pliers to pull out teeth, jump leads & a car battery to electrocute, a wrench to break kneecaps, and even resorting to on screen water-boarding which is used to simulate drowning. Its obvious why this caused such controversy but its clear to see why this was included, to show just how much Trevor lacks a conscience and to show that this kind of stuff actually does happen.
Grand Theft Auto V looks at modern life and parodies it much like it has in most iterations, but it seems somewhat more subtle this time. Los Santos is a nation obsessed with wealth, fame and self image, if you aren't a millionaire pornstar you are nothing and the sad thing is that the real world is exactly that. If you aren't rich, if you aren't famous, or if you aren't beautiful, you are treated as a lesser person and not given the same benefits as someone who is rich or famous. GTA V is a portrayal of modern day society and that is why it is the most adult GTA game to date, because it has the balls to do what very few games, films, or books do and portray the world as it actually is.
The state of San Andreas is huge, one of the largest environments in gaming and it is packed with things to do. There are 69 missions, 42 hobbies, 20 side missions, 14 random events, and 16 miscellaneous events, not to mention collectables and general explorations of the giant game world. Each hobby is a fully fleshed out minigame, these include Tennis, Cycling, Races, Strip Clubs, Cinemas, and more. Each one has had a huge amount of time and effort put into them and they play great. Though it isn't necessary to play these activities, it will help upgrade your characters skills. Yes, GTA V has brought back the skills system from San Andreas giving you abilities such as being able to sprint for longer, have more responsive driving/flying controls, take more damage, and have better accuracy. These are upgraded just by playing the game; shooting things upgrades shooting, doing exercise upgrades stamina, and driving upgrades driving. Each character has a 'special ability' to reflect their personality too, Michael's skill makes him more accurate, Franklin can slow down time in vehicles to take corners at a higher speed, and Trevor can take more damage. These abilities use up the abilities bar on your HUD and you must perform actions to refill this bar such as driving fast and shooting things.
Grand Theft Auto V has had a massive overhaul in terms of combat mechanics. It has a Gears of War-esque one button cover system alongside a weapons wheel so you no longer have to scroll through all your weapons to get to the one you want, this makes combat not only more fun to do in GTA V but something you actively look forward to. Gunfights are much larger and more intense in GTA V compared to every other entry in the franchise and some of the games best moments are in these gunfights. Missions also now have checkpoints, this is both good and bad. Its good because you instantly respawn at the last checkpoint instead of needing to redo the entire mission, however this removes fear of dying and makes the game a hell of a lot easier.
You can customise your characters along with upgrading your skills much like GTA: San Andreas, get a haircut, tattoo’s, and clothes can be bought to customise your Michael, Trevor, or Franklin. Changing clothes is slightly redundant though because characters will change clothes when you are not playing as them. Finally the last thing, or at least the last thing I can remember that has been tweaked in GTA V from the previous entries is driving. Driving in GTA IV got a lot of flak for being quite weighty and slow but that is a thing of the past now. Vehicles are a lot faster and the handling is a lot more responsive, it reminds me a lot of Burnout Paradise, fast, responsive, and forgiving. Whilst I didn't have an issue with GTA IV's physics, the new physics fit in more with the overall mood of GTA V.
Grand Theft Auto has never been a series for kids to play, but this instalment is without a doubt the most adult entry in the franchise. Some of the things they show in the game is surprising that it got past ratings boards. You will regularly get high on various drugs, mercilessly and brutally kill people for the sake of the story, torture, plan robberies, see full on nudity, and hear an obscene amount of language. The torture scene is one that has received much criticism, as expected. In this non-skippable sequence you play as Trevor and are tasked to torture a man to get as much information out of him as to the whereabouts of an individual of value. You must use an assortment of tools such as pliers to pull out teeth, jump leads & a car battery to electrocute, a wrench to break kneecaps, and even resorting to on screen water-boarding which is used to simulate drowning. Its obvious why this caused such controversy but its clear to see why this was included, to show just how much Trevor lacks a conscience and to show that this kind of stuff actually does happen.
Grand Theft Auto V looks at modern life and parodies it much like it has in most iterations, but it seems somewhat more subtle this time. Los Santos is a nation obsessed with wealth, fame and self image, if you aren't a millionaire pornstar you are nothing and the sad thing is that the real world is exactly that. If you aren't rich, if you aren't famous, or if you aren't beautiful, you are treated as a lesser person and not given the same benefits as someone who is rich or famous. GTA V is a portrayal of modern day society and that is why it is the most adult GTA game to date, because it has the balls to do what very few games, films, or books do and portray the world as it actually is.
The state of San Andreas is huge, one of the largest environments in gaming and it is packed with things to do. There are 69 missions, 42 hobbies, 20 side missions, 14 random events, and 16 miscellaneous events, not to mention collectables and general explorations of the giant game world. Each hobby is a fully fleshed out minigame, these include Tennis, Cycling, Races, Strip Clubs, Cinemas, and more. Each one has had a huge amount of time and effort put into them and they play great. Though it isn't necessary to play these activities, it will help upgrade your characters skills. Yes, GTA V has brought back the skills system from San Andreas giving you abilities such as being able to sprint for longer, have more responsive driving/flying controls, take more damage, and have better accuracy. These are upgraded just by playing the game; shooting things upgrades shooting, doing exercise upgrades stamina, and driving upgrades driving. Each character has a 'special ability' to reflect their personality too, Michael's skill makes him more accurate, Franklin can slow down time in vehicles to take corners at a higher speed, and Trevor can take more damage. These abilities use up the abilities bar on your HUD and you must perform actions to refill this bar such as driving fast and shooting things.
Grand Theft Auto V has had a massive overhaul in terms of combat mechanics. It has a Gears of War-esque one button cover system alongside a weapons wheel so you no longer have to scroll through all your weapons to get to the one you want, this makes combat not only more fun to do in GTA V but something you actively look forward to. Gunfights are much larger and more intense in GTA V compared to every other entry in the franchise and some of the games best moments are in these gunfights. Missions also now have checkpoints, this is both good and bad. Its good because you instantly respawn at the last checkpoint instead of needing to redo the entire mission, however this removes fear of dying and makes the game a hell of a lot easier.
You can customise your characters along with upgrading your skills much like GTA: San Andreas, get a haircut, tattoo’s, and clothes can be bought to customise your Michael, Trevor, or Franklin. Changing clothes is slightly redundant though because characters will change clothes when you are not playing as them. Finally the last thing, or at least the last thing I can remember that has been tweaked in GTA V from the previous entries is driving. Driving in GTA IV got a lot of flak for being quite weighty and slow but that is a thing of the past now. Vehicles are a lot faster and the handling is a lot more responsive, it reminds me a lot of Burnout Paradise, fast, responsive, and forgiving. Whilst I didn't have an issue with GTA IV's physics, the new physics fit in more with the overall mood of GTA V.
Grand Theft Auto V sets a technical landmark alongside its cultural one. San Andreas is a huge area and the view distance stretches for the entirety of the map, small details obviously load in when you get closer but get up in a plane and you'll be able to see from one end of the map to the other. The game also looks beautiful, one of the best looking games ever made and only one loading screen! The lighting engine, textures and use of colour just makes GTA V a real treat for the eyes, plus every single person in the game has been motion captured making action look realistic and smooth. GTA V sounds great too with some amazing sound design. Voice acting is top notch and the radio soundtrack is great, though not as good as Vice City's.
In short, GTA V is a must own game. It is not just a Grand Theft Auto, it takes everything Rockstar have ever worked on along with a lot of great ideas from other games and puts them all together. GTA V is the ultimate open world game, its faults are so few and far between that they become so insignificant compared to the rest of the game. As soon as the game finished I wanted to go back for more. If you don't already own it, do yourself a favour and buy GTA V because I can guarantee that even if you aren't a fan of the series, there will be something you will love in GTA V.
In short, GTA V is a must own game. It is not just a Grand Theft Auto, it takes everything Rockstar have ever worked on along with a lot of great ideas from other games and puts them all together. GTA V is the ultimate open world game, its faults are so few and far between that they become so insignificant compared to the rest of the game. As soon as the game finished I wanted to go back for more. If you don't already own it, do yourself a favour and buy GTA V because I can guarantee that even if you aren't a fan of the series, there will be something you will love in GTA V.