If you’re an oversensitive type who likes their fun safe and politically correct then you may want to steer clear of Grand Theft Auto V, it’s the type of game that glorifies violence, has tons of sexual innuendo (and straight up sex), makes jokes at the expense of race and often has you exploring the seedy and morally dark aspects of the criminal underworld with no other justification than this is what the game is about. If this doesn’t sound like the kind of squeaky clean fun you thought you were in for with Grand Theft Auto, then I would strongly recommend another game such as Dora Saves the Mermaids.
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 20 years and know exactly what Grand Theft Auto is on the other hand, then good news, this is a return to true form for the series.
My key problem with GTA has been that the games have always felt a bit overextended. Rockstar would present us with gameplay experiences that, while they felt as though they were trying to innovate, they never managed to nail down any one mechanic. San Andreas gave us a wealth of things to do and explore, all sorts of minigames and RPG stats to build, but combat felt off and the graphics even at the time were poor. GTAIV had similar faults in combat and driving. I couldn’t help but feel that maybe if Rockstar didn’t bother with scripting base jumping or little NPC events they could focus on making the core game tighter. I was incredibly pleased then when I began to play GTAV and it truly feels they nailed their core features, melee combat, driving, shooting all feel not only good, but pretty great, a quicksave function means you’re now not always running to a safe house, not to mention graphics that are really of this gen. Not only is the core gameplay build tight, but there’s a truly fun world, engaging story and well crafted characters behind it.
Often when a GTA title starts they drop you into the middle of the world, give you one basic objective and say “here you go, get to it.” This game starts out in a far more linear, story driven fashion. This isn’t bad by any means. It’s the start of a bank robbery gone awry, not only taking you through the game’s core mechanics from the fixed Red Dead style combat to the much tuned up driving, but also giving you a strong sense for the characters Michael and Trevor. One is trying to keep a lid on a situation gone bad, the other does nothing but antagonize, making things worse. This intense opening sets the game up more like a solid action movie, finally settling you into the present day and giving you the first real story mission featuring Franklin. It’s a great way to not only introduce the world, but get the players fully engrossed in the characters.
The characters are where the true shine of the game comes from. Franklin is a thug in the dwindling age of street gangs trying to make a little extra cash and get away from the crackheads and stuck-in-the-past gangsters of his block. Michael is a man run into the ground by his family and looking to reclaim the excitement of his youth. Trevor… Well Trevor is a different story altogether, and we’ll get to him in a minute. Each man feels like they are fed up and looking for bigger, better things, fast times and a shit ton of money. It might take a certain character to unlock specific missions, Franklin may obviously be the only guy who can engage in Grove Street Family missions, and Michael will often have to rescue his son, daughter or wife from a bad situation, but other NPCs and mission types populate their worlds too. A “Strangers and Freaks” type mission set up will have one of the three leads meet brand new mission givers exclusive to them, such as Franklin’s run in with a Paparazzo or Michael with a competition obsessed middle aged woman. Even down to customization options, though each character can use the same stores they’ll have different clothing looks and hairstyles that best fit them. It’s not only their situations and social circles that bring them to life, but their characterization and voice actors. This is some of the best voice acting I’ve ever heard in a video game, and the talents behind our loveable thugs do a great job bringing them to life.
The character switching mechanic also adds a whole new level to the gameplay. One of the features Rockstar advertised is that these characters will go on with their lives without you at the helm, and truly when I would switch to Franklin I’d find him playing a game of fetch with his dog Chop or hanging out with Lamar, while Michael could always be found in some messed up situation drinking away his regrets or stumbling out of a motel room, leaving the player to fill in the blanks as to what happened. They also have a pretty great interplay with one another, where Michael and Trevor have an antagonistic relationship, Michael and Franklin give the entire game a pretty “buddy cop” like vibe that has you always wanting to see the two with one another. The final little cherry is the stats and special abilities of the three characters. Franklin has a higher driving skill, and a special ability that lets him slow time while in a vehicle to drive with a bit more precision, while Michael gets top notch aim and Trevor experiences temporary near-invincibility.
As interesting as Franklin and Michael are, Trevor has one hell of a reintroduction into the game. His psychotic passions, blood lust and business dealings make Tommy Vercetti look like a Nobel Peace Price winner. GTA has never had such a monster before, and I find it pretty incredible to play as this guy, the game already gave me an interesting narrative and gameplay structure that had me wanting to push on to the next thing, but Trevor was a guy I wanted to play just because I wanted to see what he was truly capable of and what the story would do with him next. For a game series with a rich history of protagonists, these three add a truly new flavor.
Now let’s discuss Heists. Heists are nothing short of rewarding, as you call all the shots, you need to pick your own crew and as I found in cutting corners with my hacker and gunman in my first heist mission, there really is a strong question as to whether taking a little more in your cut is worth picking a slightly unskilled team member who could mess up the mission for everyone. It’s not as easy as “Spend more money for better manpower”, because the more heists characters go on the more they level up in their abilities, so there’s an RPG mechanic to consider as well… Maybe it’s worth taking that slightly green driver on this mission if it means they’ll be better on the next one. Usually the kind of heist you pull comes down to a binary A or B choice, will you go in fast and loud or slow and stealth? While that’s more of a playstyle choice, you remain truly invested in the mission as every step of setup is left up to you. If you decide you need guns on the heist, you’re going to have to steal them, if it’s knockout gas, you’re going to have to hijack a chemical truck. The game makes sure you’re invested in each step leading up to your big payday. When your heist mission is finally ready to go, you’ll find yourself constantly switching between the three leads and utilizing their special skills to the finest. As I made off with the jewels from my first heist racing through the tunnels of Los Santos with Franklin, it felt like I was playing nothing short of The Italian Job. Then came the money, as I hit strip clubs, clothing shops and wondered “So what target do we hit next?”
Shoulda hired this last, then maybe our hacker wouldn’t have screwed the pooch.
While the heists are the centerpiece of the game there are plenty other things to do. Rockstar has created a rich world here, with random events always occurring independent of your character. Between missions I found myself taking in movies, watching the TV (which is better than ever), going on amusement park rides, playing golf, or just walking around waiting for something interesting to happen. It’s essentially a game where you never get to feel bored. Mission structure is also fully enhanced, gone are the days where you’ll do 20 or so missions for the same character, keeping it to two or three until the game moves on to the next big thing. The three characters say they want to be in business for themselves and it feels like they truly do end up in business for themselves. Missions now feel much more varied and fresh, as opposed to 4’s structure of “Drive here and shoot this”, they even have their own ambient soundtrack which adds to the overall cinematic feel of the game. Quite a few missions manage to feel “big”… Over the top even. Not in the Saint’s Row “sky dive a tank out of a plane on to zombies” kind of way, but its own special “These situations are believable but still utterly insane” kind of way. It’s a game that crafts its own personality in a day and age where each sandbox game increasingly needs its own little “hook” to get gamers to sink their teeth into it.
My annoyances were slight. GTA is a game that can’t resist giving you a bum car or two in a mission that you have to protect, flying still isn’t my favorite thing in the world especially with controls that might be a tad too sensitive on the landing. There’s also a bit of Social Club interactivity that prevented me from accessing all the features I was promised, such as uploads with each character’s camera phone an iphone app that’s meant to let me train my dog outside of the game. None of these annoyances however were enough to break the game or drag down my overall experience, and I’m hoping the Social Club activity is fixed with Rockstar addressing their player load. So I find it all negligible at best.
I threw this in, because why not?
This is probably one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had, not just this year, but since my first NES when I was 8. It’s a GTA that, at least to me, has fully embraced the potential the series was always attempting to reach but never quite nailed. This one is a hit.
