Grand Theft Auto 5
Producer: Rockstar Games
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Rating: Mature
Genre: Action-adventure
Party of Five
Written by Jesse Seilhan
There are fewer franchises built for public outcry and addictive gameplay than Grand Theft Auto. In the five years since the last game and over a decade since the revolutionary GTA III, there have been countless rip-offs, competitors, and shameless attempts to recreate an open-world crime simulator. Rockstar took their time and developed a game that not only responds to the prior game’s criticism, but pushes the genre forward by eliminating the pitfalls of prior titles and streamlining a lot of the game’s freewheeling. Gone are the RC races and micromanaging, instead you have sharper shooting, better physics, and greater mission variety. Rockstar tends to create these games as an homage to both Hollywood films and the city itself, lampooning the wacky personalities that fill up the greater Los Angeles area. The attention to detail, the grandiose story, and the freedom to do just about anything you want makes for the best Grand Theft Auto since the initial PS2 offering.
Rockstar took their time and crafted a world unlike anything else in videogames. The amount of minute detail in the world around you is second-to-none, as even a game like Skyrim or Saints Row relies on repetition to fill in the dark corners of the universe. GTAV breathes life into every non-playable character, every building, and every random occurrence that pops up while driving around Los Santos. Audio is always a huge part of the franchise, and beyond the extensive radio station playlist, GTAV is the first game in the franchise to have an original score. This score lets the developers highlight certain parts of stressful missions and gives them an even deeper level of intensity. The radio stations still have the classic talk radio shows hosts from the prior games and keep up the same sort of commentary on the American way of life, particularly about celebrity culture and American habits. Even further, players can sit down on their couch in-game and watch TV or movies for literally dozens of hours. Add in playable rounds of golf, tennis, darts, and the ability to take your dog on walks in order to find hidden spaceship parts, and you have so much content you might be torn on which activity deserves the majority of your time.
The biggest difference between prior GTA’s and this one is the ability to play three different protagonists. Michael is the retired criminal living a life he hates in the upper hills, Franklin is the gangster from Grove Street that wants more out of life than petty theft and stealing cars, while Trevor is the most insane, vile, and hilarious character Rockstar has ever created. Once the game gets going, you have the ability to freely swap between all three dudes while free roaming throughout the world. Each has their own missions and storyline, but often play with one another during some of the larger portions of the games, particularly during the expansive heist missions. These require planning on the player’s part, choosing from a host of side characters that will be your wheel man, hacker, and guman while you try to rob a bank, hold up a jewelry store, or steal government secrets. Once the plan has been agreed upon, you can attack it in a few ways, often times setting yourself up with a fast getaway car or some extra weaponry before the shootout begin. While there are only six of these mega-missions in the game, they are certainly the most exciting pieces of the puzzle and hopefully future DLC will contain a few more.
If you are on the fence about purchasing this game, you should not be. It is definitely one of the best games of this generation and will be in hot contention for Game of the Year come this December. The problems inherent in with open-world games have been addressed for the most part and Rockstar has delivered the most fully realized world ever seen in a virtual setting. It is a benchmark for gaming and the perfect way to kill an afternoon.