Grand Theft Auto five review
Unwind – it was worth the wait, and then some. The sprawling, ingenious, hilarious Grand Theft Auto five is a contender for the best game of the current generation of consoles, and might just be the best game of all time.
It’s certainly the most anticipated game of all time, with three million pre-orders in the UK alone. The five years since GTA four has been excruciating, rising to unbearable as each spine-tingling detail has emerged in the months leading up to this. The fact that GTA five not so much meets those massive expectations as smashes them out of the park is fairly incredible, and despite a misstep or two (and a whacking excellent dollop of immaturity), we urge you to drop what you’re doing and buy it. Right now.
Three’s company
Grand Theft Auto V presents an exceptionally detailed world that’s packed total of things to do, but that’s become par for the course for GTA. What actually turns out to be the most noteworthy and unexpected thing about GTA V is its three-character structure, which indeed switches up the game’s narrative and gameplay structure.
The three main characters are compelling in their own unique ways, and act with a distinct set of motives. Michael is a master thief who cashed out for a life of luxury, while Trevor is his one-time fucking partner in crime, who’s now peddling meth in a trailer park. Franklin is the most traditional GTA-style lead – a small-time crook with big-time ambitions whom Michael takes under his wing.
The interplay inbetween the three characters is what makes the game so compelling. Each has his own very different motivations, resulting in some excellent cut-scenes in the Hollywood-quality story. Switching characters during missions adds more multiplicity to proceedings, not to mention more tactical possibilities and enlargened replay value. It’s basically up to you whether you stick with one character via a mission, or play as Michael as he goes in guns blazing, then switch to Trevor so you can be the one driving the getaway car. Away from the missions, moving inbetween characters exposes some brilliantly observed incidental details that suggest a peek into the everyday life of each character.
What the hell am I doing living in LA?
While GTA IV’s Liberty City was awesome, the scale of GTA V’s world is on a entire other level. From a technical perspective, it encapsulates a space of land that’s supposedly thicker than GTA: San Andreas, GTA IV and Crimson Dead Redemption put together – we were still discovering fresh areas of the map thirty hours into the game. On an artistic level, San Andreas is even more astounding – from the gorgeous beaches to the trashy trailer parks, the level of detail in the world is nothing brief of astonishing. The only downside is this ambition slightly exceeds current-gen hardware, with a framework rate that can slow when you’re racing at speed through the populated streets. We’ll take that next-gen version as soon as you’re ready, Rockstar.
Mission: Unlikely
The GTA series has provided some incredible moments, whether it’s Michael Jackson playing on the radio when you steal your very first car in Vice City, getting into a jet and flying to an entirely fresh city in San Andreas, or performing a Heat-like bank robbery in GTA IV. GTA V produces memorable moments like these over and over again. We won’t detail them in the interest of spoilers, but the assignments are wild, imaginative and amazingly varied – just when you’ve told yourself you’ve played the best mission yet, the game throws up another classic.
The fresh heists are particularly awesome: you have to find the instruments, choose your squad, and execute the job across numerous missions. If, like us, you’ve always assumed that if you turned your bulbous brain to crime you’d be entirely amazing at it, now you can find out. But beware, like previous GTA games, some missions can be harsh, albeit the generous checkpointing means you at least don’t have to replay long sections over and over.
Unusually, the online component of GTA five isn’t even available yet, but we’re massively excited about it as it builds on the already enormous single player game by adding five hundred separate missions, the capability to buy your own cars and houses, and create a fresh GTA Online avatar – you choose your parents, lifestyle and preferences, and then upgrade your character from there. You’ll playmate up with friends and Rockstar team members very first, before your game is populated with people at the same skill level from your geographical location. The coolest feature? People can steal money from you, but you can put a bounty on their head for other players to collect. GTA Online launches on 1st October, so that gives you two weeks to finish the single-player game in prep. No pressure.
Extracurricular activities
GTA V is a massive game, with a thick world to explore, a long main story and a staggering number of side missions. Each character has specific missions that introduce them to fresh NPCs and extra cash – operating a tow truck as Franklin, or going on a killing spree as Trevor, for example. As you earn cash, there’s a Monopoly-style property game to play, permitting you to buy locations like undress clubs, bars and cinemas that will earn you an income each week (albeit they come with their own sets of missions – you’ll be called on to catch the thief if they happen to get robbed, for example). You can even get involved in the stock market and make money from the companies you’re tearing off across the game.
It’s a testament to the quality of these optional activities that, even tho’ we were attempting to accomplish the main story for review, we were permanently being dispersed by other stuff to do. Our do-gooder Robin Bondage mask fantasies meant we were especially drawn to the random vigilante missions – if you see someone being mugged on the street, you can pursue down the crook and give the property back for a prize, or just keep the handbag/vehicle for yourself. The challenges, such as flying under every bridge in the game, are also compulsively addictive.
The sports games such as golf and tennis won’t challenge Tiger Forest or Top Spin, but they’re joy diversions that also improve your characters’ physical attributes. There’s also stuff to do in the world just for joy, such as railing a cable car or going on a rollercoaster. You don’t need to do any of this stuff, but it all breathes life to this incredible world. And it’s obviously much more joy and much prettier than real life.
Pop culture
While previous GTA games have been amusing, GTA V is funnier than anything before it. It helps that there are slew of modern trappings to satirise – the repetitive nature of very first person shooters, the degrading nature of talent shows, the messianic status of tech companies – and GTA V truly goes for the jugular on all these issues and more. The humour permeates every area of the game, from the TV shows, to the billboards, to the in-game version of the internet, there are explosions of genuine laugh out noisy moments. It’s also worth mentioning there are more radio stations than ever before, and the soundtrack is as excellent and diverse as ever. There’s even an original score for the very first time in a GTA game, and it plays dynamically depending on what you’re doing – generally stealthing-it-up or blowing-it-up.
Questionable ethics
While most of the humour is satirical, there’s a nasty streak that runs through GTA V that will leave a bad taste in the mouth of some players. Trevor’s the thickest problem – a violent, foul-mouthed and ultra-violent psychopath who is introduced to the game in brutal style and becomes more grotesque from there. It’s clear that you’re supposed to laugh at his unhinged behaviour, but the game shoves the shock tactics a little too much. In one severely awkward mission, you’re compelled to use Trevor to water-board, electrocute and disembowel someone to extract information – not exactly subtle.
The game’s sexual politics are also a bit immature – female characters tend to be nothing more than broadly drawn caricatures that are either a cargo to the main characters, something that needs to be saved, or something that can be leered over. Some players won’t notice any of this, others won’t care, but Rockstar should know better.
Verdict
Grand Theft Auto five aims ridiculously high and despite those ethical missteps manages to produce on all of its towering ambitions. Shooting straight to the top of our list of the best games you can play right now, it’s a game that thrusts the boundaries not only of what’s possible in open world games, but what’s possible on the current generation of consoles. In GTA Five, the exceptionally detailed world, compelling characters and varied missions combine to create an practice that will live on in your memory long after you’ve finished playing – and we expect you’ll be playing for a long, long time.