Well, I broke the promise to myself of finishing off the rest of the games I own in the GTA franchise before embarking on the latest installment. And, you know what? I'm glad I did.
What a remarkable achievement in the gaming industry.
Seriously, GTA:V stands leaps and bounds above the last game - and, the GTA:IV is a great game (from what I've played). It still incorporates many of the well known and well loved elements of all of its predecessors (the driving, the action, the wacky, vulgar characters all in a satirical version of popular US cities), but this game has substance like I've never experienced before in a video game. It's story... it's so deep and compelling. And missions aren't stale. You don't always just arrive at the mission start and follow instructions until the level is completed. No. Now you plan heists, assemble crews, and can carry out the mission in multiple ways. Are you into the more Mission Impossible type of stealth maneuver or a Fast and Furious let's just blow shit up till we get what we need method? Every action has it's consequences in both financial gain and the overall development of the characters and their story. But, the story...
As it's well known by now, GTA:V has switched things up big time by now have three main characters that you play between. While I thought this might be too confusing or overwhelming at first, it was actually quite simple to understand and the gameplay switches seamlessly between all three characters. These characters all have their own backgrounds. Most importantly is the relationship between Michael and Trevor (the two white dudes of the trifecta). The game opens during a bank heist in a small, sleepy town somewhere in the Midwest. (By the way, an excellent opening that disguises the introduction to the controls - as all video games must do - in a really compelling and gripping robbery.) The heist goes bad and it leads to the dissolve of Michael and Trevor's relationship. The game then skips forward nearly a decade later where Michael now lives in Los Santos (a rip-off of Los Angeles... literally) under witness protection. When Michael's uncontrollable tempers causes him to accidentally fuck over some wealthy crime boss, he's forced back into what he does best... pulling heists. This eventually leads him to his protege, Franklin, a guy from the hood who's just trying to find a better life for himself (or more profitable life), and an awkward reunion with Trevor who's been living out in the woods north of the city. As the three of them start to form a close-knit team, they are constantly being haunted by the events that transpired from the opening scene, and, well... the answers to what really happened on that fateful night of that bank robbery are gripping.
This post could last forever as there's so much I want to praise this game for. It's beautiful. It's massive. And it's completely immersive. Yeah... it's also long. I think I beat it (at 75% total completion) in maybe 60 hours or something, but - more importantly - I don't want to stop playing! I keep popping back on hoping there's some other mission (which there are) that will keep me involved. Not to mention, the game culminates to the BIG HEIST where you are basically going to to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in gold bars from the national treasury. So, by the time the credits finish, you return to the game with millions of dollars to each character's name and can go around buying up whatever the hell you want. Good times.
I'm curious as what the next game can do to top this one? One guess: space shuttle. There's already some much that you can play with here. Yeah, there are cars and motorcycles, but there's also helicopters, crop-dusters, private jets; there's even one scene where Trevor flies a small prop-plane into the back of huge jumbo jet, highjacks it, then flies up, up, up to the stratosphere as he's being pursued by fighter jets, then bails and parachutes back down to Earth. Holy crap was that a great scene! But, yeah... the only thing I think Rockstar could do next to top this game is incorporate space shuttles or something into the line-up of vehicles you can fuck around with.
There's so much else I want to say, but I'm just going to leave it at this: play this game. If you don't have the time, wait till the holiday season or any point where there are no other commitments on your calendar. Have fun.
This post could last forever as there's so much I want to praise this game for. It's beautiful. It's massive. And it's completely immersive. Yeah... it's also long. I think I beat it (at 75% total completion) in maybe 60 hours or something, but - more importantly - I don't want to stop playing! I keep popping back on hoping there's some other mission (which there are) that will keep me involved. Not to mention, the game culminates to the BIG HEIST where you are basically going to to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in gold bars from the national treasury. So, by the time the credits finish, you return to the game with millions of dollars to each character's name and can go around buying up whatever the hell you want. Good times.
I'm curious as what the next game can do to top this one? One guess: space shuttle. There's already some much that you can play with here. Yeah, there are cars and motorcycles, but there's also helicopters, crop-dusters, private jets; there's even one scene where Trevor flies a small prop-plane into the back of huge jumbo jet, highjacks it, then flies up, up, up to the stratosphere as he's being pursued by fighter jets, then bails and parachutes back down to Earth. Holy crap was that a great scene! But, yeah... the only thing I think Rockstar could do next to top this game is incorporate space shuttles or something into the line-up of vehicles you can fuck around with.
There's so much else I want to say, but I'm just going to leave it at this: play this game. If you don't have the time, wait till the holiday season or any point where there are no other commitments on your calendar. Have fun.
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