California knows how to party

 

By Richard Riosa

From the minute you pick up the controller until the moment you put it down, you know you’re taking part in something truly special.

Fans have been waiting over five years to see if Rockstar North is capable of topping 2008’s brilliant Grand Theft Auto IV. For the eleventh entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto V is everything fans have ever wanted from a GTA games.

The game has already posted sales of $800 million after just its first full day of sales and surpassed the $1 billion mark after only three days, making it the fastest selling entertainment product in history.

The time and effort put into this game is illustrated immediately by the largest open-world map ever developed. The sunny west coast city of Los Santos and its surrounding Blaine County return from GTA San Andreas and have been expanded and flushed out in a way that makes each location feel like its own unique, living, breathing neighbourhood.

Many fans will remember the stretches of land in San Andreas that were basically empty space. This is simply not the case with GTA V. There is something to do everywhere you go in Los Santos, from clothing shopping to golfing and tennis. Bored with the main missions? Go compete in a triathlon in Del Perro Beach, test the links at Los Santos Golf Club in Rockford Hills, or play darts in the county town of Sandy Shores.

GTA V’s map has been densely populated with side quests, easter eggs and hidden areas to explore beyond just the usual story missions and free-roam mayhem.

Everything has been improved over the previous game. The auto-aim is sharper and more precise and the cover mechanics feel much more fluid and realistic. In addition to the classic all-out firefights, an element of stealth is now present in the game with silent takedowns.

Driving also now feels more based in real physics, with collisions causing visual damage to the vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, there is a large variety in the game which includes cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs, helicopters, planes and even an unlockable blimp. Each land vehicle in the game can be fully customized and upgraded in any of the custom shops found throughout the map.

Moving on to the main story, it has been no secret leading up to the release that GTA V allows players to switch back-and-forth between three main protagonists. Franklin is a young Los Santos gang member looking for a way out of the gangbanger lifestyle and Michael is a middle-aged former bank robber, now living in the upscale Vinewood neighbourhood with his unfaithful wife, overweight, nerdy son and promiscuous daughter. The final playable character is Michael’s former partner Trevor, a wild, unhinged psychopath who now lives in Blaine County and operates a meth lab.

This risky, innovative decision by Rockstar is really what pushes GTA V’s narrative over the edge and into the territory of greatness. Very rarely has a video game ever been able to fully immerse the player in the story and force them to become emotionally attached to characters like GTA V.

Each of the three playable characters has their own story missions which delve deep into their backstories and slowly allows the player to understand their motives and the opinions they hold. When switching from one character to another, the map pans out and then down onto the new character in a new situation. This creates many great moments throughout the game such as stepping into Franklin’s life as he’s leaving his local medical marijuana dispensary, or Trevor waking up drunk, leaning against a dumpster in a Los Santos alley.

The story picks up nine years after a chaotic prologue sets the roller-coaster tone for the rest of the game. There are many climactic peaks throughout the game in the form of various heist missions. The time between these heists is usually spent setting up for the heist, dealing with other personal business and character growth.

The story uses the three characters brilliantly to give just enough information to the player to make them think they know what’s really going on before the big reveal midway through the game. Everything after this point is damage control and there’s a very real sense of personal growth with each character.

Just months away from the release of the next generation of consoles, Rockstar has managed to deliver one of the defining experiences of the current generation. With a large, expansive map, crisp controls, stunning visuals and an outstanding narrative, GTA V delivers the full package.

It receives a perfect 5/5.