Five years after Niko Bellic’s trials and tribulations in Liberty City, Rockstar’s adaption of the Big Apple in GTA IV, the developer has finally brought gamers back to the sunny, colorful west coast, where players take control of three characters, each with their own well-crafted storyline as they engage in their less than legal activities around the city of Los Santos, San Andreas, Rockstar’s adaption of Los Angeles. The end result is one of the best, last games on the 360 and PlayStation 3.
The three playable characters show stark contrasts in attitude and lifestyles, all adding to the fun of the game, as well as the authenticity. From the onset of the game players start with Franklin, a young gun, small time criminal who now tries to make a more “legitimate” name and position for himself in Los Santos. The plot later leads us to meet Michael, a retired former bank robber dealing with the chronic pain of his dysfunctional family and mid-life crisis, and finally Trevor, Michael’s once-longtime friend and the metaphorical crazy uncle of the game. Each character has unique events that occur in their lives, and their own missions, many of which tie into the life events of the others.
It seems concept artists at Rockstar finally found their pastels and markers again, because GTA V is a colorful, vibrant game that conveys a believable, if idealized visage of the west coast city. Gone are the muted matte gray colors that saturated “Grand Theft Auto IV,” flushed out by the strong primary colors that come with the introduction of palm trees, ocean views and beaches. Additionally, the game explodes with minute yet well-defined detail in places you would never expect – a great example of this is the cornucopia of coral lining the floor of the ocean in some areas. Besides the visual detail, great care was obviously taken into nearly every moment of the game, including voiceovers. The characters engage in small-talk between missions that is usually engaging and interesting to listen to, and fleshes out not only the plot of the story, but gives players a good feel for the relationships that each character has with their friends and acquaintances. Single player is a solid, well rounded environment providing plenty for gamers to find, explore and experience and offers several hours of action even after the main storyline winds to a close.
There has been a significant upgrade to controls in GTA V, particularly in combat. Switching from target to target is much easier and smoother in GTA V than in preceding games, particularly on default settings. Although aim assist is noticeable and many ridiculous shots seem relatively too easy to pull off, it seems a necessary evil at times only due to the sheer torrent of enemies that will attack the player almost unendingly in certain missions, or during police pursuits. However, If there is one genuine complaint about controls, it is that helicopters are and continue to be frustratingly annoying to fly and land at times, even after leveling up a player’s flying skill to the limit.
Multiplayer activities are amusing and varied, but not always as deep as they seem they should be. Furthermore, dropping in and out of lobbies to party people to engage in events can become increasingly tedious over the course of time.
The multiplayer is fun by most counts, but still one of the most frustrating areas of the game due to the sheer amount of time it takes to unlock many of the more powerful objects and weaponry. Parties can become unbalanced, especially for the new, unsuspecting players who can occasionally become riddled with Uzi bullets after an innocent trip to the in-game clothing store (Admittedly, this was a personal experience.) All of this taken into account, GTA Online is fun and has the capacity to offer a lot to the players, but takes a lot of patience and determination before players can reap and all of the offerings it encompasses. Playing with friends can significantly lower the obvious feeling of how much time is spent trying to level up in online mode, and regardless of that, playing with friends significantly multiplies the fun. After all, what’s the point of robbing convenience stores and committing senseless drive-bys if you can’t do them with your friends?
Overall, most gamers will find GTA V to have been well worth the long wait between console releases. With great graphics, a multitude of activities and missions and a solid, if sometimes tedious multiplayer experience, many gamers can rest assured they’ll find many hours of fun waiting for them in Los Santos.
Leave a Reply