It’s been over five years since the release of GTA IV, critically acclaimed to be one of the greatest games of all time. Now, on the same generation of consoles, rises it’s successor, promising a larger map, more customizability and more shenanigans. Can Rockstar pull off the improbable and surpass it’s predecessor as the greatest open world game of our time?
Gone is the simple, one protagonist approach to open world games, Rockstar have instead opted for three unique characters, each able to be switched up on the fly. First up is Franklin, a street hood with grand aspirations of making a change in the world. Stifled by living with his Auntie; his ambition choked due to no real opportunities, Franklin is constantly looking for a way out. Perhaps Michael can help? A retired criminal living the presumed highlife, a large house, expensive cars and lounging by his swimming pool does little to cloud his inner turmoil. Looking peachy on the outside, it’s quickly realised that this is a place where Michael does not belong, his unravelling family and mysterious past also point clues towards his pent up, stressed demeanour. Enter Trevor, the obligatory nut job whom has had past dealings with Michael; met later on, you’ll discover the conflicting feelings of which contribute to his all encompassing dark side.
Characterisation is paramount in a GTA game, it’s the narrative and throwaway personalities Rockstar creates that make for such an engaging time. Meeting the characters for the first time will create a surround of ambivalence for the player. Not instantly dislikeable, but somewhere between anti-hero’s and criminals probably sums it up. The endearing, forever gangster archetype of Franklin is the most relatable in terms of previous games in the series. Whereas Trevor comes across, rightfully so, as a deranged psychotic madman with strong ideals in loyalty and a careless attitude to the wellbeing of himself, and more importantly, the others around him. Along the way, you will indubitably come across many other, larger than life characters serving as main mission carries or just random encounters on the streets.
The humour is back; not in the slightly subtle way of GTA IV either, simple pedestrians will often hurl you a comment should you upset them, radio shows are full of gleefully unnecessary topics and pretty much the name of any company is a satirical pun upon it’s real life counterpart. Of course the crowning jewel in Grand Theft Auto games are the characters, the situations and the circumstantial occurrences of what only an open world game can provide. Trevor the Canadian nutter is always a source of raw entertainment due to the switching player mechanic. At any point in free-roam you may swap to a different character and depending on the time passed, you’ll often get an insight into what that character got up to in the mean time. With Michael, it could be dropping his daughter off shopping, whilst Franklin may be stuffing his face. It’s never that simple with Trevor however. At one point after switching to him, I caught him on a beach, in a dress, starting a fight with five bodybuilders. A fight I had to finish I might add.
Getting back to a revitalised San Andreas and exploring it in glorious HD is one of the main draws here. Promising to be the largest open world Rockstar have ever built is also a tasty prospect. The map is probably the star of the show yet, if anything is a little underutilised. There are numerous well detailed and visually arresting areas of the map that missions never require you to go anywhere near. A prison with an instant wanted level, a hydro dam, military base and many others are all largely ignored for some reason. Streets are well populated with varied character models, voices and personalities. Workers will perform tasks related to their job roles and the usual activities such as hitchhiking or hanging out are performed with visual accuracy. New animations like weightlifting, relaxing on balconies and dog walking all add to the already substantiated look and feel of the world.
Missions often involve the standardised formula of driving to a place, performing the requisite task followed by driving home again. It’s not quite so black and white this time around however with the new heists lending variation in spades. Preparation is where most of the fun is at, selecting which approach you should go for, be it loud and dangerous or quiet and stealthy can change the preceding missions rather a lot. Some will involve stealing specific vehicles and modifying them, whilst others may incorporate scoping the place out. Being by far the most engaging and rewarding missions on the game, it’s a little bit of a shame to note that there isn’t a large amount of them to play. Sure you can replay them like most missions on the game, but it’s not quite the same the second time through.
Much like the Ballad of Gay Tony, GTA V has a ranking system after each mission with different criteria to match to get the top medal. You can’t see the often cryptic checkboxes until you’ve completed the mission at least once, making it not ruin your first playthrough by doing something you wouldn’t normally attempt, which is nice. Leaderboards track your progress against your friends, giving you a little extra to strive for when in your ‘completionist mode’.
Police and the wanted system have been altered up for this one too, cops operate on a line of sight mechanic now instead of the ‘big blue circle’ approach meaning you can lose them in alleyways and under bridges. The downside being that there is some occasional spider-sense going on at times and they will miraculously know who and where you are instantaneously. Unfortunately, there is also little use in all five stars as, if you do fancy going on a little rampage, you’ll be dead long before you can evade them.
RPG-lite mechanics are also integrated, but to a lesser extent than in San Andreas. Stamina can be increased to a literally infinitesimal amount, whilst driving, flying and using special powers can also be improved via doing the associated tasks. The only issue being that your health, increased via levelling up the strength stat, even in post game, never amounts to anything near what you had in previous games. Even after completing all quests, you can still be killed in two shots, leading to some occasionally flummoxing insta-deaths.
The radio stations are back with hilarious dialogue and obscenely famous tracks to drive too fast to. An odd design choice being the lack of a true metal radio station such as every other GTA title has had. Classic rock and punk is catered for amply, but no metal? Voice work is exemplary as usual; characters sound believable in both their accents and actual script-work. Combined with some of the best graphics of this generation creates a truly immersive experience.
Money can be a tight experience at times, very little money is earned throughout, save for the few heists that pay big. Money is best earned from the stock markets, yet without clear guidance upon investments, combined with the inability to replay missions for monetary gains could potentially lead to a duff save file.
Some small oversights and a frustratingly low amount of health at post game casts a slight shadow upon the countless, enormously impressive details that all make up for one of the greatest games you’ll ever play. Again.
Reviewed on PS3, also available on Xbox 360.
