'GTA V': Deeper and Better Than Ever

What's This?

By Chelsea Stark2013-09-16 14:05:54 UTC

Mashable Choice highlights the products and services we've tested and would recommend to others. Consider it Liked, Favorited, +1'ed and Pinned.

Even though you're a criminal, you can still have a sweet life. That's the message of Grand Theft Auto V, the most beautiful, complex and story-driven entry of the franchise.

There is something mythical and larger than life about the Grand Theft Auto series. Each game launches with a storm of excitement from fans and detractors who speculate how the latest game can top the extreme action, violence and spectacle of the previous title.

Grand Theft Auto V bests it predecessors — not because of cheap, tawdry tricks, but because it offers an expansive game with intriguing characters and activities that appeal to many play styles. Los Santos — a fictionalized, semi-satirical version of Los Angeles and surrounding Southern California — is a massive playground that offers ample excursion opportunities, criminal or otherwise.

A Triple Threat Generates TV-Caliber Drama

Grand Theft Auto was not known for its storytelling until GTA IV, and the tradition continues in this fifth installment. Through the main story thread, you'll be introduced to three characters that you'll eventually be able to switch between at will during free play. Each of their unique abilities will come in handy during certain missions.

The three-character approach almost feels like a television drama with diverging storylines instead of a video game with gimmicks.

First, you'll meet Franklin, a young thug trying to escape his neighborhood and regular gang-banging activities. He comes off as the most sympathetic character in the game because half of his exploits are crimes gone wrong after he's pulled into bad situations by friends. His conflict lies in trying to stay loyal to his roots, while avoiding being entangled in yet another drug deal gone awry.

Then there is Michael, a retired bank robber who's set for life in a nicer part of Los Santos. But he's not settling into retirement well and routinely visits a therapist to help him cope with his addiction to chaos. He's — by far — the most fascinating and complex of the three protagonists, and every time I saw a glimpse into his murky past I wanted to learn more. Once he connects with Franklin, he takes interest in his youth and talents, wanting to shape him into a better criminal, which as you can deduce brings him back into the crime game.

Trevor, described by Rockstar as the most psychotic Grand Theft Auto character ever, rounds out the trio. While being a loose cannon makes for violent and deranged gameplay, it initially makes Trevor a one-dimensional, bottomless well of rage. That changes somewhat as his past is revealed, but I was least interested in his story.

Changing between these characters is just as fun as Rockstar promised. Each one has his own strengths and weaknesses, his own stomping grounds in Los Santos and plenty of solo missions. If you get bored with what one is doing, you're just two clicks away from snapping into focus in a completely different world. Usually you'll find that character in the middle of one of his hobbies; I found Michael at the country club, Franklin throwing a ball to Chop, his Rottweiler, and Trevor passed out in his underwear in the desert.

Los Santos the Beautiful

The city of Los Santos could almost be considered GTA V's fourth character because the game world is dynamic and never dull. Los Santos does for L.A. what Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City did for New York, but on a much grander scale.

The game's map was previously leaked, so gamers got a glimpse of how massive the world is. Yet that hardly prepares you for the amazing experience of actually exploring Los Santos and the surrounding smaller cities. Grand Theft Auto V makes you pre-load 7.8 gigs of content onto your console before you start playing, and the game has significant load times. But when you drive from one end of the game world to the other without encountering a single load screen, you'll realize it was worth it. It's a marvel what Rockstar has been able to do with current generation consoles, even as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 loom on the horizon.

The game world will delight you with small moments of cool design and big wow-factor surprises. Here's just a few of the cool things that struck me as I explored the world:

• 
  

  The radio stations of Grand Theft Auto are always memorable, but V offers a fantastic mix of modern hits and classics. I was especially impressed with the hardcore punk and classic country stations. The most interesting surprise is, since the game world is so big, you can lose signal from some stations and pick up others.

  
  


• 
  

  Southern California is nothing without its massive spaghetti bowl of freeways, and GTA V captures that headache perfectly. Thanks to this game, you too can experience the L.A. traffic madness for yourself, a real feat considering how many cars (with driver AI) are rendered on the screen at once.

  
  


• 
  

  Speaking of cars, you can drive every type, as before. The cars in this edition much more closely resemble their real-world counterparts. If you're tired of cars, you can always hijack a bus, 18-wheeler, tow truck, motorcycle, four-wheeler, armored car, bi-plane, speedboat, jet ski, bicycle and more.

  
  


• 
  

  Want to play golf? Sure. Ride a Ferris wheel and check out the sunset from the top? No problem. Los Santos is brimming with diversions around every turn, and a lot are surprisingly tame. You can watch an arty foreign film or go hiking in the wilderness. The game hasn't lost its edge though: There are still plenty of strip clubs and seedy places to visit. Some of the late game activities can be surprisingly complex, too, as you learn the ins and outs of the stock market, property management and arms smuggling.

  
  


• 
  

  One of those activities is hunting, and Los Santos' animals do not mess around. I'm embarrassed to say I was eaten by a mountain lion after I rolled my Jeep in the desert.

  
  


• 
  

  You'll see lots of other crime happen around Los Santos, and you can decide to get involved or not. These random encounters can happen as you cruise through the city, so keep your eyes peeled.

  
  


• 
  

  Anyone who has lived in or visited the Los Angeles area will be especially tickled by GTA V's jabs at real life. There's a hot governor's race, and one of the candidates is a former actor and stuntman. There are complaints about the city's lack of football team. There are several celebrities in "Vinewood" that you can interact with, usually by making their lives worse. It's clear some of the game writers have a love/hate relationship with the city.

  
  

Better Mechanics Than Ever

While previous GTA titles never lacked open-world creativity, they didn't always do much to improve games' main mechanics: the running, driving and shooting that are the signature of any Grand Theft Auto game. That all changes with this edition.

Grand Theft Auto V's combat system improved greatly, and shooting feels natural and easy. It seems likely that Rockstar learned from last year's Max Payne 3 because weapon targeting and firing is snappy. The game will even auto-lock on a target once you spring out of cover, making fights against waves of enemies a joy to participate in. The world is chock full guns and modifications to suit any style of play, too, though I often found myself happy with whichever weapons I picked up.

Also important to note for combat is your characters are much more fragile than in previous games. You won't be able to be a super hero and absorb bullets, and that encourages more strategic play and cover use than in previous GTA titles.

Car handling also enhanced significantly. Grand Theft Auto always relied on great driving, but V tightens the controls and upgrades the car physics. While the game isn't so realistic that it isn't fun, you'll still have to think about how real cars handle when you drive, thus sharp turns at 90 miles an hour take finesse. Each car model handles differently, so it's fun to experiment and find ones you like or to modify your favorite cars.

Building Your Criminal Empire

The three characters stories' are primarily told through missions. Some missions are solo affairs and some intertwine. The solo story missions are as varied as they come and all relate to that character's motivations. You could go from Trevor attacking a rival meth lab to Michael rescuing his daughter from a boat full of porn stars. The great thing about the missions is they keep layering on new gameplay elements, so you'll never feel like you've just done something similar.

The most interesting missions are the heists performed by all three characters. These require planning: The player must select how they want to complete a mission, then hire a crew to help with the job. GTAV asks for a lot of risk-versus-reward decision making here because hiring less-experienced crew means they'll want a smaller cut, but they're more likely to screw up their portion of the job. Paying for good people will mean losing a bigger cut of the the spoils, but then there's less chance you'll have to deal with as many cops later.

The missions also have you switch between different characters to experience the highest points of action from their points of view. You might inhabit Michael during the heist but Franklin during the getaway drive (his special skill) then Trevor during any confrontations with of groups, since he can "rampage" for a short time and soak up a lot of damage while in a rage-induced state. These are just some examples, and it's really fun to see what creative settings the game might toss you into.

Characters have individual side missions called "Strangers and Freaks," which are also accompanied by cut-scenes and some story. These are some of the most interesting and memorable slices of gameplay. Some are so out of this world that they seem like they could have come from tongue-in-cheek open-world title Saints Row IV . I'd highly recommend tracking down any '?' symbols that denote these missions as soon as you see them on your map.

You can also pick up tasks through your smartphone, which each character carries. You'll receive calls, texts and emails, all containing timely missions or incentives to visit activities and stores.

Conclusion

Grand Theft Auto V raises the bar again for realistic, modern open-world games, and redefines how truly "open" that world can be. You'll be confronted with so many choices in the game that your biggest problem will be figuring out what to do first. Rockstar plans to support the game with an multiplayer add-on, coming in October, which means players will get mileage out of the title for a long time. The game is both beautiful and immersive, and the story is one of the best Rockstar has ever presented. Multiple characters bring a new depth to gameplay, and it's something I hope other games mimic in the future. It's amazing what the franchise has grown into while still keeping to its violent, sociopathic roots, and it makes me excited to see what a next-generation Grand Theft Auto will look like.

Grand Theft Auto V is out Tuesday for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $59.99.

The Lowdown

The Good

• 
  

  The richest, most interesting story of any Grand Theft Auto game.

  
  


• 
  

  A game world that takes your breath away with its diversity and attention to detail.

  
  


• 
  

  Ridiculously fun gameplay.

  
  

The Bad

• 
  

  The game pushes current-gen hardware to its limit, so expect long load times when you first start the game or fail a mission.

  
  


• 
  

  No PC version, which is a shame since the game would look even better on modern video cards.

  
  


• 
  

  Generally solid AI can flake out at the worst times during gameplay.

  
  

Images: Rockstar Games

Topics: Apps and Software, Entertainment, reviews, Gaming, grand theft auto V, Mashable Choice, rockstar games