Grand Theft Auto V

What they all look like before I made them look like men!

I have written about Grand Theft Auto a lot recently and I apologise to those of you that dislike the games.  I have had an absolute blast however and I’m currently in that warm glowy space that you only find after spending over 100 hours roaming around huge open worlds completing 1000’s of missions and tasks. The finisher completer part of my personality is so sickeningly happy right now it’s friends have stopped hanging around with it as it’s getting too preachy.

All that to say that I really enjoyed GTA V. More than I was expecting to after grinding my way through its predecessor and it’s DLC’s and finding myself teetering on the edge of open world burnout . I do think that my recent time with the previous highest rated game ever gives me a distinct advantage in looking at how the series has evolved and where the beginning of that evolution started.
Red Dead Redemption in my eyes was the best game it could possibly be while still using a single character as it’s focus. The script, direction and tone of the cut scenes and interactions between characters were excellent and showed a massive leap in quality from GTA IV and it’s DLC’s.

So manly

It was in those DLC’s however that showed the beginning stages of where GTA V would head. Giving players three characters to spend time with, watch as their stories evolve and they take on challenges alone and as a group. How they interact and intertwine brings another layer to GTA V which the others lacked. The dialogue is the funniest it’s ever been, especially with Trevor with many moments that not only made me laugh, but also feel slightly guilty for laughing, which in my opinion is the best kind. The Graphics are amazing for the size of the world that you’re using. The cars look and sound individual which is another feat considering the amount on offer. You may get a repetition of cars while in traffic but really no more than you would get in real life. There may be a few more Ferraris than in real life but that’s because I life in the south west of England and not Los Angeles. I really don’t think there’s anything more I can say to persuade you to buy this game that you haven’t heard in dozens of other places already. Just buy it and experience one of the top ten games of this current generation of gaming.

Also very manly

Now the online section of the game which has been ripped apart by most people due to connection issues etc. I haven’t experienced any major problems at all during my time with it. I’ve logged on and played solo, joining missions with random players and not had any problems. I’ve played in a party with friends and we’ve connected to each others missions easily. Maybe my internet is really good. Maybe the amount of players in the UK is less. Either way I feel a little guilty getting the in game money as I didn’t experience any inconvenience. It’s not stopped me buying a sweet pad over looking Los Santos and a hyper fast electric super car to drive around as the sun sets in the desert towns to the north.

I’ve never played anything close to an MMO as I have a distinct dislike of anything fantasy or science fiction based which has really taken up almost the entire market up until now. I like my worlds to be more reality based and the fact that my friend and crew mate Luke could drive up next to me, beep his horn for me to get in his car for us to go off on an adventure was one of the best moments I’ve had in a video game for some reason.
The Heists are still not there which I actually think is sensible. If they’d given us the heists before the next gen consoles had released people would have completed them and never looked at their 360’s again. As  soon as they are added I’ll be pulled from whatever console/game I’m playing to plan and execute a mission with my crew mates. At the moment there is still tonnes to do and I could see Rockstar expanding the world to allow for more expensive houses cities to freshen things every so often. As long as some of those updates include track packs I’ll be happy because I’ll soon become sick of the radio stations. Has there ever been a more first world problem than “The huge track list of licensed songs that I listen to when driving my digital car around a digital world is getting old”?

The Manliest

They also have to be working on a free to play GTA Online download for the next gen consoles. Charge us for hats and you’ll make money. The size of the game world would be huge and beautiful and everyone will play it and never need to play another game again.

 

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