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GRAND THEFT AUTO V (PS3)
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Publisher: Rockstar Games.
Developer: Rockstar North. Released: September 2013. Genre: Sandbox. Other versions: X360; PC; PS4; XONE. Posted 16th July 2020. By Tom Clare © 2020 |
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For once, Grand Theft Auto’s fifth instalment didn’t ride in on a wave of controversy or industry-changing technical feats. A Lindsay Lohan lawsuit aside, there were fewer establishment figures, panic-bating newspaper articles and morally-outraged parenting groups (yes, it still carries an 18+ age rating) calling for the game to be pulled from shelves, virtual or otherwise. Why? A few reasons. Sandbox gaming had come a long way since Grand Theft Auto IV, and it would be unfair and unlikely to expect the game to represent as giant a leap as GTAIII or Vice City had taken all those years earlier, at least in technical terms. It’s also because GTAV shows greater signs of nuance and refinement, of moving with the times.
In its pomp, Rockstar loved nothing more than stoking controversy, gifting players a sense of counterculture nihilism, encouraging them to revel in morally questionable cartoon violence. The developer realised that whilst being able to do whatever you please in a big, living city remains hugely edifying to its fan-base, GTA isn’t the only firestarter on the block these days. From a design perspective, this appears to have been acknowledged. Its biggest steps come in small areas. The most noticeable changes are thematic, not technical.
The heists are packed with action and satisfying set-pieces
But fans shouldn’t worry: it’s as outlandish and enjoyable as ever. Rather than relying on lurid, hire-and-kill-prostitutes shock ‘n’ awe or hidden sex mini-games to set chins wagging, GTAV’s biggest successes lie in its unflinching dissection of American consumerist culture and the endless contradictions it so gleefully (and so effectively) sends up. Rockstar isn’t spoiling your fun: they’re just letting you know that they know.
As such, it marks possibly the smallest jump, instalment-by-instalment, yet is one of the finest and most complete-feeling Grand Theft Auto games. Put simply, it sets right what was wrong with GTAIV. Movement and combat controls have undergone much-needed modernisation, whilst the story and its characters are easily the best and most strongly developed the series has offered so far. The action is split between three very different personalities, archetypes fans of the series will be familiar with. The player can switch between them whilst roaming the city, as well as when teaming up for certain missions. Things begin with Franklin, desperate for a break but chained to a small-town neighbourhood existence of unfulfilling vehicle repossessions and amateur robberies that offer greater risks than incentives. Then you have Michael, a retired bank robber who is the living embodiment of the plastic LA (or should that be LS?) dream-life. He frets to a personal psychiatrist, his quick temper eaten away by dysfunctional children and a wife who cheats on him with her tennis coach, her yoga teacher and everyone in-between.
As such, it marks possibly the smallest jump, instalment-by-instalment, yet is one of the finest and most complete-feeling Grand Theft Auto games. Put simply, it sets right what was wrong with GTAIV. Movement and combat controls have undergone much-needed modernisation, whilst the story and its characters are easily the best and most strongly developed the series has offered so far. The action is split between three very different personalities, archetypes fans of the series will be familiar with. The player can switch between them whilst roaming the city, as well as when teaming up for certain missions. Things begin with Franklin, desperate for a break but chained to a small-town neighbourhood existence of unfulfilling vehicle repossessions and amateur robberies that offer greater risks than incentives. Then you have Michael, a retired bank robber who is the living embodiment of the plastic LA (or should that be LS?) dream-life. He frets to a personal psychiatrist, his quick temper eaten away by dysfunctional children and a wife who cheats on him with her tennis coach, her yoga teacher and everyone in-between.
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Then there’s Trevor. A wonderful, terrible, terrifying mish-mash of contradictory philosophies and personality traits, he symbolises the series’ anarchic spirit perfectly: act first, think not at all. A psychopath with a heart of gold and an occasionally volcanic temper, he’s a refreshingly blunt figure in a gaming world desperate for meaning and self-reflection. As he puts it, he enjoys doing bad things and doesn’t feel the need to justify his actions. Los Santos is Trevor’s playground, as much as it is the player’s.
...And what a playground it is. GTAV comes with the more familiar city driving aspects, with a giant toybox’s worth of vehicles that remain a great deal of fun to try out, even if the A.I. still drives rather dozily, swerving across lanes or drifting into junctions. Thanks to a decent cover system and improved shooting sequences, there’s a lot more scope for excitement and variety in the missions. The highlights are unquestionably the heists. Here, the game utilises the excellent character-switching mechanic, as events blend in an exciting spectacle that jumps between the roles of getaway drivers, gunmen and techie saboteurs. There’s nothing quite like seeing a plan come together.
The side missions (Strangers & Freaks) are some of the most varied and riotously satisfying you’ll find in a modern sandbox. GTAV is packed with fun pursuits: stealing a car from a film set that bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain classic Aston Martin, which comes equipped with deployable tacks from the rear as well as an ejector seat. Elsewhere, you’ll pose as a technician in order to infiltrate LifeInvader’s social media offices; a gleeful dressing down of casual work culture, complete with a brainstorming room with young staff doing air-guitar. Some sequences are straight out of an action movie: a car chase around an airport, and an espionage mission that sees you burrowing under a building so as to sneak in undetected via a subterranean tunnel. Trevor gets caught up with an elderly pair’s unhealthy obsession with stalking celebrities, and can do some make-shift border patrolling by tracking down ‘illegals’ whilst in the company of a US patriot who speaks only Russian. You can even become snared by the Epsilon project, a pseudo-religion claiming to promote meaning through lack of understanding, who’ll encourage you to fetch a bunch of expensive cars for their virtuous cause.
...And what a playground it is. GTAV comes with the more familiar city driving aspects, with a giant toybox’s worth of vehicles that remain a great deal of fun to try out, even if the A.I. still drives rather dozily, swerving across lanes or drifting into junctions. Thanks to a decent cover system and improved shooting sequences, there’s a lot more scope for excitement and variety in the missions. The highlights are unquestionably the heists. Here, the game utilises the excellent character-switching mechanic, as events blend in an exciting spectacle that jumps between the roles of getaway drivers, gunmen and techie saboteurs. There’s nothing quite like seeing a plan come together.
The side missions (Strangers & Freaks) are some of the most varied and riotously satisfying you’ll find in a modern sandbox. GTAV is packed with fun pursuits: stealing a car from a film set that bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain classic Aston Martin, which comes equipped with deployable tacks from the rear as well as an ejector seat. Elsewhere, you’ll pose as a technician in order to infiltrate LifeInvader’s social media offices; a gleeful dressing down of casual work culture, complete with a brainstorming room with young staff doing air-guitar. Some sequences are straight out of an action movie: a car chase around an airport, and an espionage mission that sees you burrowing under a building so as to sneak in undetected via a subterranean tunnel. Trevor gets caught up with an elderly pair’s unhealthy obsession with stalking celebrities, and can do some make-shift border patrolling by tracking down ‘illegals’ whilst in the company of a US patriot who speaks only Russian. You can even become snared by the Epsilon project, a pseudo-religion claiming to promote meaning through lack of understanding, who’ll encourage you to fetch a bunch of expensive cars for their virtuous cause.
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Grand Theft Auto V looks excellent. It may no longer feel like a one-of-a-kind experience, but it sets the bar supremely high for other open-world games. The remarkable scale of Los Santos and its outlying areas is most appreciable during the skydiving challenges, where you can admire the city and its bridges lit up in the night sky, or the epic Mount Chiliad and its myriad dirt tracks during the daylight. Rain effects are fantastic, and there’s even fog and lightning too. Though it often goes unremarked, there’s a considerable portion of the Pacific coast to explore, where the player can retrieve dumped radiation, submarine fragments or, somewhat less desirably, encounter sharks. There are enormous playing spaces, most notably the prison, that doesn’t feature in the single-player campaign, so there’s a great deal to explore beyond the seventy or so story missions.
There’s a wide variety of races in sports cars, off-road buggies and ski-dos, there’s even a sequence of triathlons to tackle. In addition, GTAV produces some very adept recreations of tennis, golf and darts. You can grab yourself a taxi or a tow-truck and earn some legitimate spending money, or if you want to live on the wild side, perform hold-ups and rob stores. If you love a bit of spectacle, you’re only a phone call away from summoning police, ambulances or firefighters to a scene. This being a modern GTA, it goes without saying there’s a breathtaking array of customisation options. These range from the hairstyles and clothing of the main protagonists, to vehicle upgrades, even businesses that can be purchased with the spoils made from the heists. There’s just one issue with general navigation: the need to repeatedly tap the run button to remain sprinting.
There’s a wide variety of races in sports cars, off-road buggies and ski-dos, there’s even a sequence of triathlons to tackle. In addition, GTAV produces some very adept recreations of tennis, golf and darts. You can grab yourself a taxi or a tow-truck and earn some legitimate spending money, or if you want to live on the wild side, perform hold-ups and rob stores. If you love a bit of spectacle, you’re only a phone call away from summoning police, ambulances or firefighters to a scene. This being a modern GTA, it goes without saying there’s a breathtaking array of customisation options. These range from the hairstyles and clothing of the main protagonists, to vehicle upgrades, even businesses that can be purchased with the spoils made from the heists. There’s just one issue with general navigation: the need to repeatedly tap the run button to remain sprinting.
The skydiving sequences reveal the impressive scale of Grand Theft Auto V
One of Grand Theft Auto V’s most entertaining and impressive elements is its internet, which can be accessed via each character’s phone. As well as delivering some truly marvellous send-ups of real websites, there’s all kinds of tangible uses that mean it's a really nifty resource. You can browse and purchase luxury cars, yachts, military-grade helicopters and even tanks. Or trawl for real estate, buy and sell shares, and even follow the LifeInvader social media feeds of the numerous figures you’ll meet over the course of the story. This being Rockstar, there’s a host of funny little touches buried away and you’ll lose hours browsing through them.
It’s amongst the most enjoyable Grand Theft Auto games, with creative and exciting mission design and a well-judged difficulty curve that produces far fewer anomalously difficult missions. Its gameplay benefits from common-sense modernisation, whilst the story sees greater ambition, scope and character development. Yet for all this, it’s just as madcap and fun as you’d hope from a crime-spree sandbox, and one of the best games of its kind. If you’ve had GTAV pass you by, get out there and wreak some havoc. Trevor would very much approve.
It’s amongst the most enjoyable Grand Theft Auto games, with creative and exciting mission design and a well-judged difficulty curve that produces far fewer anomalously difficult missions. Its gameplay benefits from common-sense modernisation, whilst the story sees greater ambition, scope and character development. Yet for all this, it’s just as madcap and fun as you’d hope from a crime-spree sandbox, and one of the best games of its kind. If you’ve had GTAV pass you by, get out there and wreak some havoc. Trevor would very much approve.
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VERDICT
"It’s amongst the most enjoyable Grand Theft Auto games, with creative and exciting mission design... just as madcap as you’d hope, and one of the best games of its kind." OVERALL: 9/10 |
PIXEL SECONDS: GRAND THEFT AUTO V (XONE)
While it has become something of a joke how many ports GTAV has received, the eighth gen update proved a notable one, leveraging the then-new hardware, offering a first-person mode and other notable improvements. Rockstar’s fifth criminal opus would concern a trio of protagonists, and each would tie in to a facet of the series’ past. Their paths align through a series of events, and the writing is impeccable with a sharp sense of humour. Los Santos proves just as pivotal a character: the large world never feels padded and is a joy to explore. It also benefits from a huge variety of fantastic radio stations that mix classics and obscurities, immersive audio such as cars tooting at your reckless driving and spot-on voicing. From the skyscraper-laden city to desert outback, everywhere is filled with activities to partake in. Getting the coveted 100% proves a lengthy task which could take easily up to sixty hours. The story missions prove the highlight. The best are Heists, each offering multiple approaches that change the course of the robbery. Choosing your crew influences the outcome, with cheaper but less skilled members causing complications. They generate immense tension, enjoyment and replayability amongst a roster of fantastic missions. Rockstar would also learn from GTAIV’s missteps. Movement feels more natural, shooting is less twitchy and car handling feels the tightest in the whole series. Welcome additions such as mid-mission checkpoints also bring the series up to speed. The first-person perspective feels like a genuine game-changer as the ultra-immersive mode highlights your acts of violence with even greater clarity. There’s also the immense scope of Grand Theft Auto Online. As well as competitive and cooperative modes, you can build a character, buy apartments to live in and add vehicles to your collection. GTAV’s first port would bring a plethora of enhancements, with perhaps the most striking coming in the form of weather effects, with rainfall leaving visible puddles. An immense open-world proves a joy to explore, refined mechanics and incredible missions all keep you engaged. [9] – Shane Battams © 2024
While it has become something of a joke how many ports GTAV has received, the eighth gen update proved a notable one, leveraging the then-new hardware, offering a first-person mode and other notable improvements. Rockstar’s fifth criminal opus would concern a trio of protagonists, and each would tie in to a facet of the series’ past. Their paths align through a series of events, and the writing is impeccable with a sharp sense of humour. Los Santos proves just as pivotal a character: the large world never feels padded and is a joy to explore. It also benefits from a huge variety of fantastic radio stations that mix classics and obscurities, immersive audio such as cars tooting at your reckless driving and spot-on voicing. From the skyscraper-laden city to desert outback, everywhere is filled with activities to partake in. Getting the coveted 100% proves a lengthy task which could take easily up to sixty hours. The story missions prove the highlight. The best are Heists, each offering multiple approaches that change the course of the robbery. Choosing your crew influences the outcome, with cheaper but less skilled members causing complications. They generate immense tension, enjoyment and replayability amongst a roster of fantastic missions. Rockstar would also learn from GTAIV’s missteps. Movement feels more natural, shooting is less twitchy and car handling feels the tightest in the whole series. Welcome additions such as mid-mission checkpoints also bring the series up to speed. The first-person perspective feels like a genuine game-changer as the ultra-immersive mode highlights your acts of violence with even greater clarity. There’s also the immense scope of Grand Theft Auto Online. As well as competitive and cooperative modes, you can build a character, buy apartments to live in and add vehicles to your collection. GTAV’s first port would bring a plethora of enhancements, with perhaps the most striking coming in the form of weather effects, with rainfall leaving visible puddles. An immense open-world proves a joy to explore, refined mechanics and incredible missions all keep you engaged. [9] – Shane Battams © 2024