Whilst the main base of Grand Theft Auto is the freedom on a gameplay-basis for the player, it’s still an important factor to provide them with a good narrative should they choose to follow the campaign, and in these cases it’s very hard not to repeat yourself. With Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar has changed its dynamic drastically, and they’ve made the franchise travel through new territory.
The story takes elements from many popular films and such, with the most noteworthy being Heat, which was one of the inspirations for the heist sequences of the game. The story spends it’s time covering many different elements and concepts, from random street crimes to the planning and executions of huge heists that are as intense as the characters make them out to be.
The game also features many side-missions that feature their own little side-narratives. These aren’t always relative to the plot, but they do provide a fun look into the world of Los Santos and it’s satire-American setting. If there is one complaint about the plot it’s that it may lose focus at certain points in the game. This is mostly when the game switches between characters for a longer period of time, but this is a small nitpick in what is otherwise a well-written and intriguing storyline. There isn’t much to say for returning players, but newcomers should be delighted with the story this game has to tell.
The city of Los Santos seems much more vivid in this version of the game, as textures, lighting and draw distances have been improved drastically. Flying or driving through the city at night is a delight, and the improved traffic density also adds a lot of believability to the streets, which was understandably lacking in previous versions. The city also seems a lot more dense in its form, and the little details really make Los Santos one of the most well-designed cities in gaming to date. Beyond the borders of its main city the game shines a lot more than it did previously. The outskirts of Los Santos are simply stunning to look at, and the addition of extra detailed greenery, additional wildlife and better textures make it seem like the game was designed like this in the first place, rather than being a straight port. Here and there you will encounter some rough textures, which will be more noticeable in the Northern area of the map.
Grand Theft Auto V isn’t the best looking game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at the moment, but it’s certainaly up there when you look at other games of this size and scope, which isn’t a large criteria at the moment.
The driving mechanic is also well-designed, though the margin of error is problematic when it comes to mastering it completely. Cornering for example is one of the trickier feats to master, and it’s very easy to spin out or hit something you weren’t supposed to, which will impact your pace. The handling isn’t exactly realistic, but it’s incredibly fun and mastering it is very rewarding. Flying has the same concept, and whilst the base is very simple you’ll be taking time to master it completely.
Grand Theft Auto Online has also remained largely unchanged, though it does seem a lot less problematic on a technical level. The player cap has been lifted to 32 players in a single session, and loading into the game does seem a lot more snappier than it used to, even though it still takes a while at the initial start and such. The game’s online mechanic seems incredibly ambitious, but at the same time it’s not everything that it wants to be. The game has the option to quick join a current session or certain mode, though often you’ll be left in a barren lobby after a single match and hosting your own match with matchmaking often seems too long of a process to actually be worth it. The in-game economy is functional, though it lacks certain aspects of the story mode such as the stock market, owning business properties and such, which will often lead to money grinding through matches. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s slightly disappointing considering the wide array of options you have access to in its offline counterpart. These aren’t necessarily faults of the game, but more disappointments of a concept that seems to be a lot more ambitious than it actually is. That being said, for what it is Grand Theft Auto Online is a blast to play when it works properly.
Arguably the biggest addition in this version is the addition of a first-person mode, which marks the first time any such mode has been implemented in a Grand Theft Auto title. Rather than being a tacked-on feature, Rockstar’s first-person support actually outdoes a lot of games, which is surprising considering it originally shipped without any such features. First-person works surprisingly well with this game, though it may be a matter of preference wether you’ll actually want to play through the game in this state. The game offers a lot of customisable options to tweak your experience, ranging from field of view, controls to changing to third-person view/controls when performing certain actions. The player for instance will have the ability to automatically switch to third-person when in cover or when entering a vehicle, which makes the mode very accessible for players who might prefer a more traditional experience for certain sections of the game. General traversal and gunplay seem to work just fine, though driving may be a jarring experience for some, which is partially thanks to its slightly narrow field of view whilst in vehicles.