Grand Theft Auto V - Xbox 360

For me, Grand Theft Auto V’s extraordinary scope is summed up in two favourite moments. One is from a mid-game mission in which I flew a plane into another plane, fought the crew, hijacked the thing, and then parachuted out and watched it crash into the sea to escape death at the hands of incoming military fighter jets. Another time, whilst driving around in an off-road buggy, I got distracted by something that looked like a path up one of the San Andreas mountains. Turns out it was a path, and I spent 15 minutes following to the summit, where I nearly ran over a group of hikers. “Typical!” one of them yelled at me, as if he nearly gets run over by a rogue ATV on top of a mountain every time he goes on a hike. I could go on like this for ages. GTA V has an abundance of such moments, big and small, that make San Andreas – the city of Los Santos and its surrounding areas – feel like a living world where anything can happen. It both gives you tremendous freedom to explore an astonishingly well-realised world and tells a story that’s gripping, thrilling, and darkly comic. It is a leap forward in narrative sophistication for the series, and there’s no mechanical element of the gameplay that hasn’t been improved over Grand Theft Auto IV. It’s immediately noticeable that the cover system is more reliable and the auto-aim less touchy. The cars handle less like their tires are made of butter and stick better to the road, though their exaggerated handling still leaves plenty of room for spectacular wipeouts. And at long last, Rockstar has finally slain one of its most persistent demons, mission checkpointing, ensuring that you never have to do a long, tedious drive six times when you repeatedly fail a mission ever again. Grand Theft Auto V is also an intelligent, wickedly comic, and bitingly relevant commentary on contemporary, post-economic crisis America. Everything about it drips satire: it rips into the Millennial generation, Grand Theft Auto V SEPTEMBER 17, 2013 Trouble taps on your window again with this next chapter in the Grand Theft Auto universe, set in the city of Los Santos. → MUCH MOR Best Open Worlds Red Dead RedemptionBatman: Arkham CityFallout 3 celebrities, the far right, the far left, the middle class, the media... Nothing is safe from Rockstar’s sharp tongue, including modern video games. One prominent supporting character spends most of his time in his room shouting sexual threats at people on a headset whilst playing a first-person shooter called Righteous Slaughter (“Rated PG – pretty much the same as the last game.”) It’s not exactly subtle – he literally has the word “Entitled” tattooed on his neck, and the in-game radio and TV’s outright piss-takes don’t leave much to the imagination – but it is often extremely funny, and sometimes provocative with it. Grand Theft Auto’s San Andreas is a fantasy, but the things it satirises – greed, corruption, hypocrisy, the abuse of power – are all very real. If GTA IV was a targeted assassination of the American dream, GTA V takes aim at the modern American reality. The attention to detail that goes into making its world feel alive and believable is also what makes its satire so biting. Grand Theft Auto V’s plot happily operates at the boundaries of plausibility, sending you out to ride dirt bikes along the top of trains, hijack military aircraft, and engage in absurd shootouts with scores of policemen, but its three main characters are what keep it relatable even at its most extreme. The well-written and acted interplay between them provides the biggest laughs and most affecting moments, and the way that their relationships with one another developed and my opinion of them changed throughout the story gave the narrative its power. They feel like people – albeit extraordinarily f***ed-up people. Michael is a retired con man in his 40s, filling out around the middle as he drinks beside the pool in his Vinewood mansion with a layabout son, air-headed daughter, serially unfaithful wife, and very expensive therapist – all of whom hate him. Franklin is a young man from downtown Los Santos who laments the gang-banger stereotype even as he’s reluctantly seduced by the prospect of a bigger score. And then there’s Trevor, a volatile career criminal who lives in the desert selling drugs and murdering rednecks; a psychopath whose bloodthirsty lunacy is fuelled by a combination of methamphetamine and a seriously messed-up childhood.

As an adult gamer, I absolutely love this game. The attention to detail Rockstar has put into it is amazing. It takes everything you have loved about the GTA series, put it into a huge world, and made it look so good you can't believe it is running on a 10 year old computer. Gameplay is fun and fulfilling for the most part. It does leave you wanting more in the way of main story line missions, but over all there is a ton of gameplay without ever connecting to XBLive. The world is huge and beautiful, but sometimes feels empty. For example there are huge buildings and areas that you are not used or even directed through in the story line. 95% of the action takes place on about a 35% of the map. With that said, I have noticed that in GTA online, they seem to be using these locations more. The combat mechanics is very similar to GTA IV. The only noticeable change is the way you swap weapons, which is vastly improved. I can actually switch from my combat rifle to my shotgun before getting killed by a flanking player. It is not in any way a first person shooter, nor does it make it out to be. Over all the gameplay is completely absorbing. With that absorbing gameplay comes it's major problem. This is a MATURE rated game for a reason. It has consistent, horrible, language and nudity (no more black stars like in previous editions, with billions of polygons to make it realistic). This is not even going into the cold blooded (even twisted) violence that is forced upon the player. I worked in very harsh environments through the years that have built up a "filter" for a lot of these things. I am not saying that your child should or should not play this game, I am saying an adult needs to make a decision about whether they want to allow their child to play it. They should also be aware of it's content so that they are making an informed decision. Do not compare this game to other M rated games (such as Halo) that received their ratings on violence alone. Take any one of the mentioned "reasons" on the ratings card and there is enough of it to get a M rating. Like I mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoyed this game, I would not let my children, or a child I was responsible for play it. For the online: I did not try and play it until about a week after it was released and I had a much better experience because of it. The bugs that plagued the first few weeks I have not encountered. The game is a mix of a persistent, open world morpg and a "menu based" XP shooter like CoD. It is fun to run around with friends in the open world, but you really have to choose whether you want to mess around or do missions because the transitions between the two are clunky and slow. In the open world, it is not a " casual friendly" game (nor was it designed to be). Playing by yourself you have to look over your shoulder constantly for other players in your area, because they will most likely kill you on sight. It is much more fun for most if played in a crew, or on a server with only friends. If you buy into the fact that the vast majority of other players will be your enemy and play accordingly you can have a good bit of fun. Most of the people I have heard complaining about how the open world plays out are very young (more reason youngsters shouldn't be playing it). If you have friends and a mic you will love the online play. If not, you can always stay out of the open world and just rank up like other shooters. Overall this is one of the most entertaining and absorbing games I have ever played.

So, the main question of the hour... Is Grand Theft Auto V the Game of the Year 2013? Personally, I think it is the game of the year and, more importantly, the Holiday Season of 2013! ** WARNING: I will avoid spoilers to the best of my ability. If something slips out for some reason, I apologise right away. ** The thing I liked the most is the multi-character story line. It makes the game not only the most innovative of the Grand Theft Auto series, but it also makes it the most fun of all of them. It definitely increased the replay value and I heavily applaud Rockstar Games for implementing this into the story real well! The story was wonderfully written and executed with a difficulty level that is neither too high for a beginner to catch up on and not too low for an expert to blend into. Each character is lovable in some way and the dirty humour definitely hasn't gone away. Everything combined with the free-roaming non-linear story environment makes such a brilliant game I do not regret spending my days away playing! Another wonderful feature is an actual, organised online multiplayer, otherwise known as GTA Online (since they seem to treat it as a game of its own.) It's easy to get into and, as far as I've gone into, everyone has a fair chance to rank up and get social. Much like a "second life", I've had my share of fun with all the people I've met through GTA Online: getting cars and customing them to show off, popping some of the rivals we create (for fun, of course), doing missions together, and lots more. Hours of memories and good times that you can never legally do in real life in GTA Online... oh so much fun it was! It's up to you to make GTA Online the way you want it... I've definitely had loads of fun! Overall, I find GTAV the best game of 2013 and I'm glad I selected this game to be the final game I play before I make my long hiatus from console gaming. In the midst of a downhill interest on new games, this one definitely is a game changer and it was all for the best! I'm really glad I got this game! I'm genuinely happy of the story mode I've played through and continue to play through from time to time, and I'm really delighted that I caused chaos with people on GTA Online! If you can find a greater game than this that can warm your heart in a socially awkward way, then you're probably thinking about the next release in the Grand Theft Auto series!

Fantastic game! This game is even better than GTA IV which means a lot. NOT SPOILERS, I haven't finished the game yet, but I'm on the last mission now. So far, terrific! This game is definitely not for children, it is an adult-only game. But it's awesome, and very funny. I'd never laughed with a grand theft auto game before like I did with this one, but Trevor man, best character ever! I simply love Trevor. Michael and Franklin are fantastic too, but Trevor is a crazy psycho that makes me laugh every time I play with him (ransom mission is hilarious). OK, many people say GTA V is way too short. I concord, it's a little short. I have done almost every mission, playing a couple of hours daily last week and I'm ending the story soon. Good news is this game comes with a crazy online that will keep this title fresh for a long long time. Graphics are very good, the best you can find in any other sandbox game, think in any game (current gen sandbox) and GTA V has better graphics. Story is good, nothing spectacular, but engaging enough. There are a couple of missions that require you to make certain decisions and plan what to do, pick your team members, and those are fantastic, because you switch your characters, Michael, Franklin or Trevor, depending on their positions and/or abilities, etc.. Driving is very good too, specially with Franklin who is the best driver along the three characters. Flying is the only thing I didn't enjoy as much as I thought because it's kind of difficult with certain planes, the bigger the harder and way more turbulence which makes it ever harder. I recommend taking lessons (yes, there is a school where can learn how to fly a plane better - Trevor only, but you can fly a plane with any character at any time). OK guys, my last words are these: I pre-order a next gen console, but I'm keeping my Xbox 360 just for this game, GTA V is that good! It has sold more than a billion dollars (so, R* doesn't need to sell more), buy it with confidence, it is a fantastic game and you will not regret buying it, you'll regret not buying this game! It's not perfect, but it's very very good. FYI, I recommend not installing disc 2 (playing game) on your HDD. Some people (like myself) bought a USB flash to install disc 1 (mandatory installation) and play disc 2 (no installation). You don't need to switch between discs, you only install disc 1 and that's it. Installing disc 1 on a USB flash is a good option if you don't have a HDD. If you do, a good option to enjoy this game is: Install disc 1 (mandatory) on your HDD, and install disc 2 on a USB flash, NOT ON YOUR HDD. Why? Because installing disc 2 on your HDD makes you experience many problems while you play. Enjoy GTA V! Kifflom! Kifflom! Kifflom!

Great game!

The mission structure has been improved in GTA V with ample check-pointing. That's point number one. As highly rated as GTA IV was, even at the time I felt frustrated by constantly starting failed missions all the way from the top. Well, this time Rockstar has changed that and for that one change alone the game is much more enjoyable. Everything else is as you would expect a GTA game to be- jacking vehicles and cruising the open world as you see fit. The missions range from utterly awesome (the heists) all the way down to mundane races against an exercise-crazed character. Speaking of crazy- that pretty much includes every single character in GTA. No one is "normal" in this game. But that's the style- a realistic world inhabited by some parallel world of people whose motivations, personalities, and actions are blown up and exaggerated. By real-world standards, every character in the game would be diagnosed a psychopath. In GTA V, psycho-path is defined by Trevor Phillips, so anything less than Trevor-crazy seems normal. But the game knows how to have fun and not take itself too seriously. GTA V would turn into a really dark drama (a crazy one)without the absurdity and comedy written in to the script. Instead, amidst the dark deeds that happen in GTA V, the whole experience feels light. Even the game world is bright, with Los Santos bathed in beatiful sunlight almost all the time during daylight hours. It rarely rains. And at the moon even manages to light up the night. And that notorious torture scene? Meh, really not as bad as you think. I'm sure Rockstar knew what they were doing when they put that in the final product. You can't release a huge game like this without putting something controversal in it. You need that for publicity and it scores you points (usually) with your hardcore fans for staying on the edge and pushing boundaries. In the end, my opinion of this particular scene is that it is a bit corny (In keeping with the "light" feel of the game as I described). The person being tortured makes some blatant statements regarding a certain political topic and all comes off as being really goofy. I think that was the intention. The characters are great, the voice acting is well done, and the writing to me is outstanding. The only thing that gets tiresome is driving. At some point you just want to fast travel mission to mission and the cab just isn't cutting it for me. I can only imagine the next GTA will implement a better fast travel system. Apart from that, I'm never for want of weapons and ammunition and money is plentiful. Good. Focus is stricly on the missions, story progression, and enjoying the world of Los Santos. One of my favorite games of the year.

To start: If you are reading this review, know up front this game is not for children, at all, in any way, shape or form. If you are a parent, think long and hard before buying this game for your kids (I have a very well rounded and intelligent 17 year old and she doesn't get near it). It is also not for the easily offended or emotionally sensitive person. This game is very, very hard core and you have to realize that playing the game is stepping into an alternate reality. I play this game to have a little fun and blow off some steam after a long day at work. Also, I am writing this as someone is not a huge gamer, but someone who is a big fan of the GTA series as a whole. Overall, the game is a joy to play. The cars handle much better (and more realistically) than in previous versions. In additions, the cars seem to take much more abuse (not sure how realistic that is, but it is fun) and the graphics make it easier to drive. The planes and helicopters are much more difficult to control. I am not a pilot so I have no clue about that level of realism, but I do wish that they were a tad easier...maybe institute some settings to make them either a little easier or harder to control (based on your own tastes). The side missions can be fun and interesting, but can also be a bit of a bore. Some of the missions are so easy that I had a hard time using any mental capacity to entertain them. However, others are a blast to play, and seem to have a great deal of strategy to them. One thing that I did not like was that on a few missions, you had to look for an object or person, with limited or no guidance, and the task was not really why you bought the game-to shoot folks, use weapons, and generally wreak havoc. The times you had to look for something, I wish that more time was spent either getting out of a situation or figuring out what step to take next rather than have to walk around or drive a random vehicle around looking for some object (with no real incentive to go faster or slower except to get a higher "medal") The storyline and characters were disjointed. The covnersations in the car relative to the cut scenes did not flow smoothly, and the characters were interesting on their own (especially that psycho Trevor) but with no clear character or storyline development. While the ability to have all three characters available was great from a theoretical standpoint, I think that focusing on just one character throughout the story would have given a better opportunity for character development. You could then have secondary characters to control during a mission to enhance the experience, and give them random chances to interact with the player once their set of missions were complete (without affecting the main storyline). I also think that Rockstar did little development for new activities. For instance you have the ability for boat, offroad, and street races, but that is the same as in the previous titles; basically the same old thing. Activities like golf, tennis, and triathlons are steps in the right direction, but do they really have solid connections to the players? I cannot imagine Trevor or Franklin playing either golf or tennis (although having Trevor play tennis was a hoot). There are things such as casinos (where they could gamble) and opportunities to either steal cars or take various folks out as recurring side missions that might be much more in line with their characters. In addition, I agree that while the city itself sprawls and contains amazing graphics, I wonder if they had shrunk the city some and used that effort and technology to allow entry into more buildings if that would give more interest to the game. The storyline missions were, for me, one of two things: either way too easy or so ridiculously hard that I could not figure out how to beat them for some time. Also, the cops in the game are very inconsistent-if you have a one star wanted level and run from a cop car, you almost always escalate to a two star level, but you have to basically take out half the force to get beyond a three star level. The consistency of all aspects seems to be missing. Overall, I think this game is fabulous and has alot to offer, but I think it falls a little short of the previous titles in the storyline and mission aspects. It feels a little like this game should have been written for the increased processing power of the soon to come gaming systems from Sony and Microsoft, where they would have had enough horsepower in the console to truly make this game compelling. However, if asked I would recommend to buy this product.

Where to begin? It's hard to find a place in such an enormous world full of things to see and do. I'm going to begin with the world. Rest assured. It's huge, and varies greatly. There's no longer just a boring city that we saw in Grand Theft Auto IV. There's your given city, Los Santos, and then the huge world around it which includes nature, more rural towns, and many more places to visit. However, it wouldn't be much worth it if it wasn't fun or packed with things to do. Once again, rest assured. There are many activities that no longer feel like chores for the money that IV had. You'll be able to do things like bounty hunting, racing, animal hunting, and more. Each of these are very well thought out and feel very fun, and rewarding- because money no longer has very little value other than for weapons. In fact, you'll almost never have enough money! Apart from the vehicles to buy, weaponry and the other standard things you'd expect, there's also customization on both weapons and cars that personalize your experience. Apart from that, there's businesses to buy that grant you chances to have more power and income. And to top that off, there's also several side missions and strangers to meet, each with their own story and optional missions that are quite interesting, and often mysterious. However, what most people are there for is the storyline. Let me just say, though it's only about 70 missions and takes from 15-25 hours, it's very well thought out. I haven't finished it yet because of all the other things to do, but I can already tell the missions are heading towards greatness. It's no longer a "drive here, kill them, drive back" situation. You never know how a mission is going to start or what you're going to do. You could one minute be infiltrating a base, the other robbing banks. Which brings me to the next point: The storyline in Grand Theft Auto V takes you to success and riches that make you feel like you're actually a gangster. There are about eight or nine heists in the game, I believe. And they're not even limited to the requirements! Each heist is made through your playstyle. This includes your approach (loud and proud, or quiet), you can customize the members you choose to come a long with you, and more. They're also heavily inspired by several heists in classic movies. The heists are some of the best feelings you'll ever get in a game. It feels like a high budget movie. Heists vary from jewel store robberies with escapes on dirt bikes to huge heists of millions of dollars with the marines chasing after you. Each mission, especially the heists, are extremely well thought out, unpredictable, and action packed. I cannot judge the story's power as I have not finished, but my friends that have say it's a quite decent ending for such a story. And there's no longer limitation to one character. There are three characters, Michael, Franklin, and Trevor. Each have their own personality that doesn't limit you to one character. They each have their own special ability, and can be switched through in or out of missions. There's also stats for each ranging from driving to stamina that can be upgraded for better character performance on missions. Apart from all that, there's also the small touches that make it great. To make the world feel more alive than ever, there's things such a stocks and randomized events, ranging from a small bike theft to shootouts. As a Rockstar games, there's also several easter eggs, like ghosts, U.F.Os, and even cults that you can secretly join. There's no longer any packages to find but there are U.F.O. parts and confessions to the murder of CJ's mom from San Andreas (Each 50). Not to mention there's lots of modern popular songs on the radios, as well as the classic radio parody talk shows. As another well needed touch, the game is much smoother now. Engine and gameplay wise. Animations are top notch, gunplay feels very solid and the cover system got some much needed love. The cops have also been improved, and are no longer the obese and stupid, but very dedicated and it will take effort to get away from them. It's no longer escape from their little radar icon, but rather escape and then hide in alleyways, fool them by maybe leaving you car in a street to make them think you've gone that way, or leave false trails. Weapon swap is no longer awkward scrolling through and trying to find what you want, but rather a roulette that allows you to pick which weapon you want from whichever category (Red Dead Redemption style). The driving mechanics are also much greater. Cars feel more solid, each have their own feel and take a lot more damage from crashing. Air vehicles have turbulence and are a lot more difficult to learn but very well rewarding when you do. Game performance is amazing because it takes about 1-3 minutes to load up, and missions and other loading times are extremely short. Not to mention the amazing graphics. Rockstar has made a masterpiece. Overall, the game is a 10/10. It's a top notch game, and I haven't even been able to try GTA Online because it hasn't been released yet. Well worth the buy. Graphics: 10/10 (Amazing for such an old console) Gameplay: 10/10 (Smooth, feels solid) Story: Cannot judge, haven't finished. Missions: 10/10 (Very fun and variant) Side activies/world: 10/10 Pro's: -Huge world -Lots of side activities that are fun and rewarding -Amazing story missions -Well planned out and player influenced heists -Great easter eggs -Better mechanics and gameplay -3 Characters than can be switched between Con's: -Textures don't load sometimes -When you replay a mission, the loading time is insane (1-5 minutes) -Your social life will go down the drain