OPINION What’s good and what sucks about GTA V
4 | The CNM Chronicle By Rene Thompson Editor-in-Chief
Grand Theft Auto V has been one of the most highly anticipated video games ever. The game hit stores at midnight on September 16, and according to the telegraph, has been the fastest selling video game of all time with $1 billion in sales in just three days for the makers, Rockstar games. There are many great things about this new installment of GTA. Although the game still lacks in some areas, it does make up for that with new features, such as finally developing an intriguing storyline. There are three separate characters to play, all with their own special abilities and these characters are played with paths that intertwine and missions that occasionally require playing all three characters interchangeably. The characters have really rich back stories. There’s Franklin who is a tough and somewhat shady repo guy just getting on his feet and trying to come up; Michael, a middle-aged husband and father that is treated like crap by his family and longs for the good old
September 24, 2013
days, and Trevor, who is the most colorful of them all as a crazy drug addicted long-time criminal that has a psychotic sense of humor throughout the game. The antics and constant sarcasm of pop culture, stereotypes, and just about everything else, including making fun of the game players themselves, really makes this game fun to sit through the cinematic storyline. It is reminiscent of earlier games in the series such as Vice City, because San Andres and GTA IV were truly just too dull to sit through and made skipping most cinematic scenes inevitable for many. One thing that bothered the most about this game is the fact that there is still no real fast travel other than means of transport such as taxis. Since this is the fifteenth game in the GTA series, one would think Rockstar would help out their attention deficit players a little bit by giving some better forms of fast travel by now. The map itself is simple and completely open from the beginning of the game, which many game players had been hoping for, instead of having to tediously
Graphics 5 out of 5
unlock areas of the map with missions. It seems to be open to add-on content for downloadable extras later down the line. With Rockstar’s Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) the graphics and gameplay are choice, with better mechanics for driving, flying and boating controls, as well as vivid colors and more realistic looking scenery, sounds and gameplay. Some things that have been added include being able to skill up with certain activities such as running, flying and shooting accuracy, which was in San Andres, but this game seems to have many opportunities for skill-ups with triathlons, shooting ranges and many other sports challenges. There are also more options now for making money, from being able to gamble on the stock market to just robbing store clerks at gun point. This makes it easier to mess around in the game without having to do missions to make cash, especially since players can now use the internet in the game for all sorts of purchases from planes to cars, not that anyone really needs to buy
these things when they can be easily stolen in the game. Some of the more seedy stuff in the game such as a torture scene in one of the missions, topless nudity, and picking up medical marijuana are just a few of the new shock novelties simply there to horrify parents and drum up controversy, because without it, this game just wouldn’t be GTA. There are some more odd things to look forward to in gameplay such as alien abduction, Bigfoot sightings, demented clown takedowns and even zombie-like dialogue poking fun at the boom and cultural obsession with zombies as of lately. One thing that has been changed for the better since GTA IV is the ridiculous friend interactions. Players are now no longer forced to make sure that other characters in the game still like their character by hanging out with them at the game’s beck and call, and instead the player has the option of calling up friends or not, which was one of the most annoying features in the GTA IV game. The phone menu feature has been updated to
keep up with the technological times, to include internet, email, mission check list, camera and quick save, all equipped from the player’s phone menu. Radio play in the game has also stepped it up a bit with surprising and welcomed classics from every genre, which makes driving around the map not such a monotonous task to fulfill. It can even sometimes make a player actually want to stay in the car to finish hearing a great song. Not all radio stations seem to work in every part of the map, however. Saving in GTA has always been a bit annoying, but if players have the internet at home they can quick save from the phone menu between missions, and the game has auto saves at check points. This makes missions in this game much less frustrating to play, because it seems really no one ever liked to have to constantly start over missions in previous games. Speaking of the crazy difficulty of some missions; if a player just cannot get past a mission and just wants to give up, Rockstar has added a feature so players can skip missions after a certain amount of tries if needed.
Rene’s Ratings of GTA V
Gameplay 4 out of 5
Players can still always go back and try playing them again. It seems this new feature was made because it can be really hard for some players to pass the game, which caused some to just eventually give up. Now players don’t have to anymore, and this has made it much more entertaining and less frustrating for less experienced players to enjoy. Rockstar has definitely stepped it up from the days of Niko Bellic in GTA IV, which was really not one of greatest games of the series. The makers have managed to successfully continue the GTA series with its usual shock and awe, as well as with record breaking sales by bringing new and innovative ways to make this series once again a step above the rest. There are still a few things that are going to bug about this game (and there will always be something to gripe about in a new game), but overall I would say the cost is definitely worth checking out all that GTA V has to offer. In conclusion I would give Grand Theft Auto V a 4.5 out of 5 wanted stars.
Storyline 5 out of 5
PHOTO COURTESY OF USGAMER.NET