Having played the GTA franchise of games since GTA III, I have seen the games take a few chances, and set some new standards in the open world action genre they essentially created (I know there were a few other examples before GTA, but GTA brought the genre into the main stream of gaming). That said, GTA IV was a bit of a disappointment. It did not have a very compelling story, and the removal of many features made the game's replay very low. Aside from a very good mechanical upgrade in the engine, they game felt like a lot less than the previous installment. But this is not a review of the fourth numbered game.
GTA V was a vast improvement on both the franchise as a whole and the entire open world action genre (or whatever the genre that GTA games fall into is called). The most enjoyable addition to the franchise is the heists. Fun to carry out and somewhat enjoyable to plan, the only downside is that there are so few of them. At least, there are few that make you any actual money in game. The character switching mechanic was a most interesting addition to the genre, giving you glimpses into the lives of the three main characters. Those glimpses are rarely explained, but they provide a "real-ness" to the characters that allows you to enjoy playing each one even more.
Graphically it is a very good looking game, and the biggest improvement over any game to date is the water. The water mechanically, as well visually looks and reacts just like real water. There are tides and appropriate waves in appropriate areas of the coasts. The sea foam looks like it should and there is even random pieces of wood and seaweed growing up in places. And the looks do not just stay on the surface, travel under with a scuba tank or a sub, and each area has just the right amount of clear or murky depending on your location. And light disappears just right as you go down deeper.
Unfortunately it all breaks down after about the half way point in doing the missions. They become more and more linear and the scenes make less and less sense from a perspective of the characters as they were shown previously. In the end it feels like less of a cohesive whole of one story told from three perspectives and more like a dozen stories strung together using three characters. There is also an inordinate amount of chase missions.
Once they are all done, the game is good again tho!
Best game EVER if only...
Having played the GTA franchise of games since GTA III, I have seen the games take a few chances, and set some new standards in the open world action genre they essentially created (I know there were a few other examples before GTA, but GTA brought the genre into the main stream of gaming). That said, GTA IV was a bit of a disappointment. It did not have a very compelling story, and the removal of many features made the game's replay very low. Aside from a very good mechanical upgrade in the engine, they game felt like a lot less than the previous installment. But this is not a review of the fourth numbered game.
GTA V was a vast improvement on both the franchise as a whole and the entire open world action genre (or whatever the genre that GTA games fall into is called). The most enjoyable addition to the franchise is the heists. Fun to carry out and somewhat enjoyable to plan, the only downside is that there are so few of them. At least, there are few that make you any actual money in game. The character switching mechanic was a most interesting addition to the genre, giving you glimpses into the lives of the three main characters. Those glimpses are rarely explained, but they provide a "real-ness" to the characters that allows you to enjoy playing each one even more.
Graphically it is a very good looking game, and the biggest improvement over any game to date is the water. The water mechanically, as well visually looks and reacts just like real water. There are tides and appropriate waves in appropriate areas of the coasts. The sea foam looks like it should and there is even random pieces of wood and seaweed growing up in places. And the looks do not just stay on the surface, travel under with a scuba tank or a sub, and each area has just the right amount of clear or murky depending on your location. And light disappears just right as you go down deeper.
Unfortunately it all breaks down after about the half way point in doing the missions. They become more and more linear and the scenes make less and less sense from a perspective of the characters as they were shown previously. In the end it feels like less of a cohesive whole of one story told from three perspectives and more like a dozen stories strung together using three characters. There is also an inordinate amount of chase missions.
Once they are all done, the game is good again tho!