I don't have many complaints from a technical standpoint. The environment is pure Scenery Porn, the mocap is uncanny, the driving controls have been vastly improved since IV, and the heists are a lot of fun, not just to execute, but also to plan. Also, there are checkpoints. And There Was Much Rejoicing. Although...did we really need airplanes? Or if we did, did we really have to land them on hard-to-spot runways?
In regards to the story, the protagonists are something of a mixed bag. Michael is realistically flawed, Franklin feels a bit flat (though not unbearably so; he at least gets some well-placed snark in), and Trevor is, well…while admittedly he can be hilarious, here's the problem I have with him:
I don't mind playing as murderous criminals; I enjoy it. But I do tend to mind playing as assholes, and that's what Trevor is most of the time, especially early in the game when he's first introduced. If they were seriously intending to make Trevor sympathetic, the writers could not have picked a worse way to let me get a feel for his character. Johnny Klebitz was actually my least favorite protagonist from the IV era, but his murder at Trevor's hands isn't over-the-top or black comedy, it's just gratuitous, and because Trevor was the one in the wrong to begin with, you can't even say he provoked it. Trevor's abuse of the mentally retarded Wade is likewise more disturbing than funny, and the Character Shilling brings him into borderline Villain Sue territory.
There's also not much menace from the antagonists. Steve Haines at least has enough power behind him to be intimidating, but I barely remembered who Stretch was on my first playthrough, and Wei Cheng appeared in person what, once? And while Devin Weston sending Merryweather to kill Michael's family is plenty bad, there's nothing threatening about him whatsoever, and in the ending most likely to be canon, he's the only antagonist to get a proper Coup de Grâce Cutscene.
A more minor complaint is that the final mission just seems all wrong in how it's set up. "Hi, I'm mildly annoying douche Devin Weston and I just randomly jogged over to tell you to kill Michael, bye." MAKE YOUR CHOICE RIGHT NOW.
But these flaws don't ruin the game for me, and the story is fairly solid in spite of it all. I recommend picking it up.
Plenty of good, but some bad. SPOILERS
I don't have many complaints from a technical standpoint. The environment is pure Scenery Porn, the mocap is uncanny, the driving controls have been vastly improved since IV, and the heists are a lot of fun, not just to execute, but also to plan. Also, there are checkpoints. And There Was Much Rejoicing. Although...did we really need airplanes? Or if we did, did we really have to land them on hard-to-spot runways?
In regards to the story, the protagonists are something of a mixed bag. Michael is realistically flawed, Franklin feels a bit flat (though not unbearably so; he at least gets some well-placed snark in), and Trevor is, well…while admittedly he can be hilarious, here's the problem I have with him:
I don't mind playing as murderous criminals; I enjoy it. But I do tend to mind playing as assholes, and that's what Trevor is most of the time, especially early in the game when he's first introduced. If they were seriously intending to make Trevor sympathetic, the writers could not have picked a worse way to let me get a feel for his character. Johnny Klebitz was actually my least favorite protagonist from the IV era, but his murder at Trevor's hands isn't over-the-top or black comedy, it's just gratuitous, and because Trevor was the one in the wrong to begin with, you can't even say he provoked it. Trevor's abuse of the mentally retarded Wade is likewise more disturbing than funny, and the Character Shilling brings him into borderline Villain Sue territory.
There's also not much menace from the antagonists. Steve Haines at least has enough power behind him to be intimidating, but I barely remembered who Stretch was on my first playthrough, and Wei Cheng appeared in person what, once? And while Devin Weston sending Merryweather to kill Michael's family is plenty bad, there's nothing threatening about him whatsoever, and in the ending most likely to be canon, he's the only antagonist to get a proper Coup de Grâce Cutscene.
A more minor complaint is that the final mission just seems all wrong in how it's set up. "Hi, I'm mildly annoying douche Devin Weston and I just randomly jogged over to tell you to kill Michael, bye." MAKE YOUR CHOICE RIGHT NOW.
But these flaws don't ruin the game for me, and the story is fairly solid in spite of it all. I recommend picking it up.