The Grandest GTA Yet?
The biggest game of the year is coming and it looks better than you could ever imagine
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The biggest game of the year is coming. It’s been five long years since the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, a game that broke industry records, and developers Rockstar have used that time expertly to improve almost every facet of their gloriously violent and wondrously satirical crime saga.
That’s right, Grand Theft Auto V releases in a month’s time and it looks better than you could ever imagine. What could have essentially ended up as a remake of GTA San Andreas has turned into something infinitesimally more. The setting goes back to Southern California, in land called Los Santos where we once again get to relive the beautiful beaches while only being a bridge away from a blistering desert. GTA V has the ocean spray allure and sunny orange tint which is in stark contrast to the dreary bleakness of GTA IV. It’s in all of our minds to fly over the beautiful city and spot the old places we may recognise, hollering “Grove Street 4 Life” to pay homage to San Andreas.
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Rockstar has introduced a revolutionary new concept to the GTA table: three playable protagonists: Michael, a man suffering a mid-life crisis even after achieving what many call ‘the American Dream’, a wife, two kids and large house, Franklin, a gang banger/dope dealer trying to escape the ghetto he was born into, and Trevor, a psychotic war veteran who uses threats like “Do you want me to get my dick out again?’ to ascertain back massages. The majority of the narrative will focus on the intertwining stories of these three men as they go out into the world pulling off bank heists. If past games are any indicator, things will start off quietly, but slowly these guys will get in way over their heads, resulting in pure carnage.
It seems that to create the perfect GTA game, Rockstar have combined the best elements from their previous games. The wildlife hunting looks very similar to that in Red Dead Redemption and now perhaps one of the frustrating parts of GTA IV, the weapons combat, has been improved significantly by mirroring Max Payne 3. Although Grand Theft Auto is essentially the granddaddy of sandbox shoot ‘em ups, GTA V has also taken a page from Just Cause 2 concerning open world destructible environments.
The first things that grab your attention in the game trailers are the luscious landscapes and the extraordinary amount of colour flowing through the city. We witness the grassy green suburbs, the plain ‘ol country and the lonely old underpasses with the homeless festering about. It doesn’t stop with land. GTA V allows for deep sea diving giving the ability to explore old sunken ships while the aquatic life swims around you.
What blew me away personally was the large array of minigames that are available. This game might as well be called ‘Sims: Hookers, Blow and Police Chases Edition’ because we now we can go cycling, play tennis and even go base-jumping. Unsurprisingly, bowling seems nowhere to be found. If this game wasn’t screaming, ‘I wish this was my real life’ simulator already, GTA V also offers the ability to purchase stocks and Los Santos real estate. Of course it doesn’t stop there; we now have complete customisation of our character’s clothes, cars and even the ink on their body. It seems Rockstar is leaving no stone unturned.
Music was such a large component of the previous GTA games and this time it’s no different. Rockstar have secured songs from numerous bands, Kavinsky being a notable example. I for one am thoroughly looking forward to listening to the nutjobs on the radio talk shows. If you ever played the Grand Theft Auto games as a young teenager there’s a good chance your music taste was built around the in-game retro tunes of the ‘70s and ’80s.
Rockstar is giving everyone two weeks to polish up on our single player skills before it releases Grand Theft Auto Online on October 1st. Every copy of GTA V comes with a free ticket to GTA Online, a max 16 player open-world experience like no other. You do what you want, when you want. Play by yourself in a lonely corner of the map? Sure why not? Wreak havoc by constantly trying to blow everyone up, nothing is stopping you. For a more serious gamer, players can band together and complete complex online missions which range from robbing banks, racing cars/boats/planes and buying large scale apartments for your buddies to chill in. With your online winnings you can acquire Iron Man-like garages for your car, all that seems missing is your own personal JARVIS. GTA Online even boasts that one kicker that always boosts a game up to must-buy status (as if you were still undecided…): the ability to design and customise your own gameplay. It’s like Little Big Planet’s online world creator just with a million times more blood, swearing and, for the first time in online GTA history, integrated AI. Rockstar have done the brilliant job of dumping a load of gameplay and information on us and moving on swiftly. With only a few weeks to go, the hype is building like a raging bull rushing towards red. September 17th just can’t come soon enough.
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