Grand Theft Auto V
What do you say about a series that's always been pushing bigger and better? Playing criminals isn't for everyone, but the GTA games I've seen have generally ranged from good to revolutionary. I'm not quite calling this one the latter, but that's okay. GTA V feels huge, it's got a ton of detail (seriously, an insane amount in some cases), it looks good, it behaves well (though with anything this big, there are bound to be glitches, I haven't really seen any personally)...
What isn't to like? There are some elements some would-be players may not be comfortable with - heck, there were a few moments where I ran into that myself, but I don't feel those behaviors were glorified or encouraged out of game. Otherwise, the worst think I can say is there's some missed potential.
The three-character story is done well, but it doesn't strike me as so new and dazzling as some reviews have made it out to be. I was impressed by the technique years ago in Suikoden 3, and it's been done since (Heavy Rain is another title that comes to mind, but there are probably others). Trevor is certainly a scene-stealer, but he's also so over-the-top that I found myself more drawn to Franklin's street sensibilities and the "retired" professionalism of Michael, personally.
The best, and most disappointing, part of the game is the heist missions. They're missions that get planned in advance, usually with a recon mission, a planning/decision phase where you can choose between a couple paths and some NPC help, several resource gathering missions, then the big job. The first one blew me away. Being able to pull a jewelry store heist with knockout gas, dirt bikes, and flight through construction tunnels to getting the payout at the end with not a shot fired felt like accomplishing something cool (if criminal). The problem, however, is there are only six heist missions in the game and only half of those felt like they lived up to the promise. So three awesome heists through the course of the game. The others always seemed to lack something - less control over planning, no payout after pulling everything off (for one reason or another)... something. I can see the difficulties with packing more into the story, but I also felt myself wanting more of those good heists, and that leads to some disappointment with the rest.
Overall, it's technically and narratively impressive. Heck, even the ending (well, the one I consider the ending) manages to be reasonably satisfying.
I can't say much about the Online portion. I might try it out at some point, but it's not a priority.
What isn't to like? There are some elements some would-be players may not be comfortable with - heck, there were a few moments where I ran into that myself, but I don't feel those behaviors were glorified or encouraged out of game. Otherwise, the worst think I can say is there's some missed potential.
The three-character story is done well, but it doesn't strike me as so new and dazzling as some reviews have made it out to be. I was impressed by the technique years ago in Suikoden 3, and it's been done since (Heavy Rain is another title that comes to mind, but there are probably others). Trevor is certainly a scene-stealer, but he's also so over-the-top that I found myself more drawn to Franklin's street sensibilities and the "retired" professionalism of Michael, personally.
The best, and most disappointing, part of the game is the heist missions. They're missions that get planned in advance, usually with a recon mission, a planning/decision phase where you can choose between a couple paths and some NPC help, several resource gathering missions, then the big job. The first one blew me away. Being able to pull a jewelry store heist with knockout gas, dirt bikes, and flight through construction tunnels to getting the payout at the end with not a shot fired felt like accomplishing something cool (if criminal). The problem, however, is there are only six heist missions in the game and only half of those felt like they lived up to the promise. So three awesome heists through the course of the game. The others always seemed to lack something - less control over planning, no payout after pulling everything off (for one reason or another)... something. I can see the difficulties with packing more into the story, but I also felt myself wanting more of those good heists, and that leads to some disappointment with the rest.
Overall, it's technically and narratively impressive. Heck, even the ending (well, the one I consider the ending) manages to be reasonably satisfying.
I can't say much about the Online portion. I might try it out at some point, but it's not a priority.
Comments
Post a Comment