Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsOverall fun experience, but left something to be desired
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014
I love Grand Theft Auto. I've pre-ordered every GTA game since Vice City, and I believe that Rockstar has given players a vastly improved and unique experience with each subsequent GTA game.
I REALLY want to give into the hype and rate GTA V a 10/10, but I can't do that. After playing the game to 100% completion, my overall rating of GTA V is an 6/10. My hope is that through reading this review, you'll understand why I'm one of the few who rated GTA V below a perfect score. Below I've rated each major aspect of GTA V, with abbreviated bullets for each section and more detailed commentary for those willing to read below each sub-score.
Overall score: 6/10 (Note: this is an updated review, after re-considering my feelings on the game, I beIieve I overrated it in my first pass)
MISSIONS
-My primary complaint about GTA V is the lack of fun missions--there are too many "filler" missions that don't really serve much of a purpose, and they aren't particularly entertaining.
-Main story missions aren't as action-packed or meaningful until the final quarter of the game--too little too late.
-Much-hyped heist missions are too few and far between, although the last couple of heists are very fun.
-Most heist missions and preparation missions aren't as exciting as you'd expect.
Score: 5/10
Comments: The missions are the bread-and-butter of every GTA game. I was fairly disappointed with the lack of truly fun missions in this game, and I felt that it was a definite downgrade from the high quality missions of San Andreas and GTA IV. A substantial number of missions feel dull and don't fully utilize the environment or weapons to the extent that they could. The much-hyped "heist" missions were also surprisingly underwhelming. Not counting the prologue, there are only six heists throughout the entire game, which feels like too little, since some of the earlier heists are pretty straightforward. The heist preparation missions are also very simple and boring for the most part--I feel that a huge opportunity was lost on these missions. The quality of the missions increases significantly in the final quarter of the game to what I would consider GTA-level expectation, but this occurs too little too late. The final mission itself felt like a big let-down, considering that the finale missions in all other previous GTA games have been so great.
STORY
-The main story is far too fragmented and uninteresting until very late in the game.
-Main characters are bland except for Trevor; too many superficial side characters who have no real purpose.
-Lack of primary antagonist gives the story a directionless feel.
-Voice acting is top-notch; script is very well-done.
Score: 6/10
Comments: The folks at Rockstar almost always tell a phenomenal story in all of their games, with top-notch writing and voice-acting. Although GTA V retains some of these high-quality elements, the decision to split the story amongst three characters has diluted the game. GTA V is the first game in the series in which I did not care one way or the other what happened to any of the main characters at any point throughout the entire game. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin are--for the most part--cookie-cutter criminals, with a notable exception in Trevor, who was the only real "spark" for me in the game. The voice actors, as always, are very talented; they certainly do the best job that they can giving life to what is otherwise a mostly uninteresting cast. My major complaint is that the story of GTA V feels directionless: There is no primary antagonist that really stands out, and the conflicts and dynamics between the three main characters were just not enough to keep me interested.
WORLD
-Easily the best GTA world in the series--extremely expansive, dynamic environments with seemingly infinite amounts of things to do and places to explore.
-Visuals are gorgeous and extremely varied, from draw-dropping views of Los Santos from the summit of Mount Chiliad to the many wilderness areas of San Andreas.
-High level of interactivity with the people of Los Santos makes for exciting random encounters with often interesting results.
-Los Santos is an extremely accurate recreation of Los Angeles--Rockstar researchers have definitely done their homework in creating a virtual city that's really close to the real deal.
-Drawback: Lots of unused spaces that you will not travel to for any mission or side quest, which amounts to a lot of lost potential.
Score: 8/10
Comments: The world/environment in GTA V is the most breath-taking open world that I've ever encountered in any game, which is why it deserves a perfect score. The level of variation in the urban jungle of Los Santos and the sprawling forest/mountain areas is truly a sight to behold. One particular aspect I loved was the vast amount of "vertical space" in GTA V compared to its predecessors. GTA IV felt very flat, but GTA V takes full advantage of elevation--when you reach the summit of Mount Chiliad, it truly feels like you're standing atop a massive mountain. The Rockstar team has also done a stellar job recreating a very accurate architectural, organizational, and demographic model of Los Angeles. The pain-staking detail and polish of Los Santos and surrounding areas cannot be ignored, and the team at Rockstar that spent months (possibly years) working to make this happen deserves huge kudos for their efforts. Beyond the amazing visuals, the world itself is the most interactive of the series. Random events occur when not on missions that will prompt you to either intervene and meet interesting characters and/or gain a reward or ignore. There are a huge number of these events that occur throughout your exploration. They may be as simple as hunting down a wallet thief and either keeping the money or returning it to the victim, and some of these encounters become much more complicated, feeling like actual side missions in and of themselves. These random events inject GTA V's world with a lot of excitement from the uncertainty of their encounter. If there is any complaint regarding the world, it's that the missions did not utilize the world to the fullest extent. One example of this is the military base, known as Fort Zancudo. I was fully expecting a mission that involved infiltrating or even attacking Fort Zancudo in some way, but this never happens throughout the game on a mission. Regarding the lack of space comment, the game has multiple large sections that simply have no purpose and in which there is really nothing substantive to do, which is a major issue. In Vice City--admittedly a much smaller game in scope--almost every area of the map had a purpose or use at some point in the game. I suppose when you expand the map to the level of GTA V it is inevitable that there will be superfluous areas, but it was quite noticeable during my playthrough.
CONTROLS/SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Some significant changes to controls that will take hard-core GTA fans time to acclimate.
-Switching between characters is seamless--injects much-needed variety into many missions.
-Very fun to reap benefits of upgradeable stats and character special abilities.
-Fun to replay some missions when switching to different characters to try new strategies, although the game often makes it too obvious which character the player should switch to for optimal results.
Score: 9/10
Comments: The controls are solid, but there are some changes that will take GTA fans some getting used to. For instance, switching weapons feels a little awkward, even after acclimating to the controls, and I often found myself still equipping the wrong weapon when in a tight situation even halfway through the game. That being said, once you've worked the kinks out, GTA V handles very nicely, and the cover and combat system is essentially the same as GTA IV. One of the coolest features of GTA V is the ability to switch between the three different characters both on and off missions. I will say that character switching while on missions was a little under-utilized--the game generally holds your hand and tells you which character to switch to when on a mission, which saps the joy out of trial-and-error and discovering the best strategies on your own. In the open world, switching to a different character can often lead to exciting and unexpected events. For example, when switching from Franklin to Trevor, you might find yourself taking control of him right in the middle of a two-star wanted level, or you might find him waking up drunk in a random alley. This sort of uncertainty adds a bit of excitement to the game. Special abilities are a great addition to GTA V. Each character has a unique special ability activated by pressing R3 and L3 at the same time, and the duration of these abilities can increase if a player uses them frequently and to good effect. These special abilities make combat much more fun, giving the player more options for taking out and evading enemies.
VEHICLES
-Most varied and numerous vehicle selection in any GTA game yet.
-Vehicle handling/controls is much improved over GTA IV--driving is finally "fun" again.
-Customization options are rampant, but not really practical until late in the game due to high cost.
-Vehicle damage physics are somewhat of a downgrade from GTA IV.
Score: 9/10
Comments: Vehicles and planes are now much more numerous than ever before, but the biggest improvement is the more arcade-like handling in GTA V's vehicles compared to GTA IV. One of my few criticisms of GTA IV was the very sluggish handling of any and every vehicle in the game. Driving cars felt like riding boats, and riding actual boats felt like riding barges. This is now an issue of the past, as GTA V had struck a perfect balance in vehicle handling between GTA: San Andreas and GTA IV. The customization options are also incredible; however, I found myself unable to take full advantage of many of these prohibitively expensive options until the end of the game when they are almost useless. Although driving/piloting vehicles is very fun in GTA V, vehicle damage can be strange and frustrating at times. This is the first GTA game in which cars do not often explode, even after taking extensive damage. Sometimes I found myself in a nice new stolen Comet, only to hit a guard rail or another vehicle at a high speed, which ended up bending my front tires to the point that I could not drive it at all. Moments like these are somewhat rare, but common enough to irritate players when they do occur.
WEAPONS
-The biggest and best selection of weapons in any GTA series.
-High degree of customization for each weapon is a long overdue feature.
-Shooting range challenges offer easy way to upgrading shooting stats and are more fun than many of the missions.
-Most missions do not allow player to use high-powered weapons to maximum effect, which can be frustrating.
Score: 9/10
Comments: The weapons in GTA V are phenomenal, by far the best in the series, but they are somewhat underutilized throughout the missions. The minigun is back, along with a wider selection of all weapon types. The Jerry can is a fun new addition ideal for would-be pyromaniacs out there, and sticky bombs and tear gas are very fun to use. One big problem: given the lack of extended shooting/action sequences in many missions, many of the weapons feel over-powered and under-utilized. It's not until the last quarter of the game that you really start to feel like each weapon starts to get really good use out of all of your best guns.
MONEY
-Money is very difficult to obtain in significant quantities throughout most of the game, even after several heists.
-GTA V stock market is a fun new feature--players can also influence stocks through various actions in and outside of missions.
-Properties can be purchased and yield weekly income, but the vast majority of the affordable properties throughout three quarters of the game do not pay much.
-Overall a constant struggle to obtain meaningful amounts of cash, and by the end when you finally become super-rich it has no more use.
Score: 8/10
Comments: Money is very tough to get in high quantities in this game, much more so than any other GTA game. Unlike most previous GTA entries, the vast majority of missions in GTA V pay nothing or very little. This is clearly intentional, as Rockstar wanted to make the pursuit of wealth a key theme in GTA V. However, this takes away from the game at several points. It's very frustrating in particular that the best properties that yield the most money are prohibitively expensive until after the final mission, at which point you really don't need the properties. The lack of easily obtainable money also hurts the ability to purchase and fully utilize vehicle customization options, which feels more like bad design than anything else. Playing the stock market is fun, and influencing it through actions in the game and exploiting the aftermath of these actions to their maximum potential by investing in the right stocks at the right time is highly rewarding and can yield huge riches, but without this it is very difficult to obtain a large quantity of money.
COPS
-A lot harder to evade than in GTA IV, which is both good and bad.
-No longer able to cheaply lose wanted level by going to sleep/saving; again both good and bad.
-No 6-star wanted level--I believe the first GTA game without this?
-Overall cops are much more effective and relentless at pursuing you in GTA V.
Score: 9/10
Comments: It just wouldn't be GTA without a great police chase, and GTA V certainly delivers on that. Losing even one star can be a huge hassle, a huge contrast to GTA IV where players could easily lose three stars without too much trouble. Once you leave the cops' immediate notice, you need to stay away from their patrol awareness cones (reminds me of Metal Gear Solid soliton radar) for an extended period of time before they stop pursuing you. You are also unable to switch characters or save for any easy way out of the wanted level, so this makes evading police even more challenging. As a plus (or minus), the military will not pursue you unless you directly attack Fort Zancudo.
MUSIC
-Very subjective, but in my opinion the music selection is one of the weakest of the series.
-Huge variety of stations and music genres should appeal to an eclectic audience (15 radio stations, ~240 songs).
-Certain sequences in missions and wanted levels above three stars are scored with music, which is a subtle but neat addition.
-Talk stations and commercials are still pretty funny, but not as good as GTA IV.
Score: 8/10
Comments: The radio stations in each GTA game contribute a minor but significant and lasting effect on the atmosphere of the game. They capture the ambiance of the time, and provide a huge chunk of the entertainment throughout the entire game. I feel that GTA V was a let-down in terms of the quality of the radio stations; I think that GTA IV had the best soundtracks of any game in the series, by far. I loved (and dearly miss) Electro-Choc; I think that the Techno/Electronica station in GTA V (Soulwax) is a poor substitute. The West Coast Classics is a pretty good station featuring a number of good hits, and the Country station (Rebel radio) was surprisingly good. I was a little disappointed with the rock music selection (all types), and the omission of a station with heavy metal and/or death metal is notable. Again, I understand this is HIGHLY subjective, but I just felt like there was a lot more "fluff" songs in GTA V than any previous installment. The talk stations and commercials are alright, but leave a little to be desired. I remember laughing so hard at the talk stations in GTA IV that I occasionally crashed my car or even killed myself while listening to such classics as "Just or Unjust," "Integrity 2.0," and "The Martin Serious Show." While "Chakra Attack" on GTA V is a great rip on self-proclaimed hollywood spiritual gurus and is genuinely funny, the other stations don't really hold up. The commercials are alright, but again not nearly as funny as they were on GTA IV
CONCLUSION: I stand by my score of 6/10 (see note above, this is an updated rating). GTA V is certainly worth playing, as it is a very good game with many redeeming qualities, but I was underwhelmed with many of the core aspects of the game.
