Bunneh3000's 2013 Game of The Year (unedited)

(abridged version posted on Gaming Precision)

 

Grand Theft Auto V is a gaming cultural epic that deserves its place in the hallowed halls of legends. Millions of gamers (on a record breaking pace breaking $1 billion in sales) have joined the digital heist known as the lives of gang banger Franklin, ex-master thief and troubled family man Michael, and psychotic drug dealer Trevor. Their stories coalesce into a masterful satire of today’s American culture that is both hysterical and disturbing at the same time. While most gamers will focus simply on their ability to steal and kill in this game, the true genius in Rockstar Games’ writing and vision is their amazing attention to detail and their exaggerated view of how ridiculous our lifestyles have become.

 

So why is GTA V any different or significant than their other epics (much less the rest of the GOTY nominees)? The answer is quite simply bountiful opportunity. Grand Theft Auto approaches a massive open world with a staggering number of things to experience, see, and do that is rarely seen in a game that is not an MMORPG.

The devil (or the fun rather) is in the details. Everything from imitating the internet with sites like Life Invader (Facebook) and Bleeter (Twitter) to using iFruit phones (iPhone) are added in the game as a real life parody. Where Saint's Row took their imitation of the Grand Theft Auto series to a comic unrealistic angle, GTA V countered their over the top angle with a more grounded and dark parody of life in general. Whether you are surfing the net, roaming the streets, or listening to talk radio, you constantly hear and see funny revelations of what Rockstar thinks of where technology and life has taken us today. In a way, this adds to the appeal of the exploration of Los Santos. At one point, I remember wishing that I could actually have more interaction on Life Invader and Bleeter (not to mention the internet) so that I could fully partake in learning about the hilarity that is the majority of the fake movies, stores, and people that make up Los Santos. The addition of these 'easter eggs' makes roaming around the city aimlessly to explore a joy that is rare in any video game in recent memory.

These details merely flesh out a game with mechanics that stand upon the brilliance of other recent Rockstar Games. As it has probably been said in review after review, Rockstar Games managed to incorporate learnings from the likes of Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and even the DLC from GTA IV in order to improve upon their storytelling pace, gun and melee combat mechanics, open world navigation, vehicle handling, and so much more. Fans of these other games will see light elements of a great many of Rockstar’s other successes.

Another important aspect of Rockstar’s masterpiece is their integration of their online Social Club. Whether players realize it or not, they are interacting with other players’ single player game as they play.

Their in-game actions and destruction actually affect the stock exchange prices for various car types, business, and so forth both in their game and in other players’ games across the GTA community! Taking things a step further, this Social Club provides impressive stat tracking and leaderboards that tie to various tournaments and challenges that are issued from the website AND in-game. This always provides fans of the game a reason to occasionally return to Los Santos.

Of course, once mastery of the single player mode (or even occasional boredom) is reached, there is basically a whole other game attached to the experience in GTA Online. Here the player is given an impressive level of customization of their thief and then thrown into the online fire complete with a modest number of other online players. They are then given the option to simply roam and wreck havoc on players and AI alike or they can partake of an ever evolving number of ‘jobs’ or missions that range from racing to team death match to big time heists. The player upgrades their thief in light RPG fashion to customize their thief’s playing style to their own. In fact, they can even purchase a whole wardrobe and a whole garage full of tricked out cars and other vehicles. Planes, helicopters, boats, parachutes, motorcycles, and more there to offered to decorate this virtual sandbox of mayhem. Oh, the possibilities!

Honestly, Grand Theft Auto V has revived my faith in the franchise and allowed me to enjoy becoming a criminal again. Probably the biggest reason for this, once again is the multitude of main characters that you use and how different each of their personalities are. The different characters have different sub-missions which actually fit their character and add just a enough variety to validate bothering with the hunting, the racing, the tennis, and any of the other distractions. Of course, my favorite of them all is the heists. That is the main difference from the other GTA games that makes it a step up and beyond the rest of the pack. I love setting them up and taking them down Ocean 11 style! A part of me even wishes that these missions were more randomized or encountered more rivals that interfere or something but I'm sure that will be integrated into the GTA Online feature moreso than the single player.

However you slice it though, GTA is the bar for this gen that next gen will be looking to outpace. The real question is whether or not Rockstar plans on bringing this epic to next gen consoles. Also, if they do, what additives will be incorporated? You can't simply bring the same game over and expect the millions and millions to even consider rebuying. Still, Rockstar's reputation is solid enough that we can certainly expect something great!