My favorite metaphor for the GTA franchise is this: imagine you
have a friend who you often meet at parties. Whenever you do, you tend
to have an awesome night of silly conversation and drink-fueled,
reckless fun. But every now and then you meet them in a more sober
environment during the day, and when you try to strike a conversation...
it's just kinda awkward and not the same. Likewise, in Grand Theft Auto
V you'll often find yourself immersed in the most crazy, action-filled,
over-the-top criminal adventures. But every now and then, an extremely
mundane section comes along and ends up feeling like the sober day job
part of the characters' lives. Oh well, a night-only friend can still be
a great friend if you just focus on what makes the friendship tick, and
the same happens with Rockstar's latest.
GTA V
has you playing as three main characters: rookie hustler Franklin,
retired thief Michael, and complete-freaking-nutjob druglord Trevor.
Their stories start intertwining as you make your way through the game's
campaign, and the writing is decent enough that the many cutscenes are
actually very enjoyable to watch. The gameplay is your typical GTA fare:
a very competent action-adventure romp that throws you into an
open-world city (or, in this game's case, an entire small state) and
tasks you to survive by making it big as a criminal. You'll steal
vehicles, drive around town, enter gunfights with rival gangsters, run
from the police, and ocasionally pick up a hooker. Controls are mostly
intuitive and the action is responsive.
Like
in pretty much every GTA game since the first one, the real star of the
show is the seamless open-world exploration. GTA V's state of San
Andreas features a whole bunch of different environments, from the
bustling metropolis of Los Santos to small villages up north to vast
patches of mountain wilderness. There are a lot of cool details waiting
around for your attention, such as the entire episodes of fictional TV
shows you can watch. Just wandering around can be pretty great; at one
point, I stole a jet-ski and went around the state, just looking for
stuff. I found a deserted beachside camp with more jet skis, then tried
to find my way back to civilization while terrorizing wild animals and
unsuspecting citizens unlucky enough to be driving nearby. It's this
sort of mindless fun that's arguable the game's greatest strenght.
But
of course, there are also more structured missions. This is where the
game (the franchise, really) fluctuates wildly in quality for me. I
mean, stealing a top-secret army weapon or torching a competitor's meth
lab can be fun enough. But then you end up doing stuff such as operate a
crane, tow a car, or going drinking with a friend for no discernable
in-game benefit... and frankly, those can get so dull that it beats me
why they're even in the game (and worse, some as mandatory campaign
missions).
Some other missions have
different problems: the worst offender in my eyes makes a minigame out
of a brutal torture section. I fully believe that game violence can be
done in a mostly harmless way, especially when it's as wonderfully
overblown (and tongue-in-cheek) as it generally is in GTA. This sort of
thing, however, feels like taking a turn for the disturbing just for the
hell of it, especially because the actual gameplay in the
aforementioned mission is completely dull and uninteresting.
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