A game that began with just stealing cars and being chased by cops has evolved to a satire of life’s entirety. The minds from Rockstar North and Rockstar Games have mastered the sandbox-type games with previous instalments like Red Dead Redemption and are now just showing off.
Welcome to the fictional city of Los Santos, Rockstar’s take on real-life Los Angeles. Fans of the series will recognise the city for being found in the state of San Andreas from another previous instalment. The city has everything from beaches to mountains and mansions to shanties. And a true test for a sandbox game is to see how it stands without it’s main story. Remove the narrative from GTA 5 and you are still left with hours and hours of unexplainable fun. With side missions that include deer hunting and drag racing and hobbies like yoga and darts, the player tends to get lost in the lives of the three main characters. Controlling as many as three main characters is a first in the GTA series and is highly uncommon for any type of video game, but with their execution it is hard to see why it has not been done before and often.
Each character embodies a unique take on the messed-up American dream. Michael, an ex-criminal under a messy witness protection program, is having trouble adjusting to a life post-crime and is about to relapse. Trevor, a man who can pass any flying test but not a psychological evaluation, is trying to fix troubles he and Michael have gotten to in the past. And Franklin, a gangster trying to make his millions, crosses paths with the other protagonists and sees his opportunity to a better life. The characters personalities are so well designed that the player may act accordingly to it. Trevor may be more suitable if the player wants to go on a sudden rampage, while Franklin would probably find himself inside a sports car blasting Kendrick Lamar on his radio. A great example of this unique handling of the characters is shown with the option to purchase cars from your cellphone. With a game built on the idea of jacking cars from the streets, the option to purchase one for hundreds of thousands of dollars may come as a surprise. But when using Michael, a made man living in a rich neighbourhood, it just doesn’t seem right to steal a convertible.
The game welcomes both the casual and hardcore gamers. For the hardcore gamers, there are so much to do before you can even get close to that coveted 100% completion. There are even things that have no conclusion or achievement at the end but will still attract attention. No money or skill is to be earned when playing darts with old ladies at the bar but that will not stop people from trying repeatedly. No measurable reward will be gained if you enjoy the view as you hike Mount Chiliad or watch entire episodes of Impotent Rage on TV but people will still do it. Rockstar has built a video game that is self-sustaining and will keep on giving well after the credits roll. For the casual gamer, GTA 5 doesn’t really ask you to do anything. The entire map is explorable from the get-go and you are already made available with enough weapons and cars for your own dose of mayhem. The game doesn’t force its story onto the player because it knows it has much more to offer aside from it.
A knock on the game and its series as a whole will always be its violence and its depiction of “thug life”. Although many are big fans of this brand of humour, there will always be those who find it unsuitable for gamers. These people do have a case with the inclusion of Trevor’s loud personality and a certain mission which asks the player to torture a person. This may be the only real issue of the game but it is a daunting one. But Rockstar may only need to say one thing to silence the critics.
Can a billion dollars in three days be wrong?
