Review: Grand Theft Auto V

Cars have been vastly improved in Grand Theft Auto V . From muscle to sport, every vehicle has its particular advantages and disadvantages that will appeal to a particular player. And if you wish to modify your car of choice even further, then you can do so at the various modification garages available across Los Santos. From tires to hoods to spoilers to engines, everything can be modified — even the color of your burnout. However, if you don't want to fork over all that money, then you can always just get a natural red burnout color — provided you have a dead body under your ti


Not only must players contend with deadly pirates and other armed combatants, but they're just as likely to be killed by a Komodo dragon that can pounce from out of nowhere. Besides serving as yet another threat on players' lives, wildlife in Far Cry 3 serve another purpose, as players often have to kill and skin them in order to craft better equipm

The most notable addition to GTAV is the all-new first-person mode. For the first time ever, players can now choose to experience a Grand Theft Auto from the eyes of the protagonist (or in this case protagonists). Instead of being a mere gimmick, Rockstar made multiple changes to accommodate the new perspective including a first person cover system, a new control scheme, a different targeting system and thousands of new animations. As it’s hard to create a first-person experience that caters to everybody’s preferences, multiple optional settings have been added including the ability to change control schemes, alter ragdoll perspectives and rolls and even turn off head bobbing. I wasn’t a fan of how the game controlled in first-person by default, but was easily able to tweak it to a point where it felt like a standard FPS. Turning up the sensitivity and any auto-locking off is key to this. Commendably, Rockstar has even allowed the option to mix and match when first-person comes into play, permitting players to drive in first-person and shoot in first-person and vice versa. Allowing the former is a huge addition as it allows those who dislike first-person driving to still experience combat in first-person without having to continually swap modes or commit to one.

The world of Grand Theft Auto V is so big that it requires three characters to explore it. While that line may sound ripped straight from a PR-laden interview, it’s quite accurate considering telling a story from the eyes of just one man would lead to new areas not being discovered for tens of hours into the game. The game stars three protagonists: Michael, Franklin and Trevor. After a prologue that sets the events of the game in motion, Franklin is the first playable character. Similar to CJ in San Andreas, Franklin is well-meaning gangster who lives with his aunt in the ghetto and is trying to make a better life for himself. Clearly more intelligent than his known associates, Franklin is confined to being a repo man for a shady car dealer who plays the race car to get customers into vehicles they can’t afford, only to have Franklin repo them weeks later thanks to ludicrous financing. After one of the customer’s father, www.Gta5fans.com`s recent blog post Michael, gets a whiff of this little scam, he comes down to pay the dealer a little visit. Impressed by his attitude, Franklin decides to reach out to Michael to see if they could work together.

All of Grand Theft Auto V’s clever, if at times blunt, commentary about the American dream and class warfare wither away when you see a video like this. It is nearly impossible to show the Omni video to someone and explain to them the cultural significance of GTAV. After attempting the feat with a nongamer friend of mine, she simply stated, "So in this game you just run around and rob people?" Once the idea portrayed by the clip gets into your head, it’s nearly impossible to worm out.

Of course, one of the aspects this series is most renowned for is its music. Vice City sparked a minor resurgence in New Wave, while Grand Theft Auto IV perfectly captured the burgeoning indie scene in Brooklyn at the time. Building off of the presentation and quality of the latter’s soundtrack, V boasts one of the series’ best collections of music. For indie lovers, Radio Broker is replaced by Radio Mirror Park, which features tracks from Twin Shadow, Yeasayer, Health, Neon Indian, The Chain Gang of 1974 and more. The incredible thing is that all of the aforementioned artists are contributing new music to the game. At this point, it’s unclear which were specifically written for the game (ala The Rapture’s "No Sex for Ben" in IV) and which are simply making their debut via the game, but the fact that there’s so many critically revered artists with new music on one channel is astounding. For electronic lovers, there’s Soulwax FM, named after and featuring many remixes from electronic band Soulwax. On the pop side of things, there’s Non-Stop Pop FM which features an excellent blend between current top ten artists like Rhianna, lesser-known ones like Robyn and classic acts like Hall & Oats. Of course, there’s something for everyone with other stations focusing on rap, country, classic rock and more. The amount of care put into curating this soundtrack that could have simply been a collection of random songs is more evidence of how much work goes into even the smallest features of the game.