Review: Grand Theft Auto V

The most notable addition to current-gen 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.

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 and 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.

Another benefit to the multi-protagonist setup and also one of the biggest new features to mission portion of the game are heists. While the majority of missions are either driven by a single character or are like the aforementioned one, there’s a handful of heists sprinkled throughout. Heists are basically multi-tiered missions that contain multiple small missions to set them up and require an higher level of planning to correctly execute. The first heist in the game, for instance, concerns knocking off a high-end jewelry store. There are two methods available to tackle the job: quiet or loud (smart or dumb). Going in loud is what you’d imagine, simply rushing into the store with heavy artillery and running out with the merchandise. Going in quiet, however, requires more planning and stealth tactics. In a jewel heist, for instance, chemicals and an exterminator truck must be stolen. Using the exterminator gig as cover, you head up on the roof with a gas mask and uniform and drop some gas into the vents of the store. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew bursts into the store with similar outfits and cleans it out while the customers and clerks are unconscious. One great feature of these heists is that the crew itself must be individually selected. You’ll generally need a gunner, driver and hacker, who are selected via a pool of known associates and characters encountered throughout missions. These criminals vary in expertise, with those highly experienced demanding more of the cut. Going with a low experienced crew member means that more could go wrong (for example, having a bad driver could mean they get captured and lose whatever loot they were carrying), but the more they are used, the better they get with the same cut. Heists add a fantastic dynamic to the game and make the scope of the universe seem larger than ever.


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Released just over three weeks ago, the amazingly successful sandbox title may have already taken to the net, by way of stuttering multiplayer contingent GTA Online , but some eager anarchists appear keen to prove that there's plenty left to enjoy (and eviscerate) on the singleplayer side of thi