So I just finished GTA V today - 74% complete the game after beating all the main missions and most side missions. 68 hours playtime according to Steam.
GTA V was a game I was waiting for since it was first released on the 360/PS3 in 2013. I had watched my brother play a good chunk of it on his 360 and was blown away by the world design and direction - but just have never been able to bring myself to play consoles regularly enough to complete any game besides the latest Zelda or Mario on Nintendo consoles.
I am and have been a PC gamer for over 20 years now - starting with Biomenace, Wolf3d, and LucasArt/Sierra adventure games in the early nineties and continuing along from there playing anything I could get my hands on - my favourite experiences being immersive first person games of all genres.
I have played every game in the GTA series since the beginning - but really started to enjoy the series at Vice City and San Andreas.
From the first time I played GTA3 - I knew it would be a thousand times better in first person. This was much later confirmed for me when I played through the fourth game in the series almost entirely in the first person using an amazing mod. I even managed to play through San Andreas recently with a first person mod a few months prior to GTA V releasing on the PC - it translated to the first person surprisingly well.
As good as those modded experiences were - they feel like tech demos compared to GTA V which I played through entirely in the first person.
There are plenty of reviews that explain the story and general gameplay mechanics - and in all actuality very little has changed from the early roots of the series. Missions are still started by driving to mission markers separate from the sandbox experience to some degree and involve a variety of gameplay loops that include chases, shootouts or a large number of mini-game activities. The story is pretty much a riff on the same notes they've touched on throughout the series with the same tired parody thrown in for good measure - although it is well directed with mostly great dialog and does actually have a series of really good laughs in addition to plenty of jaw-dropping action set pieces throughout the missions. Each cut scene is presented with cinematic grace that most of the time does not draw on the parody of the world you are in. In fact although all the radio adverts, bill boards and brand name gags are still there they seem to play second fiddle most of the time to GTA's more subtle and real world aspirations.
The first wow moment for me was when I was up near the Vinewood sign and looking off into the distance at night - seeing the buildings and tiny vehicle lights in the distance and knowing that it wasn't a sky box. Knowing that at any moment I could drop what I was doing and walk or drive in any direction.
Other moments include walking down an alley way and spooking a cat seeing it dash by in front of me while I looked down at the trash it had slightly disturbed settle in the corner from where it had come from or waiting for the crosswalk light during a downpour looking at the reflections in the puddles of water rapidly being disturbed by the heavy rainfall and feeling relieved when I was able to jog across in front of the slick cars lined up to my left and in front of me.
Moments like these were as impressive as the actual story based gameplay moments - which are as fun as ever. The mission design is heads and tales above every other open world sand box game released in the last ten years. But with the addition of a first person perspective there is a divide between what it is right now and what it could be in the next few iterations.
Currently the first person perspective does nothing but provide an immersion factor to a really good action game. It is well designed and creates a feeling of solidity that almost no other game has ever felt like - at least for me. The world feels random and hand crafted at the same time - however the limited world interactivity leaves the game feeling plastic at times. It is worth noting that the violence does feel more impacting in the first person and often times left me feeling exhausted after missions wishing that stealth and non-lethal mission alternatives were always an option instead of just a few sequences spread throughout the game where it worked for the story.
There is a feeling that this could be a bigger experience - a more interactive experience, a less scripted experience. The world (despite not having full interiors) feels big and real in a way that most Bethesda open-world experiences have felt like - in fact it feels bigger because the city scale is more real than anything in the Elder Scrolls/Fallout series. This however makes it feel like I should be able to enter any building or talk to any NPC as if it were a player-character driven role playing game instead of an open world action sandbox game.
These are not major issues but I feel that this game is the first step forward for a modern day immersive simulation game set in a big city where you truly do have the whole city in front of you to explore and where one day maybe the story won't be a scripted narrative but a game world where the story unfolds as a consequence of player-driven choice - a world where violence and reckless behavior would carry weight and consequence to a degree where non-violent alternatives seem like a viable option.
I really do hope that RockStar try and take the first person experience further and into more interactive territory than the GTA series is traditionally known for and maybe they'll even ditch the make believe parody world and start writing stories in real world locations where attempts at satire instead of parody play into a more subtle narrative. As it sits it is a fantastic first person action experience - and worthy of every hour of gameplay I put into it.
Technically this is a brilliant game and accomplishes everything it sets out to do with incredible polish but the lack of true player choice hurts the first person experience a tiny bit. The parody humour also hinders what could be a real gritty story as it feels like a tired leftover from the series roots. Though I do have issues with some of the story and with the lack of true choice - I can't argue against this being one of the most important games to come out in the last decade. It is also the first game in a long time that legitimately earned every hour of my play time as literally every minute felt fun.
