Post by Tig on May 7, 2014 0:52:55 GMT -5
With no confirmation on a PS4 version of GTA5 and with news on a PC release taking forever to become official, I decided I'd waited long enough. I got a PS3 version for the weekend and have put in a substantial amount of hours; none of it do I consider wasted. I'm not disappointed in the least, but I am very concerned for Rockstar and the GTA series and for the first time I get some of the harsh criticisms we've been hearing. In a nutshell, I feel Rockstar is holding on so tight to being "on the edge" they may be losing their grip.
GTA5 added a new twist to the series standard set by GTA3 in that the story now rotates amongst three protagonists instead of focusing on one. When all three main characters are on one mission, you can hot swap from one to the other for better perspectives or better skill sets pertaining to that character's action. It works better than I expected. The characters each have a decent layer of depth to them so you can get into their individual stories just as much as you have with Niko, CJ, or past GTA characters. Michael is a master at pistol and assault rifle combat, Franklin is the expert driver, and Trevor handles flying and close quarters combat. Each have a "special" mode they go into that you can activate for short periods of time. It has been incorrectly described as "bullet time". Franklin's driving skill goes to slow-motion, but while his vehicle's physics are suddenly adjusted for easier maneuvering, the world around him doesn't stop and he can still wreck out. The special move also has a very limited time length, so it's best used in short bursts rather than long periods. This is great for tight jams and doesn't upset the flow of gameplay.
The story lines merge around rich family man Michael's desire to give up his life of comfort and return to a former life of crime. He recruits Franklin, a street hustler to whom Michael takes a liking. In the first 20% of the game, the missions, side missions, and other details reveal much about the past of these two, their families, and their very realistic emotional responses. I've noticed, however, that despite the likeability of these two, they are missing much of the humor that was such a joy in GTA4. GTA4 was always considered mature, especially compared to the juvenile Saints Row series, but GTA 5 is missing the quirks and colorfulness of Niko, his cousin Roman, and the surrounding characters like a steroid pumped car thief or Rastafarian drug runner. GTA 5 fleshes out and details the characters well, especially when showing the chaos surrounding Michael's wife and two children, but everyone is so realistic that there's nothing unique to be found. They're not characters out of storybook but characters out of your everyday life. I applaud Rock Star for the detail levels they achieved to make the digital characters real flesh and blood, but at the same time there's just nothing overtly captivating about anyone. Further, there's a lot of screaming with no humor, and some dialogue isn't even fun to get through because of the harsh, humorless tones. When Niko Bellic killed low level crime boss Vlad, his sudden mood swing and revelation of why he came to Liberty City was balanced by Roman's whimpering and responses of comedic dismay. The lines in GTA5 are all very straight forward with little room for humor. It's like watching your parents fight rather than two friends. The surrounding environment reflects this as the radio is flat and boring with forced humor (albeit great tunes) and the sexual innuendos in the billboards and advertisements has been reduced greatly. For as colorful as Los Santos is, the humor is more gray than Liberty City on a rainy day.
I think Rockstar started to pick up on this early in development so they introduced the character of Trevor, who truly is "colorful". Rockstar has explained that the three characters are represented by the different types of gameplay found in their fan base. Michael is the hardcore story-driven player's character, while Michael was written for fans that liked to log into GTA, drive around for a few minutes, then leave. Trevor, they said, represents the chaotic character that, no matter what was going on, they just wanted to blow stuff up. Trevor, therefore, is AD&D's equivalent to "chaotic neutral" (although he's more "evil" in the story cut scenes but in gameplay you can be neutral). Rockstar pulls no punches with him, as evident by the very first cut scene of Trevor showing him engaging in coitus with a meth addict female, then killing her boyfriend. The boyfriend, by the way, turns out to be the protagonist from one of the previous GTA games. Protagonist, not a side character (you run into some of those too), but an actual character that you have navigated through the landscape of a GTA game in the past, learned their story, grew to love, and now they're murdered by the guy you end up taking over. Rockstar very bluntly said "here's Trevor, he's a psychopath and a horrid piece of filth, have fun". With his loveless, hateful, enraged demeanor, never in my gaming life have I ever had a character make me sick. I hate playing as him because he violates much of my social outlook (I'm not going to say norms because it is a game after all). I proceed through the story with him but only out of necessity. Trevor's missions and side missions dictate that harsher mode of gameplay with him, with lots of guns blazing and chaos. That level of excitement occurs with Michael and Franklin, but it seems more amped up with Trevor.
Adding to this is the harshness of the story elements. For the first time, active drug usage is depicted in a Rockstar game. Michael and Franklin both consume pot, and Michael can actually be controlled to consume it. Also for the first time in a GTA game, female nudity is displayed (Red Dead Redemption had it). Buying a dance at the strip club reveals fully pixelated topless females. I'm not adverse to any of this, not being a prude and having plenty exposure to the world around me, but thinking of the general demographics of the consumers of this game makes me worried about what younger players get exposed to their perceptions. No I don't want it censored, yes it's already out there, and Hillary Clinton can have another brain aneurism over it for all I care, but Rockstar knows damn well that smaller kids play their game, with or without parental consent, and so many of these elements could have been made optional or locked. I think between that and the lack of overall humor, the resulting game is overly serious, overly adult, and not enough fun to balance the "shock".
There is fun to be had, and buckets full of it. Using the mission options in-game to plot, plan, and set up my own jewelry store heist is easily some of the most fun I've ever had in a game. Yes, there truly were only two options to begin with but the illusions mastered by the developers made me feel like I was indeed in charge. Other missions have been reasonable in their objectives and impact on the plot, and so far the story glides right along. Los Santos's and Blaine County's long roads and open areas really let you open up the throttle on the population of cars, which seems to have doubled. The cars handle better with more realistic physics, albeit the collision damage they take is greatly reduced. The cops no longer give up after just a short chase, now that the roads are more easily navigated, and car chases end in a cat-and-mouse sort of affair where they give up faster if you actually find a place to hide. The huge maps allot for flying, hunting, boating, biking, swimming, full golf games (which are so friggin' hard) and of course the usual GTA sport of running amok. The chases are faster, the combat more fierce, and the game is, overall, harder than would be expected. It's a true challenge.
I'm having a blast in Los Santos. I've spent more time just exploring and driving around than I have on the actual story because there's more to see and do than any other game. The story is great but I just wish the characters were... better. They're well acted, deep, thoughtful, but who wants to spend days on end dealing with "real people", then log into a fantasy world populated by more real people? I guess Rockstar strove for realism in an open world and hit the jackpot. Now I wish they'd scale back a bit for some dirty jokes and slapstick to go with the blood, bullets, and Trevor.
GTA5 added a new twist to the series standard set by GTA3 in that the story now rotates amongst three protagonists instead of focusing on one. When all three main characters are on one mission, you can hot swap from one to the other for better perspectives or better skill sets pertaining to that character's action. It works better than I expected. The characters each have a decent layer of depth to them so you can get into their individual stories just as much as you have with Niko, CJ, or past GTA characters. Michael is a master at pistol and assault rifle combat, Franklin is the expert driver, and Trevor handles flying and close quarters combat. Each have a "special" mode they go into that you can activate for short periods of time. It has been incorrectly described as "bullet time". Franklin's driving skill goes to slow-motion, but while his vehicle's physics are suddenly adjusted for easier maneuvering, the world around him doesn't stop and he can still wreck out. The special move also has a very limited time length, so it's best used in short bursts rather than long periods. This is great for tight jams and doesn't upset the flow of gameplay.
The story lines merge around rich family man Michael's desire to give up his life of comfort and return to a former life of crime. He recruits Franklin, a street hustler to whom Michael takes a liking. In the first 20% of the game, the missions, side missions, and other details reveal much about the past of these two, their families, and their very realistic emotional responses. I've noticed, however, that despite the likeability of these two, they are missing much of the humor that was such a joy in GTA4. GTA4 was always considered mature, especially compared to the juvenile Saints Row series, but GTA 5 is missing the quirks and colorfulness of Niko, his cousin Roman, and the surrounding characters like a steroid pumped car thief or Rastafarian drug runner. GTA 5 fleshes out and details the characters well, especially when showing the chaos surrounding Michael's wife and two children, but everyone is so realistic that there's nothing unique to be found. They're not characters out of storybook but characters out of your everyday life. I applaud Rock Star for the detail levels they achieved to make the digital characters real flesh and blood, but at the same time there's just nothing overtly captivating about anyone. Further, there's a lot of screaming with no humor, and some dialogue isn't even fun to get through because of the harsh, humorless tones. When Niko Bellic killed low level crime boss Vlad, his sudden mood swing and revelation of why he came to Liberty City was balanced by Roman's whimpering and responses of comedic dismay. The lines in GTA5 are all very straight forward with little room for humor. It's like watching your parents fight rather than two friends. The surrounding environment reflects this as the radio is flat and boring with forced humor (albeit great tunes) and the sexual innuendos in the billboards and advertisements has been reduced greatly. For as colorful as Los Santos is, the humor is more gray than Liberty City on a rainy day.
I think Rockstar started to pick up on this early in development so they introduced the character of Trevor, who truly is "colorful". Rockstar has explained that the three characters are represented by the different types of gameplay found in their fan base. Michael is the hardcore story-driven player's character, while Michael was written for fans that liked to log into GTA, drive around for a few minutes, then leave. Trevor, they said, represents the chaotic character that, no matter what was going on, they just wanted to blow stuff up. Trevor, therefore, is AD&D's equivalent to "chaotic neutral" (although he's more "evil" in the story cut scenes but in gameplay you can be neutral). Rockstar pulls no punches with him, as evident by the very first cut scene of Trevor showing him engaging in coitus with a meth addict female, then killing her boyfriend. The boyfriend, by the way, turns out to be the protagonist from one of the previous GTA games. Protagonist, not a side character (you run into some of those too), but an actual character that you have navigated through the landscape of a GTA game in the past, learned their story, grew to love, and now they're murdered by the guy you end up taking over. Rockstar very bluntly said "here's Trevor, he's a psychopath and a horrid piece of filth, have fun". With his loveless, hateful, enraged demeanor, never in my gaming life have I ever had a character make me sick. I hate playing as him because he violates much of my social outlook (I'm not going to say norms because it is a game after all). I proceed through the story with him but only out of necessity. Trevor's missions and side missions dictate that harsher mode of gameplay with him, with lots of guns blazing and chaos. That level of excitement occurs with Michael and Franklin, but it seems more amped up with Trevor.
Adding to this is the harshness of the story elements. For the first time, active drug usage is depicted in a Rockstar game. Michael and Franklin both consume pot, and Michael can actually be controlled to consume it. Also for the first time in a GTA game, female nudity is displayed (Red Dead Redemption had it). Buying a dance at the strip club reveals fully pixelated topless females. I'm not adverse to any of this, not being a prude and having plenty exposure to the world around me, but thinking of the general demographics of the consumers of this game makes me worried about what younger players get exposed to their perceptions. No I don't want it censored, yes it's already out there, and Hillary Clinton can have another brain aneurism over it for all I care, but Rockstar knows damn well that smaller kids play their game, with or without parental consent, and so many of these elements could have been made optional or locked. I think between that and the lack of overall humor, the resulting game is overly serious, overly adult, and not enough fun to balance the "shock".
There is fun to be had, and buckets full of it. Using the mission options in-game to plot, plan, and set up my own jewelry store heist is easily some of the most fun I've ever had in a game. Yes, there truly were only two options to begin with but the illusions mastered by the developers made me feel like I was indeed in charge. Other missions have been reasonable in their objectives and impact on the plot, and so far the story glides right along. Los Santos's and Blaine County's long roads and open areas really let you open up the throttle on the population of cars, which seems to have doubled. The cars handle better with more realistic physics, albeit the collision damage they take is greatly reduced. The cops no longer give up after just a short chase, now that the roads are more easily navigated, and car chases end in a cat-and-mouse sort of affair where they give up faster if you actually find a place to hide. The huge maps allot for flying, hunting, boating, biking, swimming, full golf games (which are so friggin' hard) and of course the usual GTA sport of running amok. The chases are faster, the combat more fierce, and the game is, overall, harder than would be expected. It's a true challenge.
I'm having a blast in Los Santos. I've spent more time just exploring and driving around than I have on the actual story because there's more to see and do than any other game. The story is great but I just wish the characters were... better. They're well acted, deep, thoughtful, but who wants to spend days on end dealing with "real people", then log into a fantasy world populated by more real people? I guess Rockstar strove for realism in an open world and hit the jackpot. Now I wish they'd scale back a bit for some dirty jokes and slapstick to go with the blood, bullets, and Trevor.