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Grand Theft Auto V - Review Thread | Take 2

Embargo up!

gta5-article-topc8ui9.jpg


IGN 10/10 shocking!
Grand Theft Auto V is not only a preposterously enjoyable video game, but also an intelligent and sharp-tongued satire of contemporary America. It represents a refinement of everything that GTA IV brought to the table five years ago. It’s technically more accomplished in every conceivable way, but it’s also tremendously ambitious in its own right. No other world in video games comes close to this in size or scope, and there is sharp intelligence behind its sense of humour and gift for mayhem. It tells a compelling, unpredictable, and provocative story without ever letting it get in the way of your own self-directed adventures through San Andreas.

It is one of the very best video games ever made.

Edge 10/10
No one makes worlds like Rockstar, but at last it has produced one without compromise. Everything works. It has mechanics good enough to anchor games of their own, and a story that is not only what GTA has always wanted to tell but also fits the way people have always played it. It’s a remarkable achievement, a peerless marriage of world design, storytelling and mechanics that pushes these ageing consoles to the limit and makes it all look easy. As we stand on the brink of a new generation, GTAV sends an intimidating message to the rest of the industry. Beat that.

TheSixthAxis 10/10
GTA V doesn’t break new ground. It’s not going to change the world. It is, after all, the fifth numbered title in a well loved series and for the most part it is simply delivering more of what the developers must know the fans want to see. To expect otherwise is idiocy. But it is engaging, compelling, interesting, clever, funny and packed with things to do and see. It’s a personal story, or several personal stories, set in a magnificent world that ebbs and flows with thousands of people who all seem to be living their own personal stories. It’s a genuine landmark event in the history of videogames and it’s one that you definitely shouldn’t miss.

CVG 10/10
We've said enough. Part of Grand Theft Auto V's magic is discovery, and enjoying the thrilling, unpredictable ride the story takes you on. Whether you're in the thick of a bank heist or exploring the wilderness listening to Johnny Cash on the country station, it always feels tight, refined, and polished. The world is breathtaking, the script is funny, the music is superb (both the licensed tracks and the atmospheric original score), and, most of all, it's really, really fun.

GamesTM 10/10
Sam Houser compared the making of Rockstar’s epic to the troubled production of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, and in some ways the same result has been met: a product that represents the peak of the blockbuster triple-A form, that realises grand ambition without visible compromise. It’s likely you’re reading this review with the intention of already buying Grand Theft Auto V – indeed, its release is a deserved cultural event, and while this sequel may not be remembered for showing us anything strictly new, this represents the pinnacle of Rockstar’s design ingenuity across every single discipline, a game that absolutely everyone will feel richer for playing.

GamesRadar 5/5
The world is massive and detailed, the gameplay is damn near perfect, and though there are some lackluster side missions, the actual story is filled with memorable personalities that feel more fully-realized than even the best of GTA's previous characters.

videogamer 10/10
Both 'the best of' and the best offering in the entire series, GTA 5 easily lives up to the hype. The ultimate swansong for this console cycle, but also a game that'll cast a long shadow over the next one too.

Giantbomb 5/5
Overall, this game is less surprising than you might like, because so much of it is precisely what you'd expect from a GTA game. As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions. At times, it feels like it was made in a vacuum, away from the influence of other games. But while you could certainly pick out a handful of individual systems or design choices that feel like they've been handled more intelligently elsewhere, none of those other games bring together so many interesting and disparate systems with the same level of aplomb on display here. That, combined with the game's unique multi-character approach to storytelling, makes Grand Theft Auto V an exciting successor in the long-running franchise.

Metro 10/10
A lot of people are going to consider this to be the best video game ever made, and whether or not it’s our personal favourite we can’t say they wouldn’t be right. GTA has always been the best at indulging your criminal instincts but GTA V is the point at which the gameplay finally catches up with the dream.

In Short: A staggering technical achievement that is matched only by the depth and ambition of its gameplay – this is not only the best-looking GTA ever but by far the most fun to play.

rev3 5/5 (Sessler)
"I can imagine, 200 years from now, like our reading of Dickens, the game will be regarded as a catalog of our contemporary travails, an accelerated reality bearing more truth than just gazing at our own reflection."
LOL

The Guardian 5/5
Yes, some people will hate GTA V. Some, like me, will thoroughly enjoy it while acknowledging its complications, its shortcomings as a narrative adventure. Last of Us says more about humanity in five minutes than GTA V does in its 70-plus missions. Five stars for such a troubled proposition? That'll confuse and anger a few people, I know it. But no one constructs worlds like Rockstar and this one is worth many, many hours of exploration. It is fun, so much guilty, ridiculous fun.

Gameinformer 9.75/10
Grand Theft Auto V has the lofty expectations of living up to the pedigree of its critically acclaimed predecessors. Rockstar Games deserves credit for pushing the boundaries of its flagship franchise yet again with improved controls, great mission variety, and the most jam-packed open world I've ever visited. The narrative fails to match the impact John Marston or Niko Bellic's tales, but the colorful characters kept me interested in the story nonetheless. Like the golden state it parodies, Grand Theft Auto V is filled with beautiful scenery, a wealth of activities, and the promise of fortune.

Digitalspy 5/5
Only time will tell whether it's enough to win over the GTA naysayers, but Rockstar North has clearly listened to criticisms of past games and delivered what's as close to the perfect sandbox as technologically possible.
The hallmarks of the GTA series are all present, from the way the story is structured, to the explosive set pieces, use of stereotypes and humorous observations.
And while we would be hesitant to say that this is a more mature Grand Theft Auto, it's certainly a new high for a series that has grown in confidence with each new instalment.
With a great cast, a huge list of missions and activities, some novel new gameplay additions and one of the most stunning environments we've ever explored, Grand Theft Auto 5 is a masterpiece and a hugely impressive technological achievement.


Polygon 9.5/10
GTA 5 is a bridge between games' present and the future
Rockstar has expanded and improved upon so much of what's special about video games as mainstream spectacles, from the playful use of characters to the refined take on world design. The developer's progress makes the aspects of the game left in cultural stasis — the poorly drawn women, the empty cynicism, the unnecessarily excessive cruelty — especially agitating.

It's fitting that the game arrives at the cusp of the next generation of consoles. Grand Theft Auto 5 is the closure of this generation, and the benchmark for the next. Here is a game caught occasionally for the worst, but overwhelmingly for the better, between the present and the future.

Joystiq 4.5/5
Grand Theft Auto 5 is an ambitious game, attempting to meld three very different characters together to tell one encompassing story of survival in what amounts to the worst place in America. That story stumbles, but the open-ended gameplay remains a showpiece for the vast amount of content that can be poured into a virtual world.

Destructoid 9/10
Grand Theft Auto V is both a reflective and deflective game, diving into the heart of the GTA series with more than a few subtle things to say about itself. Michael is tired, and old, and wants to change, but he can't, and eventually he grows to accept and even enjoy that. Franklin is smarter than his surroundings, dreaming big but held back by old fashioned ideas. Trevor is hilarious, surprising, and a disgusting degenerate. All three characters, in their respective ways, feel representative of the Grand Theft Auto series as a whole, and contribute to making GTA V what it is -- the ultimate culmination of Rockstar's beloved and despised series. Personally, I think that's a fine thing to be.

Gamekult 9/10

Eurogamer 9/10
GTA5 may not be the Hollywood-beating crime story it wants to be, then, but it's the best video game it's ever been, and I'll take that.

Gamespot 9/10
GTA V is an imperfect yet astounding game that has great characters and an innovative and exciting narrative structure, even if the story it uses that structure to tell is hobbled at times by inconsistent character behavior, muddled political messages and rampant misogyny. It also raises the bar for open-world mission design in a big way and has one of the most beautiful, lively, diverse and stimulating worlds ever seen in a game. Your time in Los Santos may leave you with a few psychological scars, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from visiting.

Escapist 3.5/5
If only the morally reprehensible script written by Dan Houser lived up to the achievements in game-making that Grand Theft Auto V otherwise embodies, it would be not just the game of the year but of the decade. Unfortunately, you can only hear a character say "&^%@ you, Mother&*^%er" so many times before it starts to grate on you. You can only embody a vicious psychopath a short time before it becomes boring, at best, and soul-crushing, at worst. Forcing players to murder people, not in a gamey "I killed you to complete a goal" way that defines this medium, but in a terrorizing and demeaning way, is not what will make videogames great. Rockstar had a chance to elevate, and they wasted it on portraying characters you don't want to spend five minutes with, let alone the hours it would take to play through the game's story.
 

duckroll

Member
Okay let's try this again.

Feel free to:
- Discuss the reviews
- Debate the contents of the reviews

Do NOT feel free to:
- Make drive-by posts complaining about low scores without and input on the review
- Make personal attacks against reviewers because they had something negative to say about a game you want to love
- Flood the thread with meme nonsense
- Debate on whether certain things should be bannable on NeoGAF
 

Ricky_R

Member
Not as excited as I was to get previous GTA games, but still excited to see that the game delivers.

Hope I can get a copy tomorrow at Best Buy without a pre-order.
 

MYeager

Member
The Escapist review makes me more interested to play the game. If anything I was tired of GTA main characters forced into subservient roles for most of the game because the developers couldn't think of how to make missions work without having the character run chores for other people. Niko was one of the worst because he spent the whole game claiming to want to get away from being a violent man while killing hundreds of people.

Hearing that the main characters are doing what they're doing because they want to instead of having some hokey narrative reason as to why they're forced to (I mean there's only so many times you can use revenge or familial obligations) makes it sound like they fixed one of my few nitpicks of the series.
 
Any reviews go into detail about side missions? the Ars Technica one wasn't particularly impressed, so it'd be nice to see a range of viewpoints.
 

antitrop

Member
All those 10s. I really enjoyed Sessler's review, despite the hyperbole. Sterling's review was good, I called his sub-10 score. No real surprise there.

Gamers prosper. I can't wait to play this game tomorrow.
 
had a feeling the story might not be up to much after GTA4, but the Escapist review suggests it's just bad.

Shame really, but hopefully the gameplay is solid enough to make it a non issue.
 

Hale-XF11

Member
Just woke up.

Having coffee and doing a little wake n bake.

Watching Sessler's review and now I'm finally, FINALLY in full hype mode. This is what did it for me right here....

"GTA V covers materialism, celebrity obsession, millennials, the tea party, electronic surveillance, electronic gadgets, torture and xenophobia, to name only a few topics addressed...and it does it with satirical fangs that leave no prisoners as they scorch the earth in the tradition of Bill Hicks, Gary Shteyngart and Jonathan Swift."

So beautiful. Sounds like the writing really hit the mark. And props to Sessler for referencing Bill Hicks, my all-time personal favorite comedian/satirist.
 

Squire

Banned
Sessler writes amazing reviews. Period.

I figured Edge would go 10/10 since they admitted RDR deserved one. Just had a hunch. (I don't think it was premeditated.)
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here? Obscuring on-screen arrows and traffic direction?
 

Dukey

Banned
I'm not a big fan of IGN, but I am a fan of Keza's reviews. This was another good one (referring to the content of the review, not the score).
 
With this game costing about 265m dollars I am not surprised of the moneyhats.
Also, why do I always have the feeling that this game always receives so much 10s across the board only because of the technical achievement and giant scope of the game?

Months later you always look back and shake your head about it because the story and narrative are cringe-worthy and the violent, conservative, macho, sometimes rascist and misogynic attitude of the game are despicable. Especially now the graphics this generation make it less cartoony (like last generation) and more realistic.

Although this is my personal opinion. I respect every other one's opinion.
 

IllumiNate

Member
The Swong song of this generation! I will finish it and trade in my xbox and all my games to make way for a new Generation.
 

Gaz_RB

Member
Hopefully this thread keeps up a higher level of discussion. Anyone got a list of reviews with the smallest amount of spoilers? That could be useful for some members.

I might just do it, my eyes have already devirginized by the spoiler thread...
 
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here?

Maybe they mean on screen arrows/directions like those in Sleepy Dawgs and Saints Row.
 
had a feeling the story might not be up to much after GTA4, but the Escapist review suggests it's just bad.

Shame really, but hopefully the gameplay is solid enough to make it a non issue.

I don't remember the central plot really being that strong in any of the GTA games. It's usually just:

criminal gets dicked over by other criminal -> 30 hours of being handed off between random crime lords -> "kill the guy who dicked you over."

It's a lot better on a minute-to-minute scale (wacky NPC's, funny advertisements).
 
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here? Obscuring on-screen arrows and traffic direction?
Switching between characters has been described by some reviewers as a random take on the fast travel concept. I find it pretty clever myself.

Directions in driving are probably handled the same way they were in GTA IV, going by that excerpt.
 

Dukey

Banned
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here?

Does GTA5 not offer directions super-imposed on the main screen? If that's what he's referring to, then I agree that looking at the tiny mini-map isn't as good.
 

Grisby

Member
Lotta high scores. I'm not much on reviews but it is interesting to read the differing of opinions. Sessler's reviews are always good for a laugh but at least the guy sounds pretty genuine when he talks. He's got some moxy.

Also, what, does that make like 3 review threads that have been closed in the past couple of months? Dragon's Crown was locked and one other, can't remember what it was though.
 

mf luder

Member
No way is this a 10. I bought this and wonderful 101 and I can't wait to play 101 again yet look at the difference in reviews. I know reviews and my impressions are about opinions but In terms of what will be enjoyable to play in years to come there's no comparison.
 

GQman2121

Banned
If you read the IGN portion of the OP and jump down to The Escapist, it's as if they're playing two different games. Subjective opinions are a good thing.
 

Avallon

Member
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here? Obscuring on-screen arrows and traffic direction?

GPS embedded in the game world, I think.
 

solarus

Member
From the GB Review:

"As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions."

I need to know what this means in the context of a game with taxis, various methods of public transportation, a stronger plane focus than ever, and the greatest variety in vehicles (and raw numbers) thus far. Do they expect SRIV super powers? What is the solution here? Obscuring on-screen arrows and traffic direction?

I think they mean games that have arrows appearing overlayed in the game world to show you where to go. But if you listen to the bombcast a lot, you can see it as Jeff reaching real hard because they like to joke constantly that Rockstar develops in a vacuum and does not take notice of any other games (which maybe true) so with this view firmly in his head he goes into the game reaching for that stuff.
 

cackhyena

Member
Sessler says "it may not be the biggest map in a gta" or something like that. Is that true? Seems more massive than anyone I can remember.
 

Gaz_RB

Member
With this game costing about 265m dollars I am not surprised of the moneyhats.
Also, why do I always have the feeling that this game always receives so much 10s across the board only because of the technical achievement and giant scope of the game?

Months later you always look back and shake your head about it because the story and narrative are cringe-worthy and the violent, conservative, macho, sometimes rascist and misogynic attitude of the game are despicable. Especially now the graphics this generation make it less cartoony (like last generation) and more realistic.

Although this is my personal opinion. I respect every other one's opinion.
Why do you think the reviews were money hatted? I'm so sick of hearing that. People never have proof.
 
I don't remember the central plot really being that strong in any of the GTA games. It's usually just:

criminal gets dicked over by other criminal -> 30 hours of being handed off between random crime lords -> "kill the guy who dicked you over."

It's a lot better on a minute-to-minute scale (wacky NPC's, funny advertisements).

Very true but I thought that after RDR, the story might be somewhat more compelling and engaging this time. It could just be that it didn't click with Escapist, I guess I'll find out for myself when my copy arrives tomorrow.
 

SeanR1221

Member
"I can imagine, 200 years from now, like our reading of Dickens, the game will be regarded as a catalog of our contemporary travails, an accelerated reality bearing more truth than just gazing at our own reflection."

I seriously cannot stand the way Sessler writes his reviews.

Can't wait to play tonight.
 

Avallon

Member
No way is this a 10. I bought this and wonderful 101 and I can't wait to play 101 again yet look at the difference in reviews. I know reviews and my impressions are about opinions but In terms of what will be enjoyable to play in years to come there's no comparison.
So you're saying Wonderful 101 is a better game than GTAV?
 

ASIS

Member
With this game costing about 265m dollars I am not surprised of the moneyhats.
Also, why do I always have the feeling that this game always receives so much 10s across the board only because of the technical achievement and giant scope of the game?

Months later you always look back and shake your head about it because the story and narrative are cringe-worthy and the violent, conservative, macho, sometimes rascist and misogynic attitude of the game are despicable. Especially now the graphics this generation make it less cartoony (like last generation) and more realistic.

Although this is my personal opinion. I respect every other one's opinion.

Before I start any sort of dicsussion, did you finish the game?
 

Alienous

Member
GPS embedded in the game world, I think.

Are there no audio SatNav instructions? GTA IV had it so that you could toggle that on, off, or just for particular cars. 'Turn left, turn right' and such.

Just like the real world solution.

Does anyone know if that wasn't included in GTA V?
 

Nokterian

Member
Every..single..time with GTA. I am depressed how this industry has come. Really there are also other good and quality's games but this is so mutch hyperbole and they don't get mutch attention then only GTA. I am not falling in that rockstar trap again. Escapist review is pretty honest but that's about it really.
 

Gorillaz

Member
Damn. Escapist went for the pressure point and talked bout the Housers script.

They probably won't get shit in the future lol but I respect that they weren't fearful of it.
 
What are the best subjective, technical reviews? I want to hear what people think about controls and image quality, not how they feel about playing as a psychopath.
 
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