Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS3)

This game is amazing. I'm not sure its exactly 5 star but its certainly closer to a 5 than a 4. Lets just say 98/100. I have played this game non stop since I received it on release day, its incredibly addictive. The characters are possibly the greatest characters of the franchise and lets be honest, we've seen a fair few of those. My favourite is probably Michael, the ex gangster who somehow ends up back in all the action again. Trevor is equally great, he seems to have a fixation with men taking off their pants but supposedly he's heterosexual. You'll certainly have fun figuring out what his game is. Franklin is possibly the most basic of the 3 characters, fitting your stereotypical gangster to a tee. He does have his own dog though, which certainly makes him unique and fun to control. You can alternate between the 3 freely majority of the time, however, there is occasions when you must control one person but this usually isn't for too long and I suppose it helps you get a feel of the characters and figure out their backgrounds a little bit. Each of the characters have their own set of contacts. It would be pretty lame if Michael didn't have his own wife's number until you started playing the game, for example. They all have the numbers of people closest to them at the start of the game but of course there are ways to add more contacts be it by doing missions or even popping to your local strip club, touching up one of the girls until she likes you enough, take her home and well.. You have a booty call. Its pretty much all here in GTA, albeit a little bit extreme at times. You can hunt, race (Not just cars but boats also), play tennis, hang out with your family, go golfing, cheat on your wife, rob convenience stores, walk and train your dog, or everyone's favourite activity, going around and just slaughtering people! There's so much variety that I have often found myself in the position where I don't know if I even want to do the missions. Its literally that large you can get hours of fun just by walking around. Buying businesses is also a possibility along with many other things. Another updated feature is the taxi missions, while only small, I feel its quite significant as you are no longer required to continuously pick up and drop off characters until you wish to quit. Its done one by one now simply by clicking L3 when inside a taxi. GTA's map is larger than all the maps I have seen in a GTA game before. It truly is enormous. I've barely left the city because its simply too big. Not that that is a bad thing. This game is everything GTA 4 should have been and more. I can almost guarantee that once you complete all the missions, you'll still never get bored of the roaming around. And that brings me to my next point.. The missions are possibly the greatest missions that have ever been in a GTA game, due in part, to the fact that often, there are all 3 protagonists playable in the same mission. This shows you different things each character does during a mission. For example, (I'll use one early into the game as to not ruin it) Michael plans to rob a jewellery store but first you first have to scope out the store and find out information, then you'll have to collect (or steal) things that will help you in the robbery, then when the robbery actually takes place Franklin has to do something before Michael does his part. So basically you get to play the whole raid rather than just one characters POV. This really helps you understand the story easier because you're actually planning the whole thing out yourself. When you fail a mission you no longer have to do huge portions of the mission again as there are now checkpoints, so if you die you won't feel as daunted doing a small part of it again. This could be deemed as unfavourable however, as it does essentially make the game easier. You can also skip mission after a certain number of fails but that's entirely optional. Los Santos looks more beautiful than ever before. The graphics are truly stunning and stretch the PS3 to its limits. The game in itself plays smoothly and feels a lot more free in general. I haven't noticed many bugs. One bug I did notice was when I dived over a railing in the subway station and landed on the track but somehow seemingly fell under the world and also another bug when I attempted to skip a mission, the game simply wouldn't load. These things, particularly the second are very likely to be fixed by patches in the near future. All in all, the game is amazing and I would recommend it for any fan of the series, even if you didn't like 4 as this is truly magical and is miles ahead of it, which is what the hardcore fans want to hear as I see no logical reason why the series cannot continue. Hopefully next time we get a female protagonist (That may just be me but it would bring something totally different to GTA) as that was the only thing I was slightly disappointed about pre-release. However, I have absolutely no complaints about the game at all after playing it. Pick this up, I guarantee you won't be disappointed either! Its needless to say that this game is not for the faint-hearted, there is nudity (Both male and female), drug use, sex, violence (DUH!) and the odd torture scene. I know these are what you'd expect from a GTA game but I thought I would point it out as this time it pushes those limits further than it ever has before so be careful if you're planning on letting somebody under the age limit play it. Is the game perfect? No but its pretty damn close to perfection!

First impressions. Straight from the install screen you can tell this game is going to be a masterpiece. Maybe it's was the music or the fact that it had a countdown in MB, of which there are 8486, at 9MB a second, that's a long wait...but well worth it. Then suddenly you're thrust into the action...not saying how though, no spoilers...but it's far superior to getting off a boat or plane. Here you get your first taste of the new gunplay, which was overwhelmingly great after playing GTAIV recently. Later on, after the title sequence, you get your first real go at driving...it's incredible, much improved over GTAIV (and I loved the driving in that). More on those later. This time around we have three characters to play with...and you can switch between them mid-mission. This adds another level to how the player can complete a mission, without being tied down to the exact same mission structure, as with previous games. Simply hold down on the D-pad, select a character that's available and it switches instantly to that character and you take control. This isn't confined to inside the mission, though. When outside of a mission you can drop in (with a camera movement that zooms into the sky and back down on your character...basically, the coolest loading screen you've ever seen) on a character while he goes about his day...and he could be doing anything. The first time I tried it, I found Michael sitting in a car, clearly bored with his life. These three characters are classic GTA. Michael, the retired criminal with a family bleeding him dry. Franklin, gangster from the hood trying to make a bigger name for himself. And last - but definitely not least - Trevor, a complete psycho living outside of the city in Blaine County. That's all the stuff you probably know already, and obviously I haven't come close to completing this, and I wouldn't spoil it anyway. This is a day one assessment of how the game runs and controls. Do I really need to tell you how to play GTA? :D Anyone expecting The Last of Us level of graphics will be disappointed, GTA has never - and will never - matched the highest a generation has to offer. You can't compare a linear non open world game to GTA, they are made differently. TLOU uses a smaller stage and can fit more polygons and greater quality textures. GTA has to load huge amounts of polygons and textures on the fly, so they can't be the highest quality, just the most efficient. This is why GTAV requires an 8 GB install, to maximise the games ability to stream those polygons and textures. GTAIV used a 3.3 GB install, so you can see why this game would need 8 GB of data to play with, because this game is HUGE. Los Santos and the surrounding area of Blaine County...and the rest, are said to be bigger than San Andreas, GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption put together. While it isn't as good visually as TLOU, it's most definitely a better technical achievement. Naughty Dog have had a whole generation of success on one system. Rockstar have had major trouble with their PS3 versions of GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption. But this time both versions run almost identical (both at 720p native resolution...no sub-HD for PS3 this time), with Digital Foundry even recommending the PS3 over the 360 - the minor difference being better ground textures (not that you should spend much time looking at the ground). In terms of framerate, these consoles are being pushed, but typically keep a pretty good rate around 25-30fps (even pushing above 30 on occasion), PC gamers will roll their eyes at that, but most console gamers won't notice a thing. It is still a vast improvement over previous titles. It seems the power of the Cell has final paid off in multiplatform gaming...better late than never. One thing that surprised me is the lack of pop in. Even in TLOU there was a fair amount of it (Firefly pendants were particularly bad), but here you are driving around at speed with mountains and bridges seemingly always there. One mission - the one from a trailer with a man jumping out of Michael's second floor window (seen here from Franklin's perspective) - sees Michael and Franklin driving up to some posh Vinewood hills location. And mid-mission I had to stop, because the view just didn't seem real..."I'm playing on a PS3, THAT shouldn't be possible", but it is. What Rockstar have done is nothing short of a miracle. The draw distance is incredible. The words "Scope", "Sprawling", and any others reviewer's tend to give, don't do it justice. Light Source, it's an amazing feat to pull. I went to the top of a mountain and in the far distance I could see lights of cars and lights of buildings...all of which aren't just there for decoration, they are from the cars and the buildings. It makes for beautiful night time vistas. Lighting in general is superb, a great improvement over San Andreas' over saturated orange. A lot of people have questioned how this game can run on current generation systems? The answer is simple; 5 years development and $265 million! Only one other film in history cost that much (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End cost $300 million), so it goes without saying...this is the most expensive video game ever produced, and you can see why. There just isn't another open world game that looks as good as this...for me it's up there with MGS2 on the PS2, with both punching well above their weight. Franklin's first mission (with San Andreas funny Lamar) gives you the chance to test the new driving system. And it's as expected. Halfway between GTAIV's realism and SA's arcade. You can now pull off power slides, but with the chance of messing it up. It's the perfect system. Holding (or tapping to cycle) Left on the D-pad brings up the new radio wheel (with the game effectively paused) you choose your station using the the Right stick. Far simpler than cycling through loads of stations. This system is also used to select weapons. The combat has had a dramatic improvement. The camera is now a lot tighter, before it was a battle with a strange system that seemed intent on moving the camera in the direction of movement. You can now shoot while running, a definite benefit, because the cops are now super aggressive. Before GTAIV, the cops would basically just all charge towards you brainlessly...now they all charge towards you using their brains. Just a three star wanted level is a pretty tasty challenge, with even police helicopters shooting at you. They now use a cone of view to search for you, meaning you can cleverly out fox them by hiding in a back alley. They are super smart and super tough, don't even think about standing out in the open, you're dead. Don't worry though, because a nice helping of mid-mission checkpoints and the ability to save your game at any point using your phone, mean you will be straight back into the action. There is no more bringing up your phone to restart the whole mission...there is no bringing up your phone, you die, you hit one button and you're back to the last checkpoint. You keep all you guns, there is no need to keep going back and forth for more. The guns themselves can now be upgraded, right down to the colour of the weapon. Then there's the customisation of the cars...and more...in fact...why am I wasting my time even writing this!? One last thing. If you're live on TV, whatever you do, don't answer your phone! :D This generation goes out with a bang. The best game of the series...by the distance from one end of the map to the other...and I've only had it a day...it's quite possibly the best game ever made...apart from LittleBigPlanet 2 ;)

Naturally, sites like Amazon are going to be inundated with reviews for this game over the coming weeks as gamers all over the world finally have the chance to get their teeth into Grand Theft Auto V, perhaps the most anticipated game of the last 10 years. And, you'll be happy to know, there is plenty to get your teeth into indeed. The game takes the basic idea of GTA IV and runs with it. The graphics have been neatened up, the sound is as good as ever and the movement of characters and vehicles alike remains authentic, realistic and intuitively fun to handle. The developers have also added some extras in the form of free-time activities you can do aside from the storyline. You are now invited to play tennis, do yoga or go hunting on top of GTA's old-school pastimes such as strip clubs and bowling alleys. There are also more cars than GTA IV, more clothing and accessories to customise the style of your character. You can now visit chop shops and have your vehicles upgraded, painted or customised the way you like adding things like bumpers, spray jobs, body armour or fancy hub caps. Weapons are also customisable in GTA V giving you the opportunity to develop your very own and unique arsenal of offensive weaponry. The city around you also feels more organic than that of GTA IV. There is more going on in the city of Los Santos and spontaneous side missions and interactions are more frequent, but not annoyingly so, as I said, it feels organic; part of a day in the life of Los Santos. A little note then for any of you out there who are unfamiliar with GTA. Perhaps you're considering buying it as a gift or for yourself but are unsure about "what it's all about". In a nutshell then: GTA is an adult game first and foremost. It is set in a fictional modern day city in the USA where players take control of three main protagonists. The storyline around these three builds the main premise of the game. GTA is however a free-roaming open-world game which means players have the opportunity to ignore the main storyline and missions and simply explore the world and what it has to offer. As I said though, it is an adult game with plenty (and I mean plenty!!) of bad language, violence, drug references/use, sexual content etc. It has an 18 rating for a very good reason!!! A quick summary then of the positives (+) and negatives (-) of GTA V: + Beautiful graphics + Massive open world to explore and get lost in + Great voice acting + Organic feel draws you into the game leaving you wanting to play and discover more + Loads of vehicles which look beautiful and each handle differently making your choice of car very important for each mission + 3 characters instead of 1 gives the game a unique depth and adds further integrity to the story + Good story with interesting plot (not ground-breakingly original, but good nonetheless) - Needs 8GB of memory to run on your PS3 - This is fine if you have the space, but be warned if you have an older 16GB model for example - Melee combat (fists, bats etc.) still feels a little clunky and unresponsive discouraging the player from using it - Silly driver AI (this isn't a massive problem, nor does it stand out, but once or twice it has irritated me when I'm bombing down the road at 150mph and some stupid bus driver pulls out in front of me) Overall, GTA V is everything that I had hoped it would be and more. All my other games will be gathering dust on the shelf during the next few weeks as I really get to grips with all of GTA V's secrets and wonders. I urge anyone to buy this who wants a fun, interactive and very addictive shooter/driver/movie-style RPG game, but would deter anyone who is easily offended, dislikes the mention of drugs, racial and societal stereotypes and/or crime in general. Thanks for reading and enjoy GTA V!

Many people, myself included, were disappointed by GTAIV on its release. There was still the initial thrill of exploring a beautifully crafted city, but that soon wore off. If I had to choose one word to describe GTAIV, it would be dull. Generally dull characters inhabited a dull world, which was scattered with dull sidequests and predominantly dull missions. I admit that I bought GTAV in no small part because of the hype. It was difficult not to get caught up in it, and I had very high hopes for a new Rockstar world. Many games struggle under the weight of such unrelenting hype, but I'm pleased to report that in my opinion GTAV is one of a very rare breed of games that actually lives up to the expectations that have been set by the gaming world. Simply put, the world of Los Santos is stunning to explore; it is brimming with life and colour and it feels a privilege to inhabit it. In terms of scale, it took me over 10 minutes just to traverse from one end of the map to the other (land only), and that was using a very welcome fast-moving motorway that runs all around the outside of the island, weaving between traffic on a very nice superbike. The detail of the game world is also fantastic, with every corner of the map populated by little details, such as a colourful little hot dog stand nestled behind a farmyard barn right on the outskirts of civilisation. Taking all this into account, it would be ludicrous to criticise the graphics as not being as polished as very linear, closed-world games, but when the orange sun is setting behind you as you trek up a mountain side and look out at the sea crashing against the rocks, I challenge anybody to quibble about the graphics then! In general, GTAV is a refinement of previous entries in the series and Rockstar's other open-world series, such as Red Dead. The character and car mechanics, the missions and the game world are all cases in point of this. Your character (there are now three main protagonists) handle well and the shooting mechanics have improved over previous series entries, but in my opinion it still doesn't feel as polished as some dedicated third-person shooter games, such as the underrated Binary Domain. The cars have real weight to them and are a pleasure to drive, and the sheer number of them is staggering. Unusually for open-world games (where exploration and carnage is king for me), I'm really enjoying working my way through the missions. There is so much more variety than the majority of GTAIV missions, and some in-mission twists that genuinely take me by surprise. You now get rated on each mission based on whether or not you met a set of criteria, some more difficult and outlandish than others, which has got me re-playing some missions just to get the higher rating. It's a simple but clever idea that brings added replayability, as they're available to retry as soon as you've completed them. If you don't fancy missions right away, however, why not just cruise around the city area, which is now less than 1/4 of the map size (don't worry - there's plenty to do in the rest though), and look for random events that you can participate in. Do you join two gangsters in holding up a woman outside a supermarket, or help her out? Or do you risk incurring the wrath of the police by trying to rob a security van? Do you return a civilian's bag to them after you've chased down their mugger, or keep the money for yourself? The choices are yours to make. I could go on forever about the brilliant attention-to-detail that GTAV boasts, and the moments that never fail to make me grin like a kid who's just won a Mario Kart race. Instead, please feel free to ask any burning questions in the comments section and I'll answer if I can and I'm not too busy playing the game! I'll leave you with two little silly morsels of information if you're still on the fence. Some cars now have three headlight settings: off, normal and raised. Brilliant eh? And when you've completed a taxi fare, keep an eye on the punter to make sure he pays you! I cannot recommend this game highly enough if you're even remotely interested in the open-world genre, because in my opinion this game is at the pinnacle.

Now i'm not usually one to write reviews, especially not on games. But I feel with the mixed reviews this game is getting, I need to get my opinion out there. OH MY. This is game is amazing. I got it the day of release and I ended spending most of the day on it. GTA 5 is the most fun I have ever had on a game, even more so than San Andreas!!!! The map is huge. The characters are hilarious. The music on the radio is pretty average, but the talk shows and adverts are so funny! So much fun its unreal. I'm not sure if I was disappointed with the story. The actual missions are amazing. They are all pretty long, the situations and stuff you have to do is insane. But I cant help but feel the storyline is a little weak and too short. Now I don't know if it was the sheer amount of time I spent playing the first week, but I completed the story pretty quickly. Its 69 missions long, and it feels a lot shorter than San Andreas and GTA 4, but I never played those as much as I have this in such a short amount of time. But even so, the missions are amazing, whether the overall story is too short or not. Also the story seems pretty weak. There isn't much of an aim or story until the end... The characters have a connection which is sort of explained through the beginning, but the main body of seems to be personal errands, heist, FIB, heist etc. Not much really happens in the story till the end, when you revisit the start.. But its still bloody great fun. The online is also amazing. Yes, the servers are terrible, but rockstar are sorting that out, and as each day goes on, they get a little better. Basically, online you can do the usual Deathmatches, races and missions. All of these are pretty well thought out, and good fun to play with your mates. Deathmatches can get a little stale after a while however. But before you do these, you get put in to 'a lobby' area, which is basically 18 people thrown into the map and you can do whatever you want. It is so much fun. If you're going to play online, i'd say play with your mates, because it can get quite boring if you are just cruising around by yourself. Overall this is the bench mark for modern gaming. It is the most fun I have ever had on a game, and I don't really see anything beating it in the near future... (GTA 6 maybe..)

If I had gotten round to writing this review just as I started playing the game I would have gone nuts and given 10 stars if possible. However having completed the game and seen everything it had to offer I can't quite bring myself to give it the full 5 stars despite having some great times playing it. I will save the negatives for the end but when I first got this game I was beyond excited! 1.That long loading menu with changing promo artworks with its Michael Mann inspired score music. 2. Unlike previous games I had pretty much obsessed about this one knowing who the characters were and the basis of what the plot would be. So it was surprising that the ever awaiting start to the game was playing through a prologue set 9 years ago, in a different city to set the characters up well for the present. I have to say this was fantastic and a different way to start a GTA game compared to previous editions. In Vice City imagine if you got to play out Tommy Vercetti's prologue where he killed multiple assassins during his ambush before doing 15 years in prison back in Liberty City? 3. All characters are great and the way their introduced suits them. Michael was probably just about my favorite because i felt I related to him a little. 4. That first heist where you had to decide the method (quiet or loud) and the right crew which felt like make or break (i gambled on a cheap hacker in hope he would develop). Then the rush of actually completing the heist! Oh my there haven't been many moments where it felt so good. 5. Then being re introduced to Trevor in the present and his shocking behavior and being isolated away from Los Santos temporarily and seeing Trevor's world in the backward world of Sandy Shores. 6. Taking Trevor to Los Santos for his tense reunion with Michael whilst finally having access to the money made from the first heist. From then on it was pretty exciting stuff as the game progressed but this does eventually bring me to the negatives. Most of these negatives come from a lot of expectation after countless obsession over every trailer and background information as well as comparisons good and bad to previous GTA games. 1. When I first saw an actual dog in a GTA trailer I was so happy. Franklin has a pet dog that I thought would be a big part of the story and be really cool. Instead Chop the rottweiler is central in one mission where he helps Franklin chase down a rival gang member but after that he rarely plays a big part and away from missions there isn't much use for him until his happy meter is higher which brings me to the frustration of the ridiculous "IFruit app". When I heard you actually have to download an app on your own phone, then play a mini game on that which trains Chop just to get his happy meter up, well I thought 'what a joke'! Why the hell couldn't it be done through offline gameplay and simply train Chop in the actual game instead? Which brings me to next point which connects a bit to Chop. 2. There are 3 playable characters in this game! In San Andreas with just one playable character; the game reportedly had over 100 story missions and I know for fact that GTA IV was reasonably long enough. So being naive I fully expected that with 3 playable characters the story missions would be tripled if you will and make the game long and fulfilling. The first time I started to lose excitement for this game was when I realized that I wasn't that far off completing the story and the game just felt shorter than its predecessors. Why the hell were there less missions? Why wasn't there more depth into Franklin's gang life background including mini gang wars (where Chop the Dog would play more of a part)? Why wasn't there more depth into Trevor's gun running and crystal meth business? Oh of course Rockstar have lost their way and focused way too much on the lame and overrated online world instead to satisfy the sad pathetic Call Of Duty online loser fans! 3. I strongly feel that the 3 different endings could have been better. Frankly I knew it was likely that Michael or/and Trevor could die because of what's happened in their past but not at the hands of Franklin in two very tame optional endings. Therefore of course you go with option C for the big happy ending. Realistically though there could have been another explosive ending where Michael or Trevor die because one or the other kills the other. There could have even been an ending where Franklin somehow dies and Michael feels real remorse at bringing a young kid like him into their world and paying the price. 4. Stretch and the Triads have to be the most ineffective villains in GTA history because we simply don't see them enough on screen. The most screen time villains are probably Devin Weston (multi-millionaire tycoon) and Steve Haines. Unlike Officer Frank Tennpenny (played by Samuel L Jackson) in San Andreas, the two mentioned above prove to be more annoying pests than intimidating villains. Even GTA IV did better in this department when it came to menacing antagonists (Dimitri Rasalov, Mikail Faustin, Jimmy Pegerino, Vlad etc) and so did previous games. There just wasn't enough exploration of the criminal underworld like before. Simeon (Franklin's former boss) is associated with the Armenian mob (unseen) according to GTA database, so why the hell isn't he and that mob a big part of the game in making the three characters' lives a living hell at some point later in the story. Because of these problems, the ending is somewhat not perfect to a very short game. Not really having Stretch or the Triads getting the screen time needed to make the impact on the audience and the fact that each one is not killed by the right protagonists that actually want them dead really makes it a tame confrontation. 5. After you have done the heists and for fun you decide to replay them again, its frustrating that certain crew members that you didn't pick initially are now no longer available as an option for replays. 6. Oh yeah there's no NIGHTLIFE in the game! GTA IV may not have been a terrific game but its expansion spin-off; Ballad of Gay Tony, was a really fun game because of its nightclub culture. So it frustrates me further that even with all that money you can barely enjoy nightclubs in the game (except for strip club). Even when you buy a bar or nightclub you can't even access it! For heaven sake even in GTA: Vice City which came out 12 years ago, once you bought it even then you could enter the Malibu club but in this game the creators have gone backwards and taken that fun away. Which finally brings me to the little things I think should have been in the game that may or may not have been in previous game:- - Gambling and Mini games! There's a race track in the city but it's never open for public or you the player to go down and gamble. If betting shops are still legal in California why aren't they in the game too like they were in San Andreas. People moaned too much about the mini games and I'm worried these same clowns are the reason Rockstar got rid of the old ones which I liked such as bowling or playing pool. Especially being able to gamble while playing pool which wasn't in GTA IV but was in San Andreas. - More access to buildings! This includes access to properties you buy including nightclubs. Bahama Mamas West is inaccessible which really infuriates me! The game needs way more available business properties to choose from such as nightclubs, restaurants, car dealerships, a film studio etc. Also wish the like Vice City certain properties you buy have actual story missions to them (including cut scenes) instead of the generic annoying small jobs with current properties you can buy. - Gangland wars for Franklin & Lemar & Chop as well as a better drug distribution background for Trevor's character. - There could have been more heists. Not major ones and don't have to involve all 3 major characters. I'm thinking more to do with Franklin along with Lamar. You can plan liquor store hold ups (including safe) or even restaurants and maybe a pawnshop robbery that doesn't go completely to plan because Franklin was a getaway driver for Lamar and Stretch was a major cause for why it was bad (you know like in the film DRIVE). Also was disappointed they still having brought back burglary missions since they were introduced in San Andreas. Can you imagine Franklin and Lamar doing a mission like that? It be like CJ and Ryder bickering all over again. - Although I understand that they wanted to stick to one city, I also feel that becasue Rockstar abandoned the unlock reward system it makes it less fun that youcan explore most of the city and San Andreas quite quickly. I still can't help but think what it be like to have San Fierro and Las Venturus with better graphics than what San Andreas ever achieved. If Las Venturas had been included you could include a casino robbery like in the film 3000 Miles to Graceland. So GTA V is being re released for PS4! Well maybe I be dumb enough to buy it but I doubt they added anything to story mode s

Before you read my preliminarily review, know that I've only played approximately 2 and a half hours of the game, so I'm only commenting on what I've experienced so far. WHAT DOES THE GAME LOOK LIKE? To sum up the visual element of this game, Grand theft auto V looks almost too breathtaking for words. You can tell by focusing on the intense detail of every particle and texture of beautiful rendering, that this believable new world Rockstar have succeeded in creating, is probably to much for a PS3 (or Xbox 360) to handle. The speculation as to whether this game will be re-released for the next generation of consoles is almost definitely a no-brainer; I'm sure it'd stand up to all of Sony's PS4 launch-titles at least. CHARACTERS Now an eagerly anticipated game needs more than just stunning visuals to satisfy and capture its audience, and so far GTA V is doing just that. The inter-connectivity of each of the three main characters narratives are utterly seamless, with any possible loading times masked by stylised film-like transitions. All three men have completely distinct personalities, which are portrayed not only by a cast of quality of voice actors but advanced facial animations; not quite the eerily life-like 3D facial mapping we saw in 'L.A Noire,' but the improvement is a massive leap from GTA IV, which still looks pretty good. CAUSE AND EFFECT GTA V's physics are very similar to it's predecessor, but it feels like all the little tweaks you would have made to GTA IV's game play (if indeed you'd had the ability to) have been made. From the very first introductory mission, walking and turning feels very new. The characters almost feel heavier when using my PS3 controllers analogue sticks, like real human weight is being shifted by the slight movements of my thumbs. Turning and running are a little more life-like, which means the characters are more likely to stumble or fall into a door frame and fall flat on their faces. You have to judge and time your maneuvers just right, just like real life. At one point in the game, I fell off a reasonably high wall. My characters body tumbled and span as the weight of his head sent his body flailing head-first into the concrete. At that moment, I winced as the action felt so real. HERE IN MY CAR The driving is almost exactly the same as GTA IV. You still have the fixed camera that makes you feel like you want to apply that slight bit of downward pressure to the left analogue stick, so that the car doesn't block your view of the road in front. At times this can be very annoying, but as you continue to be absorbed by the game, you get used to this. Steering and pulling off handbrake turns seems to be a lot smoother, in fact easier. I enjoyed the realistic car physics of GTA IV and defended them, as many people found the controls frustrating. I've always preferred it when games emulate life, so I kind of miss the challenge of getting from a to b without denting my car. GET YOUR GUN The new shoot/cover system is so much better than the awkward 'Gears of Wars' -cover/struggle to get out of cover and get shot even when you're behind cover-system borrowed for GTA IV. You can pretty much use most large surfaces to hide or duck behind. The targeting system when firing weapons is a lot better also, except the game occasionally auto-aims on an area of the ground or floor when there's nothing there and refuses to let you target any enemies. This happened to me a couple of times, to the point where I had to let myself get shot to replay the mission as I couldn't even manually aim at the bad guys. My first try at this very same mission, the first handgun that you receive disappeared when I tried to pick it up; the game then prompted me to target and shoot an enemy, assuming that I had the weapon. I'm wondering if it's possible to resolve these glitches with a patch, or if; due to THE massive scale of the game, you just have to be prepared to restart the odd action, even exit and re-load your game to progress. These minor issues in no way spoiled my enjoyment of GTA V, but I was surprised to see imperfections after 5 years of development! Either way, it's still the best video game EVER made! San Andreas has a far more contemporary soundtrack to previous Grand Theft Auto titles, some of which have clearly been put into the game later in the development stage. The music makes GTA V feel very fresh and new, and in two and half hours I've not once heard the same bit of radio more than once, and I've been listening to the same two stations the whole time. There's no much else I can say at this stage, only that 9/10 reviewers are right. GTA V is a 10/10 game, and absolute must own game!

I was convinced that the Last of Us would win game of the year, but after playing GTA 5, I'm pretty sure that this game will take the cake! Lets get things straight, GTA 4 was an amazing game, it was graphically an achievement never seen before, gameplay was fantastic and the storyline addictive. GTA 5 tops its predecessor in every way making it the best GTA game ever made. The Graphics: As said above, the graphics are awesome, with an incredible attention to detail. Los Santos looks so realistic and you regularly find yourself stopping whatever your doing to appreciate the visuals. Whats best is that there are no loading screens (except from when you start like normal, and when you first install the game but its understandable when thinking about the sheer size of the game! Gameplay: Improved in many ways that sometimes shook the GTA 4 experience. Gunfire is a lot steadier and feels satisfying, I think rockstar learnt from red dead redemption. Driving is also far less frustrating and actually fun as you don't go flying so easily if your push the control stick a millimetre out of place. The cover system is also better and understands what you want to do a lot easier. In GTA 5 you can also switch between the three main characters in and out of missions. This function is fluid and works well, and allows for much more mission variety and is a fantastic idea thats been pulled off with expertise from rockstar. Storyline: In short, the storyline for GTA is amazing. The whole cast of characters are believable and likeable in their own way provided by some exquisite voice acting and animation. Its also hilarious, I frequently found myself laughing out loud to some of the things said, especially Trevor, that guy.. is just crazy, and sometimes very very dark and there will be some content that many people will find distasteful. But its a GTA game so people should know what to expect! Any issues? Only a few bugs, but thats completely forgivable in a game this size and scale and never really took away from the experience. The only other issue is that I cant put the controller down and am needing plentiful supplies of coffee. In short, this is not only the best GTA game ever made, its one of the best games of all time. 10/10