Grand Theft Auto V (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!

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!