Geoff's Review of Grand Theft Auto 5

Geoff

Sir "Let's Play"
Wooh! GTA 5!! Oh man, what a game. Alright, let's take a step back real quick and look at my history with the GTA series. I played one of them on the original Xbox for a few hours or so. Max. And that's not story wise, that's "fucking around" wise. I tried the story, was bored as hell 5 minutes in.

So, yes, I am reviewing GTA 5 as a new GTA player. I see this as a perfect way to review a game because I have no bias. I am incapable of rating it higher/lower based on older games. If you care to listen to this review instead, I do have a loooong 37 minute video review of it, which will be posted down below.


WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR GTA 5 BELOW


Main Characters: Obviously to start this review, we gotta talk about our 3 main characters: Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Phillips. You start off playing with Franklin for a good couple hours, then move on to Michael and then a few hours later you get to play as Trevor.

First Impresssions: Franklin is a pretty cool guy who is just doing work that he can find in his neighborhood, which includes drug deals and gang shoot outs. His humor is fantastic and he's a very down to earth guy compared to his friend Lamar.

Michael is...just awesome. You first meet him (truly meet him anyway) when Franklin "reposses" his car and Michael was in the back. He forces you to drive through the owner's store, and then the game switches to Michael as you beat up Franklin's boss. After that, you also get to chase down some guys who stole your boat.

Trevor. Uuuugh, his first impression was horrible. He came off as a drugged out hillbilly who kills people for no reason. He sleeps with a dude's girl, and then STOMPS his face in when he shows that he is annoyed because Trevor FUCKED HIS GIRL. So, Trevor was a huge letdown.

Development: I've honestly come to love all 3 main characters. Franklin tries and succeeds at moving out of his shitty neighborhood by doing a bunch of heists with his new buddy. Michael is trying to keep his family together, deal with blackmail and deal wtih Trevor. And Trevor is just wanting to make a score on every thing possible.

So yeah, first impression is kind of wiped away in the end by how much I enjoyed these 3.

Abilities: The 3 main guys do have abilities, but I rarely used 2 of them. Franklin wins outright with slowing time while driving. Michael has a bullet time ability which was pointless. And Trevor...I don't really know what it did. It made more blood?

Other Characters: There are MANY other characters (naturally) within this game that make it so much better. Lester is one of the best, Michael's kids are annoying as hell but still add to the game. The multiple people you come across and threaten. Just awesome.

Graphics/World: This whole game is just beautiful. There isn't much more to say than that. I enjoyed the game's scenary so much.

Music: This is where, to me, the game fails hardcore. 90% of the 30 hours I currently have played, I had the radio OFF. The music stations are just horrendous.

Missions: I don't think I was ever bored during any single mission in this game. And I'm talking the main story missions. None of them were dull, plenty of things were awesome here.

Other Missions: The game has many side missions, and each character has their own unique missions as well. Franklin deals with Tow Truck stuff, I don't remember doing anything for Michael. And Trevor has "rage" missions. They each have some other cool ones too (Franklin becomes a paparrazi, Trevor steals celebrity stuff).

Random Events: The world has random events that happen where you can stop a car thief or what have you and either keep the item or return it. Some cool stuff happened there.

Races and Hobbies: Throughout the map there are areas where you can race cars, or race on water. Or do triathalons. You can golf or tennis. Lots of neat things to waste time on.

Gameplay: The gameplay in general is great. Cars handle well (most of them anyway), gun fights are great, transitions are great. Switching between each character is pretty damn neat.

Driving: As I said above, cars handle well. But that's about it. Boats were annoying and flying was the worst thing ever in this game. Like, a huge headache. Helicopters are the WORST.

Main Story: This is where the game thrives. Trevor comes back into the picture because he finds out Michael is NOT dead. Michael is being black mailed by the FIB and by some rich guy. Throughout the story you are doing heists to make money...to steal more shit and to do more heists. =P Lots of lying, stealing and backstabbing happens.

The 3 endings...

So, here it is. The finale. After you pull off the final heist and get away with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of GOLD, you are forced to play as Franklin. Once you get to your apartment, someone knocks on the door. It's Weston, the rich douche. Now, you've already been told to kill off Trevor by the FIB, and now Weston wants Michael dead. Sticky situation. You have 3 options.

Option 1: Kill Trevor. This is how I originally ended my game. You chase Trevor down, he ends up ramming into a tank of gas and you shoot him as he lies there. He catches FIRE, and dies screaming. It was horrible and at the same time felt SATISFYING.

Option 2: Kill Michael. This didn't feel as good because Franklin has NO REASON to kill Michael. None at all. Michael just got his family back and after the latest heist he can retire. Why kill him? You end up dropping him off the top of what I believe was a rocket. Just a bad ending.

Option 3: The best by far. You were told by Weston that if he tries to save them both, he'll have everyone on his ass. So, what happens? Franklin talks to Lester and he gives you a way to do it. They set it up so that the FIB and a private military (The Merryweather) arrive and you can kill them both. The trio then decides to take out loose ends. Those loose ends are the Chinese businessmen that Trevor dealt with early on, a gangbanger named Stretch who has tried to kill Franklin multiple times, and of course the FIB agent Steve Haines with the finale being Weston himself.

How I did it: Franklin first, he takes out the Chinese dude. Very easy. Then Michael, who takes out Stretch and a few more gang members, another easy one. Finally Trevor's turn. You get to snipe a dude off a ferris wheel for the fucking win. Then we, as Trevor of course, are sent to Weston's home where we kill his guards, kidnap him and bring him to a cliffside. The 3 chat with him a bit, then throw the car into the water.

At first I thought that was fucked up. Dude is drowning in a trunk of a car? Then the car goes boom. This is by far the best ending for the game.


So, there you have it. My first impressions mixed with a general review for Grand Theft Auto 5. This game was FANTASTIC. I don't see myself playing through the whole game (till it hits the PC), but I will definately be spending random time getting 100% completion.

If you are a GTA fan, this game is a must have.

If you are new to the GTA series, this game is a must have.

9/10. Point taken off for the flying bullshit and the radio music. A must play game though.

I also forgot to mention Grand Theft Auto Online. It launches October 1st. If it is as good as I hope, I'll easily boost the score to a 10/10. I can forgive bad flying and bad music if the online portion brings me another 20+ hours of entertainment.

 

Funding Progress To Date

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