Grand Theft Auto V

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Grand Theft Auto V
""Why did I move here? I guess it was the weather."" — Michael De Santa
Protagonist(s): Franklin Clinton Michael De Santa/Townley Trevor Phillips Genre(s): Action-adventure Platform(s): PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 Xbox One Microsoft Windows PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X/S Release Date: September 17, 2013 (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) November 18, 2014 (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) April 14, 2015 (Microsoft Windows) March 15, 2022 (PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X/S) Developer(s): Rockstar North Publisher(s): Rockstar Games Country: United States United Kingdom Canada

Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on September 17, 2013, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, on November 18, 2014, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, on April 14, 2015, for Microsoft Windows, and released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 15, 2022.

Plot

When a young street hustler, a retired bank robber, and a terrifying sociopath find themselves entangled with some of the most frightening and deranged elements of the criminal underworld, the U.S. government, and the entertainment industry, they must pull off a series of dangerous heists to survive in a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.

Why It's A Great Weathers

1. Considering this was released in 2013, the game features one of the most realistic graphics ever seen in a game, even for the seventh-gen versions of the game. Also, the eighth-gen and PC versions have a few graphical improvements from the seventh-gen such as better car interiors.
2. The map is the same size as real-world Manhattan in New York and is even bigger than the map seen in San Andreas.
3. You can play as three characters. Not one, but three playable characters, all with different abilities and default attributes:
   • Michael has the highest stamina and stealth, but he is the slower of the three. His ability slows down time while on foot, allowing better accuracy during gunfights.
   • Franklin has the lowest weapon skill and piloting skill, but he is the best driver out of the three. his ability slows down time while in a motorized land vehicle, which in turn improves his driving & drive-by abilities.
   • Trevor is the fastest and the best pilot out of three, but he has the lowest stamina, and he is the worst driver. His ability grants him near-invincibility.
   • On top of that, the abilities were inspired by Midnight Club's abilities, as Franklin and Michael represent the Zone ability (time slows when activated, allowing better aims and more agile driving), and Trevor represents the Agro ability (damage being doubled when activated).
4. Over 750+ vehicles available. You can also modify your cars to a much bigger extent save for specific cases.
5. It's the first GTA game that features interactive animals and wildlife (unlike in San Andreas, where animals are just non-interactive 2D sprites), you can dive via scuba gear or submarine to watch and encounter sharks and whales, hunt deer in forests and you can even play as animals in the newer versions.
6. Getting 100% unlocks the following rewards:
   • UFOs will also appear at the top of Mount Chiliad and above Fort Zancudo and Sandy Shores.
   • An orange T-shirt that says 100% on it, under T-shirts in Franklin's wardrobe.
   • The Strangers and Freaks mission, The Last One is unlocked for Franklin.
     • A Golden Peyote Plant will spawn in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness area upon completing The Last One in the Enhanced Versions of the game, allowing the player to become the Sasquatch and the challenge to unlock the Beast.
7. Amazing soundtrack, courtesy of the game's many radio stations.
8. Game progress can now be saved anywhere at any time when not on a mission; however, saving at Safehouses remains and quick saving does not advance time.
9. Like IV, the game features an auto-aim and cover system.
10. Rather than scrolling through weapons and radio stations in previous games, GTA V introduces a selection wheel.
11. Players are no longer limited to a single weapon in each class, and weapons are fully customizable. Attachments include a flashlight for visibility in low-lighted areas, a grip to improve weapon stability, a suppressor for stealth attacks, extended magazines to increase ammo capacity, and scopes to improve long-range accuracy; however, not all guns can use all of these attachments.
12. Each character has a smartphone for contacting friends, starting activities, and accessing an in-game Internet.
13. It uses a benchmark test where you press the Tab key in the settings menu to initiate the sequence, something really useful to show how easily your PC can run the game.
    • However, keep in mind that it's recommended to play the Prologue and Franklin's first mission (Franklin And Lamar) for the Benchmark to work properly.
14. You can now fly large airplanes (such as a cargo plane, a Boeing 747, or a C-130) or jet fighters, like in San Andreas.
15. A skill system similar to that of San Andreas, except that said bars don't decrease automatically, since they are all related to the character's skill in something.
16. In the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game, the first-person mode was introduced in the series for the first time.
17. Unlike the previous GTA games, there are lots of cars inspired by movies and TV shows (especially Online). Some of them can be modified to look like a car from a movie or TV show.
18. Some characters from IV appear in this game like Packie McReary as an optional heist crew, Karen Daniels, Johnny Klebitz, Terry, and Clay.
    • Marnie Allen who appears as a random character in IV now appears as a supporting character in the Epsilon Program side missions.
19. Modding features are still here, like the previous installment. Example: Better gameplay, more features, and adding more cheat to make gameplay easier.
    • However, the mods only apply to the single-player and not the multiplayer. If you play multiplayer with mods, you're getting banned, so to play multiplayer, you need to disable or delete the mods.

WASTED Qualities

1. Grand Theft Auto Online, as most of the content is a hit or miss and it has a lot of problems that are only increasing in time. Since 2015, Rockstar has officially abandoned the single-player base game in favor of the online version. All DLC items released after the Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2 update are online-exclusive and are not available in single-player (they can be added in with mods on the PC version), and they cost ridiculous amounts of money which grinding very difficult for beginners. Ill Gotten Gains Part 2 is also the final update for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions due to their hardware limitations.
2. The game is somewhat of a downgrade from other entries.
   • The NPC AI, while having some improvements, can also be deemed as a downgrade when compared to that seen in GTA IV in some aspects.
     • A good example includes pedestrians picking a fight or calling the police on the player for no apparent reason if you stand close to them (which makes sense, as it would be kind of weird and creepy in real life). Back in IV, the cops would have a conversation with you while walking, and if you bump into them, they will talk to you with a conversation like "Hey, watch it asshole!" instead of immediately trying to bust you (although that is also realistic, since in real life, pushing a police officer is an offense punishable by law).
     • The Police AI is too aggressive. For example, they no longer simply arrest NPCs, instead shooting them dead, even when they're unarmed. Also, half of the cops that spawn in police cars wield pump-action shotguns.
     • NPC drivers will often get into 50-car pileups after an accident, which often results in a chain reaction of explosions.
   • Unlike past GTA games, there are no missions with a monetary payout and only heists (except for the Merryweather Heist) and the assassination missions for Franklin give you money.
   • The player cannot properly crouch like in previous games; instead, there is a stealth mode, where the character is just simply hunching over and making less noise when enabled.
   • The physics is rather weak. Cars can't become as badly damaged looking as they did in previous games, with the DLC cars being even more resistant to deformation compared to the vanilla cars of the game. Walls don't get scratched when cars grind up against them. The ragdoll physics is also weak when compared to GTA IV.
   • Many features from previous GTA games are gone. The player can no longer eat food at restaurants, work out at gyms, buy hot dogs, or go on a police computer, and there is no GPS voice on many cars. It still has some interesting and great features such as the car wash, barbershop, and going to cinemas.
   • The game doesn't have as many interiors that can be accessed outside of missions that are not safehouses, unlike previous games.
   • The map is a lot more boring compared to previous entries. Despite being bigger than San Andreas, Blaine County takes up most of the map which is mainly a desert with little points of interest. It would make a lot more sense to make it where the player has to go through Blaine County to get to Los Venturas just like in San Andreas.
   • The stunt jumps are harder and more frustrating than their previous games.
     • Some stunt jumps cannot have a margin for error, you have to land properly on the right scripted spot, or you will fail.
     • The Bolingbroke Penitentiary stunt jump is considered one of the worst stunt jumps in the game.
   • The story (though not bad) is overall a step down compared to IV, which was more serious compared to this game.
3. Some texture pop-in issues are present on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, especially on the latter and when the game's Play Disc was installed on the HDDs.
4. First-person view in the next-gen versions isn't the best. It feels too fast-paced when on foot and too clunky when driving vehicles.
5. When the prostitute is having sex with the protagonist, you can't rotate your camera freely to cover this scene, unlike Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
6. Loading times are very long (especially in PS3 and Xbox 360 versions to the point it is on par with Sonic '06s loading times) unless you install the game to a solid-state drive, or even Seagate external drives (they are faster than average HDDs). Thankfully the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S loading times are faster in comparison.
7. While the PC version isn't bad, and it is an improvement of GTA IV's PC port, it can suffer from long texture loading times, even on higher-end PCs.
8. Up until Reuniting The Family, Amanda (Michael's wife), Tracey and Jimmy (Michael's kids) are incredibly unlikable, though they do a great job of highlighting how bad Michael's life is even after faking his death to retire from crime & move to Los Santos.
9. Like GTA IV, the rewards for 100% completion are poor since you don't get anything all that meaningful in comparison to previous entries.
10. Many errors on the map, like the arrows on roads showing the wrong direction or the "Do not block" sign in the middle of the exit blocking it.
11. Johnny Klebitz, the main character who grew heavily on players from The Lost and Damned, is unceremoniously killed by Trevor. This is one of the most controversial scenes in the entire franchise, though it does its job of highlighting how Trevor is unlike any previous GTA protagonist.
12. By The Book is one of the most controversial missions in not only the Grand Theft Auto franchise but gaming in general. Even some of the most hardcore GTA fans found the mission to be uncomfortable.
    • In the mission, Trevor tortures an innocent man, Ferdinand Kerimov (aka Mr. K.), under FIB Agent Steve Haines' order, to gain information related to a target, Tahir Javan, that Michael eventually assassinates. In the torture sections, you are forced to do some brutal things to Mr. K, ranging from pulling out one of his teeth, electrocuting him, waterboarding him, and hitting him with a large pipe wrench. Once Haines gets the information he wants and the target is assassinated, he wants Mr. K dead; however, Trevor escorts him to the airport to leave the country.
    • On the way to the airport, Trevor gives a lecture to Mr. K about how torture is an ineffective method of getting information, and that Mr. K's torture was only to satisfy Haines' and Trevor's bloodlust. Also, Mr. K is neither seen nor mentioned again, rendering the whole mission pointless.
    • Unlike No Russian from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, you cannot skip this mission. It was so controversial, that the Japanese version has it outright removed from the game.
    • On subsequent replays, once you know who Tahir Javan is, you can pare the torture down to only two methods. While this won't get you a Gold medal, it will make the whole thing quicker.
13. The Epsilon Program side missions are extremely annoying, especially the infamous Exercising the Truth mission where you have to run five miles on foot throughout the Grand Senora Desert as Michael, the slowest character of the three.
14. The "Kill Trevor" and "Kill Michael" endings are pretty pointless since they add little to no benefits in the post-game unlike the Deathwish ending, which permanently prevents the player from using whoever is killed again, and also prevents Franklin from hanging out with whoever survives as well as Jimmy and Lamar. Subsequent updates to GTA Online have also rendered these two endings non-canon.
15. Self Radio is only exclusive for PC as this is not available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, yet for some strange reason it was also never included for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and it was not added for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Game Tips

1. If you go to a street race, muscle cars are superior to sports and super ones because the latter two have a habit of spinout, despite being faster. If it is an offroad truck race, the BF 4 (an old Volkswagen Beetle-like car with big wheels that appears around where Trevor lives if you're not good with names) is preferable.
2. Some tips regarding the Hunting minigame:
   • Do not kill female elk. If Cletus' warning didn't convince you, they give out a total of 13 bucks and a whopping 0 points. Also, females don't have antlers, while males do.
   • The most "pointful" way of killing elk is shooting at their heart. If that proves to be too difficult, aim for the neck.
   • Cougars are very dangerous and can kill you in a single attack. However, they can be easily identified by their roaring and Trevor says things like "I smell a big cat" when they're close. Immediately activate Trevor's special ability to survive the cougar's attack and then kill them. If your special bar is empty, shoot at it with a pistol as quickly as possible.

Reception

"You fucked it up!/You done fucked it up!"This game was given a 9/10 by AngryJoe.

Grand Theft Auto V received widespread critical acclaim, with praise directed at its multiple protagonist design, open world, presentation, and gameplay.

Grand Theft Auto V holds 7 Guinness World Records in terms of profits, for example, The Most Selling Video Games in The Release Date with over 11.2 million copies sold on the release date. The Fastest Video Game/Entertainment Content That Earned Billions, and The Highest Profits Earned in the first 24 hours with $860 Million in the first 24 hours of the release date.

Considered one of seventh-generation console gaming's most significant titles, it won year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. It has shipped over 65 million copies and is one of the best-selling video games of all time.

It's also one of the few non-Japanese games to have received a perfect score from Famitsu.

Trivia

• This is the first GTA game where a protagonist (potentially, depending on the player's final choice near the end of the game) kills another protagonist.
• This game marks the second time in GTA where a Parliament-Funkadelic member hosts the game's funk radio station, the first being in GTA San Andreas with George Clinton (the leader of both bands), who voiced Bounce FM host The Funktipus.
• This game marks the first time Lazlow is seen in person.
• The game was available for free on the Epic Games Store from May 15 to May 21, 2020.
• The game has spawned a couple of memes on the internet, most notably the Wasted screen (specifically the PS3/Xbox 360 version of it), recently with the ending scene where Lamar roasts Franklin in the first mission of the game, Franklin And Lamar, the "Damn, what’s this button do?" scene from the mission Deep Inside, and the "Davey! How You Doing?" opening scene from Dead Man Walking.

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