To Live And Die In L.S.

Sorry I've been a bit quiet these past few days.  I've spent 41 hours in San Andreas with my buddies Michael, Franklin, and Trevor in a grand adventure that was full of excitement, trepidation, drama, danger, and ultimately triumph.  Through their eyes I've base-jumped from mountain tops, robbed jewelry stores, woken up drunk on a beach in my underwear surrounded by dead bodies, driven an ATV out of a cargo plane, and much, much more.

Grand Theft Auto V is the culmination of every lesson that +Rockstar Games has learned as they've made games this generation - you can clearly tell that they've taken the best aspects of everything and put them here.  Example: the constantly weakest point of every GTA game I've ever played has been the shooting mechanics, but for this one it felt so good that I did something I would have never dreamed of attempting in previous games - turning free-aim on; and it felt great.  

Gone also is the slightly floaty driving physics from GTAIV and in their place is some of the best driving in any open world game I've ever played.  Driving was a joy, plain and simple.  Every car feels different, but just as important is who's driving because each of the three main characters have varying levels of skill behind the wheel.  If you're driving with Franklin, you'll pull moves that you wouldn't even try with the other two because he's the only one that can handle it.

The map is huge and highly dense; you'll never be far away from something interesting to do or see.  Random events also spice things up quite a bit - I was once driving up north to participate in a race on the water and happened upon a fairly ugly car crash that only had one survivor.  Ended up deciding to help her out, and turns out that she was a very capable driver that quickly became my go to driver for any heists I had going on.

Ah yes...the heists.  These set pieces will require lots of planning and forethought and were easily my favorite missions in the entire game.  I won't give any of them away (except for the jewelry store thing I mentioned earlier), but I will say that they were incredible.

Another thing I particularly enjoyed was the writing and the voice acting, which is absolutely top notch.  Each of the characters have their own personalities and viewpoints, and even when working together it's not unusual to have them bickering with one another.  During a particularly long drive to a small town north of Mount Chiliad, Michael and Trevor had a conversation/argument that had me laughing so much that I had trouble keeping the car on the road!

I could wax on for quite sometime, but I'll sum it up by saying that this game is simply amazing and stands with +Naughty Dog's The Last of Us as being one of the finest games I've ever experienced.  In short, games like this are why I'm a gamer.

Fantastic job, +Rockstar Games.  Next up, GTA Online - see you all in San Andreas!

Grand Theft Auto Online Revealed

Wow.  Just wow.  Before I even get into this, if you haven't seen the reveal trailer, that's where you need to start.  Don't worry, I'll wait.

As exciting as that is, it's easy to not fully understand what +Rockstar Games is doing here, so I'll break it down.  First off, it's important to understand that while Grand Theft Auto Online access comes free with Grand Theft Auto V, it's actually an entirely separate entity that will change and evolve all on its own.  Yes, it uses the same map and assets from GTAV (for now, anyway), but it's really its own thing - if you're thinking of it as just the online mode for GTAV, you're not seeing the big picture.  You'll be able to create your own character that you'll access via the same character switcher that we've seen in the previous GTAV gameplay video (remember that fourth empty spot?  This is what it's for), and once you're in that online world you can use your in-game cell phone to call up your friends and have them join you, even if they're currently playing just the single player.  You can do minor robberies on your own to earn cash and reputation, but to get the big bucks you'll have to form a crew and plan a heist.  There's also different ways to spend downtime, doing things like races, base jumping, tennis, golf, and more.

Some other points that need to be mentioned:

• You can set bounties on other players if there's someone you really want dead.
• You'll need to deposit your money in banks because if you don't, you can be mugged and robbed.
• NPCs react to your voice when you speak into your headset (your character's mouth will even move).  Example: if you're doing a robbery and you're shouting at someone to hurry up and give you the money, they'll move a lot faster.
• You can also invest your money in the online stock market and even bet on the outcome of online matches.
• While some missions are always there, others will be totally dynamic.
• You can customize cars and they are yours, but they can be destroyed or stolen...but if you've insured it, the car can be replaced for a fee.
• When I say that the world is dynamic and consistent, I mean it.  If some of your friends (16 people exist in a game world at any given time) are in an epic police chase, you can turn on the TV in your apartment and watch what's happening in real time.

Earlier on I mentioned that the world of GTA Online uses the map and assets of GTAV for now, but Rockstar has already alluded to the fact that the world of GTA Online will expand.  I wouldn't be too shocked to see San Fierro and Las Venturas added to the mix at some point in the future.  While GTAV is a current generation title, I also wouldn't be shocked to see a stand-alone GTA Online come to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at some point in the future.

This is the most ambitious thing that Rockstar has ever done, and I really can't wait to get my hands on it when GTA Online becomes available on October 1st 2013.