One is from a mid-game mission in which I flew a plane into another plane, fought the crew, hijacked the thing, and then parachuted out and watched it crash into the sea to escape death at the hands of incoming military fighter jets. Another time, whilst driving around in an off-road buggy, I got distracted by something that looked like a path up one of the San Andreas mountains. Turns out it was a path, and I spent 15 minutes following to the summit, where I nearly ran over a group of hikers. I could go on like this for ages. GTA V has an abundance of such moments, big and small, that make San Andreas — the city of Los Santos and its surrounding areas — feel like a living world where anything can happen. The cars handle less like their tires are made of butter and stick better to the road, though their exaggerated handling still leaves plenty of room for spectacular wipeouts. And at long last, Rockstar has finally slain one of its most persistent demons, mission checkpointing, ensuring that you never have to do a long, tedious drive six times when you repeatedly fail a mission ever again. Grand Theft Auto V is also an intelligent, wickedly comic, and bitingly relevant commentary on contemporary, post-economic crisis America. Everything about it drips satire: it rips into the Millennial generation, celebrities, the far right, the far left, the middle class, the media... If GTA IV was a targeted assassination of the American dream, GTA V takes aim at the modern American reality. The attention to detail that goes into making its world feel alive and believable is also what makes its satire so biting. The well-written and acted interplay between them provides the biggest laughs and most affecting moments, and the way that their relationships with one another developed and my opinion of them changed throughout the story gave the narrative its power. Michael is a retired con man in his 40s, filling out around the middle as he drinks beside the pool in his Vinewood mansion with a layabout son, air-headed daughter, serially unfaithful wife, and very expensive therapist — all of whom hate him. In doing so, it sidesteps some of the troubling disconnect that arose when Niko Bellic abruptly alternated between anti-violent philosophising and sociopathic killing sprees in GTA IV. Each has a special ability suited to his skills — Franklin can to slow time while driving, for example — which gives them a unique touch. I found his violent insanity a little overblown and tiresome at first. Grand Theft Auto V accommodates both, masterfully, allowing neither to undermine the other. The actual act of switching between them also provides a window into their individual lives and habits, fleshing out their personalities in a way that feels natural and novel. Pick a character and the camera zooms out over the San Andreas map, closing back in on wherever they happen to be. It could be nearly anything, because there is a bewildering multiplicity of things to do in the new San Andreas — tennis, yoga, hiking, racing on sea and on land, flying planes, golfing, cycling, diving, hunting, and more. I saw people walking their dogs along the beach in the country as I jet-skied past, arguing on the street outside a cinema in Los Santos, and camped — with tents and everything — overnight on Mount Chiliad, before packing up and continuing a hike in the morning. The ambience changes dramatically depending on where you are, too. It pushes the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 further than it has any right to, and it looks incredible. The biggest jump in quality since Grand Theft Auto IV is the character animation, but the world is also much more expansive, detailed, and populous. The price we pay for that is occasional framerate dips and texture pop-in, which I found became more prominent the longer I played, but never significantly detracted from my experience. I once stole a passenger jet from the airport for the hell of it, then parachuted onto the top of the tallest building in Los Santos. I bought an expensive mountain bike and cycled around in the hills, enjoying the view. These little moments can be captured on your phone camera — which, brilliantly, can also take selfies. I have several snaps of Trevor doing his unhinged version of a smile in his underpants on top of a mountain. The story that GTA V tells through its missions takes full advantage of all this variety beyond driving and shooting though the driving and shooting is still supremely enjoyable. Even missions that would otherwise be formulaic are imbued with novelty and excitement by the potential to play them from three different viewpoints — in a shootout, Trevor might be firing RPGs from a rooftop as Michael and Franklin flank the enemy on the ground. Despite the introduction of new stealth mechanics, enemies will miraculously see you when the mission dictates that they should. As ever, some of the wittiest writing shows up on the in-game radio that plays behind all of the exploration and mayhem. Still got some liquidity in your house? The satire is helped by integration of modern life into the game world. It might not be realistic, but it definitely feels authentic. There are no good guys in GTA V. Everyone you meet is a sociopath, narcissist, criminal, lunatic, sadist, cheat, liar, layabout, or some combination of those. All the pieces fit. The Verdict Grand Theft Auto V is not only a preposterously enjoyable video game, but also an intelligent and sharp-tongued satire of contemporary America. It represents a refinement of everything that GTA IV brought to the table five years ago. No other world in video games comes close to this in size or scope, and there is sharp intelligence behind its sense of humour and gift for mayhem. It tells a compelling, unpredictable, and provocative story without ever letting it get in the way of your own self-directed adventures through San Andreas. It is one of the very best video games ever made. Note: This review exclusively covers the single-player portion of Grand Theft Auto V, since it launched without any multiplayer mode.
