A wise game historian once pointed that PlayStation 2 has three Grand Theft Autos, butGrand Theft Auto Vhas three PlayStations. It’s been a running joke in the Hardcore Gamer office whether Rockstar is Bethesda is milking their fifth entry in their respective flagship series more while building hype for the highly-anticipated sixth entry, but once again we’re making the return trip to Los Santos. Grand Theft Auto V was one of the more anticipated re-remasters for this current console generation, but after the car crash of a HD remasteringGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Editionreceived, it’s hard not have trepidation about Grand Theft Auto V.
Grand Theft Auto V is technically two games in one. There’s the single player Story mode where the player switches roles between the infamous Michael, Franklin and Trevor, and there’s the Online mode. If memory serves correctly, during the original 2013 release the online portion was intended to be supplemental content while the single player traditional GTA experience was the main attraction, but since then GTA Online has been raised into a fat cash cow for Rockstar as it still has many active players today.
The emphasis of GTA Online is apparent from the start with the default option to start in the online portion instead of the single player, which was not the case in 2013. The career builder is a new tool that allows players to get a jump start on building their criminal empire by allowing them to choose of four paths to ease their way into the online criminal underworld: executive, gunrunner, nightclub owner or biker. After establishing their chosen path, players will be given a hefty sum of money to invest in their base of business operations, vehicles and guns before starting the tutorial. It’s a nice addition for players who have taken a long sabbatical from Los Santos or are dipping their toes in online for the first time.
One of the things that set Grand Theft Auto V apart from its predecessors was having three different playable protagonists. There are certain parts of the game where access to certain characters is locked, but for the most part players can switch between Michael, Franklin and Trevor on the fly. Each one has a special ability that can come in handy in certain instances. Franklin is the best for high-speed vehicular chases while Trevor’s is great in intense gun battles. Each of them has their own developed personality and backstory, and despite each of them being violent criminals, they’re all kind of likeable in their own ways. It’s a testament to the writers that worked on developing this game. Criminals as protagonists is far from a new idea, this theme has been done in books and movies countless times, but having character development to humanize these criminals that’s on a level comparable to The Sopranos isn’t as common in video games. When swapping characters the player will take over the new character as they are leaving an activity, which helps create a sense that when the player isn’t controlling them they’re out living their lives.
For the fourth release of one of the best-selling games in history, there isn’t too much to tell about the gameplay that isn’t already well known. The game follows the same template they’ve been using since Grand Theft Auto III. It’s third-person action title where the player has a huge amount of freedom to run around in the open world sandbox of Los Santos. Players have several story missions that can be completed at their leisure or they can choose to spend time running amok. Outside of multiple protagonists, the biggest new feature in the almost decade old game is the heist. This is where the player pulls off a large-scale robbery operation involving the aid of hired assistance such as hackers and getaway drivers. A new feature introduced in the previous re-release is first-person mode, which is an optional way to experience Lost Santos. It initially seems odd playing a traditionally third-person game in first-person, but this mode works out well once the player is acclimated to it.
Rockstar added a few new technical enhancement to help make the latest incarnation of this title feel more modern.The 2014 update for last-gen consolesbrought GTAV to 1080P resolution and 30 FPS. Nowadays everyone wants 4k and 60 FPS, and like most consoles there are different video modes that attempt to find the right balance between performance and fidelity since having both seems like a tall order. There are three options for video: Fidelity which emphasizes resolution and ray-tracing, Performance which is about maintaining a consistent framerate, and Performance RT which tries to balance the two. Performance RT seems to be the best for overall performance that strives for 4k resolution and 60 FPS.
In addition to video changes a lot of work was done to incorporate the DualSense controller’s functionality. New haptics are present. The standard ones such as vibrating during a massive explosion are of course included, but there’s now vibration function while driving a car. Voice audio from radio or cellphone communication comes through the controller speaker to give a greater sense of immersion. Lastly, and this is one of the more useless additions but still seems cool, the controller lights flash red and blue while the police are in pursuit of whatever felonious act the player just committed.
Grand Theft Auto V is one of the best games to come out in the last decade. Some of its satirical take on modern society doesn’t hit the same as it did nine years ago, but that’s to be accepted with the passage of time and topical humor. The rest of the dialogue is still well written and comical. Questioning what someone did in a past life to deserve the idiocy of an NPC is all too relatable, and while Trevor is a caricature of a parody of a sociopath, the writers actually make you feel empathy for him in certain scenes. There are plenty of high octane moments that are still thrilling like speeding down the highway to leap onto a runaway yacht. Planning and pulling off a heist are among the more compelling mission types that were introduced in this entry and pulling them off again in this console generation holds up remarkably well. Oddly enough vehicular controls weren’t always the highlight in this game, particularly with some of the airplane missions. These haven’t been noticeably improved but thankfully a forgiving checkpoint system makes recovering from plane crashes or flipping a vehicle over not the end of the world.
The biggest question about this new remaster of Grand Theft Auto V is whether or not it’s worth the upgrade. Assuming someone wants to replay the single player or story or is building their empire online, the answer is it depends on what version they’re playing. If the answer is Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, then do this upgrade. If someone is on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One then it’s a harder sell. Players will be able to do a one time migration of their save file to continue their progress, so not having to start from scratch is nice. Aside from the graphical improvements the biggest change is the loading time. Switching from GTA Online to the Story mode can be done on the fly and takes roughly twenty seconds compared to the previous minutes-long loading times. But outside of the career builder mode online and small in-game bonuses, there isn’t too much new content beyond the tech improvements.
Closing Comments:
Grand Theft Auto V is one the best games released in the last decade and holds up surprising well nine years later. Like any remaster, the HD makeover can’t hide all the signs of aging from a game that launched two console generations ago, but beyond that impresses. The PlayStation 5 iteration is every bit of the hilarious thrill ride it was back in 2013. Everything played through during the review was familiar territory, but it was just as captivating and entertaining as it was the first time. But by the same token, outside of technical improvements made possible by the more-powerful hardware, there isn’t much of anything new being brought to the party. This is the best way to experience Grand Theft Auto V, but faster loading times and high resolution and framerate might not be enough to necessitate upgrading to modern-gen consoles. It’s still a great port of one of the best games of all time, but it doesn’t drastically improve much over the PC and last-gen version.
