The release of this game had one of the biggest hypes I have seen, and I'm not surprised. The grand theft auto series must be one of the most popular, and for obvious reasons - guns, cars, theft, killing, drugs, gangs, mafia, the list goes on. Now, I'm not saying all of those things are wonderful, but as a game, that's what people like. The new game cost around £170M to make (so I heard), which is more than a lot of movies! But I did read that it brought in around 800 million within a few days....I guess people liked it! Right, time to review...
I have played the game and actually completed all of the missions, which, isn't a great thing. Its a very short story, which was a bit disappointing. I remember seeing the first trailer, and it gave the impression that there are general missions but also a lot of heists that you perform with your crew. There are only a few of those....which was a let down. I think that is the biggest problem with the game, its just not long enough.
Moving onto the positives.
The graphics I think are great - I'm sure a lot of people will say they aren't as good as the formula 1 game or call of duty etc.. but its pretty much an arcade style game. Its not an out an out racing game, nor is it an out and out shooter game, its like - everything rolled into one, and I think the graphics are more than good enough for the type of game. The variety of cars, clothes and weapons is very impressive. I love the fact you can really modify your cars, especially performance wise. Its great to add personal touches like clothing and tattoos, so that everyone who plays the game will have different looking characters - nice touch. Was another little let down that there are a lack of hairstyles (coming from a customisation point of view), except with Franklin. The map is actually a lot bigger than it looks. I remember gta 3 and san andreas that had huge maps, but this one seemed small, but when you play it, driving around, it is larger than it looks.
I think the story of the game is great, how the characters meet, the personal side of their lives, their different personalities, the detail of the missions. It is literally like creating a movie and writing a script, and I think the team that did that for this game are incredible. I love that they have included the stock market - its a real modern thing to have on the game, as well as being able to purchase a variety of vehicles, planes and bikes.
It is such a shame though, that the 'bawsaq' stock exchange is nearly always unavailable, especially when you're wanting to do the assassination missions where you need to put money on the stocks. I have googled that problem and a lot of people are saying that its because of the lack of servers available. Well, Rockstar should have anticipated how big the game would be, and had the right gear in place, because its hugely frustrating to sit there not being able to do anything because its not working.
Overall, It is a great edition to the grand theft auto series. There are some problems with it, and hopefully they will either get ironed out or the next game will be even better! A must buy though
So, that's my quick review of the game, Some negatives but mostly positive!