Developer: Rockstar North
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Genre: Action-adventure
Rating: 18+

There has never been a bad Grand Theft Auto game, so with the event that is the release of the FIFTEENTH entry into this particular franchise, the question is just how great is GTAV? The answer: Overwhelmingly, fantastically, not-enough-superlatives-to-properly-describe-it-great.

Everything about the game has been improved upon and fine-tuned from the previous entry, from graphics to the way the game handles to the storytelling. You’ll control three different primary characters – retired bank robber Michael, his former partner Trevor, and repo man Franklin – and you can switch between any of these characters at will to perform different missions, or to perform the same mission from a different point of view, complete with a new skill set.

The world you play within, the fictional but clearly based on LA city of Los Santos, is absolutely brimming over with life, full of unique characters, neighbourhoods and things to do. Just about anything you can think of (within the realms of reason) can be done here: Want to watch an arthouse film? Play a game of golf? Break into an airport, rob a plane, and sky-dive out of it? Check, check and double check. But not only are these flights of fancy for the players who want to wander off the beaten track, a lot of these actions are tied into the story itself, making playing the rules actually quite a bit of fun.

There is already talk of some of the darker sides of this story, including mention of misogyny and some particularly topical moments of violence, and those of a sensitive disposition may not enjoy spending time in the company of three characters who, when you get right down to it, aren’t very nice people.

But GTAV is funny, smart, action-packed, inventive, immersive and HUGE in scope, and once again Rockstar have upped the game when it comes to the open-world genre. Is it the best game of the year? Only with a little hindsight can we decide that, to see whether it lingers on the mind as much as The Last Of Us did, but in all likelihood, with the amount of stuff there is to see and do in this game, we’ll probably still be playing it come year’s end.

Presentation: 5 out of 5
Gameplay: 5 out of 5
Replay: 5 out of 5
Overall: 5 out of 5

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