Grand Theft Auto V (PS3/X360) - Spring 2013
Three different characters each equipped with their own skills and abilities. A world environment bigger than Red Dead, San Andreas, GTAIV combined. Complex, story-impacting missions. Rockstar Games is back and they’re looking to redefine the open-world genre the only way they know how: with a shitload of style.
Just about every one of GTA’s conventions has been retooled or rethought, from weightier physics on vehicles to give them a more grounded quality to modified melee combat. If a mechanic didn’t feel polished before, Rockstar’s obsessive eye for perfectionism has likely scrutinized the hell out of it. And don’t expect to run through the motions; GTAV’s modernized vision of Los Santos will let you explore in ways previously barred from players like searching fully rendered underwater environments.
Grand Theft Auto is a gaming cultural phenomenon. One of the very few brand names that quite literally sells itself. It’d be easy for a developer to coast along on that kind of recognition with very little effort put forth. But if not for Rockstar’s pursuit for innovation and penchant to reinvent themselves, I doubt we would have made it all the way to the Roman numeral V. Anything less than “unprecedented” just isn’t their style.