Grand Theft Auto 5 will win VGX Game of the Year. I am so certain of this that I am writing this before they even announce the winner. Without a doubt Grand Theft Auto 5 was an amazing game and has changed open world games forever and it deserves recognition. I loved playing GTA V it and I thought it improved upon GTA IV in so many ways. Just by looking who will be judging the game this year I can say for certain Grand Theft Auto 5 will win but that isn't a bad thing it is the more popular game. Personally though on that list of nominees they had for game of the year I would have to say The Last of Us had a bigger effect on me. Both were amazing games but The Last of Us gameplay, story, and themes were intertwined so well to create such a complete experience.
Now I will be talking about spoilers so if you are one of the few people that haven't played this game yet but want to know what I thought of it without spoiling anything you can check out my full review. To thoroughly understand my issues with the game I will be talking about specific things. I do want to remind you though I thought Grand Theft Auto 5 was the best GTA experience this generation.
My problem with GTA V would be probably with the most basic truth that I really enjoyed Vice City and San Andreas just a little bit more. GTA V was by far much more playable in its approach to better controls and check points but the overall story did not draw me in an engage me as I thought it would have. To me a game that connects every aspect of it together perfectly is better than a game that offers more.
Vice City had a protagonist that not only fit in the world he was in but also the story being told. Tommy was a really interesting character put in a plot that made sense for him. Also the story of his rise in Vice City was extremely entertaining. The story didn’t take itself too serious but had its moments to make you care.
Franklin while great at times were just not that interesting to me. Franklin was kind of bland character who seemed to a little too attached to one of his ex-girlfriend and a not that great of a friend. I get that he wants to get out of the hood and that his friends don’t make the best choices but still man did I not really care.
Then well there's Trevor. Don’t get me wrong he is an extremely hilarious and funny guy with awesome missions to partake too. It’s just I couldn’t have any sympathy for this man period and he wants to make me feel bad about his friend Brad? The dude tortures and kills people like it is nothing plus he treats his friends like they are nothing.
The ending best sums up how I thought the story of this game was. Alright but just not something that totally grabbed me. The choices given to you are to kill Michael, Trevor to let both live. I mean how is that really a heart wrenching choice when its obvious you should let them both live just for pure gameplay reasons. The ending was trying to be all serious but in my opinion wasn’t when you gave such an out like that.
Don’t get me wrong though I loved playing the actual game. I enjoyed the missions and I enjoyed the heists. I just wish there were more than two heists where you actually got to pick your entire crew from driver, gunner and hacker.
When it comes to the world I have to say San Andreas was much better California than Los Santos and Blaine County. I thought Los Santos was the perfect size in GTA but having access to only one city when my previous adventure in Los Santos also had me access to two more cities kept on having me think in the back of my head man I wish I could explore San Fierro.
People loved Blaine County but to me I barely explored it but then again I am just a city guy I guess. A shame for me too cause I get that there's so much to explore in Blaine County the place is homogeneous but I definitely missed driving down the strip in Las Venturas. Couldn’t imagine what it would look like on my PS3.
It’s definitely not fair for me to compare two different games from different times. It’s just hard for me not to miss San Fierro and Las Venturas after the rise of the startups in Silicon Valley or the rise of electronic dance music in Las Vegas. That journey Carl Johnson took across San Andreas will still be my favorite Grand Theft Auto experience.
Is GTA V one of my favorite games of this generation? Maybe but there were so many good ones I just don’t know. Was it my favorite game this year? Probably not but only because I personally love great stories. Was this the best GTA experience I had this generation? Absolutely and I hold Grand Theft Auto V in very high regard.