2013/10/17: Xbox 360: Grand Theft Auto V

[GameChanger161]

I don't own Grand Theft Auto V, but I did get to play it yesterday. I'll have to disagree and say that GTA V is far better than GTA IV. I had no expectations coming into GTA V because of the fact that I did not enjoy GTA IV at all. After playing it, I was impressed. The controls were responsive, the world is huge, lot of activities to do, and the missions look actually worth playing (just going by gameplay I've seen of the game).  

[darkrage61]

1. I disagree, while it dosen't exactly rival say Black Ops 2 or Battlefield 3 in the graphics department, it still looks pretty impressive overall, from the videos i've seen I can't detect any major differences between the PS3 and 360 versions graphics wise. I never had any frame-rate issues throughout the whole game so that's a bit odd to hear, did you by any install both of the discs directly to your HDD?  Because i've never heard doing that can really impact your frame-rate.

2. The controls felt pretty smooth overall, driving controls were a lot more comfortable then in IV.

3. Again I disagree, subtelty and GTA just wouldn't mix well IMO. I think it's pretty good satire, I say the more on the nose the better, I don't think it's necessary for the game to leave things open to interpretation, if I want that kind of experience i'll play the Mass Effect series.

[darkrage61]

Interesting, if there were any frame rate drops I certainly never noticed them, if the PS3 version does have better textures, I can barely detect it in the videos. 

I feel that the game just wouldn't be GTA without it's signature form of blatant humor, of course it certainly helps that I agree with a great deal of the jokes about American culture(especially the ones about "Weasel News").

[Edward1]

I can understand your point of view in giving the game a reduced score because its themes.  Sometimes the game is completely ridiculous.  I know it is trying to be satire, but many times its just off. Sometimes it nails it, though.  For example, I feel like I played with the main character's son many times in online first person shooters.

However, Grand Theft Auto is an amazing game with a huge world and great gameplay.  It also has some great set pieces that sometimes are as good some more linear games like Call of Duty or Uncharted.  For an open world game to pull this off is amazing.  I would personally give the game an A.

However, the controversy might be close to the video game equivalent of the controversy for the movie Birth of a Nation.   Birth of a Nation is one of the most important movies ever made.  It introduced basically every important movie making technique at its time.  However, it was a movie portraying the KKK as heroes protecting white women from evil black rapists.   That's about one of the worst concepts for a movie you can get.  But its a still a great movie, if by great you grade for quality of its moviecraft, not for its theme.  If you use the same standard for GTA5, it is easily an A game.   I guess this comes down to personal choices in reviewing though.