Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360)

A lot of people (including) had very high expectations for the sequel to 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV and I'm happy to say the newest installment in the series certainly does not disappoint! The game builds on all the strengths of the previous games and brings a lot of depth into the sandbox action genre. The inclusion of 3 characters, each with their own individual stats that can be improved during gameplay adds a nice RPG-element to the mix, and it's always incredible to see these 3 characters working together on the same missions, allowing you to switch between them at will. The 3 characters (Michael, Franklin and Trevor) have their own separate lives and the 'Big Brother' style of dropping in on any of them at any time really makes you feel like you have control over them (and you do!). You can dress them up how you like, get them tattoos, new hairstyle, facial hair, etc. The game brings back a popular element that we first saw in Vice City/San Andreas, the ability to buy businesses and let them generate income for you, well it's back! Also, a welcome return is the flying of planes! They add a turbulence element into the flying now so it feels a little more authentic. Flying a helicopter is quite difficult at first but won't take you long to get used to it.The map is massive. A lot of detail went into the game, and it shows the extent of which Rockstar went to create a living, breathing world, even the rural areas of the map are a blast to zip through in a sports convertible. The centre stage is of course, the main urban Los Santos area during which most of your time will be spent and it looks absolutely gorgeous. A little side note for Xbox 360 owners, to elaborate more on the whole 'install/don't install' fiasco, the playing disc can be installed to your console if you like, though this will bring about some texture popins as the game takes a little longer to load up certain textures than if it was reading from the disc, I have seen videos which also showed texture popins during cut scenes but this didn't seem to affect me (only during actual gameplay, and very minor at that). It is a somewhat noticeable difference, but no means is it bad enough to warrant not installing it, so go ahead and install it if you're like me and don't like the console making noise equivalent to a jet engine! I did encounter other technical hitches, but I am not sure if that was down to me installing the disc or if it was inherent in the game that Rockstar can fix with a patch. I didn't notice any framerate drops or frame tearing with and without the play disc installed so that's a bonus!The mission structure is mostly unchanged from GTA IV in that you meet new characters, they give you tasks to do, etc. The heists are where the game gets really interesting. There are a number of robberies you carry out, and the game tries it's best to let you decide how to approach the heist, the individual crew members you bring with you, etc. A lot of the time this simply culminates in a 'stealthy' or a 'guns blazing' approach, but it definitely gives the vibe that things will play out differently based on your choices. There are optional side quests where you can meet additional characters that give you tasks, and tons more optional activities like car races, jet ski races, skydiving, taxi driving, etc. When Rockstar said this will be the biggest game in terms of sheer content, they weren't lying! You can probably squeeze at least 80 hours, or more, out of this game if you attempt to do everything the game has to offer so you certainly get your money's worth.Overall, this is a fantastic addition to an already great series and will certainly keep the flame burning until the eventual Grand Theft Auto VI on the next gen consoles.Right, that's me done, I'm off to murder me some hillbillies as Trevor.

After pre ordering my copy on the 6th of September, I was very happy indeed when the package was delivered on the launch day in complete working order. The game requires 7856MB, or 7.8GB of spare memory on your hard drive in order to install the game. For those of you who thought this was unfair for not being warned about it, there is clearly a sign on the front of the box art that states "Storage Required" to play. If you don't have the memory, you can't play the game. In which case, go out and get more memory because you are clearly missing out.I don't believe in the perfect game, as what is good is relative to the beholder and there will alway be something to improve on. Grand Theft Auto V has come up closest to this that I have seen in a long, long time; passing all of its past titles and perhaps even my personal favorite, Halo 3.The game world is HUGE. You can explore it for hours on end in the fastest of the vehicles and not even reveal a quarter of the map, which areas are hidden until you actually visit them. The visuals are stunning, with skylines being lit up at night alongside the additional pedestrians and vehicular activity in comparison to the smaller numbers of them in GTA IV. The world is bristling with life, with random events happening all over the place daily with there always being something to do and enjoy. There are some small texture issues on the grassy areas in some parts of the map, but apart from that the game runs very smoothly and I have yet to see even a moderate frame rate drop in my 7 hours of play so far. Overall, visuals are great and according to my friends' experiences, they run just about the same on X360 and PS3.The story missions are fantastic in comparison to the older games. Instead of the traditional "drive and shoot" mission varieties, you are presented with three main characters (Michael, Franklin and Trevor) who must work together not only to solve each others' problems, but to pull of a series of heists that YOU CAN DESIGN YOURSELF. The game gives you the options of either "Smart" or "Loud" for your heists, yet there are more that I probably need to see myself. Smart being the stealthy, incognito style that you would expect in "Oceans Eleven" or something, while Loud is more along the lines of... shooting loads of people and taking their stuff. The options to choose your own style to heists like this (and pick your heist crew as well) is something that really makes this game special.The voice acting is stellar. I have laughed so many times at this game's hilarious script, composed of Franklin talking smack with his homies with his pet Rotweiler "Chop", all up to the funny arguments of Michael and his family bickering over their own stupid matters. It is great, and it really shows how well made this game was put together.The gameplay mechanics have taken a massive turnaround for the common gamer. The weapon wheel from Red Dead Redemption is back, allowing quick weapon swaps in combat. The cover system seems to have stayed the same, plus a few extra animations and the ability to destroy some cover pieces in the environment. The gunplay is pretty much the same as RDR's, and it is a better game for it as it packs in the fast-paced action of automatic weapons with the accurate and precise feeling of cover shooting that we had playing as John Marston back in 2010. Driving is much more controllable now, it seems the developers decided to ditch the "spongy" feeling of the suspension from GTA IV and replaced it with a driving feel much more similar to that of racing games. Once again, it is for the better. Another thing that really caught my eye was that you can now shoot the gas trails of disabled cars to ignite them and detonate the vehicle. This is highlighted in the third mission or so while playing as Franklin and it really is impressive to see. Just the small details, people. They mean a lot, and this game has a lot of them.GTA ONLINE IS NOT AVAILABLE UNTIL OCTOBER 1ST. Motherf***ing bull in my books. I understand that this game of this size would need more preparation for online in order to set up servers and what not, but another 13 days after launch to play multiplayer with my friends? I can't speak for this part as I have not played it, however I can only guess that it will be even more fun as the single player. It supposedly features character customization, crews (pretty much clans for your friends to muck around in) and not to forget 16 player free roam with races, banks to rob and chaos to cause. In the open world of Grand Theft Auto V with this many players can only result in absolute joy.This game is great, and I would recommend getting the game before the prices go up even more (it went from 34.99 pounds to nearly 50 on launch day!) and play it. Call in sick, miss your classes, whatever. Just play this game, as it undoubtedly is amongst one of the better games that our generation has ever had the pleasure to play. 5 stars.