jaydeekayex

Grand Theft Auto V has an average Metacritic score of 97% across all platforms it's been released on, and is currently the third best selling game of all time, right behind Tetris and Minecraft. For both the average player and the long time Rockstar fan who has seen the series evolve into what it is now, it's not difficult to see why: You play as three different characters--who all have their own unique backgrounds, goals, and motivations--in a surprisingly large and detailed satirical (and arguably accurate) replica of Los Angeles and the surrounding California area (dubbed Los Santos and San Andreas respectively), where our three protagonists end up working together to pull off various heists while simultaneously trying to get out of the mess they've been pulled into. But what if I told you, seven years after it's release, across two generations of consoles, the story and character development wasn't the key to this game's success? That end is owed to it's online counterpart. Which is, in many cases, for better or for worse. Since Grand Theft Auto Online (GTAO)'s release, the game has received several updates, ranging from customizable races that would make any person who grew up with Hot Wheels scream in joy, more replicas and mashups of existing cars available for purchase than the average player knows what to do with, to a casino and purchasable high-end apartments that allows you to plan heists with your friends. That being said, if you're new to this game, you're going to be extremely overwhelmed for what is major update upon major update, and phone calls upon phone calls telling you to buy a facility or a bunker. That, combined with the abyssmal loading times (which has been dubbed by the player base as "Cloud Simulator 2013"), is something that will ward off many players. And that's not even covering the massive amount of tryhards and the wide array of weaponized vehicles they will use to stop you from making money in the game. And in order to make money in this game, you're going to have to grind repetitive missions and tasks in order to do it. A lot. If you don't enjoy games that rely heavily on grinding in order to advance, along with the problems and how easy it is for another player to ruin it all, this may not be the game for you. And if you think Rockstar Games will go out of their way to make it easier: They won't. All because it pushes Shark Card sales (What GTAO uses as monetization) so they can further make money in an investment they made seven years ago. So, to conclude this review, I'm leaving an open letter to any higher-up Rockstar employee who reads this: You're already one of the biggest game dev giants, you have nine studios that you've ended up buying out and putting under your portfolio, and five of your titles are well within the top fifty bestselling games of all time excluding this one. Why do you feel the need to further monetize your games with an online counterpart that has some form of a paid premium? Why in the world is it never enough? With Dan Houser out of the picture from here on out starting next month, you need to be INCREDIBLY careful with your future titles. I fear the worst for Grand Theft Auto VI. tl;dr version: story is alright and there's plenty to do, but if you're going to try out GTAO take it with a grain of salt