

GTA 5 Captured a Time Period in a Way That We’re Just Starting to Appreciate Rockstar clearly recognized that GTA: San Andreas brought something to the table that GTA 4 kind of lost, but it was their ability to draw from those qualities rather than depend on them that makes GTA 5 so brilliant. Its large map, ‘90s setting, and memorably outlandish moments thrilled me in ways that even GTA 5 did not when I first played it. GTA 5 Learned From San Andreas’ Best Lessons and Biggest Flawsįor quite some time, I considered San Andreas to be the peak of the GTA series. Through subtle design decisions and some truly excellent vehicles, GTA 5 constantly encourages you to test the limits of your driving abilities and often rewards you in various ways for your efforts.Įven if you don’t play GTA Online, it’s easy to justify firing up GTA 5 once more just to lose yourself in the ecstasy of getting behind the wheel with nowhere in particular to go.

The joy of exploring GTA 5‘s world is about more than improved controls, though. As GTA evolved, though, driving around the series’ maps became a little more about getting to the next story point or your own planned activities.īy fixing GTA 4’s…well…awful driving system, GTA 5 surpassed its predecessor in terms of how much fun it was to just drive around. While GTA 3’s 3D open-world is rightfully credited with changing gaming forever, even the early GTA games captured that simple thrill of being able to explore a large environment without anything in particular to do. GTA 5 Recaptured The Fun of Simply Driving Around Most importantly, GTA 5’s story never stops having fun.
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I don’t know if GTA 5 gets enough credit for the way it examines three distinct protagonists through a series of events that weave their adventures in and out of each other while giving each of them more than enough time to shine as stars. GTA 5 embraced that style a bit more with its ridiculous characters and sometimes silly stories, but it advanced GTA 4’s ideas of a character-driven narrative by focusing on the lives of three criminals at very different points in their lives and careers. While GTA 4’s story was certainly thematically ambitious compared to what came before, Rockstar clearly struggled to present that story against the absurd backdrop of this series’ trademark style. Its stunning open-world city that felt truly alive was a highlight, but when you hear people praise GTA 4, they’re typically talking about the sequel’s mature story which touched upon the “American Dream” from the perspective of a down-and-out modern immigrant. GTA 4 remains arguably the most divisive modern Grand Theft Auto game, but there are ways that it undeniably brought the series into a new era of game design. GTA 5 Advanced GTA 4’s Mature Storytelling (Without Taking Itself So Seriously) That’s a bold claim, but a deeper look at GTA 5 after all these years reveals the many reasons that even the now mythical GTA 6 might not be able to top what Rockstar accomplished with GTA 5. Most importantly, it stands as developer Rockstar’s masterpiece despite the fact that their library of titles already makes many other Triple-A developers envious. It managed to surpass even unreasonable levels of hype and has received widespread acclaim from fans and critics over nearly eight years. There’s a lot you can say about why GTA 5 has stayed popular over the years, but any discussions have to start with the fact that it is a great game. Despite the fact that GTA 5 is playable on three generations of gaming consoles, and despite the fact that it’s been offered to millions via various subscription services over the years ( most recently Game Pass), people still can’t seem to get enough of the 2013 game that regularly tops global sales charts.
