Grand Theft Auto V Reviews
After almost ten years, Grand Theft Auto V begins to show its age. It's a remarkable video game though, but three new visual modes can't hide the fact that some of its game systems are beginning to feel antiquated. Still, this next-gen version is obviously the best way to play GTA 5 and GTA Online.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Grand Theft Auto 5's new-gen upgrade is solid and effective, but much too conservative, especially for a game that's long overstayed its welcome.
Even though it's not the 'Expanded and Enhanced' version we were hoping for, Grand Theft Auto V on current-gen is the best way to play the game on console. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles showcase their finest traits, improving load times drastically while adding minor technical improvements that make the experience that much better.
The Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions of Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online are good, this isn't a bad game, it's just not as impressive as one may hope. It has some flashy new graphical effects, a menu redesign, and the 60FPS mode is remarkable, but it's all marginal. For newcomers with little to no experience with the game, this is going to be an absolute treat. For veterans, this may ring a bit hollow. It's worth picking up if you want to keep up with GTA Online and have the best possible version, but otherwise, there are no enhancements that demand you replay the story once more.
Grand Theft Auto V was a landmark title when it was released, but its online counterpart has surpassed it in every way. This next-gen port is a great way to experience GTA Online, but the lack of single-player additions is disappointing.
Grand Theft Auto V for Xbox Series X and PS5 isn't so much expanded but it's certainly enhanced. The common criticism here is that it looks the same, and there’s a small nugget of truth to that, the updated visuals aren't mindblowing, but they do add up to make a difference. While those graphical changes aren’t as dramatic as the difference between GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, the drastically reduced loading times, higher framerates and improved audio on the current hardware does make the game much more enjoyable.
The core game’s design is showing its age at this point. Many missions are fun activities sandwiched between needlessly lengthy driving sessions. Seriously, the number of times if makes you drive between Sandy Shores and the main city of Los Santos is ridiculous, or having to follow a plane for a full ten minutes for no real reason before getting to board it. It would feel like padding if this wasn’t already a long game without them. In spite of this, the story and characters can carry you through the rougher parts so you can enjoy the heists and the witty arguments along the way.
It's still a great way to play Grand Theft Auto 5, but even with the visual improvements and new multiplayer content, it feels less like a necessary return, and more like an aimless jaunt.
GTA 5 is beginning to show its age, but it's a testament to Rockstar's original vision that Los Santos still stacks up. The improvements to image quality and framerate give this sunny sandbox a new lease of life, and while some of the single player gags may not hit as hard as they did in 2013, there are still plenty of memorable missions across the release's 30 or so hour running-time. Meanwhile, GTA Online's freeroaming multiplayer lobbies remain unmatched, and while newcomers may find the learning curve borderline impenetrable, if you can overcome its idiosyncrasies there's nothing quite like the crime caper on offer here.
The 60fps option improves the gameplay to a small degree but, almost a decade later, it’s not the graphics or the story that impresses the most in GTA 5, but the open world design. It’s the one element that is beyond criticism and while it is beginning to seem a little old-fashioned compared to newer titles like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Elden Ring it’s still lightyears ahead of any of its would-be rivals.
A great expansion, loaded with content and with the level of quality, playable variety and sense of humor that we would expect from a story DLC for GTA V, only weighed down by being within GTA Online.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
At campaign level you’ll be playing as three distinctly different characters in an astonishingly detailed and accurate recreation of Los Angeles, engaging in missions that tips hats to the best in crime cinema. A GTA world has never been as populated with things to do, be that hurling yourself out of helicopters whilst riding an ATV, or seeking out bounty hunt targets for big cash rewards. Los Santos is a world full of amusement and excitement, although these days Rockstar’s satire is starting to wear a little thin and the jokes don’t always hit the right mark. Online, it’s the same experience, but all the other gangsters are real people. And you can engage in a car chase with a rival player whilst Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone plays on the radio. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that GTA V is one of, if not the greatest video game out there today.
Grand Theft Auto V is a great game to anyone who enjoys a vast and expansive open world with lots of stuff do and having something for everyone.
GTA 5 can be depraved, amoral, sickeningly violent and childishly desperate to shock, yet it's also one of the richest and deepest games ever made, with an ambitious three-stranded storyline that holds so many disparate parts together.
GTAV is a masterpiece, successfully reproducing the awe that we felt when GTAIII first hit the streets while also surpassing GTA: San Andraes in both volume quality of content. Content concerns are without number, though gamers should expect nothing less from a franchise named after a felony.
Grand Theft Auto V showcases the masterpiece of an open world action adventure title that Watch_Dogs and other open world games have failed to deliver. The mind-blowing graphics, alluring gameplay experience, and the perfect online mode makes Grand Theft Auto V a deserving game to be awarded with Game of the Year title of 2015!
Ultimately you will get everything you expected from GTA 5 for PC; a tremendous game with many months of playability and the potential to only get better. If you own a kick-ass PC you should buy it. If not, take the $1500 you were going to spend on that poseur Mac, and buy yourself a kick-ass PC.
At the end of the day, this is still Grand Theft Auto V, an entry that I find is the best in the series, and a game that has been made that little bit better with the performance boost and graphical enhancements.