Disclaimer: At the time of writing, I have not finished GTA V. All opinions presented are based on my early experiences with the game and do not take into account the conclusion of the game's story.
‘Fun’ is not a word I would use to describe Grand Theft Auto 5.
But neither would I say its boring. Or even bad.
It is, most definitely, frustrating.
I played GTA V for 13 hours on launch day - from mid-afternoon until the early hours of morning - and I could have easily played more. I was totally engrossed, not even mindful of how much time had passed until my eyes began to hurt. And even though it was a struggle to stop playing, I cant recall a moment I thought, “I am enjoying this game.”
Even on day two, it was easy to get caught up in hours of GTA’s gun-toting, high speed action dramedy, but again it wasn’t what I would classify as fun.
Before I get too much into that, lets look back at past Grand Theft Auto games.
I’m a big fan of the PlayStation 2 era titles. GTA 3 is my clear favourite. It had an atmosphere the others failed to capture; it was silly and satirical, but the muted colour palette and bleak mood invaded every aspect of the city. Even during the daytime, a thick grey sky (likely the result of PS2 graphical limitations) never let any light shine through. The sparse traffic and quiet city streets meant any explosion or punctuated gun fire made a stark impression. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
Each of the PS2 games had a cartoon-like quality to them, both visually and tonally. Everything had a flat matte look, characters and cars had distinctive shapes and features. It was easy to differentiate cars in GTA 3; sports cars had low, rounded shapes, economy cars were boxy and squared. Green-clad paramedics stood out against the dark blues and greys of Liberty City. Supporting cast members were archetypes and caricatures. Radio stations played short skits that doubled as (often unsubtle) satire. The cities themselves were distinct and memorable. San Andreas’s trifecta of cities caused some troubles, but one could easily memorise the layout of each game’s locales with a few hours of play. However, while I can still competently navigate these cities even years later, I can’t recall a single memorable area of GTA 4.
It wasn’t unusual to fire up the PS2, and let loose in whichever city you were currently residing. It was enjoyable to run down the street, hijack some poor NPC and take off as fast as possible. You could run down hapless pedestrians, gun down a few gang members, speed off a ramp, ram other cars flip upside down and end up in a wreckage of smoke and clipping car assets. But then you would pick yourself up, steal another flashy sports car and start the carnage all over again. And while it may not have seemed like it at the time, the cartoon quality softens the impact of the mayhem. The city was your virtual playground.
Grand Theft Auto’s debut on current-gen hardware did away with most of the memorable aspects of previous titles. When they had run out of stock standard crime movies to adapt, Rockstar attempted to make something all their own. A push towards realistic character models and a darker story that would have sat at odds with the sci-fi jetpacks and suggestively-shaped ice cream trucks of the past games. The usual run-and-gun method was replaced by an easier lock on system and a collection of waist high barriers. The over-simplified wanted system of police bribe pickups and in n’ out resprays was superseded by an oppressively frustrating game of hide and seek. The simple cartoon style was replaced by a realistic contrast of shiny sports vehicles and junker cars, modern glass towers and run-down store fronts. GTA 4‘s Liberty City became a more accurate representation of clashing New York design.
Unfortunately, this meant the playground aspects were disappearing.
And now, Grand Theft Auto 5 is totally devoid of them.
There’s several reasons why, and the biggest problem is the city design. While its a stunning recreation of a sunny, west coast concrete jungle, it’s not a city designed for play. I’ve spent a large portion of my game time navigating choked highways and trying to escape isolated industrial zones. The PS2 era cities were peppered with alleys that seemingly only existed to help players avoid going the long way round on oft-traversed areas. Structures had perfectly placed ramps to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. Players rarely met a dead-end that wasn’t easily escapable. You could feel the hands of an intelligent creator had been at work, helping the player to flow through the world rather than hamper them in the random mess of urban sprawl. It may not be realistic, but I get lost enough as it is in the streets of Adelaide.
Now the cities are peppered with small obstacles to get your car stuck on. Ravines and waterways with no easy exit. Craggy rock faces confining you to the country roads. Looping motorways filled with traffic. It felt like most of the time I was fighting the world when I wanted to move through it. One has the option of taking a taxi, but then what’s the point of having such a detailed world if you’re not going to see it?
Luckily, driving mechanics have seen an overhaul since GTA 4. Cars now feel something more like cars, but one of the worst features has come back with a vengeance.
At first it was a novel feat of technology to see Niko fly through his windshield after a serious head on collision, but after the 3rd or 4th time it became a time wasting nuisance. Worse still when motorcycle riding became a fruitless endeavour; even pedestrian collisions would throw you and take a significant portion of your health. Rockstar have apparently lowered the risk of aerial acrobatics. You stick much better to your bikes and only occasional headlong collisions will send you sailing through that $700 tinted windshield you just purchased from the chop shop. But its now almost guaranteed to be an instant death.
Death has never been much of an inconvenience in Grand Theft Auto games, but with such a large map and haphazard design, a single collision can become a frustrating setback. When you’re moments away from reaching a mission start point and a errant truck pulls out in front and causes you to teleport back to the hospital on the other side of the city for the Nth time, you begin to question why such a mechanic was allowed past play testing. Even if you’re inclined to take a joyride, a small accident can bring your entertainment to a crashing halt.
The wanted system has been overhauled once more, while still retaining the hide and seek mentality of GTA 4. Now police rely on line of sight to maintain a pursuit, but players must avoid police detection until their reputation is clear. It seems to me the time you must stay incognito is longer the more stars you’ve attained, and its a relatively significant amount of time. Again, it brings your play to a grinding halt. Visiting the Pay n’ Spray gave you the ability to shake your pursuers and get back out onto the road as soon as possible. Now you spend long periods of time sitting in alley ways waiting for cops to leave the area, or looping the same section of road to avoid a cop’s line of sight. The wait for a 3 star level seems pretty significant, so I hate to see what the time for 4 or 6 stars would be. Of course, Pay n’ Spray facilities are still available in the form of custom shops but no longer as convenient. Custom shops are far and few between, and a respray comes a much higher price depending on your car’s condition.
All of these, in addition to the odd physics of the game, makes it hard to find your own fun in Los Santos. The constant stop/start nature of the mechanics means you spend more time trying to get back on the road after an incident than is necessary. When these issues arise in missions, it becomes a frustrating slog retrying sections over and over due to what should have been slight inconveniences. It might be more ‘realistic,’ but realism is not necessarily something you want from Grand Theft Auto.
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There are other aspects of GTA V’s mechanics that frustrate me, but I think its a long enough post as is. I’ll this continue in part two* and cover the story, characters and probably things I do like about GTA V.
*(Hyperlink to be added)
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