GTA V has now been out for three weeks and, so far, I've managed to clock in just over 60 hours and I still haven't completed the single player story.  Normally I'd wait until I'd finish a game before talking about it, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be quite a while longer.

Before I talk about the actual game, it's worth mentioning the issues GTA V has been experiencing.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you'd have struggled not to hear about the $800 million Rockstar made in the first 24 hours after release.  This popularity has not come without problems. Ten days in and there are still issues, not just with GTA Online having missing characters, vehicles and cash, but also with the single player game.  

Sometimes the issues are not as obvious as you might think; it took me a little while, for example, to notice that the street races were no longer showing on my map!  Other smaller things, like the Rockstar Social Club link, can prove frustrating if you are trying to use them. 

As an aside, I still don't understand why they only released the iFruit app on iOS at launch... Android is still outselling iDevices and, at the very least, there should have been a PC application.  Restricting any aspect of the game, however minor, to a select group just seems crazy to me.

Despite all this, it's impossible to deny just how good GTA V is.  It looks great (for this console generation), it handles well, there are an amazing number of things to do and the scale is, at times, intimidating.

If you've played GTA IV, the first thing you're likely to notice (after the initial mission/tutorial) is just how much more colourful Los Santos is.  The environment is less claustrophobic, with wide avenues to cruise down and lots of open spaces to explore.  It also appears to be far more full of life (depending on the time of day or weather).  They've even managed to make the traffic seem more realistic; unlike GTA IV, you're less likely to see the same four cars over and over again.

Of course, the biggest change is the use of multiple protagonists and it's surprising just how well it works.

Franklin is possibly the most 'normal' of GTA characters; trying to escape poverty and the gang life to make something of himself.  His special ability allows him to slow down time while driving which proves invaluable during races.

Michael is a bit more... complicated. An ex-bank robber, living under a new identity in a nice house with a family that don't particularly like him,  he's pretty miserable and it shows. He adds the depth to the GTA V story and it's hard not to feel sorry for him at times.  His special ability allows him to slow time down while shooting, AKA bullet time.

If Michael is complicated, Trevor, our last protagonist, is (in my opinion) the enigma.  On the surface he appears to be an overly violent and amoral sociopath but, as the game progressed, I got a feeling that there was a far more defined ruleset for the way Trevor deals with everything.  While there is no denying the violence surrounding Trevor's life... he may not be as 'broken' as he likes to pretend and he is rarely anything but brutally honest.  Trevor also gets pretty much all of the best lines in the game... I'd often find myself laughing out loud while playing him and, given that I've spent more the half the game (so far) playing as him, he is my clear favourite.  Trevor's special ability is a rage mode where he deals more damage and takes less... particularly useful when you often find yourself seriously out gunned.

** Be warned, this video contains spoilers and swearing **

** Be warned, this video contains spoilers and swearing **

The real joy to having three protagonists is the ability to switch between them at almost any time.  Stuck out in the wilderness? Simply switch to another character, play them for a while and when you eventually switch back to the original character, they'll have made their way back to somewhere more populated... well, most of the time... Trevor does have an uncanny knack of turning up on a mountain or the roof of a building with a nasty hangover and some 'interesting' clothing.

Playing multiple characters also gets you round some of the pitfalls of squad-based mechanics from other games.  How many time have you played a game where the friendly AI just seems to amble around aimlessly or does something stupid? In GTA V, simply switch between the characters to tailor how you'd like to play: use Trevor to clear a path, switch to Franklin to grab the car, then to Michael to shoot from the car to cover your escape... it works like a charm.

One of the other key features of GTA V are the heists.  The theory is that you plan how you are going to rob something, pick a team and then do some preparation work before the main event.  In reality, the plan is one of two choices (if you get any choice) and the preparation work is then fixed.  It terms of crew, you do get to pick from a number of different NPC characters to perform certain tasks, which does add another element to the missions.  Each AI character has specific stats and a specific cut of the 'take'. Generally speaking, the larger the cut, the better they tend to be.  Complete a successful heist with an AI character and their stats will increase, without increasing their cut, making them more useful the next time you use them.  This would be great if there were more heists, unfortunately there are only a very limited number so you don't really get to make the most of the system.  I suspect that we will see more heists in future DLC.

Other than the story missions and heists, you'll rarely find yourself with nothing to do.  Strangers and Freaks missions provide you with short side plots helping out a character unrelated to the main story, while random encounters, similar to those in Red Dead Redemption, are generously dotted around the map giving you the opportunity to do anything from chasing down muggers to robbing armoured trucks. On top of that, the world is literally covered in other activities like golf, tennis and races.

Plus, of course, there are the collectables.  There are four in total, two of which are linked to one of the properties you can purchase, with varying rewards... you'll certainly be spending a lot of time in Los Santos if you intend to get them all!

As with other Rockstar games, it is the little details that really make the game.  Each character has their own way of breaking into a car or reacting to situations.  Pedestrians will try to call the cops if they see you doing something illegal.  The city is covered with little touches that show that someone at Rockstar was paying attention, from the graffiti in the 'hood, through to the back to the future reference on an electrical box.  It is a truly phenomenal piece of work.

When you step away from the single player world and venture into GTA Online, things get even more interesting.  Once you have created you character and completed the first mission, you'll find yourself in the familiar world of GTA V but with up to fifteen other players.  While it would have been nice to allow more (and if there is a PC release, I suspect that might be the case), sixteen players is enough to keep things interesting, particularly as you all appear on the map at all times. The activities within GTA Online are a little different from the main game; as well as the open world crimes like robbing stores, jobs are offered by a number of NPC contacts giving you an opportunity to team up with a couple of friends and perform all sorts of fun tasks like stealing drugs and retrieving cars.  There are also all sorts of races, matches and other activities to take part in with heists and more game modes to follow.  Despite the teething troubles (which are still a problem, make no mistake), when everything is working it is a LOT of fun.  With no story, as such, the main objective in GTA Online is money... lots of it.  With a lot of different apartments, garages and vehicles to own, it'll take you a while to earn enough to cover it all.  While you can steal and claim the lower end cars, 'premium' cars have to be bought if you wish to keep them.  The cops in GTA Online are also a bit smarter and they will spot a stolen car... so driving around in that lovely sports car you 'borrow' is going to draw a lot of attention.

So, if you have yet to buy the game... what are you waiting for?!

[UPDATE] Having played a fair bit more, I felt I should add something extra to my review.... Rockstar hate you.

Earning the money you need to buy the more expensive properties is impossible without following a game guide (or something similar), using specific missions to know when to 'invest' in the stock market. Firstly, for someone like me that doesn't like to look at guides and would rather actually play the game... I had already completed the missions in question before I realised that there was no realistic way to earn the money. Secondly... since when is playing the stock market fun?!?! Who wants to spend their game time checking stock values and attempting to invest?

But this isn't my only basis for my judgement. The number of missions throughout the game that have little or no reward, particularly big missions, is painful. A lot of these are story missions, but one particular involving side mission, that takes a good two to three hours of work, was almost controller-destroyingly frustrating when it rewarded me with $10!

Given that the characters you play are, essentially, super criminals, they seem incapable of earning any substantial cash. A couple of thousand here and there for most tasks, a lot of which take a fair bit of time. Only robbing armoured trucks provides slightly more, and that relies on the 'random' event triggering.

I can only assume that Rockstar are, in fact, preparing the way for some heist DLC. The fact that I'm already thinking about it shows that Rockstar has already won...

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