Living the American dream. While robbing establishments

Well it's finally here

The game we've all been waiting for since finishing GTA IV. And it's well worth the wait. And although I would have preferred to play it on PC as usual, sadly, I did not have the willpower to wait for Rockstar to get round to a PC version so I had to settle for PS3 version.

But it seems that most people didn't mind getting it on console as it has become the fastest selling thing in the world ever of all time making over $1 billion dollars in it's first 3 days after launch. Woah.

The gameplay itself remains very similar to classic GTA format but the big new twist is having 3 protagonists that you can (usually) switch between at will. Once you have met them all that is. Free roaming, side missions and activities can be done as any character but some missions can only be started by certain characters. However this character switching comes into its own when you are doing missions that involve multiple characters and allow you to switch between them in the heat of the action. For example, one early mission featuring all 3 of the characters where you start by flying it with one character, switch to another hanging from the helicopter by a rope to shoot enemies in a building and then switching to the last character far away with a rifle covering the other 2 from enemies they can't get a shot on. This is just one example, but the character switching is extremely well executed particularly in the larger and more action packed missions as everyone plays their part. Another smaller and less publicised (or noticed) addition to the game is that each character now has a special skill. Micheal has apparently copied Max Payne's bullet time ability for slow motion super accurate shooting. Franklin has a similar skill only with driving Allowing him to slow time and navigate any vehicle like it is on rails and at lighting speed. And trevor can go into a rage mode where he is unkillable and does massive damage to everything. These abilities all only last for a short time and need cool down time too, but these stats can also be improved by training them up.

Unfortunately, it's not all good so here are some of the more annoying aspects of the game that seem new since the last entry:

• You seem to die a lot easier (even with body armour) meaning you spend most of your time hiding in shoot outs. Maybe physical training would improve this, but I didn't do much of that
• The cops seem to take forever and a day to lose now even on low wanted levels. And on the higher wanted levels, even when you are hiding out in the darkest of unexplored corners of the map to get away from them, they will still somehow relentlessly still pursue you and find you there....
• Graphically, it really does not seem much different from GTA IV at all and it makes me wonder if there will be a next-gen version upcoming or if the PC port will be upscaled.
• Aircraft always seem to handle like you are totally drunk. Again, perhaps more flight training would improve this, but it seems to require a lot.

BUT, the handling of ground based vehicles (cars mostly) has vastly improved and can now be handled at high speeds with great ease. Unlike the cars of GTA IV which handled like lumps of depleted uranium.

The soundtrack however, is once again excellent featuring fantastic hits both new and old. But the radio selector is a little fiddlier than it used to be being changed to a a radial selection rather than simple previous and next. But this is a small quibble as time slows to a crawl when selecting radio station ensuring minimal disruption to your travel.

The general mission structure has also been greatly improved with a lot more action packed missions. There are still some quite quiet and slow missions mostly revolving around Micheal's family members but these aren't great in number and are well spaced out unlike the very very slow start to GTA IV where the first dozen or so missions were just hanging out with Roman essentially. Most of the large key missions are the well advertised "Heists" which will usually have a few sub missions preceding them where you scope out options, decide on a plan of action, gather and set up resources and gear and then finally pull the trigger. I thought these were very well structured and provided a good sense of build up to the large jobs. And in typical GTA fashion, they rarely go according to plan so there is plenty more action when the shit hits the fan.

One more element I must say I thoroughly enjoyed was Trevor. He is totally and utterly bat-shit-insane and I love it. Whether he's crushing someone's skull after hugging them or sobbing over a married woman he had to give back to her wife or waking up on top of a mountain in a dress or a beach full of dead people in his underpants you just never know what the fuck he is going to do or say next and it is awesome.

I only did a run through of the basic story missions (of which there are still a lot) but yet again, there is so much to see and so much to do outside of that. There are side missions helping strangers on the street, side missions helping freaks you know, other random side missions, games and activities, training for body, mind and skills, collectibles. You can train Franklin's dog and customise your car with the companion app (still no Android version available though sadly). The list goes on and on. I'm sure I will come back to it again another day for a fuller run through or if they make DLC for it. But all in all, it is one crazy fucking mad cap roller coaster ride of epic proportions that no one should miss out on. It feels like it has tried to return to the larger scale of zaniness that San Andreas had with the much larger story focusing on 3 characters and their intertwining lives with each other as well as associates rather than the tightly focused personal story of Nico in GTA IV which some people did not care for. Also, now you can fly full size jets again and parachute out of them. Which is nice.