Grand Theft Auto 5

By: Robert Murphy

Well I was finally able to pull myself away from the controller long enough to tell you all my thoughts and feelings on the latest entry into the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Grand Theft Auto 5. Now I am here to say straight out from the get go that I am in love with the game, since the very first opening sequence I have loved everything that the game has to offer. Players are now put into a massive world that is not only beautiful to look at but feels like a living breathing world with everything from animals to hunt, stores to shop in, games to play and just about everything you’re little heart desires. GTA 5 is the culmination of years of Grand Theft Auto games and brings in it all the things we have loved in previous games, brought them together and then added even more along with it. But this is only a fraction of a fraction of the pleasure that comes from the game, we also have an insanely addictive single player story to enjoy, so let’s dig right on in.

From the start of the game, I took immediate notice of the games vastly improved mechanics, player movement is both smooth and easy to handle much like it was in the last GTA game but now it’s been given an overhaul and made even better. Also the cover system and weapon handling has finally been put to a level that you’d want from a massively open world shooter, taking cover behind objects and popping out to take out enemies feels like a breeze. Not only that but moving the auto aim function, which was an absolute horror in GTA 4 at times, can now be described as seamless as it simply moves from enemy to enemy with a flick of your thumb. These mechanic upgrades also transfer over to the vehicles you will have the opportunity to be driving, cars are now not only easier to control and drive but the massive amount of selection and customization is astounding. There have always been fast cars in GTA games but now they look, sound and act like real life cars that you can go out and buy, for example, hearing the roar of the Dodge Charger look alike in the game gave me an evil grin and racing heartbeat. And then I have to make notice of small features that I just love, for example missions in the game start without players having to do a thing except walk up to the indicator and then the dialogue starts right up. Also we have another great improved to missions and story and that is the games checkpoint system, where in the past you could spend five minutes stumbling back through a mission if you screwed up, now checkpoints throughout the missions prevent all that frustration.

The story doesn’t suffer at all alongside the immersive world of GTA 5, in fact it’s on par with about everything else the game has to offer, it gives you a crazy, thrilling and often times dark tone but hey it is GTA after all, what do you expect. In the city of Los Santos, the people are stuck up and snobby, they spend their time on the couch, doing yoga, drinking their overpriced coffee and updating their Lifeinvader accounts, which is a jab at Facebook that I just love. The game makes a point to jab at today’s new generation of glamour seeking nobodys and the age of multimedia (good it needs to be taken down a peg) and you are destined for good things in this town. As you play between the three playable characters, you set out to make money, find purpose or just go ape @#$% on everything, as each character has their own reasons for doing what they do. This includes a list of highly integral heists and crimes that are something that you’d expect to see in an Ocean’s 11 style movie, with various elements to plan out, ridiculous maneuvers and of course daring chases. And you yourself get to plan out these heists and preform them in whatever way you see fit, you want to go in loud and heavy or smart and calculated you can, it’s all up to you.

Oh right I should probably introduce our characters, we have Michael a retired con man in his 40s, who is not happy with his new found life of luxury as he lays about his massive home, drinking and laying in the sun all day. Then there’s Franklin who is a young man from downtown Los Santos who gives off the feel of CJ from San Andreas but Franklin doesn’t want the gangster life style that his friends seem to relish in and he is looking for a way out to bigger things. And finally we have Trevor, a volatile criminal who spends his days out in the hills of Los Santos, cooking drugs, killing rednecks and generally causing mass chaos. Players can switch in between the three characters during the game and get a feel for the life of each character and what they’re all about and experiencing the many different elements of Los Santos and the people that live there. This was a great aspect in my opinion because I didn’t have to play as one player that I didn’t necessarily like but I had the option to choose from multiple characters, each with their own unique personality and appeal.

I could literally go on for pages about all the action, activities and fun that can be had in Grand Theft Auto 5, Rockstar has spared no expense for fans this time around and it is much appreciated from me and I’m sure the Grand Theft Auto community as well. The game has an intelligent storyline and appealing heists, crimes and activities to be had with our three characters, just about anything you can think of doing or want to do is set out before you. The games ability to plan out heists and crimes as you play through the main story is a great aspect that makes you feel in complete control of the action and the crimes you’re performing. The in game mechanics have also been improved in every way imaginable, movement is smooth and no longer clunky, gun play and the auto aiming system have all been given an upgrade and driving cars is not only fun but is massively appealing with how real all the cars feel. Grand Theft Auto 5 is the GTA game that fans have been waiting for and for those of you who haven’t played a GTA game before will quickly fall in love just as fast as hardcore fans will.

Good:

- Incredibly massive and immersive world

- Stimulating storyline

- Amazing and ridiculous heists and crimes

- Dark and witty humor/dialogue

- Never ending list of things to see and do throughout the game

Bad:

- I haven’t had a single bad thing to say about this game

Scully Rating: 10 out of 10 

Grand Theft Auto 4

By: Robert Murphy

Hey everybody, since there is a gap between my next big game purchase I thought I might take a step back and review and older game and since the next big launch title I will be playing is Grand Theft Auto 5, I thought I’d give a review for Grand Theft Auto 4. Players follow the exploits of Niko Bellic, who has come to America (specifically the made up world of Liberty City) seeking all that America promises, namely wealth and a better life than the one Niko has known. From this point anybody who has played a GTA game before knows what is coming next and that is a car stealing, gun shooting and adrenaline fueled open world to be seen and explored, along with an extensive story mode and some great online action for you and your friends.

Heyyyyy! Niko!

Now Grand Theft Auto games have always tried to give players a world where they feel they can immerse themselves with the characters they are playing as, giving them the option to buy clothes, eat, sleep, do whatever your heart desires and GTA 4 does this as well but better than ever. This becomes ever the clearer once you step into the living organism that is Liberty City which has been incredibly designed and makes you feel as though you're in a real metropolitan city environment. People go about their day to day lives and make the city come to life as you play through the story or drive around seeing the sites. Although as soon as you start the game you’re compelled to dig right on into the games story mode as your cousin Roman (who has told you of the city and it’s riches to be had) is revealed to be in quite of a pickle with gambling debts. Niko, who despite not being shy to killing people, due to his military past, is a good man who doesn’t want to be a part of the tasks he must perform to help his cousin, still does them in the hopes of his own goals get realized along the way. But these goals can be accomplished rather quickly as the story mode won’t take up more than 30 to 40 hours of your time, however what makes it feel longer and more appealing are the upgrades to the gameplay and your character. In previous GTA games, characters were not as agile as Niko is, with the ability to take cover and a great lock on targeting system, completing missions becomes sleek and enjoyable. Speaking of missions, the ones in GTA 4 do not differ much from previous games where you go and kill someone or pick up a package for someone but there are a quite a few more enjoyable missions along the way too. For example, one mission involves a high stakes bank robbery where you must steal the money and get out of dodge and killing the unfortunate cops that try and stop you.

Liberty City is an amazing living breathing metropolis

But hey if 30 to 40 hours of story won’t do it for you then you can feel free to partake in any number of side activities among Liberty City’s borders. These can include anything from hanging with your friends or even going on dates with the beautiful ladies of this fine city, payment is wanted up front of course. But if you’re not seeing the appeal of going to hang out with your cousin at the bowling alley, then look at it this way, hanging out with any number of your friends leads you to getting bonuses from your mutual friendship with them. This can include a discount on guns or aiding you with missions later on in the game. There also various side quests, if you want to call them that, where you can do things such as go out and steal cars for a company and they in turn sell them illegally overseas for cash and along with this players can also take part in street races across the city for even more cash in your piggy bank. And of course players can do what every GTA fan must do and that is goof off and cause a large amount of chaos and destruction around this lovely and unsuspecting city.

Let’s do this!

Now we move on to our multiplayer, which takes all the fun and splendor of the regular game and adds you and your friends into the mix, as well as introducing some fun game modes for you all to compete or work together in. Once in multiplayer, you can either join a match of strangers or you and your friends can choose to select from over a dozen different game types, from free roam to team death match and other fun events like racing, cops and crooks and so much more. What makes things even more exciting is the size of the parties you get to have, GTA 4 allows for up to sixteen players in most of the game modes that are offered through online play. Each match that players take part in has a party leader and these people can add more spice to the game modes for you and your friends by doing things like increasing the amount of traffic in the game for harder maneuverability or adjusting the weapon set, vehicle set, police presence, along with much more. GTA 4 is truly a game that was meant for multiplayer I must say and it offers all the fun that you had it the single players and adding to it by including your friends into it and that makes things ten times more interesting.

Multiplayer goodness for you and your friends

Obviously you can all tell that I supremely love this game, as well as all the other GTA games I have had the opportunity to play over the years and GTA 4 had been a great addition to the long line of enjoyable and fun games of the franchise. The single player story was by far my favorite among all the GTA games that I have played before and with the introduction of better mechanics for the player it made for none stop action and enjoyment. This fact also carries over into the multiplayer aspect of the game too, players can either face off against players in matchmaking or you can play with your friends in a number of different game types in which you can wreak havoc in. I will say that there are minor issues that I had with the game, mainly technical problems and the fact that enjoyable features from past GTA games haven’t been incorporated into this one but I was able to overlook this in the wake of all that the GTA 4 had to offer for me and others who enjoyed the game as well.

Good:

-Immersive world, that brings you into it as you play

-Amazing single player campaign story

-Niko Bellic was a great main character to play as

-Multiplayer, that supports sixteen players and features multiple game modes and variation to those game types

-The much need game mechanic upgrade for players has been made

Bad:

-Minor technical difficulties that I don’t feel the need to be picked at due to all the game has to offer and all that it does right

-I wish things from past GTA games would have been incorporated into GTA 4

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10 

Grand Theft Auto 5 Official Trailer

By: Robert Murphy

I will now proceed to nerd out on all of you, more than I usually do that is because the new trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 makes me want to pull an Eric Cartman and freeze myself till the day the game comes out because I just can’t wait. The video above shows off the three new characters that we will have the opportunity to play as and also gives a little back chatter about their lives and why they’ve come together. These three characters are Michael, Trevor, and Franklin and the video shows how in the game you can freely shift between each character and play as whomever you like and that applies to during story missions too. During a mission you can be playing as one character and if a situation gets too complicated you can switch to another player (if you planned your heist well) and have them assist your other characters. This brings up another aspect to GTA 5 and that is that players have the ability to plan out the missions however you choose to, many of the missions involve robberies and crimes and so you get to plan out these heists, whether it be clean and calculated or rough and guns blazing, it’s up to you. After the heists are over and you take your cut, you can do whatever you like with the cash and there is so much to do now in with all your cash, many features like buying properties and buying homes from previous games have been brought to GTA 5 along with the ability to invest in stocks and buy tattoos, cars and so much more. I’ve been literally drooling over all I’ve seen in this video for GTA 5 and I can’t wait till I get my hands on it, I hope you all enjoy the video and get the same feeling I did from it.