I’m old enough to have played the original Grand Theft Auto games before Rock Star Games became the juggernaut they are today. The first couple of games had mediocre graphics at best. They had very simple concepts. Steal cars. Run people over for points. Have sex with hookers to fill your health bar. While stupid in many ways, these were some of first video games that allowed you to control and play as a bad guy instead of a good guy. It was fun being a villain for a change instead of your stereotypical hero.

By Grand Theft Auto 3, I was starting to lose interest. The games were still funny, but pretty much the same old shit. Steal cars. Rob people. Run from cops. And so on and so on. I never got into Grand Theft Auto Vice City, San Andreas or V. Just recently I bought and played V. I will have to admit, it’s a very good game. Decent enough storyline. Tons of side missions to do. And very cool that you play as three different characters, all with storylines of their own and missions to complete.

For those that have avoided and not played Grand Theft Auto V, let me give you a little background on the game. GTA5 was one of the most hyped games of all-time. In my life, it was the first game since Super Mario Brothers 3 that was hyped this much. I remember seeing at least a half-dozen commercials daily about it before its release. To date, GTA5 is the third best-selling video game in history. Sales of GTA5 currently stand at 115,000,000 copies sold.

What really made this game stand out was the open world. There are tons of areas to explore. You can customized not only your cars, but your clothes, physical appearance and weapons. You play as three characters. The game starts with you controlling a guy named Michael in a bank robbery gone wrong. Michael is a longtime crook. While he now lives a rich lifestyle due to helping the FEDS, Michael has a failing marriage and trouble relating with his two kids. Then there’s Franklin. A black man living in the more dangerous part of town. He is an excellent car thief with street knowledge. In his world, we see racism and parts of society many of us sadly wish to ignore. Last but not least, Trevor. The meth-out former “friend” of Michael’s. Trevor is unstable, crazy and shows no mercy toward those he dislikes or deems a threat.

To sum the game up without writing 35 paragraphs is simple. It reminds me of the movie Pulp Fiction. You have three characters. Each has their own set of main missions that you have to complete in order to advance and beat the game. Each has their own set of side missions you can do, which are optional. While each character has their own issues and problems they face, their storylines come together, leading to the main plot of the game. Rock Star did an awesome job with this. You can spend hours as Franklin. Completing as many side missions and exploring areas for hours and days. With a few controller outputs, bam, you are now controlling Trevor. His missions are completely different than Franklin’s. This helps keep the game fresh and gives it a very high replay value.

GTA5 is a great game. Some critics still see it as a primitive game of “beating up hookers, stealing cars and running from the police” which is not true. The game uses Satire to poke fun at politics, racism and other issues better than any gaming developer out there. With the said, the critics are also correct. At the end of the day, the game is about being a criminal. There is no redemption. Michael is still a cocky crook. Franklin is now a high class crook. Trevor is, well, still a crazy killer with millions of dollars now.

I’m happy I finally played GTA5 in late 2019. I spent about three weeks on it during the holidays. Overall I had a good experience with the game. I found the replay value to be high as there are so many missions and ways to play the game. The game has numerous endings and like RDR1 and RDR2, becomes an open world of free roam after you complete all the main missions. I am not sure the hype of why this game ranks third in sales all-time. While a very good game, I don’t see it as groundbreaking or legendary. With that said, I rate GTA5 a 9 out of 10.