I just want to talk about video games for a second here. I love video games, it's what I do. It's what I'm best at, and they're just dang awesome.
I want to talk about how they give me a sense of agency. HOw they make me feel like i can truly accomplish something. How they can make me face my fears, and let me overcome my fears. How Zelda has taught me courage, and bravery by going down into the depths of dungeons for the sake of a kingdom. For the sake of love. I want to talk about how I became a jedi while playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I want to talk about how I climbed the seven thousand steps to High Hrothgar, and slayed a dragons in Skyrim. I want to talk about how I have met great evils, and destroyed them. How I united an entire galaxy to fight alongside me as I faced down the Reapers in a battle that we were ultimately going to lose, but we fought all the same. With tenacity and strength, as brothers and sisters fighting for survival. These are all the great things that video games have allowed me to do. They are an absolutely wonderful medium that I want to share with people, and that should be shared. I want them to be talked about in a way inspires greatness, that inspires people to pick up a controller to play a game, and experience it for themselves. I want video games to be respected, and not to be looked at with scorn and disdain at the very mention of the genre. I want to change the conversation about video games.
I don't want to talk about the mechanics of the game, the layout of the levels, or the clunkiness of the controls, because that in itself is clunky. It's stilted, and a chore to listen to someone talk about that. No, I want to talk about the emotions that I felt. The sense of speed that I got from playing Burnout and the thrill of coming in first place. I want to talk about the atmosphere and charm of Bioshock as I stroll through the halls of the sunken city, and discover the perverse leadership that ultimately ruined it. Video games, ultimately, are forms are art, and art evokes emotion. Art tells stories, art records history, art makes history, art brings us perspective of the artist, art brings up debates about what was the intention of the art. Now, not all video games are good, every kind of art form has its share of schlock, I mean, look at Michael Bay's work.
I'm really looking forward to what's becoming of the video game industry. Nowadays, we find Call of Duty's and Battlefields that all look and feel the same. Sadly, the video game industry has become somewhat of a factory, that's just churning out product, rather than creating something unique or wonderful. With people like Bobby Kotick, the head of Activision, who view the industry as a way to make money rather than art, it's difficult to see any kind of progression. However, popping up, all over the world are independent game developers who create games like nothing else anyone has ever seen before. Notch ( aka Markus Persson), of Mojang studios, created Minecraft. The game exploded, with no marketing, making millions solely on the basis of word of mouth, and supporters to pave the way for it to become the most successful indie game in existence. Just this year at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo, there was a booth dedicated entirely to independent video games and indie game developers. That booth was larger than either of Microsoft's and Sony's booths. There are good, creative, and fun games out there, they just need their fifteen minutes of fame, and they can go on to make it big. That's what we all want. We want the little guy to succeed, and we want to see something new, and we're only going to get that from these independent game developers. Those game developers grew up in the same era that I did, and want to create games that are the kind that they want to make. And the kinds of games that they want to make, are they kind that they grew up with.
I remember playing games that were fun and inventive, and did something interesting. They weren't the best games, they had their flaws, but at least they tried to do something different. I find that commendable in this day and age, where invention is scarce. I grew up in what I think was a golden age of gaming, when developers weren't afraid of trying out something new, or when they were still finding out just what a game could do. I stand by it that the mid 1990s to early 2000s were days of true innovation in the games industry. The Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and the Sony Playstation brought forth some of the most monumental games in the industry. Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Soulcalibur, Jet Grind Radio, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Jet Force Gemini, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Deus Ex, Thief, Resident Evil, Mega Man X, and many, many more. It isn't out of nostalgia that I say that these are great games, it's because they are. I still pull out the old games, because it's important to know where we've come from as an industry, and to take the occasional trip down memory lane. Ok, so maybe nostalgia is a bit of a factor, but they really are good games. If playing Civilization V has taught me anything: is that golden ages come and go, and I believe that we are on the cusp of another golden age. Not just with video games, but with other forms of art as well. I think it's going to be an interesting time to be alive, and experience something new.
Showing posts with label Grand Theft Auto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grand Theft Auto. Show all posts
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Grand Theft Auto V review
I've never been a huge fan of the GTA series. I was never allowed to play them growing up. I never owned a Sony console, and my mom never let me play an M rated game until I was old enough. Looking back, I'm glad that she did.
Grand Theft Auto is a series that is marred with controversy and history in the gaming industry. Whenever a Grand Theft Auto game is released, the news media is all over it like flies on manure. GTA also stands out with its achievements in gameplay and technology. The cities that stage the games are full of life, and character, albeit a crass and satirical one at that. With the latest in the series out, let's take a look.
As I've said before, I've never really played the Grand Theft Auto. My experience with the series was a borrowed copy of Grand Theft Auto IV that I still have, that I rarely play. I didn't much care for the game. It was dark, and it didn't seem to cling together, everything was just kind of thrown together haphazardly, and the tone would frequently change from dark to light. What got me interested in GTA V, and eventually purchasing it come its midnight release was the direction that the studio was taking after Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. Both of those games quickly became some of my favorites because of their ability to immerse me in them with character and story. My hopes for the newest Grand Theft Auto game were high. Does the game live up to these new expectations?
Yes, I think it does.
Grand Theft Auto V is a game that is filled to the brim with character. The island of San Andreas is so diverse and huge, and every inch of it is covered with character. Each area of the map has its own style, personality, kinds of people and cars that inhabit it, and the best part is that it all feels cohesive. There's no sudden jump from one area to the next, it's more of a smooth dissolve. Red Dead Redemption had me with its sunsets, and surprisingly lively deserts; Grand Theft Auto V has me with its incredibly detailed and densely populated... well, everything. It takes a lot for a game to make me want to appreciate a slow, leisurely stroll, and GTA V does that. I can just roam about the world sightseeing GTA, and they even gave me a camera to take pictures with. Though, there is a story to this game, and it was the whole reason for me to buy the game.
Grand Theft Auto V does things differently in that there are three main characters for the player to work with. Each have their different personality, abilities, and walks of life that they come from. First: there's Michael. Michael is a retired bank robber, who lives well, but loathes around loathing every minute of it. Michael has a dysfunctional family, with a cheating wife, a lazy, pot head of a son, and a daughter who wants to be famous but is completely talent-less and whines when she doesn't get her way. Second: there's Franklin. Franklin is a guy from south central, who is a hustler and is getting tired of putting around and getting nowhere with his thug friends. Franklin aspires to be more than just a common thug, yet instead of looking to make an honest living, he runs into Michael who mentors him to be a bank robber. Together, both Franklin and Michael pull off heists and rob banks to make money. Lastly: there's Trevor. Trevor was one of Michael's old bank robbing partners, but left because he thought Michael was dead after a bank heist gone wrong. Trevor is also a lunatic meth head who runs his own operation cooking and distributing meth throughout his neighborhood. Trevor thinks himself a legitimate business man, and the last sane person on the face of the earth. Killing on a whim and attacking the government on a regular basis, Trevor is not a stable element to the party. Trevor eventually finds out that Michael is still alive, and seeks him out, bringing about the main course of the game.
The gameplay of Grand Theft Auto V is solid. Immediately, players are given access to high end cars, which is surprising given that most video games in general make you climb your way there. I've heard that driving in most 3D GTA games is the most frustrating part of the game, here: it's not the best but it works pretty well. It's no Forza, but it's not supposed to be. Gunplay is the other half of the coin, and it plays very well. It handles a lot like Red Dead Redemption does, but with fully automatic weapons, which is to say that it's a cover based shooter with good movement behind cover and a very helpful lock-on system that makes it easy to take out bad guys. Speaking of which, players go down rather easy in gun fights, which makes sense, being shot isn't the healthiest thing for the human body.
Players can improve their characters bodies by doing various things throughout the world. Players can increase their stamina by riding bikes, running, playing tennis. They can increase their driving by driving clean and dangerous. There's even a flight school to learn to fly and increase that statistic in their characters abilities. Investing time to improving your character is a lot more fun than it sounds. Especially with all of the different activities that one can do around San Andreas.
Activities range from, going to the movies (which are fleshed out and hand drawn animations), watching TV, tennis, golf, darts, drinking, skydiving, hunting, racing, water racing (boats & jetskis), off road racing, mountain bike racing, bounty hunting, regular hunting, side missions, property management, stock trading, buying planes, buying sailboats, general GTA messing about, random events, and I'm sure that I've missed more. GTA V has so much to do in it, and it's absolutely incredible. The map being so large, and having all these activities and details just blows my mind.
If there's one thing that bothers me about GTA V, is the characters. I know I said that I love them, and I do, but it's the way that they act in the side missions that seems to make them go out of character. Franklin in particular seems to go through all of this crazy stuff in side missions and complains, and mentions that he needs to know how to say no sometimes. Trevor and Michael also seem to go the extra mile for complete strangers that they just met. Though, I suppose that reason doesn't really apply to these three. Besides, if all there was to do in the game were the main missions, the game wouldn't feel complete.
Then, there is the Grand Theft Auto Online mode, which has been presented as its own separate entity. As it should be. GTA Online isn't just San Andreas with online players running around. It is built to allow a strong community of players to interact with one another in its many, and varied, activities. The online mode has players create their own character, which is a bit of a faff, to take online and make their way in San Andreas committing crimes and murders throughout. It's almost story based, as players first arrive in Los Santos meeting with Lamar, one of the characters from the main game, who shows them about and helps them to make contacts. These new contacts, some from the game, some from the online portion, will hook players up with different jobs that earn them cash and experience. Cash can be used to buy things, obviously, and experience grants levels, obviously, which gives players access to new items and jobs. It's very well rounded, and while other players can still be jerks, it's still a good time. However, there isn't a friendly mode, as there is with Red Dead Redemption, instead players can spend $100 in game cash to grant passive mode. Which then allows for safe passage through jerk-player infested areas.
But of course, this is a Grand Theft Auto game. RATED M FOR MATURE 17+. The game is also filled with a lot of adult content. Adult language, adult themes, nudity, violence, blood, torture, this game runs the gamut of offensive materials. Though one thing that I think must be said: is that, Grand Theft Auto is satirical. That doesn't mean that it's all in good fun. There is a lot of things that GTA V makes fun of, and straight up insults about American society. It's not something that kids will understand, and it breaks my heart that apathetic parents will buy this game for their kids and think nothing of it. Okay, stepping off of the soap box now.
All in all, GTA V is an absolutely fantastic game. It's well written, albeit foul-mouthed, the scripted moments are phenomenal, as well as the non scripted moments that you can have in the world outside of the story missions, the amount of activities in the world can keep players coming back again and again. The online mode is well designed, and now that it's finally up and running smoothly, it will be the go to time sink for many a gamer. A
Grand Theft Auto is a series that is marred with controversy and history in the gaming industry. Whenever a Grand Theft Auto game is released, the news media is all over it like flies on manure. GTA also stands out with its achievements in gameplay and technology. The cities that stage the games are full of life, and character, albeit a crass and satirical one at that. With the latest in the series out, let's take a look.
As I've said before, I've never really played the Grand Theft Auto. My experience with the series was a borrowed copy of Grand Theft Auto IV that I still have, that I rarely play. I didn't much care for the game. It was dark, and it didn't seem to cling together, everything was just kind of thrown together haphazardly, and the tone would frequently change from dark to light. What got me interested in GTA V, and eventually purchasing it come its midnight release was the direction that the studio was taking after Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. Both of those games quickly became some of my favorites because of their ability to immerse me in them with character and story. My hopes for the newest Grand Theft Auto game were high. Does the game live up to these new expectations?
Yes, I think it does.
Grand Theft Auto V is a game that is filled to the brim with character. The island of San Andreas is so diverse and huge, and every inch of it is covered with character. Each area of the map has its own style, personality, kinds of people and cars that inhabit it, and the best part is that it all feels cohesive. There's no sudden jump from one area to the next, it's more of a smooth dissolve. Red Dead Redemption had me with its sunsets, and surprisingly lively deserts; Grand Theft Auto V has me with its incredibly detailed and densely populated... well, everything. It takes a lot for a game to make me want to appreciate a slow, leisurely stroll, and GTA V does that. I can just roam about the world sightseeing GTA, and they even gave me a camera to take pictures with. Though, there is a story to this game, and it was the whole reason for me to buy the game.
Grand Theft Auto V does things differently in that there are three main characters for the player to work with. Each have their different personality, abilities, and walks of life that they come from. First: there's Michael. Michael is a retired bank robber, who lives well, but loathes around loathing every minute of it. Michael has a dysfunctional family, with a cheating wife, a lazy, pot head of a son, and a daughter who wants to be famous but is completely talent-less and whines when she doesn't get her way. Second: there's Franklin. Franklin is a guy from south central, who is a hustler and is getting tired of putting around and getting nowhere with his thug friends. Franklin aspires to be more than just a common thug, yet instead of looking to make an honest living, he runs into Michael who mentors him to be a bank robber. Together, both Franklin and Michael pull off heists and rob banks to make money. Lastly: there's Trevor. Trevor was one of Michael's old bank robbing partners, but left because he thought Michael was dead after a bank heist gone wrong. Trevor is also a lunatic meth head who runs his own operation cooking and distributing meth throughout his neighborhood. Trevor thinks himself a legitimate business man, and the last sane person on the face of the earth. Killing on a whim and attacking the government on a regular basis, Trevor is not a stable element to the party. Trevor eventually finds out that Michael is still alive, and seeks him out, bringing about the main course of the game.
The gameplay of Grand Theft Auto V is solid. Immediately, players are given access to high end cars, which is surprising given that most video games in general make you climb your way there. I've heard that driving in most 3D GTA games is the most frustrating part of the game, here: it's not the best but it works pretty well. It's no Forza, but it's not supposed to be. Gunplay is the other half of the coin, and it plays very well. It handles a lot like Red Dead Redemption does, but with fully automatic weapons, which is to say that it's a cover based shooter with good movement behind cover and a very helpful lock-on system that makes it easy to take out bad guys. Speaking of which, players go down rather easy in gun fights, which makes sense, being shot isn't the healthiest thing for the human body.
Players can improve their characters bodies by doing various things throughout the world. Players can increase their stamina by riding bikes, running, playing tennis. They can increase their driving by driving clean and dangerous. There's even a flight school to learn to fly and increase that statistic in their characters abilities. Investing time to improving your character is a lot more fun than it sounds. Especially with all of the different activities that one can do around San Andreas.
Activities range from, going to the movies (which are fleshed out and hand drawn animations), watching TV, tennis, golf, darts, drinking, skydiving, hunting, racing, water racing (boats & jetskis), off road racing, mountain bike racing, bounty hunting, regular hunting, side missions, property management, stock trading, buying planes, buying sailboats, general GTA messing about, random events, and I'm sure that I've missed more. GTA V has so much to do in it, and it's absolutely incredible. The map being so large, and having all these activities and details just blows my mind.
If there's one thing that bothers me about GTA V, is the characters. I know I said that I love them, and I do, but it's the way that they act in the side missions that seems to make them go out of character. Franklin in particular seems to go through all of this crazy stuff in side missions and complains, and mentions that he needs to know how to say no sometimes. Trevor and Michael also seem to go the extra mile for complete strangers that they just met. Though, I suppose that reason doesn't really apply to these three. Besides, if all there was to do in the game were the main missions, the game wouldn't feel complete.
Then, there is the Grand Theft Auto Online mode, which has been presented as its own separate entity. As it should be. GTA Online isn't just San Andreas with online players running around. It is built to allow a strong community of players to interact with one another in its many, and varied, activities. The online mode has players create their own character, which is a bit of a faff, to take online and make their way in San Andreas committing crimes and murders throughout. It's almost story based, as players first arrive in Los Santos meeting with Lamar, one of the characters from the main game, who shows them about and helps them to make contacts. These new contacts, some from the game, some from the online portion, will hook players up with different jobs that earn them cash and experience. Cash can be used to buy things, obviously, and experience grants levels, obviously, which gives players access to new items and jobs. It's very well rounded, and while other players can still be jerks, it's still a good time. However, there isn't a friendly mode, as there is with Red Dead Redemption, instead players can spend $100 in game cash to grant passive mode. Which then allows for safe passage through jerk-player infested areas.
But of course, this is a Grand Theft Auto game. RATED M FOR MATURE 17+. The game is also filled with a lot of adult content. Adult language, adult themes, nudity, violence, blood, torture, this game runs the gamut of offensive materials. Though one thing that I think must be said: is that, Grand Theft Auto is satirical. That doesn't mean that it's all in good fun. There is a lot of things that GTA V makes fun of, and straight up insults about American society. It's not something that kids will understand, and it breaks my heart that apathetic parents will buy this game for their kids and think nothing of it. Okay, stepping off of the soap box now.
All in all, GTA V is an absolutely fantastic game. It's well written, albeit foul-mouthed, the scripted moments are phenomenal, as well as the non scripted moments that you can have in the world outside of the story missions, the amount of activities in the world can keep players coming back again and again. The online mode is well designed, and now that it's finally up and running smoothly, it will be the go to time sink for many a gamer. A
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