GTA V: a personal reflection

I’ve been a Grand Theft Auto fan for a very long time now, and honestly, I was quite hyped waiting for the fifth part of the series.  I am basically a PC gamer, so my wait has been especially long. Still, it’s been worth it, definitely worth it.

GTA V is set in the fictional town of Los Santos (and its surroundings), which is definitely code for Los Angeles. As a New Yorker who doesn’t travel there as much as he’d like to, I’d love that. I don’t only get to visit the city, I get to commit every crime I can think of in it!

One feature of the game I really enjoyed is the fact that there is no longer just one playable character, which could (and, in fact did) get boring. Now we have Michael Trevor and Franklin, the three of them ready to take a bite of the very corrupted city of Los Santos. Although it can be annoying sometimes, the fact that the police is constantly behind your back is what makes feel the chills!

Los Santos is my kind of town.

I am not sure about what it is but there is something about sandbox games that is so inviting to me. It is probably the fact that you’re living such a complete life in an alternative (virtual) reality that, and even if it is just for a few hours, you can forget about your problems on the so called real one. Driving a limousine that I just stole from a gangster around Los Santos at a ridiculously speed sounds like a pretty good way to spend a Tuesday afternoon to me. And speaking about driving, in GTA V driving finally feels like driving, it was about time to get rid of the feeling of cars just floating around! The new GPS kind of map is also on point.

To be honest, the criminal inside of me really enjoys the fact that when you’re naughty you’re not chased only by local cups anymore, now the FIB (such an original acronym) and the United States Army are also running, driving and flying after you, what a rush!

Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that Grand Theft Auto V is the most expensive game ever? It had a cost of 265 million dollars! However, it definitely turned out to be a great investment, since it raised 800 million dollars during its first 24 hours in the market, setting another record. Crazy, right?

One a more serious note now, it is extremely important that we differentiate reality and fiction, and always keep the violence for the screen. Always.