Now I know in writing this review there are going to be MANY people who will disagree with me. I have seen this game get many 10s or close to it from various websites. I also must say that I have been playing this series for many years and while I enjoy it not much has changed. While being innovative in the beginning now not much has changed since then.
Unless you have been living under a rock, if you have a video game system you probably have played one or more versions of GTA. What this game is, is an an open world game with various missions and side missions. Normally you play one character and guide him thru the game. This time out there is a twist in that you get to play 3 characters instead of one. While that creates differences in the game play it never really allows you to get fully involved with any one character (which to me is not very good). You play as michael (boring) franklyn (not so boring) and trevor (best character to me in the game). If you have played this game then you pretty much know whats up. Lots of side missions doing various things but for some reason no money making. They changed that in this game where you have to actually work to get money. Its takes time and of course they have businesses you can buy. They have expensive ones so I cannot see how you can make the money for that unless you are really into this game. Michael plays like your regular GTA character. I found him the least interesting of the trio. Franklyn played pretty much like another GTA character that was used in the past. The only real different character to me is trevor. He is a nut so you get to do pretty much anything and it fits his character. He is a hill billy type character so you get to drive around the hills a lot of the time. The other two characters really seemed to be clones of GTA characters of the past with trevor being something new. The side missions can range from being fun to being annoying (to the point where after one time you skip them all together).
The bottom line really is if this game is fun?? Would I enjoy it?? Is it worth the bucks and time I spend on it? I have to say yes to all of the above. While there is an over abundance of car missions (which can be annoying at times but hey its called grand theft auto not grand theft missions) overall the game is fun. I found the changing of characters fun at first but it kinda kills any momentum you get with one character. Once you get into the character you do all the missions for them and are forced to change to another character to advance the story. Of course the graphics are wonderful and all the hustle and bustle really makes you feel like you are in a real city. Surprisingly the music in this game is not very good. Most of the songs are average and after awhile you end up just turning the music off. Gun play pretty easy as well and exploring fun also with some interesting side missions. I really think more then anything this is a game to be played. The storyline is not bad but it left me with a been there done that feeling and in the end its not very hard. As usual with GTA games you do the last mission and the game just kinda has an end screen. Then you can continue the game to get all the goodies you did not get before and "complete" the game (percentage wise that is). There is no real mission here that I can say was overly hard (well the flying parts could be a little difficult) so you could probably complete th is game is maybe less then 30 hours (maybe faster).
I have to say that this is a good game. In writing this review I try not to reveal any story points because like I said above t his game should be played. You can tell they spent a lot of time, money and effort into making this game. Do not get me wrong I would definintely recommend it to anyone. Its a game that if you want to show what a system can do you show this one. I cannot give this game a 10 because to me in order to get a 10 it should be innovative or do something different. This game really does not do anything really different. It more of the same fun that we all have been having for years. I think its a very good game worth spending your dollars on but a 10 its not. If you have played these games before then this game is pretty much more of the same with little or no changes. Sometimes when something works do not change it and here this game works.