One night off from work, well spent. I started the GTA OL launch, right after downloading the file update. I give props to Rockstar for one thing; not having a massive, 5-10gb download of the Online version, ALONG with all the launch woes. To spend hours downloading this patch, so I could spend hours getting past the first missions, would have been acid in a bleeding wound. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After patching up, I spent the next six hours, fighting for a spot in a two-car race, as most of those who play GTA OL have to. Why exactly it shows dozens of people joining and leaving the session, to pit me in a race against Lamar alone, is beyond me, but it did reveal something that I'll get into later. Off the bat, once you're into the game and playing, it's fun as hell. The mechanics from the GTA V SP game, are all here, but without the special abilities of Trevor, Franklin and Michael, the difficulty does get turned up past 11. :-) No more barrelign into fights or spawning random chaos and using your special to get out of it. Now, you're a lot more sneaky and cover hungry.

But as you advance, you run into more problems. One of the biggest, being the griefer system. Admittedly, right now it's in it's infancy, and not had a chance to grow. But top to bottom, the game is filled with people who want more to rob YOU, than the game. One of the worst tactics, is to shoot out your tires so you can't get away, and either lead-load you while you stay in your car, or run you over when you try to get out. Any money you have on you, is dropped to be picked up by your assassin. But the most irritating part of this, is that you have no recourse but to leave the game, until you hit level 10. At 10th level, you can issue bounties on players, and reward people who hunt them down and kill them. But that does nothing to really recoup what you've lost, it just rewards someone else even MORE for hunting them down.

Even more burdensome are the missions. I admit, I'm not a big fan of the competitive matches. The LTS, and Deathmatches, don't normalize weaponry. All you need at the early levels, is to get paired up against someone with a micro uzi or a shotgun, to feel like balance wasn't an issue. I prefer the cooperative jobs that you get over the phone system. But, you can only do one at a time. Once any match is over, comp or coop, you're put into a matchmaking screen, that lists ONLY competitive options for the next match. The only way to get a coop mission again, is to exit back into free-roam, and wait for a call from someone. Not the best system for the game by any stretch.

On the positive side, when you find your chosen groove in the game, be it competitive, cooperative, or just inciting random chaos, you will most likely have a blast. The controls are spot on from the game, so you aren't trying to relearn a whole new aspect of the game. And the enemies, be they human or AI, generally keep you on your toes. The coop missions can be made easier or more difficult, granting you more rewards and options. And the Competitive games, let you bet on who the winning player will be, giving you a chance(if you're good and lucky) to double or even triple your winnings in those games.

All in all, GTA V is an exciting experience, and Online just kicks it even higher. There are bugs at launch, which Rockstar's long admitted to before hand, but staying in the fight to play, will net you an excellent playing experience. Partly because of the little omission I think Rockstar's been hiding. As I said earlier, the initial missions you start with, are mandatory, and instructive. So instructive that they could almost replace the single player game for learning how to play. I think GTA Online, was initially meant to be a separate, stand-alone MMO title for Rockstar, launching in tandem with GTA V. But I think that as they developed it, they realized they couldn't really launch GTA OL, without really spoiling a lot of GTA V's aspects. That they would come under the most withering fire for trying to dole out two separate games, with two separate prices, that didn't deliver two SEPARATE experiences. Moreover, I think the bugginess of the Online Launch, wasn't something Rockstar could actually prepare for without delaying GTA V for at least two more years. They had to bite the bullet, and bundle it in with GTA V, to keep the fanbase happy.