Looking at: Grand Theft Auto 5

Rockstar Life

GTA 5's three protagonists

I'm standing in the middle of a busy intersection, in my underwear, laughing as the world around me explodes. I'm a crazed Canadian meth dealing psychopath and I've planted C4 in a circle around me, just to watch the chaos unfold. The area is tearing itself apart and it's all because of me.

I'm driving my luxary car down the street on my way to pick up my best friend. He's an asshole, but we grew up together in the suburbs of Los Santos, a facsimile of Los Angeles, and he's one of the few friends I've got. As a couple of poor, African-American guys we have to struggle to make ends meet, but we always try to find time for a few drinks and a game of darts when we can.

I'm on a golf course downtown and I'm considering beating the guy behind me to death with my 9-iron. He's been bugging me all game and I can feel myself relapsing into my old violent ways. I stop and consider that I'm trying to be a better father and go legit after a life of crime I left behind. I hit the ball and slice it hard left. Killing the man proves to be much more enjoyable.

The Grand Theft Auto series is one of the older IP's still hanging around, having managed to stay alive since 1997 without a reboot or a very long pause. It's a series all about letting the player run rampant in an open world, creating their own stories in-between the story crafted by Rockstar themselves. GTA V is a return to the sunny shores and barren desert of Los Santos, jewel of San Andreas, but is this a trip worth making again or is it just another celebrity face-lift?

Tinsel Town

Scattered around town are random side jobs, almost as good as the plot missions.

In many ways GTA 5 is the same game as GTA 4 was, which itself wasn't to far removed from the GTA 3 trilogy of the early 2000's. As always the game revolves around you doing various crimes as you rise through a seedy underworld all the while trying to keep a level head and stay one step ahead of those who would see you taken out. You'll fight cops, other gangs, private security, and your own morality as you come to grips with the world of crime and violence you find yourself in. It's a dark look at what man is willing to do, and the biting commentary about modern American life is found in every corner.

Once again this crime drama is set in Los Santos (Los Angeles), the jewel of the great state of San Andreas, previously seen in the GTA of the same name. Where as GTA: SA had the entire state to explore, including the cities of San Fierro (San Fransisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas), GTA 5 has chosen to instead stick to one city and the surrounding country side. That's not to say the map is small mind you, and indeed it's decidedly larger then any of the previous games, including Rockstar's Western odyssey Red Dead Redemption.

Despite it's enormous size, GTA 5's version of LS and the surrounding Blaine County is, hands down, one of the most detailed and impressive game worlds I've ever seen. There is so much to see in this game that I often found myself flat out ignoring my current objective just to walk around an appreciate the world. The amount of minor detail is staggering, from the way the different districts of LS look and feel different, from the wide open wilderness of Blaine County and the way it all melds together. I've always been a sucker for big worlds begging to be explored and seeing a game outside of the RPG genre pull this off so well reminds me constantly why Rockstar is one of my favorite developers. 

That's sort of the underlying strength of GTA 5, is it's almost psychotic attention to detail in the little things. Thinks like how vehicle engines tinkle as they cool down when parked, or how the pedestrian traffic of different areas changes based on the time of day. It's a level of detail you rarely see in games, save perhaps the admittedly even crazy Metal Gear Solid series, and it really helps to bring the game to life. You could strip away all the story elements to GTA 5 and just sell it as an interactive world and I still would've bought it on that alone. 

Triple Trouble

Michael's problems with his family are some of the most human moments in the series' history.

The story, incidentally, is perhaps GTA 5's most problematic area. Like previous entries into the series, the story revolves around a series of daring crimes committed by a small group of individuals as they struggle to survive against ever mounting odds. The biggest difference this time around is that rather then one protagonist, you control three, slowly unlocked over the games first five or so hours. 

Firstly there's Franklin, a young African-American man trying to shake his gangster upbringing. He's in love with a girl that hates him, best friends with a suicidal moron, and lives with his fem-Nazi aunt that wants him out of her life. Franklin's biggest strength is his ability to drive well and in another one of GTA 5's new features is the addition of special poweres, in Frank's case, the ability to slow time to a crawl and drive with perfect precision. It's a handy feature and Frank's is arguably the most useful. 

Shortly thereafter you're introduced to Michael. Mike is a retired bank robber who gave up his life of crime a decade ago and has been regretting it ever since. He's still got his head in the game, but the game's moved past him and he's playing catch up. More interestingly is Mike's family, a wife, daughter, and son. Family ties was a theme explored in GTA 4, but Mike's is far more interesting then the bowling obsessed cousin of that adventure. It grounds the character in a way not previously explored in the series and does a great job of humanizing him. 

Then there's Trevor, simultaneously the worst character in the game and the best character in the series. Trevor is pure chaos, completely unhinged and ready to go off at a moment's notice. He's a cannibal speed freak, striking fear into everyone around him with his very presence. He's an agent of destruction, leaving a trail of bodies wherever he goes. He's Mike and Frank's best friend, and they're worst nightmare. 

Switching between the three after they're all unlocked is a smooth and seamless transition, allowing you to go to the other side of the map at a second's notice. While it's fun to switch between them during free roaming gameplay, it's the missions that see them working together that really make the game, swapping back and forth for flanking shots and side assaults on unsuspecting enemies lends a new level of depth to the gameplay we didn't see before. It's like playing a strategy game, only really fast and it makes some of the hairier moments all the better. 

Psychotic Episode

Trevor sows destruction wherever he goes.

It's a little to bad these men don't have a better story to tie them together. The plot is best described as "wandering" and it's oddly made both better and worst by the addition of three playable characters. There's no overarching plot to hold everything together like Niko or Cj's quests for revenge in the previous games. I've heard GTA 5's plot described as "people doing bad things" and that's really the best way of describing it, it's just a series of people doing things.. 

That's not to say the writing is bad, actually quite the opposite. This might be some of Rockstar's best work, with a huge cast of memorable characters and dialogue that's both funny as hell and shockingly realistic. The way the characters interact feels real, especially between the three leads, and there's a metric fucktonne of voice work ensuring that every line is delivered perfectly. 

GTA 4's plot was all about the American Dream gone wrong as Niko slowly learned that America is worse then his former life. GTA 5, in response, is the utter rejection and hatred of the modern American life. This is a game completely sick and tired of the world around it, taking potshots at nearly every aspect of modern, post economic collapse America. There's commentary on modern News reports, racial tension, police militarization, reality television, and even other video games. There's something lost in the minutia of it all, and at times GTA 5 seems to forget what's parody and what's just pointing and laughing, but it works more then it fails and paints and ugly picture of the world we live in. 

At times it seems like the game would've benefited from only one main character, and you can sort of see that throughout, since all three men have their own individual story. I would've loved to see the game just centered around Michael's struggles, and it's his plot that seems to have the most weight to it. Sure, the switching is fun, and both Trevor and Franklin bring their own strengths to the table, but it's Michael's struggle between family life, crime, and his deals with the shady government agents that proves to be the strongest part of the game. 

Maximum Pain

First person mode offers a new way to play in the Next-Gen/PC version.

If there is one thing handled perfectly it's GTA 5's shooting. GTA 4's shooting was a step up from the PS2 era, no doubt, but it still felt floaty and off balance. GTA 5 seems to have taken several notes from The book of Max and completely overhauled the shooting. This time around it feels precise and on point, allowing you to deliver perfect shots with ease. It's not quite as perfect as Max Payne 3, but it's more then serviceable in it's own right and never hinders the experience. 

Driving has also received an update from GTA 4. Cars now have real weight to them, depending on the vehicle type, and there's a huge difference between driving a family sedan, a low-rider, or a semi-truck. It takes more then a bit of getting used to at first, and it's easy to spin out accidentally or over-judge a slight calculation, but once everything starts to click it feels as smooth as any number of racing sims. 

Graphically GTA 5 is impressive. Like I mentioned there's a huge level of detail to be found throughout the game, like characters only getting wet to where they went into the water, but all around GTA 5 is a really nice looking game. Los Santos has never looked better and it's rare to see a game world that looks and feels this alive and vibrant, with color strewn about to bring the game to life. There are minor issues, like the lack of reflection on certain surfaces and recycled textures popping up here and there. There's also, at least on the last-gen systems, a huge problem with pop-in and LOD distance causing the occasional crash into a tree that wasn't there before. Out of all the versions the 360 is by far the worst for this, and while it doesn't ruin the game, it really doesn't do it justice either. 

On the audio front, GTA 5 is an absolute accomplishment. Let me start by talking about the radio stations, all of which are awesome. There 17 stations in the default game, plus an additional one for PC players and a custom player station on PC as well. It's a guarantee you'll find some music you love, but even better you can really get into the mind of each character thanks to the radio. It's awesome to drive downtown as Franklin, blasting classic rap songs, or racing around as Trevor to some angry punk music. Never mind the original score, which punctuates the scenes perfectly and always seems to kick in right where it's needed most. 

Beyond the music, the actual audio design is fantastic. I already talked about how great the voice work was, but it goes even further then that, with the streets of Los Santos sounding like actual busy streets. There are innumerable pedestrian conversations, either between people on the street or into their cell phones. There's the distant sound of dogs barking, or emergency vehicles whizzing along. There's the subtle hum of traffic, complete with the odd radio turned up way to loud. GTA 5 might be one of the best sounding games I've ever played, and it's so well done I doubt many people will actually realize. 

On PC and Around the World

Multiplayer is often as hectic as the singleplayer.

I haven't mentioned it up till this point, but this review is largely based off the PC re-re-release of GTA 5, which is hands down the best version. I'm not just saying that because I prefer PC gaming, but I've played the PS3, 360, and X1 versions of GTA 5 and the PC version beats them all hands down. This isn't just another console port, and while the 18 month delay from the original version might seem a bit long it's clear right off the bat the wait was worth it. Rockstar received a lot of criticism for GTA 4's sloppy PC port, and it's been rumored that's why Red Dead Redemption never made the leap. It's clear they've learned from this as the PC version out preforms all of the console versions with ease. 

First of all, it's just a very well made port, with a full suite of graphics options to suit your needs. My little brother's rig is definitely starting show it's age and yet he had no issues running the game smoothly. More then that, it's rewarding for people that put time and money into their machines by offering 60fps, and while I'm not usually one to get hung up on frame rates, it's impossible to not see the difference. 60fps is much smoother then 30 and the game as a whole feels better for it. It does tend to dip down, especially when shit starts to hit the fan, but I've never seen it go lower then the high 40's. 

The PC version also looks better, even then the next-gen console versions. The lighting is sharper, shadows handled a bit better, and there's more minor details rendered. All of this can be seen from the included 1st-person mode, courtesy of the PS4/X1 version. While I still prefered the game in 3rd-person, it was nice to see how much work was put into making 1st-person a completely viable option, and it's impressive to see how well it works. 

The other thing I haven't talked about yet is GTA Online, GTA 5's multiplayer portion. GTA 4 included an online suite too, but that was more traditional. GTAO is structured as a stand-alone MMO packaged with the already lengthy single-player, and as of now it also includes the option to take on heists. There's enough here to keep you busy, sure, but playing with a group of friends, especially the heists, is the way to go and provides some of the best, action packed experience the game has to offer. 

All of this can be captured and logged thanks to the PC version's full video editing suite. GTA 5 isn't the first game to feature a video editor, but it's certainly one of the better ones. Short clips can be recorded during normal gameplay, either single or multiplayer, and edited together with a whole host of options. What's great is that you're not even limited to the your camera, as the recorded video is produced as a full 3d screenshot, allowing you to move the camera wherever you want. There's also the inclusion of Director Mode, allowing you to take control of any character in the game and do whatever you want with them. Want to make a video of Michael's daughter going on a killing spree? Now you can. 

Crime Spree

Trevor and Michael's strained relationship works well thanks to great performances by Ned Luke and Steven Ogg.

Rockstar have earned themselves a name by making grand, sweeping games worth playing and talking about, and GTA 5 reminds us why. While it's story might not be as strong as GTA 4's, there's no denying the strong cast of characters and biting commentary offered up by the three leads. GTA 5 points a mirror at modern American life and forces us to admit that it's a shitty, shitty place to live in, THEN the game gives you a hammer and lets you smash the mirror to bits. Whether or not they know it, and I think they do, Rockstar have created one of the best pieces of cynical parody in gaming ever. 

The GTA franchise have always been great games, and GTA 5 continues that tradition in style. It's a completely confident game, bursting with content and personality. It's a game worth playing, if not for the great gameplay or awesome dialogue, then simply because everyone else is playing it too. 

image sources:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1quk34/a_map_comparing_the_sizes_of_all_the_major_gta/

Looking at: Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/162075-mercenaries-playground-of-destruction-xbox-screenshot-the.jpg

그 괴팍스러운 미치광이
geu goepagseuleoun michigwang-i

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/xbox/mercenaries/screens/mercenaries_1.jpg

Air strikes are effective, and fun as hell.

North Korea is the whacky next door neighbor of world politics. They're always getting up to something crazy, be it threatening the world largest military power, claiming they have missiles, or getting really upset about a second-rate Seth Rogan comedy. The entire county is one non-stop comedy of errors and if it weren't for the atrocities committed to their citizens they'd be an absolute laughing stock and an international joke.

Who am kidding, they are anyway.

Despite this, DPRK has rarely been represented in the world of video games. Perhaps it's because one game featured them, and did such a great job that no one else wanted to even try.

파괴의 놀이터
pagoe ui nol-iteo

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/media/xbox/mercenaries/mercenaries1.jpg

The AI will dynamically fight battles against one another, letting you join or ignore them at your discretion.

Like the title of the game suggests, you play as one of three mercenaries from Executive Operations hired to enter North Korea in the midst of a second all out Korean war. Your task is to take out General Song, the newest dictator, as well as the Deck of 52, comprising of Song's 51 lieutenants. That's really it, the plot never goes anywhere else and there's never any twists, which kind of works to the game's favor. It reinforces the idea that you are a mercenary who's only in it for the money. You don't have a personal vendetta against Song, hell you don't even know him personally until the final mission. He and his men are just objectives for you to complete, and nothing else.

That's not to say Mercenaries is devoid of story. In order to progress through each of the four chapters of the game you'll need to interact with the various factions at play in North Korea. The UN and China are the two biggest players, with the UN looking to stabilize the region and China looking to add NK as the newest Chinese province. South Korea is in play, backed by the CIA who almost certainly has ulterior motives. Finally, the Russian mob is hanging around making trouble and selling equipment to the highest bidder. All of these, plus the DPRK forces will stand in your way, and often working for one faction will displease the others.

재미와 이익을 위해 촬영

jaemiwa iig-eul wihae chwal-yeong

http://images.gameskinny.com/gameskinny/5c270d150d94e305d0d19b627477fe97.jpg

Mattias Nilsson, one of the playable character, voiced by the awesom Peter Stormare

You don't name your game "Playground of Destruction" without offering something to blow up, and sure enough there's destruction in spades to be found in Mercenaries. Every building can be leveled, ever city block reduced to ash. Battles have a huge, bombastic feel as bullets whiz past and bombs create craters in the ground. Best of all fights are largely organic, and just traveling from one location to another can spill into a huge running battle that will keep you busy.

To facilitate this endless destruction is an alarming array of weapons and vehicles. Each faction has multiple vehicles to choose from, ranging from simple jeeps and humvees, all the way to heavy tanks and armoured personnel carriers. There's also helicopters to allow you to easily traverse the bumpy terrain of NK and clear enemy positions with ease.

Also supplementing your equipment is the various support options available from the various factions. The UN or China can provide you with access to their artillery systems, allowing you to completely decimate an area with the light of a flare, while SK and the Russians provide you numerous different equipment drops for a re-arm in the field. It's unfortunate that the system for requesting these ordinance is so clunky and unintuitive, because you'll find yourself using them a lot.

Graphically Mercenaries is just another victim of that mid-2000's attempt at 3d. Like most PS2 or Xbox games it doesn't look horrible, and there are enough details to make looking at it bearable, but there's no denying that it can't even compete with games like Doom 3 or MGS 3 from the same era. Where Mercenaries does stand out is it's use of explosions and destructible terrain, both of which are masterclass and unmatched even today. Destructible terrain on that scale became what Pandemic Studios was best known for until their closure in 2009.

큰 바보 재미
keun babo jaemi

http://www.game2k.cz/data/images/games/m/mercenaries_playground_of_destruction_ps2_6.jpg

You'll sow a path of destruction in your quest for Song.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction isn't a life changing or genre defining game. By all account's it's a second-rate third person shooter that barely stands up to it's own contemporaries. At best it's a bizarre North Korean knock-off of the GTA franchise, albeit with slightly more explosions and slightly less swear words. Despite all of this, Mercenaries does remain as one of my more favoured games of it's type and one of the better games from the sixth gen.

There was a sequel a few years later for the next generation of consoles, but it didn't have nearly the same feel to it, and likely aided in the eventual demise of one of the better EA developers. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is a simple game, with a simple premise, and a shitload of explosions, and that's just fine with me.

Looking at: Far Cry 4

http://i57.tinypic.com/14t0l5v.jpg

The Late, Great, Far Cry

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/far-cry-4/f/f0/0x6001.jpg

One new addition is Far Cry 4's drop-in, drop-out co-op. There's also Honey Badgers. 

I mentioned in my look at the Far Cry series that Far Cry 3 was, and still is, one of my favorite shooters of all time, right up there with Doom 2 and COD: Modern Warfare. It's an incredibly enjoyable game with a huge open world, tonnes of activities to keep you busy, a well controlled upgrade system, and one of the more interesting stories in recent shooters. I've played FC3 several times now and I still enjoy every moment of it.

I also mentioned in that article how I was afraid for the Far Cry series. Ubisoft has had a recent trend of massacring it's PR, and it's shoddy handling of the once great Assassin's Creed franchise shows what can happen when they attempt to annualized a series. Far Cry 4 is, technically, the third Far Cry game in as many years, with FC3 in 2012, Blood Dragon and 2013, and now FC4 earlier this year. Thankfully Ubisoft haven't announced a new Far Cry game yet, but we'll wait and see. As for FC4? It doesn't ruin the franchise, but the seeds are certainly planted.

The Familiar

http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1365/13658182/2732189-fc4_screen_pvp_bear_attack_301014_5pm_paristime_1414685442.jpg

Hunting remains largely the same, but beware enemy hunters that turn the wild life against you.

Anyone who played FC3 will be instantly familiar with FC4, mostly because they're essentially the same game. It's still an open world shooter with tonnes of activities to keep you busy, a well controlled upgrade system, and one of the more recent villains in recent history. That last one has changed a bit, and I'll explain later. There's really not much different then FC3, and this is one of the most annoying things about FC4. It's all the same,

I'd like to state right now that I didn't not hate Far Cry 4. That is to say, I sort of liked it. But I mostly liked it because, at it's best, it was just a newer, slightly better version of Far Cry 3. When Far Cry 4 was really, really good, it's because it was just apeing the things Far Cry 3 did really, really good. It was incredibly fun to unleash a wild animal on a group of unsuspecting enemies, just like it was in Far Cry 3. It was thrilling to sneak through a camp and systematically take down targets one by one, just like it was in Far Cry 3. It was a blast hunting down that dangerous animal to complete the upgrade I'd been working so hard on, just like -you get the point.

The New

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/pub/large/far_cry_4_preview1111.jpg

Elephants can be ridden into battle, with hilarious results.

That isn't to say Far Cry 4 is devoid of new additions. For one, it's hero, Ajay Ghale, is decidedly better at being a super soldier then Jason Brody was. This time around you start with the ability to slide, use sidearms while zip-lining, and cook grenades before throwing. He also has several new abilites that put him ahead of Brody, like the ability to fire sidearms while driving, and moving corpses out of sight. These two come pre-loaded, and don't require unlocking, which is for the best since they're both incredibly useful throughout the game.

Unlockable skills this time around are arraigned into only two trees: the Elephant, focusing on offense and syringe mixing; and the Tiger, focusing on stealth and firearms usage. Rather then unlocking once a level, you now save up unlock points and gain skills as you wish, with higher end skills costing more points. It's a nice change up, and there are enough useful skills peppered through that it's worth it. Skill acquiring has also been slightly re-worked, and I rarely found myself waiting around with unspent skill points like in FC3.

FC4 uses most of the same guns as FC3, to little surprise, but does boast a few new additions. This time around there's a designated side-arm slot specifically for one-handed weapons. While this seems annoying at first, it's purpose makes sense, especially given the ability to shoot while driving, and you quickly get used to it. Besides, it's really useful after unlocking the one-handed grenade launcher, a weapon so hilarious to use I saw little reason to ever be apart from it. There's other great new weapons, like the Autocross rapid fire silent crossbow, the .700nitro double barreled hunting rifle, or the LK-1018 lock-on rocket launcher.

 Where the weapon selection really shines is FC4's host of signature weapons. All of them require certain conditions be met, and earning a signature weapon is a great reward. There's the silent variation of the AK47, a one-handed flip-cocked version of the shotgun, a fully automatic pistol with an insane firerate, or a 400-round machine gun that never gives up. All of these are great, and working towards unlocking them is a good way to experience the world of Kyrat.

Kyrat, Land of 1000 Mountains

http://www.worldsfactory.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/far-cry-4_e3_screen.jpg

Kyrat is a pleasent change from the lush Rook Islands.

An idiot once said of Far Cry 3 "Like Skyrim with guns" and while that ridiculously stupid statement meant nothing for FC3, it seems rather apt for FC4, at least as far as Kyrat is concerned. Rather then FC3's lush jungle island, Kyrat is located in the shadow of the Himalayan mountains, is a decided...far cry from Rook Islands. Kyrat is a cold, and desolate place, evoking obvious imagery of Nepal and Mongolia. There are temples scattered around, and holy sites from the local religion. It's a spiritual place, one that begs to be explored.

That is, until you try to actually explore it. Rook Islands was mostly open, and used hills sporadically to break up the terrain. Kyrat is mountainous, and allows only the occasional open field or body of water. While this is a great change, it makes traversing a real pain. I spent more time trying to figure out how to get to my destination, than actually going there. Even with the addition of a grappling hook it's annoying, since the hook is contextual as hell. Thief had the ability to deploy and use ropes at will, and that was released in 1998. Blessedly, there's still the ability to fast-travel to certain sites, and the wingsuit can be purchased only a few hours in rather then halfway through, but traversing Kyrat remains one of the more annoying parts of FC4.

The spiritual idiot, and his shrieking partner

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4EILfUu2Mvs5I-XVp0_tt2XA0qE=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2350848/FC4_PREVIEWS_KARMA_EVENT_02.0.jpg

Like Red Dead Redemption, FC4 features dynamic events to keep the world alive.

Speaking of annoying, let's talk about FC4's plot and characters. They're terrible. Ubisoft continues to not be able to write protagonists, as Ajay Ghale's motivations are even worse then Jason Brody. As Ghale, you are sent back to Kyrat, you're homeland, to spread your mother's ashes as her final wish. Your mother was part of The Golden Path, a group of rebels attempting to overthrow the dictator. Ghale is kidnapped, and finds himself rescued by The Golden Path, then gang-pressed into becoming a super hero for them.

Here's the thing, Ghale has no reason to get involved, beyond "It's my parent's fight, so now it's my fight". It's not like he's searching for his lost parents. His father is dead, and he knew his mother his whole life, so that's not the reason. The Golden Path rescues him, then tells him if he wants to fulfill his mother's wish he'll need to fight. Except that he doesn't, because he's just a tourist, and the military has no problem with him.

SPOILER WARNING: SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH
It's made even stupider by the "secret ending". At the beginning of the game, you're told to wait while the villian makes a phone call. If you actually wait, he comes back, you spread your mother's ashes, and you go home. The entire conflict is pointless, and Ghale has no reason to fight.

Worse then the story are it's characters. The Golden Path is led by Sabal and Amita, two people so forgettable I had to look their names up on the wiki. Sabal is a backwards thinking patriot that wants to return Kyrat to it's spiritual roots, and Amita is a business minded leader that oozes that old "I'm a woman in a man's world, so I must fight" trope so much it's annoying. Neither of these two are interesting at all, and having to choose which of them to support is like choosing math class or geography, they both suck.

Then there's the supporting cast. Longinus, the biblical minded arms dealer is probably the most interesting, just because his performance is so over the top it becomes magical. Bhadra, Amita's daughter(?) who's some sort of goddess reincarnated that's never given a back story. Willis Huntly returns for a short while to be a complete asshole American sterotype. Finally there's Yogi and Reggi, two stoner idiots that represent the worst version of drug culture, and everything they say is terrible.

Love and Hatred

http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Far-Cry-4-Uses-Lessons-about-Outposts-from-Far-Cry-3-Feedback-461720-3.jpg

Interactions with Pagan Min's army does a good job of showing how evil they are.

Then there's the villains. There's Pagan Min and his three liutenants: Noore, Yuma and Paul. Noore is the weakest of the bunch, being the whiny curator of the ancient coliseum, but her backstory is interesting enough and her motivations make sense. Paul is an interesting character, a man that will talk with his wife and daughter about mundane "dad" stuff, while slicing a hostage's head off and feeding it to dogs. Yuma is a freaky bitch that likes to use psychological horror to scar her prisoners, and is just overall really, really scary.

Finally, there's Pagan Min. FC3's Vaas was lauded as an excellent villain, but people were upset that he didn't receive enough screen time, and was killed off halfway through. Min, however, is fantastic, a mixture of ego, violence, fashion, and delusion all rolled into one purple suit. His connection with Ajay is unique, and despite attempting to destroy him, he regularly calls Ajay just to have pleasant chats. He treats Ajay as a son, and talking with him is usually the highlight of the game. All of this is no doubt thanks to the always wonderful Troy Baker, who does a great job of bringing Min to life and making him seem evil and intriguing at the same time.


Not Far Enough

http://static5.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1365/13658182/2624181-fc4_gamescom_sla_hunter.jpg

Spiritual journeys will pit you against demons as you uncover Kyrat's past.

Far Cry 4 isn't a bad game. There's a lot to love about it. What it is, is a bad sequel, and a bad Far Cry title. One of my favorite things about the Far Cry series was how different each game was from it's predecessor. Far Cry was an ahead of it's time sci-fi 80's action flick, Far Cry 2 was a deadly serious gritty Africa simulator, and Far Cry 3 was a huge, open toybox letting you stick C4 on a pig for fun. Far Cry 4 is just Far Cry 3, tweaked and re-worked. Far Cry 4 would be a great game, probably one of the best modern shooters, if only Far Cry 3 didn't exist.

Like I said, it's not a bad game, but there are numerous bad elements to it. The story and characters are annoying, and the cutscenes unskippable. Hit-detection at long-ranges is faulty, which makes sniping a crapshoot. There are a variety of bugs, ranging from the hilarious to the annoying. The world of Kyrat is interesting, but annoying to explorer. There's an odd abundance of insta-fail stealth missions and terrible tailing missions a-la Assassin's Creed.

All of this aside, there is a great game in Far Cry 4. An incredibly open toybox waiting for you to explore and exploit it. It's just to bad that the great game is Far Cry 3.

Looking at: GTA: San Andreas

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/GTASABOX.jpg

The Grandest of Thefts

http://cdn.marketplaceimages.windowsphone.com/v8/images/ffa394f9-3a6a-440c-8c0a-4b515becd2ee?imageType=ws_screenshot_large&rotation=90

Ryder, CJ, Big Smoke, and Sweet, the main cast of the game.

Grand Theft Auto has been in the news a bit lately. Between the re-release of GTA V on next-gen, the anticipated PC version of GTA V, and the recent release of GTA San Andreas HD on Xbox360. It's the latter item that brings me to today's topic of the original, unhindered version of what I believe is still the finest moment of the GTA franchise. It's worth noting here that, as of today (11/10/14) I am talking about a version of GTA:SA that is no longer readily availible (PS2), for reasons I'll discuss below.

GTA: SA represents everything the GTA series should be about. It's full of wacky antics, serious moments, crazy characters, and tonnes of shooting and driving action. It represents the fulcrum on the teeter-totter that has become the GTA franchise, reaching an almost perfect midpoint between the arcade style games of old and the serious and gritty games of new. To me, it's the perfect mix, and I love the hell out of it.

Welcome to San Andreas

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100713192404/gtawiki/images/c/c5/Sanandreas_map.jpg

The state of San Andreas.

GTA: SA no longer has the largest map in the franchise, as explained in this article. However, at the time it was massive, and it's still rather daunting today. Instead of a single city, like all other GTA games, SA was set in the state of San Andreas, another fictional location in the GTA universe. San Andreas is a mixture of North and South California, along with a good chunk of Nevada.

There are three cities this time around, and all of them are big enough to be GTA games in their own right. You start in Los Santos, a mirror image of Los Angeles with a dirty ghetto downtown and a high class upper city in the hills. From there you move to San Fierro, representing San Francisco, with it's notably asian population, large hills, and long bridge. Finally you find yourself in Las Venturas, GTA's version of Las Vegas, complete with shining strip and casinos around every corner. Aside from three major cities is the state in between, with a myriad of small towns, farms, forests, deserts, and other oddities.

 More then any other GTA game, the state of San Andreas is about diversity. Every location looks different from each other and the three cities are pleasantly distinct from one another. You really feel like your in an actual place, even despite the aged graphics. There's an impressive level of detail put into every different location, and the world might be the best put together map Rockstar has ever made.

Follow the damn train CJ

http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scrn/86000/86407/gta-san-andreas-pack-of-bikes-9.jpg

One of the bikes available.

This level of diversity spills into the game itself. You play as Carl "CJ" Johnson, a young African-American returning home after the death of his mother. CJ learns that his former gang is a mess, his brother is struggling to keep afloat, his sister has grown cold and distant, and there's trouble brewing throughout the city. Add to that the oppressive police officers Tenpenny and Pulaski that use CJ as their personal errand boy. Needless to say CJ's return home is anything but peaceful.

Playing as an inner-city gang member is a bit of a shift from older GTA games. Where they all focused on established gangs like Italian mafias or Japanese Yakuza, the Grove Street Families are disorginized and often confused. Most of your missions at the beginning are attempting to make your gang stand out, and you'll often find yourself outgunned and outmanned by the other street gangs.

What's really refreshing is the cast of characters you meet. CJ is easily one of the better African-American characters I've ever seen, actually growing through the game and slowly shedding his street-banging gangster life style. He's no hero, that's for sure, but he's likable and has a lot of personality. There's CJ's gang family, with colourful characters like the prophetic Big Smoke, or the paranoid Ryder. Or CJ's own family with his tough but fair brother Sweet or his disillusioned sister Kendl. There's the asian crime-lord Woozie with a hidden secret, the hippie drug kingpin known as Truth, or Kendl's street racing boyfriend Cesar. There's such an awesome varity and personality in the characters that they're memorable even long after your done with them.

Even better is the voice cast, made of up a who's who of great talent. CJ is voiced by west coast rapper Young Maylay, and his crew is made up of similar talent like The Game, Faizon Love, and Clifton Powell. Samuel Jackson provides the voice of the maleficent Office Tenpenny, Peter Fonda is the enigmatic Truth, and James Woods is the opportunistic Mike Torrens. David Cross shows up as the electrical genius Zero, and Ice-T shows up as rap star extraordinaire Madd Dogg. As always the radio talent is top notch, with shows hosted by or featuring Andy Dick, Chuck D., Axel Rose, Wil Wheaton, George Clinton, and GTA mainstay Lazlow Jones.

9s and AKs

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeQZAxKSPtxTzBuX7ZAygCXuZDeCLtLHnPhqaOP3Bs4j1XU6XksOAMuk5K9sTwBWoHNBCx-w7Pq8UBySfdgAkz1Ll3kAtga6iSEn_fu0w0r9CoOCDpmDWyM_D5GClGvhjeTvvgF2hhYLG/s1600/police+fight+san.bmp

CJ engaging in a firefight.

Of course, it wouldn't be a GTA game with out guns and cars. There's a number of different weapons available, ranging from simple pistols, to assult rifles, all the way up to RPG launchers and flamethrowers. SA has an RPG upgrade system where the more you use a weapon, the better you get, eventually unlocking perks like dual wielding, better accuracy, or better movement speed while aiming. Shooting, at least on PS2, is... functional. It takes a while to get used to it, especially after playing more modern third person shooters, but spamming the lock-on mechanic and using dodge-rolls to avoid fire is enough to get through almost all of the firefights. One really unfortunate note is that you can't move backwards while shooting. It seems minor, but it's more annoying then you think.

The RPG mechanic permeates through the game. Every action is tied to progression, from driving, swimming, or running. CJ's physical appearance can be altered, and your encouraged to keep him fit to increase his stamina and health. It's an interesting system, but falls flat overall. It's especially annoying when certain missions are locked until you level up a skill high enough. it's a minor annoyance, and one that's easy to overlook.

Everything else is part-and-parcel with other GTA games. There's a large variety of vehicles to drive, including a number of airplanes and boats. Every mission consists of the standard Travel->Crime->Escape progression. There are a huge number of side missions to take on, ranging from skill-building schools, races, transportation, and even a valet parking minigame. There's a lot to see and do in San Andreas and you'll be hard pressed to find yourself bored.

Wrong Side of the Tracks

http://media.gtanet.com/gtasa/walkthrough/lossantos/lossantos008.jpg

Bikes are another new addition.

SA has aged... weirdly. Obviously it doesn't hold up graphically. Even when it came out the GTA3 engine was being pushed to it's limits, and it couldn't hold up to other releases like Far Cry, Doom 3, or Half Life 2. The devil is in the details, and despite it's blocky exterior there's a lot of fine detail put into the little things. Every car is visually distinct, every city has it's own spawn of NPCs. Even things like cop cars or taxies change from city to city. There's an extra level of care and detail in every distinct section of the map.

There are other issues. The animations are jankey and weird looking. Lighting is pixalated and static. Character models, despite having a lot of detail, are all blockey and lack real emotion. The particle effects in particular look bad, as most of them are obviously overlaid into the game.

Despite all of this, GTA:SA remains a fun game, especially if you've grown disillusioned with the darker more serious tones of GTA IV and V. It's fun, wacky, and over the top, and remains a monument to what GTA used to be. Parts of it don't hold up, and the recent re-releases cripple the music playlists, but I still hold that GTA: San Andreas is the best the series has ever been.