Finally, after a long one and a half year wait, Grand Theft Auto V is now available on the PC. GTA V is the only game I’ve bought twice if we’re not counting HD rereleases. But seeing as the “next-gen” versions of GTA V includes some new features that are not present in the original release back in 2013, I figured I might as well review the game again as there are some big changes this time round.
Smooth Runner
I remember the PC port of GTA IV. It was a nightmare to run thanks to the extremely poor optimisation. For GTA V, I was rather fearful of history repeating itself. But it seems that Rockstar has learnt their lesson and it shows in the game. GTA V runs incredibly smooth on the PC now. On the 2013 Razer Blade that I use to game with, the game runs at around 40-50 FPS constantly on medium graphics settings at the native 1600 x 900 resolution. The fact that outdated hardware is able to run GTA V without many issues is extremely impressive. For those of you with 4K monitors or television, the game is capable of supporting 4K resolutions if you have the machine capable of running it.
A New Perspective
One of the biggest additions to the next gen versions of GTA V is first person mode. Yes, a proper first person mode is now included in GTA V and it isn’t an afterthought either. Rockstar has paid special attention to first person mode and it shows in its assets. You’re now able to get up close and personal with the guns and all of them are highly detailed. Even the cars are were given special attention as each car has a different cockpit. This attention to detail is amazing and proves that first person mode isn’t just an afterthought. That said however, first person mode does have some rough edges, particularly when it comes to ducking in and out of cover. The other problem that I have with first person mode is with the damage feedback system. The red indicators that show that you’re under attack in GTA V is very small, making it easy to miss. The game also gives no warning as to how close to death you are, so you’ll have to pay close attention to the health bar at the bottom left of the screen at all times. Failure to do so will result in deaths that can feel very unfair at times because the game just doesn’t warn you enough in first person, whereas you’re able to see your character getting injured clearly in third person perspective.
Staying Vanilla
First person mode aside, the single player mode of GTA V is identical to the PS3 or Xbox 360 version. The main story of GTA V, where you control Francis, Trevor and Michael is exactly the same, with no new additions or removal from the previous versions. Personally, I have no problems with this as Rockstar has never mentioned that there would be exclusive single player content for the next gen versions of GTA V and as such, I am not expecting anything new for it.
“For people like me who bought the game when it first came out, we’ve waited one year just for these set of missions”
A World Of Gangsters
While there aren’t many changes to the single player side of GTA V, the online side of the game has a few new tweaks to make it slightly better than the previous gen’s version. For starters, the character creation for GTA Online on the next gen version is slightly better than the one in the previous gen mainly because you can clearly see how your character looks like when previously, it was rather blurry and hard to tell. Is the character creation in this version a vast improvement? Not really, but at least they tried improving it. The biggest thing about GTA Online for the next gen versions is the availability of heists right from the get go. For people like me who bought the game when it first came out, we’ve waited one year just for these set of missions. Heists are a chain of missions that require four people to complete, which has a payout far higher than any other mission available in GTA Online. Completing these heists requires teamwork and coordination, which means that you want to bring friends along with you instead of relying on random people you find through matchmaking. Aside from heists, Rockstar has introduced a rather generous amount of new missions and events in order to add some new variety to the game. That said though, GTA Online is still plagued by bugs and glitches that have existed since the previous gen version. Couple that with the constant grinding to get better gear system that GTA Online has in place, and the multiplayer component is still really shallow and boring after playing for an extended period of time.
Shall We Do It Again?
So should you buy the next gen version of GTA V? If you’ve never touched the game on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, then you should because GTA V is a really fun game, albeit with flaws of its own. If you, like me, have already played, and cleared, GTA V once, then the answer is much more difficult. I would say that you should buy GTA V if it gets discounted just for first person mode. Even though the first person perspective isn’t perfect, it is a rather refreshing way to experience GTA V. Also, it’s nice to drive around San Andreas with a silky smooth framerate.
By Sia
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar North
Platform: PC
Release Date: April 14th , 2014
Genre: Action-Adventure
Player(s): Single Player, Multiplayer (Online)
Verdict : A welcome port for those who haven’t experienced GTA V.
Score : 8/10
