There’s no denying the impact of last year’s GTA V. Massive, hyped up and delivering on several promises, the game blazed a billion dollar trail for developer Rockstar Games. But when just about everybody buys your game, you’re faced with a dilemma when it comes to the remastered re-release. After all, how do you convince consumers to buy the same game twice? By making the remastered version an entirely different game, that’s how.

Here’s the original review for GTA V, which details that magnificent core single-player game. But you already know all that. So let’s talk about the new. In many ways, the shift from the top-down perspective of GTA 1 and 2 to the third-person viewpoint in GTA 3 and beyond, was just what the franchise needed in order to feel fresh again. That camera angle hasn’t disappeared in GTA V, but it’s been suplemented with a first-person mode, which adds an all new layer of reality to the game, while intensifying the more lurid aspects of the game that have many an overzealous politician fuming.

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Playing through the eyes of Michael, Franklin or Trevor isn’t just a quick gimmick, it’s a new experience as players can take turns getting completely hammered, shot and beaten up, while dishing out punishment, going for a jog, robbing a 24/7 convenience store or having exploitative backseat sex with a street worker. There’s something magical about seeing Trevor flip a zap sign at pedestrians or stumble around drunk out of my skull from a strip club, after the bouncer caught me violating the no-touching rule.

Driving now also feels even more intense, while various other actions such as running, swimming and skydiving add even more layers to this mode. As a standard FPS in heated situations, the mode works wonderfully, and can be adjusted on the fly to give players benefits from both first and third person modes. If you’re anything like our dear Zoe however, you’re going to need to do a lot of tweaking, as even the sternest stomach might find itself going green with all the various bobs of the head and various rolls that a night out in Los Santos can bestow on a player.

If this was the only mode that Rockstar had included in the game, it would have still earned plenty of praise. But it isn’t, because there’s more to GTA V than just a taste of hyper-realism.

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Graphically, it’s the smaller details that count. The terrible trio of Los Santos don’t boast massive overhauls, and look largely familiar to their Xbox 360 and PC counterparts. But Los Santos itself is now a more bustling metropolis. More pedestrians walk the street, just begging to be beaten into the pavement and their cash stolen. More vehicles line the highways, textures are vastly improved, the wilderness feels alive and there’s a selection of wildlife just waiting to be flattened under your wheels. New weapons line the shelves of Ammu-Nation stores, with returning players gaining access to some particularly brutal new gear such as a rail-Gun big enough to make Arnold Schwarzenegger green with envy.

The PlayStation 4 version had some extra flair as well, with the controller being put to good use. Cell phone conversations and police reports blare through the controller speaker, the lights flash various colours during specific situations and the touchpad is used to decent effect as weapons are selected. It’s a nice touch, that shows quite a bit of thought went into the game.

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There’s also a bevy of new content in addition to the main missions and various side quests. Franklin for instance, can flex his photography skills and capture wildlife through his lens, while Michael gets to play detective and noir things up in a murder mystery amidst plenty of other content. Race in a league, own property, take on dangerous missions or assault an army base. It’s everything from 2013’s GTA V, plus more. Hell, you can even get beyond high with some peyote and live life through the eyes of an animal. Just don’t tell your mom.

But that’s the single-player side of GTA V. There’s still GTA Online, a mode which massive on the last generation, but was still victim to technical limitations and various hurdles. Some of those obstacles are still present in the new version of the online game, but they’re thankfully an occasional nuisance now, and not a game-dropping bug that plagued the original GTA Online.

Those lofty ambitions are within hand now, as the improved version of GTA V hits the online multiplayer space. The grind of doing missions is largely gone, with co-op jobs now a regular occurrence, without worrying about the more well-funded veterans  having a massive advantage over you in PvP modes. Using some sort of Rockstar Club magic, the game instantly knows if you were a member on the previous generation or not, giving returning players a cash injection online to the tune of $500 000. I’ve invested most of that cash into the stock markets, some decent guns, wheels and an obscene palace to call my very own.

It’s a much bigger mode now, with GTA Online home to a maximum of 30 players during any session. There are still some teething problems, but they’re the kind that can easily be fixed in the next couple of weeks.

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Last Updated: November 27, 2014

Grand Theft Auto V
New modes, new ideas and a sleeker multiplayer side that makes GTA V one of the games out there that is worth replaying. Welcome back to Los Santos, the city of opportunity.
9.0
Grand Theft Auto V was reviewed on PlayStation 4
97 / 100

38 Comments

  1. Trevor in a jet? What have you done!?

    Reply

    • oVg elfroot addict

      November 27, 2014 at 15:52

      Canadian air force pilot… who… never flew lol.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        November 27, 2014 at 15:53

        I was actually surprised to find out he was a qualified pilot. But not the most stable person to hand a plane over to.

        Reply

  2. Admiral Chief Wang

    November 27, 2014 at 15:45

    He hates mimes, hehe

    Reply

    • Rags

      November 27, 2014 at 16:09

      Or white face racists* 😛

      Reply

  3. oVg elfroot addict

    November 27, 2014 at 15:47

    R899 for a remake. Just round it off to grand Musica.
    PASS.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      November 27, 2014 at 15:51

      R899.99 😛

      Reply

      • oVg elfroot addict

        November 27, 2014 at 15:52

        ZA… Zumas Account

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          November 27, 2014 at 15:55

          He’s got compounds that needs building. Plus we will need to foot the bill for his sons bail.

          Reply

          • oVg elfroot addict

            November 27, 2014 at 15:59

            They swept that one under the drain so so quickly lol

          • Hammersteyn

            November 27, 2014 at 16:02

            Justice is determined by the majority.

    • Viking Of Divinity

      November 27, 2014 at 15:54

      Makro has it for 799…

      Reply

      • oVg elfroot addict

        November 27, 2014 at 15:56

        It was R699 last year. Now the remake is R99 more when it should be R99 less like TLOU.
        I give up.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          November 27, 2014 at 15:57

          Be patient, I will double dip because the price will drop after they’ve released all the DLC in a nice GOTY edition as they’ve done with GTAIV

          Reply

          • Aries

            November 27, 2014 at 16:16

            Bought GTA IV for R120 with all the dlc, not the best investment, but hey needed some GTA on my ps3

          • Hammersteyn

            November 27, 2014 at 16:24

            GTAIV wasn’t bad, it was just disappointing after playing GTA San Andreas on the PS2. Expected it to be GTAV in scale at least. Not just three teeny Islands.

          • Aries

            November 27, 2014 at 16:27

            Agreed, after all those small things you could do in San Andreas, it felt underwhelming

        • Viking Of Divinity

          November 27, 2014 at 15:57

          Well, That’s console Gaming for you, Now excuse me while I go buy Arkham Origins for $3.74 😛

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            November 27, 2014 at 16:00

            Well it is the worst in the series. But still a lot of fun.

          • Rags

            November 27, 2014 at 16:08

            Worse than GTAV IV?

          • Hammersteyn

            November 27, 2014 at 16:10

            That’s a toughy. Apples and Oranges

          • oVg elfroot addict

            November 27, 2014 at 16:01

            Good things come to those who wait.

          • Hammersteyn

            November 27, 2014 at 16:02

            PC gamers has waited a long time for this.

      • Slangzn

        November 27, 2014 at 16:08

        Picked mine up for R680 from Kalahari using one of those R100 off voucher, fruits of a quick google search

        Reply

    • Hesperus Phosphorus

      November 27, 2014 at 15:58

      You mean R899 for some tweaks…

      Reply

      • CypherGate

        November 28, 2014 at 12:36

        Sometime next year or in 2016 we will be paying like R1200 for a game. Thats not even a limited edition or any type of edition lol Just the plain old game itself. Hold on how about we add some 20gig first day patches and some senseless DLC for like R100 or more. If I ever had to pay for a game that costs R1200 it better make the earth move and reverse the aging process as well.

        Reply

    • Dawid

      November 27, 2014 at 16:51

  4. Viking Of Divinity

    November 27, 2014 at 15:47

    Rockstar Have successfully piqued my interest again…. damn them…. Of course, if the PC port is anything Near as pathetic as 4 was, I’ll wait another year….

    Reply

  5. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    November 27, 2014 at 16:04

    That price!!! Far too pricey for this banana – especially if you consider that I own a copy of the PS3 version! I might get it down the line when it’s under R400. Would be cool to join Rincey and OVG’s future PS4 clan

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      November 27, 2014 at 16:06

      Still waiting for @rincethis:disqus to pick up a PS4. Cheap bastard. Also @360Mirror:disqus will need to embrace online play first. Or have they moved with the times?

      Reply

      • oVg elfroot addict

        November 27, 2014 at 16:10

        A white female South African president will be in power before I give Hellkom any of my money.

        Reminds me, I need to buy some CANDLES now that South Africa is “GETTING WITH THE TIMES” until the 400% tariff increase gets the green light for Eksdom. 😛

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          November 27, 2014 at 16:25

          I leave my geyser on out of spite. Wish I had a pool so that my pool pump could run seven days a week.

          Reply

  6. Jake

    November 28, 2014 at 05:56

    How did you invest the bonus money in the stock market if there is no stock market online?

    In the same sentence you say you bought an obscene place of your own, but you can’t buy personal properties in single player, only online.

    Reply

  7. Darren Peach

    November 28, 2014 at 05:57

    Trevor is the most incredible character ever to grace the world of gaming. I never was a big fan of this series, But thankfully I gave this one the chance it so clearly deserved. If mainstream media can get away with glorifying the mafia and serial killers in recent shows, Why not allow the same indulgence in our beloved platform. I never wanted this game to end. The level sofistication and narrative of our culture potrayed in the zany dark world of GTA is something that deserves to be regarded as a work of genius. Spielberg was so wrong when he decided to say that this platform was not art. Ironic considering the penetration into modern culture this game has singhandedly achieved.

    Reply

  8. caponeil

    November 28, 2014 at 09:43

    If you hit a Mime with a baseball bat and no one is around to hear him scream, will he still make a sound?

    Reply

  9. Guest

    November 28, 2014 at 12:35

    Sometime next year or in 2016 we will be paying like R1200 for a game. Thats not even a limited edition or any type of edition lol Just the plain old game itself. Hold on how about we add some 20gig first day patches and some senseless DLC for like R100 or more. If I ever had to pay for a game that costs R1200 it better make the earth move and reverse the agin process as well.

    Reply

  10. WitWolfy

    December 1, 2014 at 08:15

    Gave into the hype and bought it yesterday for PS4.. Double dipping this MOFO.

    Reply

  11. apa ma'un

    December 29, 2014 at 12:30

    cool game,i wanna play this hahaa..Thanks For Sharing that..........

    Reply

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