‘Grand Theft Auto 5’ Review Round-Up

Rockstar Games has built up a solid reputation for releasing quality Grand Theft Auto titles for quite some time now, so it goes without saying that expectations were high – really high – for tomorrow’s release of Grand Theft Auto 5, the latest in the developer’s open-world hit franchise.

Judging from all of the Grand Theft Auto 5 reviews that have been pouring out today, it sounds like you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Not that you had anything to worry about in the first place. We’re talking about Grand Theft Auto here.

As the reviewers put it, Grand Theft Auto 5 is essentially the culmination of everything the developer has learned whilst creating the series; the world is large, and that world has plenty of activities to partake in. Story has never exactly been a strong suit in Grand Theft Auto games, but by most accounts Grand Theft Auto 5’s bold, three-character narrative gets it right in most places.

Provided you don’t mind playing as an immoral criminal without a conscience, at least.

Here’s what the reviewers had to say, ordered from lowest score to the highest:

GameSpot – 9/10 (Read full review)

“When circumstances reunite the long-estranged Trevor and Michael, the tensions between them complicate the entire group dynamic; Michael, Trevor and Franklin may work together, but they don’t always get along. Their dialogue is sharp and snappy and it’s usually a joy to watch them interacting with each other, but unfortunately, the characters sometimes behave in ways that don’t feel consistent.”

Eurogamer – 9/10 (Read full review)

“The best thing about their adventures together, which span 69 story missions, is that it breathes new life into Rockstar’s mission templates. You still spend a lot of the game driving around having conversations, crouching behind walls, hunting down red blips on your mini-map and watching people swear at each other creatively in cut-scenes, but in the heat of battle you have more tactical options, and Rockstar has more directorial ones.”

Joystiq – 4.5/5 (Read full review)

“Grand Theft Auto 5 is an ambitious game, attempting to meld three very different characters together to tell one encompassing story of survival in what amounts to the worst place in America. That story stumbles, but the open-ended gameplay remains a showpiece for the vast amount of content that can be poured into a virtual world.”

IGN – 10/10 (Read full review)

“It’s the heists – multi-stage, huge-scale events that serve as the story’s climactic peaks – that show Grand Theft Auto V at its most ambitious and accomplished. Usually there’s a choice between a more involved, stealthier option that will (hopefully) attract less heat, and an all-out option that will be less tense but more explosively chaotic – and what crew to take along with you on the job.”

Giant Bomb – 5/5 (Read full review)

“Overall, this game is less surprising than you might like, because so much of it is precisely what you’d expect from a GTA game. As other open-world games push forward in ways that make things like traversal more convenient, GTA forces you to look at the minimap for your turn-by-turn directions. At times, it feels like it was made in a vacuum, away from the influence of other games.”