Finished up the main story line missions and saw the credits last night. Definitely going to be my game of the year.
So the positives are that Rockstar has listened to some of the criticism they received from GTA4 and have improved in those areas.
The cars and bikes now handle a lot better and react to crashes in a more realistic manner. Missions are much more varied and there are frequent checkpoints. You no longer get pestered by people to play darts or go bowling. You choose if and when you want to do any side activities. The combat and cover mechanics have also had an upgrade and are more in line with Red Dead than GTA4, but they still aren't perfect. The move to San Andreas as a setting also gives the game more varied environments than one big concrete jungle.
The best new element though are the heists. Having to case out joints and then select a entry way and crew, with their own skills and cut percentages, is both fun and brings the three protagonists together for the games best set-pieces. They also add replayability as you can do each major heist either clean or messy. In fact you can replay any mission you like from the pause menu as Ballad of Gay Tony's mission breakdown returns. Being able to switch between characters is not as gimmicky as it first seems, and provides more context for missions; Micheal loves old movies, so he gets tasked by an aging hollywood producer, Franklin races modified sports cars and Trevor smuggles weapons into Mexico, that sort of thing.
As far as negatives go, a few missions drag, though these are mostly side missions. One of Micheal's side quests had me trawling the ocean for what was close to an hour, real time. It also has those parts from GTA4 wherein the characters converse and the player is forced to listen as you drive to the next destination. Exposition trips I calls 'em.
And for whatever reason Rockstar decided to keep the planes and helicopters as floppy to control as they've been since Vice City. Expect to crash into the sea more than once.
The worst thing though is the Baller's control grove street. CJ shouldn't have bothered.
Some reviewers have been critical of the loose morals that one player character (Trevor) has. For me there were a few moments in the game where things got a bit too heavy (as I mentioned in the GTAV thread), but your mileage may vary. Trevor looks like Hunter S. Thompson and acts like someone from a Burroughs novel but he isn't wholly evil or bad. He just has a bizarre outlook on life. He also gets some of the better side missions as well, so gameplay wise he has a slight edge.
But on the whole this is very much GTA with all the OTT characters present and accounted for, with all the usual swipes at pop culture, politics and capitalism you'd expect.
/tldr Probable game of the year for me, best GTA since Vice City and GTA Online isn't even up yet.
How long did it take.
