Grand Theft Auto V is back in remastered form on PlayStation 4($799.95 at Amazon) and Xbox One($200.00 at eBay) less than a year after its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release (the PC version arrives on January 27, 2015). A bevy of additions and enhancements come along for the ride, including an excellent first-person viewpoint that changes how the game handles and feels, a bunch of fun new radio tracks, and a visual boost that makes the city of Los Santos feel even more alive. You may want to skip a return trip to Grand Theft Auto V ($59.99) if you already played the game on last-gen consoles, but if you're a big fan or a newcomer, you will want to check out the definitive version of this crime epic.
Welcome to the Jungle
GTA's fifth main game takes place in Los Santos, a satirical recreation of Los Angeles. You control three main characters with interconnecting stories. Their goal: make loads of money in exciting heists and wage mayhem across the city—if you so choose. What you do is up to you. Want to play tennis or sit on the couch and watch movies? Go ahead. Want to go around punching people or stealing cars? You're free to do so, but you'll have to answer to the cops on your tail. The core game remains the same as last year's version, but it's enhanced with a host of changes that alter the experience.
New Beat
The most significant addition to this new version of Grand Theft Auto V is the first-person perspective, a first for the series. It turns the game into something akin to Skyrim or a first-person shooter, complete with cover mechanics, strafing, and a super-convenient quick-turn. And if you want to play the game in its original third-person mode, you can switch between the two viewpoints at any time by pressing the Options button. You can even mix and match to set the game so that you drive in third-person and play in first-person on-foot, or vice versa. Rockstar North did a terrific job implementing this feature without hindering the rest of the game in any way.
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In fact, I prefer to stroll through Los Santos looking through the eyes of my selected criminal. That way, the city's rich detail and lurid inhabitants are right in my face, firefights feel more personal, and hand-to-hand brawls feel more visceral. Thousands of new animations included in this remaster, like arms and legs flailing during street fights or when climbing over fences, helped pull me deeper into my role as a gangster. The only cavil I have with first-person mode is that the field of view could be wider. Maybe peripheral vision will be added to the PC version. Otherwise, Grand Theft Auto's merger with the FPS is a terrific success.
Midnight City
The first-person view wouldn't work as well without a beautiful city to see. Grand Theft Auto V looked good before, but now it looks fantastic. The resolution has been bumped up to 1080p at 30 frames per second, although there are some dips from time to time, primarily during the more-heated missions of the game; for example, whenever there are multiple explosions. However, the draw distances are much improved. You can see the mountains of San Andreas far in the distance, and considerably more-detailed skyscrapers and buildings loom overhead.
There are more cars, more people, and many more details at street-level, where I noticed storefronts, billboards, and walls in much-higher clarity than I did before on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Animals such as cats and dogs now have soft-looking fur, and there seem to be many more of them traipsing around back alleys and roadways. Humans and their clothes still look a little plastic-y, but the body and facial animations are improved. The well-written and excellently acted dialogue is lip-synched almost perfectly.
There are still some pop-up problems though. An entire building appeared out of nowhere once in my testing, for instance, though that particular instance could have been a one-time occurrence when I was exiting the pause menu. And some textures, especially hair and clothes, could look better. Otherwise, the best new improvement is the new lighting. Los Santos looks almost as good as Forza Horizon 2($79.99 at Amazon) at times, especially during the wee hours of the game's night and day cycle when neon light reflects off the chassis of a convertible just right. Driving around committing crimes in a fantasy version of downtown Los Angeles—it's the closest one gets to a video game version of Drive.
I Want it That Way
Enhance the moody atmosphere with 150 new radio tracks exclusive to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, including songs from Lady Gaga, Portishead, M83, Toro y Moi, and, yes, Kenny Loggins' Highway to the Danger Zone. It's about time we got that one. Sadly, Kavinsky is still missing from the track list. Hopefully his aural bliss shows up in GTA VI.
Grand Theft Auto Online gains a few updates, as well. It can now support up to 30 simultaneous players and the first-person mode is available. You can also import your old character from the previous gen game.
Five Is Alive
Overall, Grand Theft Auto V is the best open-world game out there, and a clear Editors' Choice game for Xbox One. That was the case last year, and it's the same deal this year, with the added benefit of a multitude of upgrades. The first-person vantage point and accompanying animation alone would make this a worthy release. Hopefully it's not a one-off feature and Rockstar incorporates it into future titles. For now though, if you haven't played GTA V yet and you own a next-gen console, you must do so. If you have, you could probably sit this new version out since the core game is the same. Or there's a third option: wait for the PC version, which will support 4K monitors and look even better.
For more, check out The 10 Best Xbox One Games.
If you missed out on Grand Theft Auto V the first time around, grab it on Xbox One. The first-person mode and graphical boost are well worth the purchase. An already excellent game has turned into a superlative one.
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