Computer Game Review

Introduction

In this post I will be reviewing a computer game. The name of the game I will be reviewing is Grand Theft Auto V. I have selected this computer game to review because I have been a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series for many years and GTA V is also one of the games I have been playing recently. Grand Theft Auto V is an open world, action-adventure video game. This means that there is a campaign to be done with missions but players can also choose not to do missions and explore the game world doing whatever they want. It is better to do this later since doing missions will unlock more features. GTA V is available in a range of platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It was released on the 17 September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was then re-released for new generation platforms PlayStation 4 and Xbox One a year and a bit later on the 18 November 2014. For a long time GTA V was not available for PC gamers but on the 14 April 2015 it was finally released for Microsoft Windows. The game was developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. On the day of release, GTA V broke records earning $800 million and becoming the fastest selling entertainment product in history. It has now sold over 52 million copies, making it the fourth vest selling video game and it is still one of the most popular video games of the present.

Section 1

Grand Theft Auto 5 introduces a new 3 man narrative in which the player can switch between and play those individuals characters. Each of them have their own story and past but they all come together in a plot which the game follows. The story of GTA V is exciting and centres around 3 main characters Michael, Franklin and Trevor. The story starts nine years after a bank robbery by Michael Townley who was believed to be dead. Michael is now living safely with his wife Amanda but after he discovers she had been sleeping with her tennis coach he destroys a mansion who Michael thought belonged to the coach. The mansion actually belonged to a drug lord. Michael and his apprentice Franklin were forced perform a bank robbery to pay his debts and then reunites with former crew mate Trevor. Michael is now officially back to the crime life and will have to finish it once and for all with the help of his friends. GTA V uses many cut scenes at the end of each mission to explain the narrative make sure the players understand where the story is coming from and how they are progressing in it. Cut scenes help develop the game's story line which is important for a game like this. Full-motion videos are also used in GTA V. FMVs are different to cut scenes as they are pre-recorded video files and have a more realistic feel to them. FMVs are mainly used in GTA V to present a new point within the game's storyline. For example, an FMV is used to present a whole new arc to the storyline while cut scenes are used after each mission within the arc. One of the things the gamer's dislike about GTA V's narrative is that it is too short compared to other games. So gamers find that they take very little time to complete the game. To improve the narrative they could include more arcs to the main storyline so that it is not as short as it is right now for future GTA games.

Section 2

GTA V story is set in "Los Santos" (based in Los Angeles). It also includes famous landmarks such as "Vinewood" (Hollywood), "Rockford Hills" (Beverly Hills) and "Del Perro Pier" (Santa Monica Pier). Since the game is based on a real city Los Angeles it would be expected of the game to have lots of architecture which refers to all the structures, buildings and statues in the game world. GTA V uses architecture within the game to make the players feel as if they were in the actual real life city. They do this by creating the exact copies of the building in the game world with hugely advanced graphics. As you can see from the pictures the GTA V vs real life comparisons are very similar. There is no denying that the quality of graphics of the architecture is top class since they look as real as the actual structure. As you advance in the story, you find that the players and missions move from the city to the countryside. In here, the terrain is obviously different and there are many other different terrains within the GTA V game world depending on where you are. For example, we can see in the images that the game has different terrains such as sand for the beach, concrete for the main roads and even rock. In the game, because it is so big, the terrain is constantly changing as you move around the game world. In addition, there are many different objects that are used within the game. Objects used can be weapons, guns and clothes. There are also other objects which cannot be used and are there just to give the realistic feel to the game. These objects are things like bins, traffic lights, chairs and TVs. The player might not be able to use them but they can certainly interact with them by destroying the chair and running the traffic lights over. Some objects such as the cars and weapons are constantly used within the game. Players can use them to target civilians and travel to places quicker. Some temporal features that the developers have included to make the game fit with the time period is probably just the modern and luxury cars available, the fact that you can go to cinema and that there is an international airport with planes of this generation. 

Section 3

There are 3 main characters in the game. They are Michael, Franklin and Trevor. The main characters are free to move around the game world, but they can do so in different ways. All 3 characters own a car in which they use to move around. However, Franklin owns a motorbike on top of that and Trevor owns a private plane and will obtain a chopper further down the storyline. The characters can also steal other people's cars, bikes and travel that way. In the consoles platform, the gamer controls the character using the controller that they have to give the characters commands so that they move. Using a controller is fairly easy but for PC gamers is different. PC gamers have to control the character using their keyboards and mice which is slightly harder. PC gamers also have the option of buying a controller for their PC which would facilitate their gaming experience. The interaction model used in this game is the avatar interaction model where the gamer can control many different avatars freely. This creates a more interesting way of playing the game since he can always switch between characters during the missions. This type of interaction model is suitable because the missions are usually carried out with multiple characters and it makes it easier to be able to control them all at different stages. It is also one of the only games that have this interaction model so it makes it kind of unique in a way. The perspective that the designers decided to use for this game is 3rd person. This is the type of perspective where the playable character is visible on-screen at all times. The gamer will be most likely looking at the character's back all the time. This enhances the gameplay since the gamer can see what happens all around the main character and can also see other characters involved in the mission. I think it is suitable for this type of game since the game world is quite big and you always need that extra vision to be able to know what is going on around you. It also makes controlling the character easier for PC gamers since they do not usually have a controller. A bad thing though is that this does hurt the graphics but just by a bit and it will look less realistic. If I were the designer I think I would still stick with the 3rd person perspective since it is the signature perspective for the Grand Theft Auto series which has been going on around for years and will probably continue for years to come and with the same perspective. Another thing is that designers could change their mind and change the perspective to give a different feel to the newer GTA games and spice things up which would not be a bad thing. NPC's in this game include characters that are part of a mission but cannot be controlled by the character such as the enemies. Other NPC's are more passive which are characters that own a barber shop for example of people in a night club. And then obviously there are the NPC's which just walk around the game world which are the people. Their role is pretty much to just fill the space in the game world to make the game as realistic as possible.

Section 4

The feedback interface of this game is pretty well structured and it shows just exactly what the players need. As we can see from the picture we the feedback interface where the player is at the bottom right, the weapons it possesses, the amount of health, money it has and the amount of stars of cops he has on him right now. He can also see which main characters he can switch to and the number of enemies in the mini map. While playing the game, the player can receive different feedback such as if they need to kill 3 people in a mission the screen would have a "1/3" showing somewhere to let the player know he has killed 1 person and needs to kill 2 more. This is usually presented with a box and it must be clearly visible for the player. I think it is easy to understand as long as the players have some common sense and they also should be able to see it clearly. I think that to improve the feedback interface, designers could include how much health the character has in numbers to be able to know exactly how much damage he can take before dying and not just show the health with a green bar with no numbers.

Section 5

Unfortunately, this game is limited to only 2 game modes: Single-player and online multiplayer. This hurts the game so much because it means only 1 person can play it at a time and so it is not suitable for a group of friends to start playing the game at a party or something. For such a popular game to not have co-op mode is kind of dissapointing but it is always up to the designers. However, the incredible single-player and game play could make up for it. 

- Single-player: This is the game mode in which the player carries the campaign out by themselves plays vs the AI and NPC's within the game. This is the way players go through the protagonists story lines and complete the game. This is one of the reasons GTA V is so popular because people like the gameplay where you complete missions by yourself. Again, this excellent design of the single-player makes up for the lack of co-op multiplayer game mode which has been the same across all GTA games. GTA games have always been known by the incredible and unique stories that they carry and is always thanks to the imaginative side of the designers. 

- Online Multiplayer: This is another reason why GTA V is so popular, the multiplayer. In this game mode the players can absolutely do anything they want within the game world. They can have costumed cars, own buldings and have wicked costumes for their character. In this game mode, people battle each other online to have the most reputation within the game and to be respected by other players. You can also play with friends online which makes the experience even more fun to the players. 

Section 6

The absolute aim or goal in this game is to complete the storyline. Players can do this by completing missions and advancing further into the storyline to eventually finish the game. However, completing missions might not be the only aim of the gamer. The gamer could want to own a place which he can buy, customize a car or even go to piloting lessons. All these are side tasks that can be done but are not part of the actual storyline. Short term challenges in GTA V are things such as completing just 1 mission or a part of a mission. It could be stealing a car or getting to a certain spot in a building. Medium term challenges are more like the actual missions and not the smaller missions that make up a whole mission. It could also be a combination of short term challenges. These could include things such as getting 10 headshots or doing a mission fast enough to unlock the challenge. The long term challenges refer to the main aim within the video game. It is the overall objective that the missions are all working towards. In this specific game, the long term challenges is to kill all of the 3 main character's enemies and then officially retiring from the crime life and part ways. The rewards in GTA V are different than other games. Players don't necessarily get rewarded XP points or coins but they are rewarded with usually money, properties and the accessibility of some buildings and places. 

Section 7

In this game we could say that there are no rules since players can do what they want. What the game has though is a system where if the player does something bad, the player will be prosecuted by the police. This system goes up in stars, where 1 star is the weakest and 5 or 6 stars is the strongest. At or 6 stars, police will constantly go for you using the tanks and choppers. If they manage to make your health go below 0 by shooting at you or running you over with tanks a message will appear saying "WASTED", which basically means you have been killed. When you are wasted, you lose a lot of money. You then respawn at the closest hospital. However, if you don't get killed but get "BUSTED" it means you are going to prison and you respawn at the closest police station. When you are busted, you don't lose as much money but you lose all your armor and weapons. In this game, there are not difficulty settings but what the designers have applied is a difficulty curve. This means that you are not able to change the difficulty of the missions but the missions get harder and harder as you progress in the storyline. The designers have done this so that the players get used to the game first by doing the easy missions first and then doing the harder missions as you go along. This feels kind of like a training experience and it has been successful so far. Some people might not like this because it might be far too easy for them. These people could be extreme gamers that are just really good at computer games. But the difficulty curve system allows newer players to learn as they play the game which makes it even more enjoyable as it makes them feel that they are getting better at the game. I think that GTA V is fairly addictive for the average person. I think it is a fun game with lots of missions and also the freedom that players get from the game world is what makes the game so addictive. Also, what designers have done to make it more addictive is they have made the game more realistic and life like. By this I mean that players can do things such as fly and airplane and killing people which they absolutely cannot do in real life. However, the simplest reason for why this game is addictive is because it is simply really fun to play, specially with the freedom you have and the amount of missions and things gamers can do.