I’ve played every Grand Theft Auto game since Vice City and I fully intended to play this one. However it took a while for this to be brought to the PC and even longer for it to be discounted. That delay worked just as well for me because there was no way I was buying a high-end system just to play it. Even today, this is probably the most demanding game I have and it’s still gorgeous while also subject to the occasional slowdown. Hard to believe this game was first released all the way back in 2013.

I remember being only lukewarm about the previous game, being especially annoyed about the bad writing. As such I was skeptical about the story in this one having heard about how it switches focus between three main characters. As it turned out, the writing is one of my favorite parts of this game. The dynamic between Trevor and Michael is great and I loved the mentor-mentee relationship between Michael and Franklin as well. There are some strange segues, such as the sudden revelation of Michael’s love for movies, but for the most part my main disappointment is that the stories aren’t any longer. It’s a little sad for example that there aren’t epilogue missions featuring Franklin’s friends from the hood and Trevor forgiving Michael is too abrupt if you pick the happy ending. I do note that some of the conversations if you hang out fill in some of these gaps but I would have loved more story and that’s a far, far cry from how I wanted Niko Bellic’s story to be just over already.

The gameplay itself is the same as usual and as I played using a gamepad this time, I just leaned on the target lock to get through the shooting parts. The driving bits are ridiculously easy so long as you can use Franklin and his special ability. There are plenty of races and I did them all. I even finished the super-long final triathlon event though it gave me sore thumbs. A properly developed stealth system is a new thing and quite fun. As for side activities, I’m a little sad that you can’t play pool anymore but I’m embarrassed by how much time I spent playing darts, tennis and golf. I enjoyed myself but the big draw in this series have never been about the gameplay.

The big draw of course is the virtual world that everything takes place in and I really can’t gush enough about how fantastic it is. The graphics are better than I have any right to expect for an environment of such scale and so much of it is handcrafted and personalized. It’s far, far beyond the needs of the plot as most of the world isn’t used in any of the story missions at all and it’s there only if you go looking for it. I love that you can visit a podunk bar and it has a restroom area with mobile toilets and people waiting in line to use it. Or that you can go into the wilderness and there are streams and caves. There are even terrain features and wrecks underwater. The level of detail is insane. Every building on the map, whether houses or businesses are individualized. Driving around the city and memorizing billboards and business names as landmarks to navigate alone is an incredible experience. The only weakness is that relatively few buildings have interiors but even then those that do are done up to an impressive level of detail.

Then there’s the realistic weather system, the level of customisation possible in the cars, the variety of clothes, the beautiful water effects and so much more. Simply chilling out in the game and listening to the radio stations is such a cool experience. Also impressive are the websites, the television stations and the in-game cinemas showing films. It’s crazy that all this content are actually carefully thought out and aren’t half bad, but they matter less in the grand scheme of things. One disappointment I have is that going after the many collectible types in the game would be the perfect excuse for spending more time just exploring. Unfortunately there’s no in-game map pointing you to them. Theoretically, you can use Franklin’s dog to help you find them but as he is just as likely to point you towards item pickups, it’s not really practical. Doubly weird is that a map of these collectibles can be found on the Rockstar Social Club website but you have no access to it in-game.

The game includes an online component which uses the same map. I tried it out briefly but it’s not for me. As to be expected, there are a lot of activities but almost all of it is geared for multiplayer and waiting around for other people to join in can be annoying. I also dislike how many of the activities take place in special fenced-off areas, either arena or special race courses, and not on the main map itself. I like the idea of the treasure hunts but it seems those are limited. If you’re someone like me who don’t really enjoy playing with other people, it’s probably more fun to stick to kicking around the single-player version of the map even if it’s just to soak in the atmosphere.

I wasn’t expecting too much out of this other than a pretty city, I came away finding this to be the best Grand Theft Auto game I’ve ever played and probably the best open world game as well. My only real complaint is that I want more of it. More heists, more meaningful interactions with purchased property, more reason to explore the vast world, more stories set there. It’s unbelievable to me that Rockstar ended up not making any standalone games using this map like they did for the previous version of the game. It’s a guaranteed money maker and would be a must-buy for me. I’m obviously many years late to this particular party but this was honestly one of the best games I’ve played recently.