Genre: Action-Adventure
Year: 2013
Developed by: Rockstar North
Published by: Rockstar Games
Platforms: PS3, PS4, PS5, PC, XBOX 360, XBOX One, XBOX Series S/X
#118
Feeling Like: Crime Spree
I just finished Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People who Play Them for our company’s book club. It’s a meaty affair, there’s hardly any fluff. Anecdotes about video games and how they affect the youths usually make me roll my eyes, but author Jamie Madigan cites dozens of studies about all manners of human psychology: how we’re primed to recognize certain patterns, ignore our own bias, engage socially and be lured in with certain types of sales. There’s also a section specifically discussing video game violence and if it has a negative impact on those that engage with it. Madigan concludes that there isn’t enough evidence one way or another to determine that.
I immediately thought of Grand Theft Auto 5, how can I not? In a franchise that has defined the last 25 years of modern gaming with its unapologetic freedom towards mayhem and murder, this is the highest selling, highest grossing, most realistic looking entry. There are very few games on the 500 that are still among the top selling games on a monthly basis, let alone being played online every day. According to estimates, Grand Theft Auto 5 has generated 7.7 billion dollars (billion!) since 2013. Even competitors with their own massive properties can’t sniff that amount in their dreams.
So much of business analysis seems to be based around companies trying to make it, or jostle for position. The entertainment industry is cutthroat, especially today with so many options for our attention, moreso than ever before. Video games have the unique challenge of taking many, many years to produce with a budget higher than some Hollywood blockbusters. No wonder there’s an intense amount of scrutiny during the development process and sometimes the backlash to a failed product means the closure of the studio entirely.
But what about the precious few who win? I’m talking about companies like Valve, whose Steam platform and microtransactions are so successful that you probably need a new chart to show exactly how successful they’ve been. They don’t even bother making games anymore – Half Life: Alyx was the first in the Half Life series in 13 years. Rockstar, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, is another developer that just won. They did it. They made a paradigm shift with Grand Theft Auto 3, improved upon it in the sequel, then made Grand Theft Auto 5. That, combined with the online multiplayer mode, has made them so much money that I wonder how the internal meetings go. Why risk cannibalizing their cash cow? Is there any incentive to innovate or create? It boggles my mind, and I haven’t even mentioned either Red Dead Redemption or Red Dead Redemption 2, two incredible games in their own right.
I was never a massive fan of the series. I certainly appreciated the technological leap I saw in Grand Theft Auto 3, but I skipped 4. I even played the original Grand Theft Autos on the PC – let’s just say nobody would ever have predicted that THIS would be the type of game that would bust down the door and be the top dog on the gaming pile.
Going back to the violence point, I will admit that some of the content did made me feel uncomfortable. I don’t consider myself a violent person and I’ve enjoyed all types of games in my life. I don’t think this type of mission would lead me to become more physically hostile, or aggressive in real life. However, I have to consider that because I’m biased towards my entertainment choice, I can’t really look at the matter objectively. However, one scene in Grand Theft Auto 5 in particular stands out.
Trevor, one of the three main protagonists, is a pure redneck psychopath. He screams a lot, is likely on every drug you can think of, and is a bank robber by trade. That kind of unhinged personality is what Rockstar does best, so I was mostly on board. The writing is subversive enough that I think Rockstar wanted it to be tongue in cheek, but there are certain moments that made me squeamish. The torture scene is one of the more notorious parts of the game. Essentially, you need information from a captured man that has ties to a potential terrorist. The game presents you with four different methods to perform enhanced interrogation techniques.
- Waterboarding
- Beating him with a wrench. Where Trevor hits depends on his position as he observes Mr. K. All three areas have the same effect and damage. Kerimov’s left = knee. Middle = genitals/midsection. Right = arm.
- Electrical shocks from a car battery.
- Extracting a tooth using pliers. First tooth changes speech, and each tooth after will make his speech slur slightly more.
Yeesh.
I don’t know if this qualifies as fun, but it did go in line with the story and Trevor’s personality. I didn’t love it, but I did have a morbid appreciation that Rockstar was pushing the limits. There’s only been a few times in my life where I’ve been legitimately hesitant to get through a part in a game due to the content – the “No Russian” level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the white phosphorous attack Spec Ops: The Line for example. I guess the common variable is that these aren’t wacky video game scenarios, but very realistic events that have occurred. People do get tortured in the name of the greater good and watching the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis is a sobering reminder than gunning down innocents is not some fantastical notion that can be contained within a fictional game.
Bit of a bummer to think about.
Let’s switch to something lighter.
The best possible commercial Rockstar could use, not that they need it, is letting millions watch Conan O’Brien and Aaron Bleyaert play Grand Theft Auto 5 in a Clueless Gamer segment. It never fails to make me laugh.
My favorite mission was Minor Turbulence. Anytime I can fly above a living, breathing open world I get the giggles. I love this type of mechanic so much that if an open world game DOESN’T have some form of flying, I consider it a huge failure. There’s a reason Xenoblade Chronicles X is very high on the 500 and it’s not because of the dialogue or characters.
So, the mission ends up with Trevor jumping from plane to plane, missiles being launched, said planes crashing and parachuting to the ground. All while listening to this, the best song in the game. Of course, it was Tangerine Dream that made it, being the absolute music Gods they are. When 2:40 kicks in, I get chills thinking about floating over the destruction and landing quietly beside a lake. After the noise and chaos, simply looking at the sky where the carnage was a few moments ago left me awestruck. That’s GTA in a nutshell – there’s going to be heart stopping action, but the game always leaves you time to soak it all in and breathe.
Despite some reservations about the writing and it maybe being too much at times, Grand Theft Auto 5 is a spectacle unlike anything else. It encompasses big set pieces of action movies like Heat, Air Force One, Collateral and Die Hard in the best way. The city is a character itself, and the level of detail is staggering. The heists are truly the highlight of the game, with planning, execution and escape all demanding your full attention. Using Los Angeles as an inspiration for the city was a natural fit, there’s nothing prettier than downtown LA when the sun has set and there are lights everywhere. If you don’t believe me, just watch the TV series Bosch and look at his apartment view.
It’s the only Grand Theft Auto where I fully completed the campaign. Switching between three characters at (almost) any time was a brilliant choice. There’s enough to do and see for any type of gamer, as long as you can buy into the fact that running down pedestrians and getting into a shootout with cops counts as harmless fun. After reading Getting Gamers, I’m not so sure anymore.
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