How GTA Became The Dragonforce Of Gaming

Wei Cheng is the Triad gang leader in Los Santos, and when we first hear of him, his son Tao and an interpreter are considering Trevor Philips Industries as a business partner for their meth operation in Blaine County. The Aztecas attack the meth lab while Trevor is giving his potential customers a tour of his business, and the Triads decide to work with the O'Neil brothers inst


While the time-intensive task does result in some pretty spectacular vehicular carnage, Fysho's exploits are merely the tip of the iceberg where cheats-empowered destruction is concerned. Imagine the same video with moon-bounce gravity, or as part of a crude Rube Goldberg machine (where one element serves only to operate the next). How about a flaming Ken Masters-style punch to kick off the fiery cy


As we'll see throughout this list, there are different ways to be savage. Some "savage" characters practice wanton violence, others betray anyone they can to get things done, others just have no respect for human life, and the last group are just people who are barely human in general. Josh Bernstein isn't particularly violent, but he is still savage in the sense of treating people like absolute garbage and not caring for anyone but hims

Grand Theft Auto is now the Dragonforce of gaming, a series where "more, more, MORE!" is the mantra, slowly wasting away the substance and precision the series had achieved on Playstation 2. Rockstar, please think about what you’re doing before the inevitable GTA VI is released.


Chain reactions: they're absolutely everywhere, from mediocre mid-90s action flicks, to upbeat Diana Ross pop hits, these cascading dominoes of destruction even make their way into the occasional video game-or-three. The latest title to take advantage of this gunpowder-trail plaything is none other than resident fire-starter **Grand Theft Auto V

Rockstar remains one of the classic innovators of gaming, letting loose an expansive, free-form-mission mentality that would pioneer the success of the "open-world" genre. Grand Theft Auto is the crown jewel of that kingdom. It’s an international phenomenon and one of the most important game series of all time. With Grand Theft Auto V , Rockstar made the biggest open world of its kind, but despite its commercial success, the developer is simply giving into its own very hazardous addiction. Grand Theft Auto V simply exacerbated the recurring issue that has been plaguing the series since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , an issue that is continuing to drain the studio’s credibility in making top-shelf open world games.

Over two thousand words into the review and it doesn’t feel like we’ve scratched the surface of Grand Theft Auto V. This is a sprawling experience, offering countless activities ranging from practicing yoga to smuggling guns. Playing around in its virtual sandbox is enjoyable enough to fill five game’s worth of playtime, but ignoring all of the world’s amenities and solely playing the missions still puts countless other action games to shame. More still, it features arguably the best story of the series that’s greatly enhanced by the added dynamic of three contrasting protagonists. There’s multiple hyperbolic statements that we could pile on to convey the excellence protruding from nearly every facet of the game (like that one), but all that matters is this: Grand Theft Auto V is both a step forward for the franchise and an amalgamation of the best parts of its previous titles.

I find GTA V ’s issues especially interesting because Saints Row IV released barely a month before it and Saints Row IV succeeded in every aspect that GTA mission nostalgia V failed. Fast, exciting transportation? Check. Lots of missions that are close enough together to reach? Check. Varied challenges that offer inherent value to improve your character? Check. 1255 clusters in town to improve your skills, carefully placed to catch your eye. Lots of wacky and entertaining missions that use the game mechanics in smart ways. Unique topography to keep missions engaging on a design perspective. All of these things made Saints Row IV a prime example of open-world gaming that not once felt like padding or busy work.

Is there a modern game series that’s more engrained in our cultural lexicon than Grand Theft Auto? While retro properties like Mario and Pac-Man have evolved into symbols of the industry at large, there’s hardly any other post ‘80s series that is not only universally recognized, but so frequently discussed. This is a gaming franchise that has been the focal point of the argument against video game violence, with multiple lawsuits and constant discussions surrounding it throughout the first half of the aughts. This is a series that is known enough to make its title into a verb, with "going Grand Theft Auto on ___" a phrase that’s seeped its way into many a gamer’s vernacular. And, of course, this is a series that’s given new meaning to "hot coffee." Yet through all of the criticism and controversy, it’s managed to not only be one of the best selling franchises of all time, but one of the most critically acclaimed. It’s the game that represents the generational gap, uniting Millennials from all walks of life who've found an aspect to latch onto, while almost everybody else has a hard time understanding why we’d want to commit virtual vehicular homicide. Yet for all the violence of the game (and there is plenty), that’s not what makes us return to Grand Theft Auto; it’s the fact that it’s a virtual world that lets us do what we want -- a mantra the fifth entry into the series takes to heart.