Grand Theft Auto 5

I love the Grand Theft Auto series, and I have been faithfully playing every single installment since #2. I also adore Rockstar's other games like Bully, LA Noire, and Red Dead. I'm about 10 hours into GTA5, with 100 more to go, so I wanted to at least say what my initial impressions are. (I love it.)

Franklin is so far my favorite character, maybe it's because I love CJ from San Andreas so much, or maybe it's because he reminds me of T-Dog from The Walking Dead, but I find myself playing all of my Franklin missions first. It certainly helps that his sidekick Lamar may be the funniest person in the game. My favorite mission with Franklin so far is a kidnapping scheme that Lamar hatches, which goes awry when the kidnap victim points out that Lamar's name is not only on the license plate, but that his assailant is also obviously Lamar, a guy he's known since childhood.

I'm warming up to Michael. His problems seem to be completely self-produced, and I have a hard time feeling sad when the violin plays. His kids are rebelling because he hasn't been present, and his wife is cheating on him, but Michael cheats too, and the first word he spoke to her in the game was cunt. However, he does have a heart, and just recently, he really took a risk and protected Franklin. My favorite Mike mission was the weed alien shootout. Mikey is approached by a man who wants to collect signatures for legal weed, gives Michael a puff, which then sends you on a crazy alien shooting spree, hallucinating with a chaingun. Fun.

Trevor is a lot of fun. I feel like I'm playing as Lloth's avatar (god of chaos). Trevor is so fucking insane, curbstomping rednecks and throwing asian business men into freezers. He seems to commit violence randomly, like the Joker, unpredictable, and so very crazy. In fact, my favorite Trevor mission is like this, when two hicks just sitting in front of a gas station make a passing comment to Trevor that results in a murderous redneck rampage. Trevor grabs a carbine rifle and mows down every sleeveless plaid shirt he sees. He also hates bikers, and that my friends, is a quick way to my heart. I hate bikers too.

I don't have many complaints, only that the political jokes seem really forced this time. Maybe it's always been that way and I'm just older now, (I remember the Australian war in Vice City), but I remember the South Park-style America bashing being cleverly hidden in a rich story, it just feels really obvious this time. Yep, that's obviously a joke about Ted Cruz, and yep, that's making fun of NPR. Other than that and my frustration with Franklin saying yes to Tonya the crackhead are my only two complaints.

I love this game, but I'm hesitant to say it's the best ever in the series like everyone else is doing. Is it the best looking? Yes. The best mechanically? Yes. But remember when Salvatore double-crosses you in GTA3? Do you remember when you have to defend the Scarface mansion in Vice City? How about when Big Smoke betrays you in San Andreas or when you have to beat a man to death with a purple dildo? Remember when Roman died? If GTA5 wants to be the best, then it needs to have one of those game changing moments that I remember forever, and so far, each GTA has.