Grand Theft Auto V Series S/X Review

How the hell has it been 9 years? I still recall picking up GTA V at a midnight launch for the 360 version, then taking the next 3 days off work to play it through to completion in stints of around 18 hours at a time (ah…those blissful times of far fewer responsibilities). When it was revamped for Xbox One I swore I’d already had my fill, but eventually gave in thanks to the new first person mode sounding worth checking out (it wasn’t). And so, here we are again with The Game That Will Not Die getting a native Series S/X release , once more drawing me in to the world of Los Santos for all the over the top action and adventure I can handle. But is this up-spuff worth the price of admission, and does the game really still hold up in the face of almost a decade’s worth of advancement?

In short; not really, but at the same time absolutely. Lets get the down points out of the way, shall we?

Grand Theft Auto V’s solo campaign is exactly as we remember it from nine years ago. Outside of some of the small additions that were introduced to the XBONE version (peyotes and an extra murder mystery collectible) there is nothing new to see or do with this release. There’s no sign of any long-rumoured DLC being added in á la Ballad of Gay Tony or Lost and Damned from GTA IV, no extra activities or missions, and no new areas to explore. If you’ve already played and completed GTA V in the past, you’re not missing anything new here that could have otherwise been a good excuse for returning. We’ll get to the Online side of things later where Rockstar’s focus has been for basically all of GTA V’s lifespan, but it’s a shame that they didn’t take this release as a good reason to buff up the content within the already admittedly huge world of Los Santos. Hell, even the god damn Mount Chiliad Mystery still remains unsolved officially.

However. When said up-spuff is of one of the greatest games of all time it feels more like nit-picking than anything to point out the above. I’ve not beaten the story again fully (those 18 hour days are long behind me) but from what I’ve played again it’s clear that when it comes to open world mission design, as well as pure world design, GTA V is a clear cut example of why Rockstar are considered the absolute best at it. Los Santos is showing its age a little in some respects – very few buildings can be entered, and there are chunks that feel purely there to fill a gap – but it’s in the little details that Rockstar go above and beyond. There are nooks and crannies everywhere to explore, with collectibles aplenty to find as well as easter eggs and extra, easily missable, side missions. There’s a palpable sense of place to Los Santos and Blaine County, and returning to the game almost feels like coming home after an extended time away. I’m recognising places and people long before the main story brings them to the forefront, and even exploring the less dense places is still exciting.

GTA V was the first time that Rockstar really nailed mission structure too. Previous entries had always felt a little stilted in their scripting and execution but, while there’s a little of that at times, GTA V makes what are heavily directed set pieces still feel alive and exciting thanks to the use of the open world and its various toys. Chasing someone down in a car is always thrilling, aided in no small part by the reactive world around us, even if we know we have to reach a set point before the mission will hit its pre-determined end point. Gunplay is far better here than it ever has been, the use of a ‘proper’  third person cover and attack system meshing with the Euphoria physics system to give fights a proper kinetic feel. Even though I’ve done it all before, I couldn’t help but get sucked back into the gameplay of GTA V, helped also by the Series console’s biggest reason for release: far better performance.

Much as many games do now, GTA V offers players a choice of three graphics modes; Fidelity, Performance, and Performance RT. It depends on what you value in your gaming but for me, the best way to play was the Performance RT mode. Here we get Ray Traced Global Illumination shadows as well as a 60FPS target. Fidelity ups the quality of shadows but caps frame rate at 30FPS – the same as all previous console releases. While it was fine in the past, being able to play a full 60FPS in this vast world, with RT Shadows and full HDR support meant that my time in fidelity mode was brief. The visual difference was negligible but the performance one is well worth the slight trade off. So much so that the plain Performance mode feels all but redundant here; it might be a more stable 60FPS in theory but I’ve seen very  little noticeable frame drops in PerfRT that I’d consider turning it off. Regardless of mode though, we get updated models and textures across the board, as well as some extra visual flairs and lighting effects. It might be an old game, but man it still looks utterly stunning in this rendition.

It’s crazy to think that there’ll be players out there for this rendition that were barely even double digits in age when it was originally released, but whether you’re coming back after nearly a decade or playing for the first time, there’s no denying that GTA V still holds up incredibly well. Some of the jokes and themes might be a bit out of touch for the modern day, but the parodies and writing are excellently crafted, so much so that any chance for modern offence is soon deflated by the characters in game acknowledging the issue. For a trio of hardened robbers and killers, Michael, Franklin, and Trevor all have a rather strong sense of morality and justice.

It’s clear that GTA Online is the main reason for Rockstar to have gone back to the well with this up-spuff of GTA V. The previous gen version continues to dominate in the sales charts, racking up millions of dollars each month in Shark Cards and newer purchases usually bundled with X amount of GTA Dollars to use online. Rockstar know where the player base is, and as such have made the Online side a separate purchase this time round (though to get the single player we need to buy both bundled together which is a shame).

Being there for the original release of GTA Online and seeing just how broken it was for quite some time, I haven’t checked it out at all in the intervening years save for a short spell of doing custom races with friends. I’ve not had the time (or, honestly, the inclination) to play much of the Online side of things but even just beginning a game is massively improved on what I remember. New players get a healthy $4m dollars to start with as opposed to nothing at all, and can now pick a Criminal Career from one of four options; Executive, Gunrunner, Nightclub Owner, or Biker. That cash lets us set up a decent starting base depending on the option chosen, and the opening tutorial seems to set us up nicely whether we’re familiar with the workings of the game or not. There’s also been a tonne of extra content pumped into Online over the years, all of which is present here. Those looking to get invested in an online world will have plenty to play and do, even more so if you have a group of friends to do it with.

It seems like a massive waste of potential then that not only is cross platform play missing, but also cross gen play too. Players on Series S/X get the option to perform a one time, one way progress transfer, but doing so will prevent them from playing with their usual crew unless all opt for the upgrade. I suppose if you’re serious enough about Online then the small fee might not be a big issue (it’s even discounted for the first few months) but not everyone has managed or wanted to upgrade to the new console. I’m sure there’s some technical reason behind it, but when even smaller titles manage to have both cross play and save across platforms and generations, this smacks of hubris and greed

As time goes on this will become less of an issue, but for a studio as big as Rockstar I’d expect more effort be put into respecting previous players time, money, and experiences.

This review and score is based solely on the Single Player portion of GTA V

Conclusion

I was concerned that revisiting such a highly regarded game almost a decade later might turn out for the worst, but it’s safe to say that GTA V is just as fun, chaotic, witty, and engaging as it was all those years ago. With the new Performance RT mode it looks better than ever while also allowing us the pleasure of playing at 60FPS on console for the first time. I’ve had a blast so far going back through the story, and I can’t wait to get back into the rest of the adventure.

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This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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Good
  • Still a stunningly realised world all these years later
  • New Performance RT mode is a true game-changer
  • Mission and world design show why Rockstar are considered the best out there
Bad
  • Missed opportunity for new single player content
9.8
Excellent
Gameplay - 9.5
Graphics - 9.8
Audio - 9.8
Longevity - 10
Written by
I've been gaming since Spy vs Spy on the Master System, growing up as a Sega kid before realising the joy of multi-platform gaming. These days I can mostly be found on smaller indie titles, the occasional big RPG and doing poorly at Rainbow Six: Siege. Gamertag: Enaksan

4 Comments

  1. I have the disc. Will it update to this or do I have to buy it again?

    Reply
    • Unfortunately its a separate purchase. Not ideal from R* but it is at least a bit more reasonably priced this time out, with an extra discount until sometime in June I believe.
      As you can tell hopefully, I’d say it’s more than worth (yet another) purchase !

      Reply
  2. My son when is playing gta on x box series x ,he says some functions are not working properly (like he cant walk his dog)

    Reply
  3. (Part 1) I think gta 5 online is great but I love playing Dax missions and there is this mission that is completely unfair and way to hard it’s called write-off maryweather operation (part 2) The players in gta 5 online are totally mean and toxic and bully’s.

    Reply

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