In case you haven’t kept up on the car-jacking, open-world-destroying craziness of Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5), you may like to know what most of the videogame world is playing right now. Rockstar Games today shipped GTA 5 to retail, the latest installment in the seminal open-world game.
Interestingly, GTA 5 hasn’t been met with nearly the amount of controversy from previous installments, particularly GTA 3, perhaps indicative of the desensitization of society to sex and violence. Or maybe the opponents just gave up, since Rockstar is predicted to sell billions of dollars worth of GTA 5 product.
Developed by series creators Rockstar North, GTA 5 pushes the series forward in several new ways. For the first time, players can jump in and out of the lives of three simultaneously playable lead characters, experiencing all sides of an interwoven story. This is a nice change of pace for the GTA series, which has traditionally compelled players to view the world through only one set of (devious) eyes.
Set in a satirical reimagining of modern Southern California, GTA 5 offers players the freedom to explore the dense urban metropolis of Los Santos and the wide open countryside of Blaine County, plan and execute a series of epic heists, and meet a vast array of strangers and freaks. Since it’s an open-world sandbox game, there’s also the ablity to participate in multiple side activities, from golf and arms trafficking to base jumping and yoga.
GTA 5 also includes access to Grand Theft Auto Online, a new open world online game launching Oct. 1 that comes free with every copy of GTA v.