Obviously running this site I’ve been involved with the idea of GTA V since the very beginning. It’s been a rocky road given the delays and lack of information for years. There has been anticipation for years and yet the leaks over the years have been minimal. It’s been frustrating at times for sure. There has been something interesting that has come about though because of all this time.
With the recent unveiling of GTA Online, something occurred to me. I don’t think that I would be the first to suggest that GTA 5 is going to be perhaps the biggest and greatest video game of all time. There is more than one fanboy saying it. I have a reason for saying it. Remember the game company Rare? Think back to the almighty GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. Then think about their follow-up game Perfect Dark. I think Rockstar is doing what Rare did. It’s rare (no pun intended) to have a game developer take years on a game. Look at the Call of Duty series. Pump them out every year! There is immense pressure by companies to roll their games out. The less time on a game, the less impressive, the less polish and the less WOW factor.
So when I think of GoldenEye 007 for the N64, it’s clear that Rare had YEARS to develop and work on that game. You can tell. The game had unreal replay value and incredible layers of discovery. That kind of detail doesn’t just happen. It can only happen from a lot of time and resources. Games today simply don’t get those resources and time. Look at Perfect Dark. Not as popular, but even today it has such an incredible depth of replayability and features that you could play the game for years (and I did honestly). Rare was able to put an incredible amount of time and resource into Perfect Dark and the result is a game that really cannot be matched in terms of what features it had. Single player, bots, custom weapons in multiplayer, challenges, and more. PD N64 is packed with goodies and there are few opportunities for developers currently to invest so many resources in one game title. Sure Halo has some of the same characteristics. Bungie were able to operate like Rare and put an incredible amount of time into the Halo series. The results? The best video games ever made. Not a big stretch to say more time and money into a game results in a better product. That said, my point is that GTA 5 has more time and resources put into it than any other video game in history.
So I’m drawing on the parallels with Rare as I am with Rockstar. No other company could afford to delay a game so long and invest so much in the concept and design. Trust me, that’s why this new GTA game will be hard for anyone to beat. It appears that there are so many layers to the GTA V world that we could be playing this game for years. Oh yes, no PC, Xbox One or PS4 version? C’mon folks, of course those are coming. Beyond that don’t be surprised if you can bring your character, items and stats over from the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. We’re seeing news that stats from the Battlefield 4 game can be exported to the next generation console game. Nothing lost, nothing to fear.
To be the “best video game in history”, I think replayability is a big criteria. Cosmetics play a role for sure. Fun factor plays a role also. Getting your moneys worth? That’s pretty big. Sale count also in what is the best video game in history. I’m sure that GTA 5 will crush the all time best sellers list for video games provided we might see the following versions: iOS, Android, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, and PS4.
Meh gta iv was borring. so no.