When a game reaches certain dimensions, talking about expectation among the fans is not only obvious, it is also unnecessary. Everyone who enjoys this art of videogames knows what the Grand Theft Auto brand is, and who else who has less has done their criminal steps in the virtual worlds devised by Rockstar. It is a series that has staunch defenders and fierce critics, but that has always maintained unquestionable quality standards. Margins that have guaranteed to turn them into purchases nothing short of essential, and that in the case of GTA V are even generously surpassed.

And it is that the new work of the Housers and company is not only a highly recommended jewel for any fan (over 18 years old, of course), but it stands as the best representative of a generation where the different studios have felt a particular interest in exploring and enriching the genre of open worlds. The adventure of Michael, Franklin and Trevor works on so many levels that it is difficult to imagine a more ambitious release for the future, and without revolutionizing the genre as its predecessor did at the time, it does provide enough novelties to not resemble to nothing and set a new bar for their sandbox contenders to overcome.

Three leaf clover

In the past the script structure of a GTA was a pattern not without logic, but always very repetitive. It all started with a character who, for one reason or another, came to a city that was strange to him, or returned to it after, for example, spending time in jail, and from below he began to make a dent in organized crime, thriving thanks to their lack of scruples and a versatility of skills that led them to put themselves at the command of one or the other big shots of the underworld doing all kinds of dirty jobs.

In Grand Theft Auto V all that changes, and there are not only three main characters instead of just one, but also our new protagonists are already settled, they have a status in their worlds outside the law and even in some cases they have a big house and a family. The only one who leaves something out of this pattern is Franklin, who is in fact the first over which we take control, and despite having been living in Los Santos for a long time, the truth is that he still does not lead exactly the life that he would. would like. He subsists living with his unbearable aunt, in a not exactly luxurious house and doing little "botches" that include recovering vehicles for the unscrupulous boss of the dealership where he works.

The young black man, however, will not take long to meet someone who will change his life on his way, a kind of wonderful lamp genius in the form of a veteran middle-aged criminal who will help him progress in the world, but that along the way will bring him a multitude of problems and headaches. This is Michael: A retired grand-scale robbery specialist, but whose irate personality and some pending accounts from the past force him to return to "active duty", and condemned to repeat the dangerous vices of your previous lifestyle.

Since retirement his existence is not exactly idyllic, with a dysfunctional family on the brink of destruction marked by a wife with whom infidelity is allowed (as long as it is not at home), a son who only thinks about video games and in insulting her rivals online, and a daughter who begins to flirt with participating in the fertile West Coast porn industry.

With that panorama, and a series of new debts that invite to recover the old habits and abandon the tranquility of the pool and the daiquiri, a third element joins to compose an explosive cocktail: the highly volatile Trevor. He is a very dangerous and sociopathic being, without any kind of attachment to the life of anyone other than himself, and who has a truly impressive presentation already well into the game in terms of hours and in which he literally destroys one one of the series' most recently created myths. We will not say anything more to avoid the always unnecessary spoilers, but we just have to make it clear that this psychopath is a really tough guy. One that even ourselves will have a hard time keeping at bay on more than one occasion.

Red Hot

Each of the three protagonists has a very different style and their own set of skills and this causes them, in a very logical way, to adopt different roles during the missions in which they collaborate. Michael, because of his prowess for action, ends up always being at the forefront of combat; Trevor, due to his rank as a veteran of the army as a pilot, usually deals with the handling of special vehicles such as helicopters, submersibles, etcetera; while Franklin is a multipurpose, although with a special inclination for the work of a driver.

The show, it should be clear, offers for the first time in the series the possibility of activating particular "powers" for each hero, with slow motion in the shootings in Michael's case, devastating power in Trevor's ammunition and a reduction in the damage he receives, and crazy reflex driving in Franklin's. All of them can be activated by simply pressing the two sticks of the pad simultaneously, and they last a limited time and charge quickly if we carry out actions of merit. Each of the three protagonists has, if that were not enough, the same set of characteristics with various values such as resistance, skill with weapons, with vehicles, and so on. And in our power is to make them improve until they reach their maximum values, since if we spend many hours at the controls of an airplane we will improve in that field, and the same will happen with their respective capabilities if we spend time running or shooting among many other things.

My conclusion

Titles like Grand Theft Auto V, released as in this case in the last blows of a generation, make one wonder if what, for some, is a hasty presentation of an imminent change of console cycle was really necessary. It is obvious that the new machines will allow obvious improvements in the visual, which we appreciate of course, but seeing what is new from Rockstar it is necessary to question whether the constant statements of other studies questioning the continued progress in creative terms with the current platforms were so precise, and had the urgency with which they were presented to us. Michael, Franklin and Trevor show that in terms of quality and exploration of playable possibilities both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 still have a lot to offer and possibilities to move forward.

And the fact is that the program's ability to evolve is undeniable and offers not only the best sandbox experience we've had so far, but also the best video game we've enjoyed on this generation of consoles. Based on the pillars of the previous one, the game that concerns us improves its formula to the unimaginable, and goes far beyond the "largest" and "most varied" that some claimed, also betting on going beyond that in very innovative aspects like the well-known change of characters.