I feel the rage of every one of you, who have clicked this article, can you? Feel it, and then take a step back for a moment. Take another step back and calm down, the froth foaming around your mouth makes you look like you're incapable of brushing your own teeth in a mature manner. Wipe that foam from your mouth or it will crust over and look like a dry riverbed has formed at the side of your cracked lips, which may or may not be yelping all forms of expletives at the thought of someone having the audacity to write an article on such an inconceivable concept. GTA V is on the horizon, with the sun sitting pretty behind it that gamers the world over are happily staring into with no regrets of solar retinopathy, the fanciest phrase I've used all year. Without a doubt it is the most anticipated game of all time, just narrowly edging out Farming Simulator in pre-orders this week, so it is all systems go, unless you develop the Red Ring of Death or something similarly console and soul crippling on your trusty PS3. Like you, I'm excited. I'm not one of the few people in gaming who couldn't care for GTA V, which I am sure there is at least a handful, who go out of their way to swim against the current of any river of excitement of a rare justifiably praised release. The internet is stuffed with threads and articles regarding GTA V, and all of it based around excitement and biased positivity. Where the serious discussions of worrying GTA fans? What doubts have crept into their minds when seeing the great trailers? A game with such vast scope will need to have a few snags here and there. GTA has always been a benchmark for gaming in everything it does. The releases have always pushed the envelope as regards to content, an envelope that has been thrown back in its face, with a slight paper cut from the hands of Saints Row, but GTA or its fans don't care about that. The world that Rockstar creates with each incarnation is always head and shoulders above anything else, with intriguing, intimidating and hilariously engaging characters that litter the cities and states to help or hinder our morally challenged protagonist. The freedom is unparalleled and the havoc to serve up is even more impressive, and a game that constantly brings joy to the fans, without failing. No game is perfect, and that includes the GTA franchise despite its universal praise. GTA IV was a good game, but it fell short of being a really good game for me, and many others. The tone was too serious; Roman was more of a hindrance than an anaemic blood donor, with the other side characters constantly nagging at you to partake in some extracurricular activities that didn't involve murder and extortion, if you didn't turn alerts off. I know Rockstar were attempting to make us feel more involved and caring with these attempts at friendships, but they annoyed me to the point where I struggled, but eventually forced myself to finish the story. The whole friendship system brought down GTA IVs experience for me and I found it a massive speed bump in the road that ruined the sheer constant fun of previous games, and it also had the most infuriating jumping and climbing mechanism in any game I played previously. I am slightly worried that Franklin's dog will be barking for walkies or he will turn on you, and Michael's son will be pestering for some father son time. If it's not joining me in heists and other misdemeanors, then his son can go find a big brother programme to take care of him and wipe his tears. I'm a bit sceptical about the new three way protagonist mission arc that will be heavily prominent in GTA V, and just how smoothly it will play out. The promised seamless transition between each character, if pulled off will be fantastic, but how often will we take control of another character for him to be doing something stupid or on the verge of dying? The AI during missions, when you're not controlling them, will it stupidly fail the mission for you? Will you have to constantly keep changing characters to fix a brainless decision the AI has made? These could put a considerable dent in the fun for me, and I'm sure others too. The size and scope of the world is a situation of get out of your seat and start a slow clap for Rockstar, but I hope they are taking tips from Red Dead Redemption's map, which didn't bore me as I ploughed through it on horseback. San Andreas, I will admit is a GTA game I never finished. The map was big, too big, and driving from one section to the other bored me. It was sprawling but vastly empty, and I spent far too much time as an early teen trying to search for the rumoured Sasquatch, which side tracked me from the story. I put a curse on the person who concocted that rumour. I hope your GTA V disc arrives scratched.
I'm hoping the city of Los Santos and the surroundings are engaging throughout. I am not a big fan of driving games as it is, so boring trips from one place to another will stunt my motivation to continue. I realise that's my own fault, but I'm sure others will be in the same boat as me or car if you want to get literal up in this opinion piece. Although I'm sure the quick taxi destinations will make a welcome return which is something that helped me see out GTA IV's missions, and spend snippets of my illegally garnered fortune. The gaming world rarely settles on one opinion but we all find common ground when it comes to any adventure forcing us into an underwater level/mission and by the looks of the trailers and photos; GTA V will have a few aqua exploits to contend with. Let's hope they offer variety with nothing in the way that annoyingly hinders progression. The slow moving of any underwater venture tests my patience so I hope the variety in GTA V's mission are a plenty, with quick paced over the top action with a few slow building bank heists thrown into the mix ala GTA IV's tensed body highlight. The cover system and shooting looks to be adapted from the Max Payne 3 school of shooting, which is only a vast improvement from the shoddy implementation in GTA IV. The norm today with any mildly successful game is to throw out a few DLC's to extend the lifespan and appease the fans clamouring for more content, which GTA V will surely bring considering the massively successful GTA IV content. I however pray to the DLC Gods that this extra content isn't boringly riddled with Zombie's, as this foe has been shoehorned into games to death enough as it is. Developers have been lazily throwing the emotionless antagonists into anything they can think of, which is a bandwagon that should have crashed into a wall and burnt to dust a long time ago. Rockstar are a creative bunch, they have used Zombie's in Red Dead, there is no reason for them to shuffle their way into the GTA universe and I hope they steer clear of them in their latest outings, keeping Los Santos as ridiculous, but as realistic as possible with not a flesh eating human in sight. I have already witnessed forums and comments of GTA fans squelching for Zombies to be included and how "awesome" it would be. What would be "awesome" is for your fingers to be taken off in a blender for typing such drivel.
These are just a few thoughts I have about the upcoming blockbuster. I know I will enjoy the game in some capacity, but I am trying to not become over excited, as the feeling of being let down is worse than standing on multiple upturned plugs in cartoon fashion. It's a feeling I experienced with GTA IV and one I don't have the pain threshold to live through again. GTA V could turn out to be a disappointment, weather you want to admit it or not, it isn't impossible. Just because it bares the GTA title, it doesn't mean you have to defend it to death and let the masses dictate your opinion. After having a love affair with GTA 3 and Vice City, I went through a slow painful breakup with San Andres and IV. I hope that GTA V is packaged with the absurd fun of its first two 3D adventures, rekindling the flirting that grabbed my undying attention for the series. Is it possible that us as gamers have built the excitement up too much or have Rockstar maybe become too ambitious in their endeavors? What do you think? Are you worried about any aspects of GTA V? Is it possible it can be a disappointment? Let us know, sensibly please, in the comment section below.