With GTA V we saw the culmination of a developer at the absolute top of their game, combining all previous efforts into one gigantic firework-display of pure entertainment for the sending off of a pretty stellar console run. Take the expansive flora and fauna of Red Dead Redemption, the divisive posturing and increasingly-technical shooting controls of Max Payne 3, the physics sandbox of GTA IV, and wrap the entire thing in a package of nostalgic-love for a series many of us grew up with, and you had a final product that meant more to us than we realised. However whilst GTA V is an incredible journey from start to finish, throwing up a cavalcade of memorable characters and brilliantly designed missions, there was a slight smell of stagnation coming from the inner-workings of Grand Theft Auto being that it's the 15th game in the series and the 11th since the franchise made that world-changing leap to 3D. Whilst many of us won't admit it, there were a wealth of missions in V that hinted at the seen-it-all-before nature of the vast majority of characters and motivations. GTA V is a phenomenal achievement for gaming, it made no.2 on our Games of the Year list last year, and to this day is a game that his hands-down better than anything on the newer batch of consoles. However it appears to be one last great hurrah for a series that has somewhat painted itself into a corner. Although it's a perfected version of the Houser brother's first vision of a gigantic living, breathing city you can almost 'live' in (due to overwhelming success in selling over 35.2 million copies), great mainstream success births great artistic restriction in ensuring those figures continue to stay on the rise. However, I think I speak for many who journeyed through GTA V when I say the game felt like a tipping point. V is the limit of how far you can push those mission-structures, those character-types, and those locales. It's time for a change.
