It's Grand Theft Auto, so it's goes without saying that you're going to need a fair array of weapons to make sure you're not constantly getting scraped off the tarmac by the paramedics every few minutes, but the online element makes the world even more dangerous. In story mode you were the baddest thing walking the streets. You were armed to the teeth, a crack shot, and had access to a range of hardware to assert your dominance over the public, the law, and the military. In Online Mode, you're nothing. You'll start as the weakest, feeblest character in the whole game and will live in almost constant fear of happening across someone who takes a dislike to you. You saved up for an SMG? Good for you, here's someone with a rocket launcher. You've just jacked a sports car? That's nice, just don't show it off in front of someone with a tank. You'll need to pack some decent heat early on to stand a chance of completing the missions and tasks that come your way, but for your own sanity don't start thinking you can take on other players straight away. The standard respawn point is usually just a few metres from where you dropped down dead, so getting on someone's bad side can result in you getting chased around the map by a player who's as vengeful as they are heavily-armed.
WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine
