My thoughts on GTA V (no spoilers)

It arrived on day one, played it nearly every day since and completed it a couple of days ago. So, here's what I think.

Just about every gameplay mechanic that was present in GTA IV has been improved, the most obvious one being the driving which feels a bit more grounded and therefore fun. The shooting is more like Red Dead Redemption which I like, and I think the addition of the weapon wheel is very welcome. The character customisation means you can tailor your character's looks and abilities more than you could with Niko, and you get no more calls for friend dates, instead they only occur when you choose. The hand-to-hand combat is a lot better, especially the introduction of the jumping attack which is possibly the best form of attack ever featured in any game ever and has already provided multiple moments of hilarity, not always in combat situations.

The new features are generally great. Planes feature for the first time on PS3 and they're great fun to fly. The random events that appear a la RDR are welcome distractions that can send you off on a tangent, although the same could be said of a lot of things in this game. New minigames are better than they were in GTA IV, especially golf which is very playable indeed. The special abilities add variety to each of the characters.

Speaking of which, the introduction of three playable characters was something that I was sceptical of at first, but has turned out to be a great idea implemented brilliantly. Michael, Franklin and Trevor are all interesting personalities, all just a bit crazy in their own way as you'd expect, and the character swapping works well and keeps the game fresh. Without going into detail, the storyline is great and the missions are more diverse and colourful than in the previous outing. The much-touted heists which are central to the story can play out in multiple ways depending on how you choose to set them up.

Which brings us to the world that they take place in. I could write a whole article just about Los Santos and Blaine County where the game is set. I can still barely believe this is PS3, the graphics are amazing and the world is massive with so things to do across city, countryside, desert, sea (you're able to go underwater once again), air, small towns, mountains.

It's not perfect. Despite the setting being fantastically realised I feel shamefully greedy for thinking that it makes the larger planes feel a bit pointless as there's no other city to fly to as you could in San Andreas, only a few airfields. The soundtrack is an improvement on GTA IV, with more recognisable songs, and the lesser-known ones being better, but it still isn't a patch on Vice City or San Andreas. The car engines once again drown out the radio stations a bit too much, especially the talk ones which you basically have to be stationary to listen to (I do realise I could change the volumes but this would mess with the dialogue levels). The missions sometimes seem to blend into each other and you're not sure when they start or finish, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I do think that compared to the previous GTA games the checkpoints are a bit too forgiving.

These fairly small faults, which are more down to personal taste than anything, don't have much of a negative impact on the overall experience. After a little under two weeks it's already become one of my favourite PS3 games. Personally it hasn't quite stolen my heart in the same way as San Andreas which remains my all-time favourite, but it's still amazing. We've yet to see what the online modes can offer. I would tell you to buy it, but you probably already have.

Oh, and C. Obviously.