GTA V Campaign in 2019 - Was zero story DLC a bad idea?

Blog by Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24

GTA V in 2019

GTA V launched in September 2013 and has since earned Rockstar a mammoth six billion dollars in revenue. Arguably this is not from game sales but is attributed to the successful longevity of GTA V Online. Rockstar focused their creative energy towards dropping new heists, missions, flying cars and more and wow did the GTA V community love it. In fact there GTA Online is one of the biggest streamed video games on YouTube Gaming as I write this. That's impressive considering GTA V is almost six years old! We are not here to hash out the marvellous wonders of GTA Online. Oh no. It was GTA V's main campaign that reeled me in back in 2013 and if anything I've played the GTA V main story 95% more than I have ever been online? This makes me questions why Rockstar never gave the gaming community GTA V Story DLC? Why did they focus solely on GTA V Online? I don't have a definitive answer on this. I can speculate that Rockstar were so happy with the GTA V story that there was no need to expand it? Or perhaps Rockstar quickly realised the monetary value of online gaming gaming? Kotaku interviewed Rockstar's director of design who also could not give a definitive answer on why GTA V did not have any story dlc.

​I recently completed GTA V in 2018 live on stream and purposely stayed away from GTA V Online. I wanted to go through GTA V one more time. Once again I donned the shoes of Franklin, Trevor and Michael amidst the crime ridden city of Los Santos. There was nothing that felt stale about getting behind the wheel again in Los Santos. I would go as far to say that I cannot think of another game released around the same time as GTA V that held up this well. 

GTA V got a boost with a HD re-release which added more detailed textures, better lighting, vibrant colours and more. GTA V really does look great even in 2019 specifically on the current generation consoles. In fact Grand Theft Auto V looks pretty decent on the PS3 and Xbox 360. 

Over the Grand Theft Auto history I cannot specifically say that any of them have bad graphics but even if they did I believe GTA V holds its strength in the gameplay over anything else. 

We start the GTA V campaign with Franklin. Franklin oozes personality and adopts a sense of swagger that is familiar with that of Carl Johnson from GTA San Andreas. I'd argue that its that sense of familiarity between personality traits that reel you in from the start of GTA V. Not to mention that Grove Street is right around the corner from Franklin's house. Now that is some serious gaming charm. 

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Grove Street GTA V - True Gaming Charm

Rewind to 2013. I remember seeing the character switching for the first time and being blown away. GTA V was the first Grand Theft Auto game that allowed player changeability and it was jaw dropping. Now in to 2019 and Grand Theft Auto V still draws a smile on my face each time I change characters. Switching to Trevor can often lead to seeing him stumble out of a strip bar with his pants down or him waking up blind drunk behind a dumpster! That never gets old! The truth is that the three main characters in GTA V all add something unique to the campaign. The specialist activation (Franklin: Slow motion driving, Michael: Bullet time and Trevor: Red Mist which allows him to deliver more damage to enemies whilst taking less himself. Changing characters during heists' provides the ultimate rush! Seeing all of the characters work in unison (including using their special abilities) is rewarding.  

Los Santos and Blaine County make up the predominant areas for GTA V. Even after full campaign completion I'm certain that there are areas that I am yet to grace. At times I felt like areas of Blaine County grew stale both on launch and here in 2019. For me it feels like like Red Dead felt at times. Fortunately you don't have to drive, ride or fly too far in order to be back in civilisation. I would have liked to have seen more urban areas versus rural but this is a small gripe. 

GTA V - Make your smile count in First Person mode

There's one thing we can say about GTA V in 2019: GTA V is a truly epic experience! It's a crying shame Rockstar did not give enough love to the story in terms of DLC. Now do you prefer Grand Theft Auto online or the main story?

​Posted by Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24

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