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Geek Citadel Reviews – GTA Online

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We’ve already established that Grand Theft Auto V is the best open-world game to date, but a huge chunk of the title was missing at launch. On October 1st, the title known as GTA Online opened its doors to players allowing them to explore the city of Los Santos with 15 others. Is the online experience worthy of the Grand Theft Auto title, or should player stick to the single-player experience?

Let’s get the bad out of the way, because that’s what players will notice for a couple of weeks. Getting through the tutorial can be an absolute chore, just logging in and trying to wade through the often-boring work list of races, shootouts, and gankings from players can leave a bad taste in your mouth. You may ask why I’m bringing this up as a problem, but it’s likely that at this stage of the game… you’ll have to play the tutorial constantly.

The Rockstar cloud servers go down at the drop of a hat and in the process, the game will often enter an unplayable state. Be prepared for errors, infinite loading screens, and the occasional character deletion. That’s right, I had a level 17 ranked character that went the way of the dodo on October 4th, with no participation on my part. It’s said that these characters aren’t deleted, but I haven’t seen any return on my investment at the time I’m writing this. I proceeded to make another character but that one was summarily deleted after I logged off, and since then I’ve made a third character who may also be null and void… I’m afraid to check.

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The matchmaking system is also completely broken, and many players prefer running around in the open world and shooting each other in the face. It’s incredibly hard to get into a large game full of people since no one you invite joins, or the game server crashes as the mission starts up. It’s a pain in the buttox to say the least.

That’s where the hope of having many friends comes in, or at least having two or three who are willing to do some of the random jobs. Striking out into the world with friends is how it was meant to be, and that’s where GTA Online is frequently exciting. There are missions that require a large team of players, or a small tight-knit group to battle it out against the CPU.

The normal game types exist from many multiplayer titles. Many familiar modes appear like Deathmatch, Team-Deathmatch, Races, and Survival. The major difference is the spin put on the varying modes that change the dynamic significantly.  For example, a mission aptly named “Hippy Hunting” faces two teams off on a chase to recover cocaine from hippies and return it to their respective bases.

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Other variations have players fleeing on dirt bikes, while a slew of murderous Jets chase them down. The host can modify each match to include a certain type of weapon, change the number of laps, add custom vehicles, etc. When the game is done players will receive a score, and they will be able to rate the mission with a like or dislike. Once the scoreboard is cleared, players will have a choice of returning to free mode or continuing onto a new mission with the group.

Beyond the normal gameplay types, players will receive calls with different jobs from an assortment of characters. There are a few new people like Gerald the drug dealer, but many of the cast from the Single-Player show up to supply the players with jobs. These missions are similar to the single-player missions GTA V, but not as elaborate and scripted as those events. They are designed for multiple players to recover drugs, cars, or destroy vehicles for riches. It’s a blast to head out into the world with your friends and get into all sorts of trouble.

Every activity that’s accessible from the single-player is available in the Online version of the title. From Tennis to Car Customization, your character can do anything available in Los Santos. Unlike GTA V, money and rank are a big deal and are the deciding factor on what you can do in the game. Cash will buy you clothing, cars, guns, and properties. Rank unlocks clothing, weapons, and elaborate missions.

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You’ll find yourself bringing a team together and ploughing through missions in search of money and rank points. It’s an MMO at its core but with the mechanics of a smooth third person shooter.  Skills are still raised by using the ability, but at a much slower rate in comparison to GTA V.  Players will enter lobbies similar to Red Dead Redemption, where catching a stray bullet from another player is almost a guarantee. You can select Passive mode for a small amount of money, but cars can still kill you and fighting is off-limits.

The other methods rely on creating a crew , invite, solo, or friend only game. This will allow you to roam the world free of overzealous little kids or rabblerousing adults. As long as the matchmaking system is set to open, players will still be able to invite other people to jobs and missions without issue. So if you’re not up for slaughtering people in PVP constantly, there is still a way to play without suffering online woes.

GTA Online has limitless potential, and when you’re able to get a game going it borders on addicting. Rockstar has teased player created missions, heists, and continuous support and updates for years to come.  As of now though, the nagging issues and ridiculous character-deleting bugs are enough to deter even the most die-hard player.  GTA Online currently receives three stars out of five from Geek Citadel. It has a lot of potential, but it also has too many problems that could cripple the community early on.