Gaming's driving ambitions: The Crew and Grand Theft Auto V

Repetitive game injury?

What hasn't been addressed, of course, are the sheer number of samey "fetch this, kill him, then lose the police" missions. At least the first time around these missions had the allure of being new but now, like turkey served long after Christmas Day, what was once a feast has developed a pungent aftertaste.

On yer bike, mate

Therefore it might well be that you’ll soon find yourself seeking out GTA Online more than the campaign. Grabbing a few friends and hitting the town in a huge range of gameplay types – including racing, deathmatch, dog-fighting, co-op and more – remains incredibly good fun when it works.

There have been, and continue to be, issues with the servers however. GTA Online is certainly playable, but don’t be surprised to find yourself waiting around for a game to start, or prematurely exiting a match due to connection problems from time-to-time.

Grand theft aircraft?

Ultimately though, there can be no denying that GTA V is a technical marvel that ranks high amongst the most ambitious games ever created. That I can talk about Rockstar adding a whole new first-person mode without reason – except, perhaps, for marketing opportunities – is frankly absurd.

The Reg Verdict

I may as well refer back to my original question of whether this remake is worth buying. Well, for anyone not yet to play it, GTA V is a must. If only to see what a developer with infinite time, resource and ambition can attain.

However, if you’ve already finished GTA on the PS3 and XBox 360, then whether to buy this version for the latest consoles very much depends of your level of patience when it comes to repetition; or how much you enjoy playing GTA Online? If your answer to both questions is "not much", then there’s always a more than worthy alternative sandbox out there in Far Cry 4.