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Grand Theft Auto V is finally upon us and it’s already making waves. Reviews are coming in from everywhere and the game is getting a ton of praise along with some interesting criticism as well. While Giant Bomb gave it 5 stars, Jeff Gerstmann did have some issues about the same-yness of tone. Still, he felt the multi-protagonist approach made the game more exciting overall. Joystiq gave it a 4.5 out of 5, also praising the story and characters. Reviewer Xav de Matos felt the game’s plot could have used some work but draped onto the back of the refined open world gameplay made up for those shortcomings.

Polygon awarded it a 9.5 saying Rockstar improved so much of the genre they helped created but also criticized them for how females were portrayed and some of the cruelty exhibited. EDGE magazine usually some of the harshest critics in the room gave it a 10. They felt the game was a beautiful culmination of past Rockstar efforts, effectively borrowing from their other franchises to make Grand Theft Auto V a beautiful sum of it’s parts. Interestingly enough they also had some issues with how the game portrays females and some unnecessary cruelty but they were obviously able to look past that.

Game Informer served up a 9.75 saying that the plot fell short of Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV, but the expansive world and gameplay options made up for it. Destructoid gave it a 9 out of 10 and praised the game for its refined mechanics, specifically the driving and shooting that was once was the bane of any GTA gamer have been updated for the year 2013. They called it the perfect GTA experience, saying it brought to light what makes the series work better than ever before.

Overall, almost every outlet that has gotten their hands on GTA V has praised it for its gameplay mechanics that desperately needed a update. The refinement of the open world, and the GTA-ness of it all. Grand Theft Auto 5had a lot of hype built up for it and for good reason, the game industry was very different when GTA IV came out. The industry is crowded lousy with open world games vying for your attention. Rockstar needed a game changer to send the old consoles out with, and they seem to have found it.