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10 Questions/Observations About Grand Theft Auto V From A Non-Gamer

When any cultural product takes in a billion dollars of business in the first three days of its release, as Grand Theft Auto V did, you kind of have to pay attention to it. For years now many have been touting the fact that blockbuster movies appear to be on the decline at the same time video game sales are reaching all-time highs. Comparing the two on an artistic level is still riddled with problems and philosophical gaps, but on a business level, and a popular culture level, it’s becoming impossible for culture watchers to ignore an industry that continues to increase its modern cultural force.

[h2]3) Are the individual mission stories not fantastic?[/h2]

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I’m sure there’s terminology I’m getting wrong all over the place here, but hopefully you’ll get what I’m trying to say. The next part of Grand Theft Auto V that jumped out at me was that on top of the usual parodic look at current events and the general contemporary cultural climate in which it operates, the game actually creates missions around these references and makes them surprising and always engaging. I’m thinking primarily of the Jay Norris mission. The character is some kind of Steve Jobs-Mark Zuckerberg knockoff (probably more Zuckerberg since his company is called “LifeInvader”), and your mission is to rig a demo phone that explodes in his hand, assassinating him.

This is one of the most talked about missions of the game, and rightly so. It’s shocking when it happens, and fulfills the game’s twisted history of providing potential satisfaction of people’s dark wishes. You’re confronted with this head-on.

Then there are other great moments in missions like a Fast & Furious-style highway chase with people jumping from one car to the other, breaking into secure buildings by scuba diving, hijacking military helicopters, and probably too many others to remember, let alone list. It’s taken me far longer to get bored with taking up the next mission in this game than in the previous versions.

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