Tuesday, May 31, 2016

A Key to a City

With my Xbox 360 being an extreme problem I wasn't sure when exactly I wanted to spend the money on GTA 5. I knew I was going to purchase it, I just wasn't sure when my Xbox 360 would be usable again, or if perhaps a PS3 would fall into my lap. As the middle of 2015 was snaking it's way to year's end I started watching the massive fluctuations in ShameStop's price of used GTA 5 copies, which was enough to keep me away from wanting to buy the game at all for a few more months.

As things settled into November I decided to keep an eye open for the Black Friday sales and see if I could pick up a brand new copy for cheaper than a used copy, which is exactly what ended up happening. Again, my Xbox 360 is a holy terror, it doesn't know when it wants to work and when it doesn't want to work. I've tried the towel wrap to success, while other times it won't work at all. I mean sometimes the towel wrap works, then it won't, then it works again, making completely no sense.

For six months a brand new, box fresh, still wrapped in plastic copy of GTA 5 for the Xbox 360 sat on my shelf among it's Xbox 360 brothers and sisters. In the back of my mind I debated finding a new 360, but knowing Microsoft it would be just as shit as the two (both broken down) I've already got. So far the Xbox One seems to be holding up well, but I'm not sure I want one of those either, simply because the ONLY game I have seen come out that I want to play on Xbox One is GTA 5.

Excited to play GTA 5 I decided it was time to fiddle with my Xbox 360 one more time and see if it would come to life just long enough to give me a taste of what I had been watching on youtube for nearly three years now. With a string of failures under my belt I gave it one last attempt; the outcome was success... for a mere five hours. Whether or not my Xbox 360 will ever live again is beyond my concern at this point, as I feel the piece of shit should spontaneously combust and disappear entirely. What those five ours did give me, however, was finally a look into the world of GTA 5.

I can honestly say that I played through a good deal of the missions, I customized a car and saved it in Michael's garage. I learned you can no longer safely abandon cars you've spent hard earned money customizing and expect it to show back up in your garage, although the cars that are default for each player will do that without problem.

The feeling of being in Los Santos, the beauty of it all, even on the 360 version, and the sheer space of it all made me feel as if I was playing GTA San Andreas. The vehicles felt amazing to drive, the hustle and bustle of the city, the relaxing coastal waters and various desert towns, it was all there to greet me and draw me in.

I wish my Xbox 360, and the Xbox 360 console in general, wasn't such a piece of shit. Even though I opened my copy for 360, if I found myself faced with a working PS3 that was reliable I would do my best to track down a copy for it too. Even though I prefer to be a step behind in the video game market, because it's cheaper, I still think I waited too longer to find myself lost in Los Santos.

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