I was inspired to write this entry about two weeks ago, when a friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous) commented on Facebook: "I don't understand why a violent game like Grand Theft Auto 5 would win Game of the Year, beating good, healthy, family fun like New Super Mario Bros Wii U." And that got me thinking: Why did GTA 5 deserve Game of the Year? How about we answer that question?
All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga!
First off, we need to look at what Grand Theft Auto 5 is. In spite of its name, it is not the fifth Grand Theft Auto game, but rather, the eleventh entry in the series. The Grand Theft Auto series is one that is critically acclaimed, with many classic titles that have not only sold incredibly well, but have also helped define the Playstation 2 as well as the Sixth Generation of Video Games. Especially, Grand Theft Auto 3 helped create, or at least codify) the Wide Open Sandbox genre of gaming (where the player is free to explore the world of the game at their own leisure), while Grand Theft Auto: Vice City utilized a soundtrack composed entirely of classic 80's music to capture the zeitgeist of the 1980's in the US. And then in the year 2004, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas re defined how big and deep a game's world could be, by featuring an entire fictional US State with three major cities and no less than 8 smaller towns, all with their unique feel and panorama, all while also having dozens of mini games, side quests, and hundreds upon hundreds of lines of dialogue for pedestrians. The Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold hundreds of millions of copies world wide. Basically, GTA 5 came with pedigree.
When GTA 5 came out in September of 2013, it sold like hot cakes. Within three days, it earned over a billion dollars, and it kept selling and selling, instantly becoming a phenomenon on both gamer as well as Internet culture! A billion dollars in three days. There are movies that don't earn that much money throughout their whole runs!
The game was a critical darling. Game Informer gave the game a 9.75/10. Atomic Gamer, Console Obsession, Gamestyle, Playstation Lifestyle, Thunderbolt, these are just a few of the many, many websites that gave the game a perfect score. Not near perfect, perfect, as in 10/10, 5/5, or 100%. There have been game critics, such as Carolyn Petit of Gamespot, that came under fire for deducting points from the game for what some consider ridiculous or unprofessional reasons (In Petit's case, misogyny). This is a game that has consistently gained high ratings from professional critics, and with good reason.
The game was highly anticipated, was critically acclaimed once it was finally released, and sold profoundly well. But these are not the reasons why GTA 5 was the best game of 2013, no.
Every now and then there comes a work that perfectly encapsulates the Zeitgeist of the period in which it was released. For example, Tiny Toon Adventures captures the spirit of the early 1990's, that special, post Cold War period where the United States of America was on top of the world yet now looking for a new purpose, where technology was starting to really play a larger role in daily life and domestic violence was becoming a large concern for the US public, and environmentalism was quickly becoming a thing. There's also the original Spider Man, which captured the fervent patriotism that swept through the US shortly after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. Well, Grand Theft Auto 5 is a work that also captures the Zeitgeist of not just 2013, but of the whole 2010's as well.
Grand Theft Auto 5 captures the economic uncertainty of the 2010's by not just making several references to the current crisis, but also by making the player FEEL like they are living the crisis. Money in the game is scarce, and there's only three ways to get it: properties that generate wealth, stock exchange, or crime. In past GTA games, money was easily obtained, mostly by doing several odd jobs here or there. In this game? No way that's happening. Want money? Learn to work the stock market, or steal it.
The game also makes fun of the way technology is slowly becoming as much a cornerstone of our lives as food or shelter is. Each of the protagonists has a smartphone that has quick access to the Internet (and it never lags, so there's your fantasy right there). There's LifeInvader, the game's parody of Facebook, where each character can log in and see the pointless banalities of their friends and families. Practically every character has a LifeInvader, even the one who'd be better off laying low (Trevor). There's also Bleeter, a parody of Twitter. With Bleeter, you can read the every day idiocy of people who quite clearly have nothing better to do with their lives than jump up and down and say the most idiotic things imaginable just for ten seconds of attention. So, just like the real thing!
GTA 5 makes fun of the entitled rich, of how disconnected they are from the rest of us. This is shown with the character of Jimmy de Santa, a fat 20 something man child who plays an Expy of Call of Duty every waking hour, does drugs for fun, lives in his father's mansion completely rent free, spends three quarters of the game doing NOTHING with his life and having the audacity of blaming his FATHER, Michael de Santa (one of the three playable characters) for all his problems. Jimmy is contrasted with Franklin Clinton, another young man, aged 25 or so, who is also looking for direction in his life. Franklin is a criminal, but he's trying to make a career out of it. Unlike Jimmy, he's taking an active role in his own life, owing up to what he has to do, and how much of his life is on his hands.
The game is a satire of the early 2010's, and at the same time, it's a slight lamentation of the times, and this is shown with its three protagonists. Franklin Clinton is a young man with many, many talents and virtues. He's ambitious, he's loyal to his friends, but he's also down to earth and honest with himself and others. Born into poverty and raised in a crime ridden neighborhood, Franklin gained the skills needed to get ahead in the world of street hustling. However, as he grew older, he saw street crime and gang life for what it really was: a high risk, low reward game that would eat him alive. Knowing this was no life to live, Franklin looked for a way out, no matter how legal it'd be. However, none of Franklin's skills hustling skills (handling guns, street fighting, high speed driving, car theft, sniping) were in demand in the job market, so he worked with what he could, serving as a repo man for an unscrupulous car salesman. Franklin is, in many ways, a perfect representation of the current working youth: over educated, with Bachelor's Degrees and some with Master's, working entry level underpaying jobs that make NO use of their education. Franklin's story is not of a man trying to get out of a life of crime, though, but rather, one of a man who wants to get ahead with the skills he has. He wants his hard earned abilities to be what gets him ahead in life, he wants to work hard and get paid for it. Franklin is a man that wants the "career" part of career criminal, much like how the people that studied Art want Art to be what gets them fed, or the people that are sick of being Kindergarten teachers while having their Master's in Childhood Psychology gather dust in a shelf. A sick comparison, I know.
Ah yes, this is a game that places crime front and center, but unlike what a LOT of its opponents would have you believe, it is NOT a celebration of crime. Rather it is a solemn nod of the head to the idea that, for some people, crime is the only path their lives can lead. Franklin is a man who can either live a life of low paying honest work, or high paying crime. Trevor is a man who is too mentally unstable for the regular work force. Trevor tried to lead an honest life, going to the Canadian Air Force, but was ruled Unfit for Service due to his mental issues. Trevor was dealt a bad hand in life, but he played with the cards he was served. Franklin also got dealt a bad hand in life, and he played with the cards he was dealt. Michael, however, doesn't need to commit crimes, because he already got ahead in life. He chose the life of crime, and when he finally got out, he was unhappy with his life. It was not until he finally got a golden opportunity to do something legal he loved (producing movies) that he gave retiring from crime serious consideration. The fact that his family had abandoned him by this point also helped sway his decision.
The game speaks about what it's like to face setbacks in life, about how the dreams you have in life often come crashing down due to reasons that are often out of your control. This is something that many people, especially my generation, has to deal with, often every day of their lives when they get up and face themselves in the mirror. It's a game about what happens when the life you WANTED just wasn't meant to be, and about how sometimes you just gotta roll with what happens. And sometimes, you gotta do what you never expected to do, what you never wanted to do. It's no different than the Art Major learning that he'll have to learn to flip burgers for a living, or the girl with the Women's Studies BA that has to cut sandwiches at Subway every day from 4 to 7 PM, or even the Business student that works every day in an unpaid internship.
The game shows three different ways that you can react to the unexpected path in life: you can either fully embrace it, like Trevor did, resent it and stew in your misery, like Michael, or you can take action and look for an opportunity to find another path, like Franklin. What you choose to do is up to you.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that speaks to a generation that has to deal with the fact that their dreams won't come true, that life is tough and that only the strong survive, and that everything they thought they knew is wrong. It's a game that speaks of the importance to how you approach life, of struggling, of working hard. It's a story about how life will kick you in the nuts, on how those above you can always shit on your head and make it look like it was your fault. It's a mirror that shows just how fucked up our society is, about how ugly this time we're living in is, and how messed up our priorities are sometimes. It's about how money has become the force that moves the world, and how money is the source of power in the world. It's an invitation for the player to stop and ask "is money worth it?" Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable, showing the ugly side of not just capitalism and greed, but of American culture as well. Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that perfectly captured and satirized the ugly side of the 2010's, and that's why it deserves to be called the Game of the Year 2013.
Grand Theft Auto 5 captures the economic uncertainty of the 2010's by not just making several references to the current crisis, but also by making the player FEEL like they are living the crisis. Money in the game is scarce, and there's only three ways to get it: properties that generate wealth, stock exchange, or crime. In past GTA games, money was easily obtained, mostly by doing several odd jobs here or there. In this game? No way that's happening. Want money? Learn to work the stock market, or steal it.
The game also makes fun of the way technology is slowly becoming as much a cornerstone of our lives as food or shelter is. Each of the protagonists has a smartphone that has quick access to the Internet (and it never lags, so there's your fantasy right there). There's LifeInvader, the game's parody of Facebook, where each character can log in and see the pointless banalities of their friends and families. Practically every character has a LifeInvader, even the one who'd be better off laying low (Trevor). There's also Bleeter, a parody of Twitter. With Bleeter, you can read the every day idiocy of people who quite clearly have nothing better to do with their lives than jump up and down and say the most idiotic things imaginable just for ten seconds of attention. So, just like the real thing!
GTA 5 makes fun of the entitled rich, of how disconnected they are from the rest of us. This is shown with the character of Jimmy de Santa, a fat 20 something man child who plays an Expy of Call of Duty every waking hour, does drugs for fun, lives in his father's mansion completely rent free, spends three quarters of the game doing NOTHING with his life and having the audacity of blaming his FATHER, Michael de Santa (one of the three playable characters) for all his problems. Jimmy is contrasted with Franklin Clinton, another young man, aged 25 or so, who is also looking for direction in his life. Franklin is a criminal, but he's trying to make a career out of it. Unlike Jimmy, he's taking an active role in his own life, owing up to what he has to do, and how much of his life is on his hands.
The 3 player characters of Grand Theft Auto 5. Left to right: Trevor Phillips, Franklin Clinton, Michael de Santa
Ah yes, this is a game that places crime front and center, but unlike what a LOT of its opponents would have you believe, it is NOT a celebration of crime. Rather it is a solemn nod of the head to the idea that, for some people, crime is the only path their lives can lead. Franklin is a man who can either live a life of low paying honest work, or high paying crime. Trevor is a man who is too mentally unstable for the regular work force. Trevor tried to lead an honest life, going to the Canadian Air Force, but was ruled Unfit for Service due to his mental issues. Trevor was dealt a bad hand in life, but he played with the cards he was served. Franklin also got dealt a bad hand in life, and he played with the cards he was dealt. Michael, however, doesn't need to commit crimes, because he already got ahead in life. He chose the life of crime, and when he finally got out, he was unhappy with his life. It was not until he finally got a golden opportunity to do something legal he loved (producing movies) that he gave retiring from crime serious consideration. The fact that his family had abandoned him by this point also helped sway his decision.
The game speaks about what it's like to face setbacks in life, about how the dreams you have in life often come crashing down due to reasons that are often out of your control. This is something that many people, especially my generation, has to deal with, often every day of their lives when they get up and face themselves in the mirror. It's a game about what happens when the life you WANTED just wasn't meant to be, and about how sometimes you just gotta roll with what happens. And sometimes, you gotta do what you never expected to do, what you never wanted to do. It's no different than the Art Major learning that he'll have to learn to flip burgers for a living, or the girl with the Women's Studies BA that has to cut sandwiches at Subway every day from 4 to 7 PM, or even the Business student that works every day in an unpaid internship.
The game shows three different ways that you can react to the unexpected path in life: you can either fully embrace it, like Trevor did, resent it and stew in your misery, like Michael, or you can take action and look for an opportunity to find another path, like Franklin. What you choose to do is up to you.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that speaks to a generation that has to deal with the fact that their dreams won't come true, that life is tough and that only the strong survive, and that everything they thought they knew is wrong. It's a game that speaks of the importance to how you approach life, of struggling, of working hard. It's a story about how life will kick you in the nuts, on how those above you can always shit on your head and make it look like it was your fault. It's a mirror that shows just how fucked up our society is, about how ugly this time we're living in is, and how messed up our priorities are sometimes. It's about how money has become the force that moves the world, and how money is the source of power in the world. It's an invitation for the player to stop and ask "is money worth it?" Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable, showing the ugly side of not just capitalism and greed, but of American culture as well. Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that perfectly captured and satirized the ugly side of the 2010's, and that's why it deserves to be called the Game of the Year 2013.
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