GTA V Is Not As Violent as Previous Entries

Since the biggest video game launch in the history of the medium has just occurred, I thought it was appropriate to dedicate this blog post to talk about the mega-monster known as Grand Theft Auto 5. Now, just to clarify, this isn't a review. I always try to examine the aspects of the game from an analytical standpoint and try to zone in on unique ideas behind the concepts, trends, etc. of the game. With GTA 5, I could go on and on for days breaking the game down into its varying components (and I'm sure I will in future posts, so stay tuned), but today I'm going to focus on the violence in GTA 5. Here's the odd thing about the violence in the game: in my opinion, it’s not as easy to commit violent acts as it is in previous games. This claim might sound strange, considering the history GTA has with violence. After all, GTA is the franchise in which you drive around and beat up hookers with baseball bats. But, that's precisely my point when talking about GTA V. Take, for instance, the baseball bat just mentioned. Introduced in GTA III, the baseball bat has gone through a couple different iterations (changing from wooden to aluminum in the games. The newest game, GTA V, features a wooden bat). In the first game of the series featuring the bat (GTA III), the bat is readily available at the safe house. Access to it is easy and it’s always available to use. It is also easily accessible at the safe house in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. But, in GTA IV, the bat is not easily accessible. The bat doesn't just spawn at the safe house. Rather, it has to be bought in a back alley shop for $5. I've played the newest iteration, GTA V, for around 20 hours and have yet to find a baseball bat. I know it is available in the game, but my point stems back to its availability. It’s not as easy to walk around and beat the crap out of people (at least in the beginning of the game). The ability to commit violent acts isn't just handed to you in GTA V. The player starts out with hardly any weapons and has to earn money through the story missions to be able to pay for weapons and ammunition. Can you still shoot random people on the street? Yes. Can you run people down with your car? Yes. However, all I'm trying to say is that it's a bit more difficult to achieve this type of violence than in previous GTA games. I believe this also strongly ties into the fact that GTA V is the first GTA game that feels more like a simulation then any of the other entries. So much is available to do in the city besides killing pedestrians. The player can play tennis, smoke weed, watch television, go to a movie, get on the internet, etc. Even though games such as GTA IV had these types of events, the depth and detail in which they are showcased in GTA V allows the player to fully immerse themselves into these activities. For instance, I have seen two movies in-game. One ran about 20 minutes long and the other ran about 15. The player can play 5 sets of tennis if they so choose. With all of these events at the tip of your fingers, the urge to focus ALL your time killing pedestrians goes down. Yes, the game is still violent and everybody likes to mess around in the city. However, with a slightly more limited cap on weapons and an astounding number of non-violent events to partake in, the violence in GTA V is not as prevalent as in previous releases.