GTA Online Review

GTA Online is a very special type of game for us here at GameDroid. Bundled in with GTA V so that you can all wreak havoc in Los Santos with friends it really is an integral part of the GTA V experience. But does it still hold up in 2018? Does it hold up to the main package? Let's find out.

Since 2013, GTA Online has continued to grow and expand with free DLC packs coming in the form of heists, cars, businesses and much more. On paper this is a brilliant idea and when it was executed, it worked… Brilliantly! But of course, with free DLC comes GTA Online’s biggest disappointment… Shark Cards. Now before we dive into why Shark Cards are a good and a bad thing, let's talk about all the good stuff first.

(This contains images of our adventures in Los Santos.)

Freemode

Now let's start out with talking about the gameplay. It is exactly the same as GTA V’s story mode except now you can blow sh*t up with friends. When you join an online session you can either jump straight into freemode or go and play some game modes such as jobs, races or heists. In freemode, you have a multitude of things to do. Here you can do missions for your businesses, drive around in your fancy cars or blow up over players with your friends. Freemode is the most entertaining part of GTA Online, although it can be annoying when you get griefed by other players but then it really depends on the lobby that you are in. If you are in a lobby with 30 other people… Then good luck.

Before we move onto jobs etc. Let's talk about the businesses in this game. These can only be done in freemode and they are one of the best sources of money in GTA Online. You can own different types of businesses such as a drugs trader, be the head of a biker game or own your own bunker and make your own weapons. These are definitely the highlights of the game for me and can be a nice change of pace from just driving around shooting people in freemode. However it will cost you quite a bit of money in order for you to own a business. But once you do, you’ll have lots of fun with it.

And finally, lets talk about VIP Missions, now in order to get this in freemode you either need to have 50K in your bank or own a business of any kind. These VIP missions/challenges can be done alone or with your friends. These are an easy way to make money and are certainly a lot of fun to do.

Overall the freemode is a lot of fun and is certainly the main bulk of the game. However you may find yourself getting bored after a few hours in it especially if you are alone. If this is the case.. Then it may be time to jump into some jobs. Since it first launched in 2013 the freemode has certainly evolved a lot, you also have the freemode activities which were added not to long ago.

Jobs/Heists

Now then, after you’ve gotten bored of freemode you can always jump into jobs and heists. There are many types of jobs, you have your standard team deathmatch affair or you have races, stunt races and survival. You also have Adversary Modes which can pit you against your friends and strangers alike.These game modes are all fun and unique in their own right. Races are definitely the best in my opinion because they are easy to get into and can net you a fair amount of money (If your winning). However if you are on the grind for money and your using these jobs to get that 2.1 Million car… Then your best to go elsewhere for that, i’d play these jobs for fun more than anything.

Now in terms of Adversary Modes, there is a lot of them, Rockstar have a tendency to release new ones quite often and this does really help to keeping the game feel really fresh and new even though it is five years old this year.

Now if you want to use jobs to earn that almighty dollar dollar. Then you want to do Heists. Introduced back in 2015, these special jobs can earn you A LOT of money… If done right that is. There are 5 main heists, you have to do these with 4+ people (excluding the first heist which only needs two people). This is where heists can be either hit or miss. If you are playing with your friends then you are going to have a great time… But if you are doing this with strangers, expect to be kicked from lobbies and just expect to be there for a LONG time. Not everyone is good at this game and the Heists surely prove that.

Overall though Heists really do add a lot to GTA Online, without them the game would not be played as much as it is today. And with the Addition of the Doomsday Heist, it just keeps making the game an even bigger joy to play, especially considering that latest heists only requires you to have 2 players with you. It's all good stuff, well done Rockstar.

Money Making and Shark Cards

Now, here is the juicy part of this review. The Shark Cards and Money Making… I can’t lie but making money sucks in this game now. In 2018 making money is harder than ever, once upon a time, you could buy anything in the game with enough grinding. But now Rockstar basically put a paywall over you when it comes to purchasing the latest cars etc. Now we understand that all the content updates are free and that Rockstar needs to earn money from somewhere, but this is just ridiculous. Think about it this way, if you were to buy all of the DLC items with just Shark Cards alone, it would come up to over £200. Just think about that for moment… Everything in this game now is just too expensive.

Sure, you can grind and get the stuff you want. But if you only have a few hours a day to play this game then you won’t get anywhere fast. Meanwhile you have everyone else who can afford the new content and they just end up causing trouble for players who are trying to earn money. It just makes the game ridiculously unbalanced. The latest new content to be added such as flying cars with rockets is also silly and expensive. The whole point of the content being free is so that everyone could have a chance of getting these things and that no one is left out… But don’t Shark Cards just ruin the whole point of that. This is the one thing that really lets GTA Online down in 2018.

Verdict

Overall GTA Online is a masterpiece in terms of online content. It is more than just an online game like COD etc. This is an online game where memories can be made, where you can just have a laugh with your friends and do things that you can’t do in the real world. There is enough content here to keep you playing until GTA 6. However this type of online game definitely isn’t suited to everyone and that's fine. But there is no denying that it is a masterpiece nonetheless. It's just a shame that microtransactions stop it from being ageless gem that it could truly be.

9/10 - Amazing

Pros:

Heists

Freemode

Years of Content

Playing with your friends

Cons:

Shark Cards

New Unbalanced Content

Everything Is So Expensive

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