Watered down Grand Theft Auto with a couple of clever ideas.
Sure, the overall map size is quit large (about the size of San Andreas it seems), but the gameplay mechanics seems old and tired. It even seems like a lot has been removed from the series. There is no more stealing cars for profit (aside from 5 or 6 six cars in a mission series). There is no more eating at fast food restaurants (ala San Andreas).You can no longer hijack a car with a passenger and old them hostage to earn some quick cash.
Don't get me wrong. GTAV is a wonderful game in it's own right, however it is lacking in any true innovation for the series. Sure they added 2 main protagonists to the series that you can switch between. They added a poor man's choose-your-own-adventure theme for the heists (which there are way too few of them). The story, the acting, the scenery, the graphics... all are amazing, but there is no replayability, no depth.
The worst part is the the time and thought put into the development of GTAV and ultimately GTA Online. It took years to develop GTAV and GTA Online. So if it took them years to develop this, then why is there no support for the iFruit app for Androids, PCs, PSVita (only iOS). And why is it that the online component that was promised to be live on October 1st is essentially dead in the water at the moment?
I love the series, I love this game. If it weren't for the lack of forsight by Rockstar to anticipate the always successful launch of GTA game, I would have given this at least an 8.5 if not a 9.
Sorry Rockstar, but you have let an avid fan of the series down hard.