Welcome to a very special edition of This is Your Game. This week, I’ll be focussing on not one, not two but three characters; namely Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Phillips, from Grand Theft Auto V. When we first caught wind of Rockstar’s plan to introduce us to three protagonists in their latest title, many were excited but many others were nervous that it would mark too significant a separation from what we had grown to know and love about the franchise. Rockstar have always had an outstanding talent for story-telling and character development, as discussed in Niko Bellic’s episode of This is Your Game. Players have historically travelled through a game’s story with the character, grown with them and taken a journey with them. How could a player do this with three characters? How could we invest in these characters, if we were to swap between them at any given moment? People needn’t have worried, as the result was astonishing. Players were presented with three, fully-formed and unique characters, each with their own story, attributes and ambitions. For the first time, players felt that these were real people with real lives, lives that could be dipped into at any moment. If we were playing as Michael, for example and got bored, we could switch to one of the other players. Switching to Trevor would show us exactly what he was up to at that point. Sometimes he’d be eating from a bin, other times he’d be half naked, drunk and asleep atop a mountain and sometimes he’d be in the midst of a police chase. We truly felt as if these characters were living out their lives, irrespective of our involvement. Aside from the ambient moments, the dynamic of having three characters to chose from came into its own during missions. Each character had their role in the proceedings and it was up to us to decide what we wanted to do. If we wanted to grapple down the side of a building, we could chose Michael. If we wanted to take aim from a sniping position, we could be Franklin. If we wanted to pilot the getaway chopper, Trevor was our man. This saw the end of boring elements of missions. Who can forget the dullness of driving Niko across the GTA IV map, while Packie had all the fun shooting at the cops? This gave us the opportunity to always be a part of the action.
One disadvantage to the freedom that Grand Theft Auto games brings is that players can sometimes make their characters behave in a way that isn’t consistent with their personalities, which can affect the believability of the whole game. This issue was resolved in Grand Theft Auto V. Each character had their own personality, which reflected the three main types of player. If you were a Grand Theft Auto veteran, who’d seen it all before and knew how to be a lunatic with a conscience, Michael was the man to be. If you were a young player, trying to take on the world, you were Franklin. If you were a straight up psychopath who could happily massacre hundreds of pedestrians before breakfast, then Trevor was the natural choice. This dynamic added to the game’s realism and no longer caused players to have to suffer moral or ethical dilemmas.
Each character has a believable back story and persona and watching as these personalities clash with each other is some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a game. These friendships and partnerships were strained and often tumultuous. The dialogue was sometimes profound, sometimes ridiculous and often hilarious. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the best games I’ve ever played and this is due, in no small part, to Michael, Franklin and Trevor. Without them, this game would be significantly less impressive.
For these reasons, I feel that Michael, Franklin and Trevor have very much earned the right to be names as three of the best gaming characters ever made. Over the weekend, I jetted off to sunny Los Santos, to meet the three legends and present them with their This is Your Game award. We arranged to meet at Michael’s palatial Rockford Hills mansion, where we would all have the chance to chew the fat. Here’s what happened:
