(A singleplayer only review.)
Rockstar outdid themselves this time. None of the issues I had with GTA IV are problems anymore. The pacing is great, the controls are great, and it's a modern take on the more over-the-top nature of earlier "3D era" GTA games. I can't praise the setting enough, or the satirical commentary, or the extremely satisfying driving and shooting, or the missions (which have checkpoints now, thank fuck). Everything is fine-tuned to perfection, and it's all GTA at its absolute finest.
I've never played a game with a world that felt so alive and so responsive to the player. Rockstar once again justifies open world games as a sub-genre by making their world actually mean something instead of just being a gimmick, easily leaving most AAA developers in the dust in that regard. I love the idea of swapping between three characters, all with different roles to play and different perspectives on the world around you, coming together into a dysfunctional partnership. Trevor in particular was a stroke of genius. He's hilarious, and this somewhat believable world really needed a psychotic character for the player to enact chaos with in a somewhat believable way. All three characters are very well-written, as is the story, which is compelling and unpredictable. The radio stations in this one are second only to Vice City, and there's more content on them than ever before.
The new first person mode is a game-changer. I played the game in third person, and on my second playthrough went through the whole thing again in first person, and it's a very different experience. It fits and flows very well with the action and never feels out of place; in fact, it almost feels like the game was designed around it. It naturally makes things more difficult though, particularly while driving, and I recommend a mod to increase the FOV slightly, which will make it more comfortable. I also don't like the fact you're running everywhere if you use M&K and have no way to just casually walk (mods can fix that too though), but it's so immersive, regardless of these small issues.
While GTA IV was one of the worst PC ports in history, the opposite can be said about GTA V. I've played the game on both a struggling laptop and a high-end PC. It scales beautifully on less powerful systems, and I'm honestly amazed about how well this game plays and how gorgeous it looks on my 960M laptop. There are also various extra graphical features for the PC version, if you have the power for them, like a further extended draw distance and shadow distance. An excellent port, and the game looks gorgeous.
It's a shame that the online mode is microtransaction hell. I don't support that kind of thing, but on the other hand, I don't play multiplayer, and the singleplayer is untouched by it. I'm only reviewing the singleplayer here, and the game that I played was a masterpiece. I can't deny that, despite having a couple of nitpicks. Intelligent, witty, and endlessly entertaining, with a world that feels truly alive and reactive to your actions, this is the best open world game I've ever played.