'Grand Theft Auto V' Now A First

Rockstar is introducing a first-person mode for Grand Theft Auto V when the game launches on PS4 and Xbox One on November 18th, and PC next January.

As you can see in the above video, it looks pretty great. Certainly it opens up a new play-style for a game many people have already spent countless hours playing.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the third-person mode traditionally associated with Grand Theft Auto games, but being able to switch in and out of both perspectives should be pretty sweet.

For instance, while I really like being able to see my character in third person for customization purposes (and because Trevor always looks like such a glorious disaster) I'm not a huge fan of third-person shooting mechanics. GTAV is no exception. I wouldn't say the mechanics are bad, they're just not great.

First-person shooters often feel more intuitive when it comes to actually shooting things, at least in my humblest of opinions and outside of a few exceptions, whereas third-person often feels more intuitive when it comes to action games like Dark Souls, Bayonetta, and so forth.

I wish more games would give us this option, something the Elder Scrolls franchise has been doing for years. Destiny is a prime example of a game with all sorts of aesthetic customization options that are all basically hidden for 90% of the time thanks to the first-person perspective (which only changes when you go back to the main hub.) It would be nice to be able to see your character more often. Given Destiny's anemic story, having a stronger connection to your character-even just on an appearance level-could help a lot.

Which brings us to Paul Tassi's recent critique of first-person video games and storytelling.

Tassi argues that being able to see your character makes you more attached to them. That's one reason you become more attached to your own unique Commander Shepard in Mass Effect than say, Mitchell in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.