By Jamie Kennett
In my last update on GTA V, I said there would be “more to come [this] week”. Well, it turns out I was right; yesterday Rockstar Games released three trailers in one go! Each depicting one of the playable characters from the new instalment (Michael, Trevor, and Franklin), the trailers give us another massive insight into the world of GTA V-era Los Santos and a further taste of some of things we’ll be experiencing as the three protagonists. Now, some people don’t care about the characters themselves. For some people all they care about is whether or not they can drive 100mph down a busy sidewalk and not get blood all up the front of their shiny new Aston. For me, however, the characters come first. So if you’re like me, you’ll want to read on.
In my last update on GTA V, I said there would be “more to come [this] week”. Well, it turns out I was right; yesterday Rockstar Games released three trailers in one go! Each depicting one of the playable characters from the new instalment (Michael, Trevor, and Franklin), the trailers give us another massive insight into the world of GTA V-era Los Santos and a further taste of some of things we’ll be experiencing as the three protagonists. Now, some people don’t care about the characters themselves. For some people all they care about is whether or not they can drive 100mph down a busy sidewalk and not get blood all up the front of their shiny new Aston. For me, however, the characters come first. So if you’re like me, you’ll want to read on.
The three trailers mark a key point in the build-up to the game’s release; we’re finally able to familiarise ourselves with the protagonists and get to know them as characters. Until now, they were just a trio of people blasting around Los Santos and the surrounding area shooting things up and setting other things on fire. Now, they’re still a trio of gun-toting no-holds-barred criminals, but we know them. I’ll start with Michael.
Michael is a retired criminal. A bank robber by trade, he cut a deal with the FIB (the Federal Investigation Bureau, not the real-life Federal Bureau of Investigation) and now lives la dolce vita in the Beverly Hills of Los Santos.
Michael is a retired criminal. A bank robber by trade, he cut a deal with the FIB (the Federal Investigation Bureau, not the real-life Federal Bureau of Investigation) and now lives la dolce vita in the Beverly Hills of Los Santos.
He may seem to have a pretty comfortable life, but from what we’ve seen in his trailer we learn a number of things about Michael that were only touched upon before. Firstly, he is not on particularly good terms with his wife, in fact he loathes the woman. His son, who spends half his time playing some no-doubt obvious parodies of other popular video games on the market, is growing ever distant from him, and is a typical American rich kid. As such, he is so spoilt he resorts to petty crime himself, with his dad clearly having to bail him out every once and a while. Michael is overly protective of his daughter, whose boyfriend (I assume) is seen leaping out of her bedroom in one shot, as Michael gives chase. The fact she shouts “Don’t kill him!” at her father after the boy is jettisoned from the building says it all about Michael as a character.
He himself is in therapy, à la Tony Soprano, and is experiencing depression as a result of his wealth and lack of direction; he is so fed up with having everything he wants, and nothing to do, that he wants to get back into “the game” just to add some meaning to his existence again. He clearly has some anger issues as well, as he’s seen punching a number of people and smashing a variety of things throughout his trailer. Examples include the golf course in the centre of Los Santos, his own TV, and a number of people he may or may not actually know. His therapist, a strangely John Turturro-looking chap says he is “plainly addicted to chaos”, not only that but Michael is quite possibly an alcoholic as well, as half the trailer is essentially shots of him downing various spirits.
By far the most interesting character in my opinion, and the one we know the most about, his third of the story is actually very much like The Sopranos; he has an underappreciated wife, an underachieving son, and a mostly independent daughter, all the while he suffers depression from a number of different problems, and seeks to somehow enrich his life. This is where Trevor comes in.
He himself is in therapy, à la Tony Soprano, and is experiencing depression as a result of his wealth and lack of direction; he is so fed up with having everything he wants, and nothing to do, that he wants to get back into “the game” just to add some meaning to his existence again. He clearly has some anger issues as well, as he’s seen punching a number of people and smashing a variety of things throughout his trailer. Examples include the golf course in the centre of Los Santos, his own TV, and a number of people he may or may not actually know. His therapist, a strangely John Turturro-looking chap says he is “plainly addicted to chaos”, not only that but Michael is quite possibly an alcoholic as well, as half the trailer is essentially shots of him downing various spirits.
By far the most interesting character in my opinion, and the one we know the most about, his third of the story is actually very much like The Sopranos; he has an underappreciated wife, an underachieving son, and a mostly independent daughter, all the while he suffers depression from a number of different problems, and seeks to somehow enrich his life. This is where Trevor comes in.
Trevor Phillip is the redneck fellow; the one brandishing a baseball bat most of the time. He’s an old friend of Michael from his bank robbing days. Trevor is a former US Air Force pilot turned gun-toting sociopath, and has taken to becoming a large-scale drug dealer out in the countryside north of Los Santos. As a nod to Breaking Bad, he cooks meth out of his cabin in the desert (an RV would have been too obvious). Judging from some of his lines in the trailer, he’s new in town. Either that or he’s been spending most of his time out in the sticks and has finally decided to venture into Los Santos to reunite with Michael. He’s the psychotic one of the three; a true GTA character, no doubt we’re going to have a lot of fun playing as this fellow. A dab-hand in the cockpit of an aeroplane as a result of his military past, Rockstar themselves have said they’ve going to give us the chance to take to the skies from the get-go.
Trevor is undoubtedly the driving force behind Michael’s decision to revisit his past life, given the former’s complete reluctance to do anything that isn’t illegal. The two of them become as good friends as they were in the years before, as at one time or another Trevor ends up in Michael’s own home, much to the behest of his wife and daughter.
He gets his way with violence and a countrified wit, and most of his screen time revolves around him punching people in the face, using baseball bats to hit people in the face, shooting people (possibly in the face), strangling people, electrocuting people, and blowing things/people up. You’re not going to be able to complain about this instalment’s lack of action.
Trevor is undoubtedly the driving force behind Michael’s decision to revisit his past life, given the former’s complete reluctance to do anything that isn’t illegal. The two of them become as good friends as they were in the years before, as at one time or another Trevor ends up in Michael’s own home, much to the behest of his wife and daughter.
He gets his way with violence and a countrified wit, and most of his screen time revolves around him punching people in the face, using baseball bats to hit people in the face, shooting people (possibly in the face), strangling people, electrocuting people, and blowing things/people up. You’re not going to be able to complain about this instalment’s lack of action.
Last but not least is Franklin. He represents the other side of Los Santos; the side that’s as far from Vinewood as possible. From the ghetto we all knew and loved in San Andreas, Franklin is an aspiring businessman (I use that term lightly), and sees a future outside of “slinging dope and throwing up gang signs”. All of his friends scoff at his attitude, saying that he isn’t exactly a model “gangbanger” and that the lifestyle is their heritage, suggesting that he is better than them by abandoning it.
A man with big visions and champagne tastes, Franklin’s story is a typical rags-to-riches one; he wants to get out of “the ghetto” and earn some real money, with a secondary objective being to not get killed in the process. How he meets Michael and Trevor remains a mystery, but it may have something to do with the “Berto Beach House” that appeared in the second trailer back in November. Michael gives them directions to the front door, but what happens after that I do not know. Given Franklin’s own trailer, it would seem his third of GTA V is spent both trying to accumulate as much money as possible, and prove himself to his friends. Either way, Franklin seems to be the perfect balance of character and action, and I’m sure he’ll have an interesting tale to tell.
A man with big visions and champagne tastes, Franklin’s story is a typical rags-to-riches one; he wants to get out of “the ghetto” and earn some real money, with a secondary objective being to not get killed in the process. How he meets Michael and Trevor remains a mystery, but it may have something to do with the “Berto Beach House” that appeared in the second trailer back in November. Michael gives them directions to the front door, but what happens after that I do not know. Given Franklin’s own trailer, it would seem his third of GTA V is spent both trying to accumulate as much money as possible, and prove himself to his friends. Either way, Franklin seems to be the perfect balance of character and action, and I’m sure he’ll have an interesting tale to tell.
Rockstar have been very clever this time around. Receiving a lot of criticism for GTA IV, which was said to be too serious in places, as well as repetitive and not particularly engaging after a while, they have made sure the same problem won’t arise in GTA V. By giving us three characters to play as, there’s something for everyone. Michael is the “Niko” of the game; the deep, interesting character with a whole host of problems on his shoulders. Franklin is the character that gives us something to drive towards (no pun intended); he dreams of fast cars, loose women, and a ridiculous amount of cash, and that’s what we love in a GTA game.
Michael may already have most of this, but he’s bored of it. Franklin wants it, and thus so do we. Trevor, on the other hand, is the one we can all turn to when we have a yearning for complete chaos. He’s the failsafe; the man without any redeemably human qualities, we can go on a rampage if we so desire and take solace in the fact it won’t affect his character. Personally, I could never go and shoot up Liberty City as Niko because it just isn’t something he’d do. The same goes for Michael, maybe even Franklin to some extent, but not Trevor. He’s your man when it comes to complete and utter madness.
Michael may already have most of this, but he’s bored of it. Franklin wants it, and thus so do we. Trevor, on the other hand, is the one we can all turn to when we have a yearning for complete chaos. He’s the failsafe; the man without any redeemably human qualities, we can go on a rampage if we so desire and take solace in the fact it won’t affect his character. Personally, I could never go and shoot up Liberty City as Niko because it just isn’t something he’d do. The same goes for Michael, maybe even Franklin to some extent, but not Trevor. He’s your man when it comes to complete and utter madness.
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