Grand Theft Auto 5's inclusion of multiple protagonists makes considerable headway in the series' struggle to sustain a narrative thread over more than 30 hours of story. The three leads share the central storyline, but also have their own handful of conflicts that, over time, weave in and out of the broader picture. It's a television-style serial structure, with missions playing out like episodes, the entire game a season. Now, dozens of characters and conflicts help to shoulder the burden.

Better yet, a single character no longer has to act as a narrative catch-all for the variety of mission types the game throws at the player. Appropriate missions are served to the most fitting character. Big-shot Hollywood missions go to Michael, a 40-something reformed criminal millionaire going through a midlife crisis. Low-level crime goes to Franklin, a disenfranchised up-and-comer conflicted about which side of right and wrong he falls on. And mayhem belongs to Trevor, a sociopath who loves to kill people and blow up expensive things.

a single character no longer has to act as a narrative catch-all

The characters only do missions you'd expect of them, so it's easier to buy them as people working within their own problems and limitations. They aren't driving taxis, going bowling and assassinating a gang leader the same hour. But it's the ability to swap between the three characters on the fly throughout most of the game that elevates Grand Theft Auto 5's trifecta of anti-heroes above gimmickry.

A nifty visual sequence — reminiscent of zooming out and in on Google Maps — transports you from the location of one hero to the location of another. And this basic mechanic underpins the gameplay pillar that holds the whole thing up: heists.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is the first game in the series explicitly about theft since the original 2D iterations of the 1990s. Over the course of the game, the three men are tasked with a number of increasingly insane and death-defying heists. They're a thrilling high point, and wouldn't be possible without the game's dramatically improved shooting and driving mechanics.