The video game Grand Theft Auto V has made a big impact on the entertainment industry. With $800 million in sales on its first day alone, it crossed one billion in sales faster than any other video game or film launch in history, in just three days.

One of the main reasons that GTA V is so popular is the freedom to do whatever gamers want to. From robbing convenient stores to playing darts with friends, gamers have the free will to explore whatever they want on the expansive map.

“The best feature of the game is that the graphics are pretty great, and I love the free play options that allow me to basically control every aspect of the game,” senior Scott Brunner said.

One of the best features of the game is the large map. This large, diverse area provides many different landscapes to travel to and do missions in.

Most of the story occurs in the city of Las Santos, a fictional version of Los Angeles. The rest of the map, about two thirds, is desert and mountains with various towns and sites throughout.

“These features keep the game fresh,” junior Diego Bryan said.

One of the more interesting parts of GTA V is the ability to play as three different characters in the story, telling the narrative from three different views. The ability to switch between characters during a mission gives gamers more options of how to carry out certain ordeals.

“You get to see things from a different perspective,” senior Enrique Paramo said.

Another great feature of the game is the online play. This allows gamers to play with not only their friends, but anyone else playing in the entire world. Gamers can interact with online players completing tasks or just wreak havoc and mayhem.

“My favorite online feature is being able to do missions and hood rat stuff with my friends,” Bryan said.

In GTA online, gamers can make a personalized character that sets them apart from the other players. Players do this by picking their grandparents, then parents by looking through different options.

Players also have the ability to create crews amongst their friends that give the ability to tell them apart from others in the game. The game does so by having crew members coming up as red dots on the map, instead of white.

Another great feature of the game is the many different types of vehicles and weapons one can have, for example a grenade launcher, different types of machine guns, snipers, and many different hand guns. For vehicles, one can have anything from a moped to private jet.

GTA V allows gamers the ability to customize their vehicles and weapons unlike the previous games.

The many different weapons allow gamers to have many choices for whatever the situation calls for. The different customizable options allow gamers to upgrade the weapon to fit their needs, just like with vehicles.

“You can personalize it to you. Otherwise you have to find something similar to what you like,” Paramo said.

For local gamers, it is clear why the game is such a success.

Paramo said, “They actually took their time with this one, and made it better for the players.”