Here's the Mind-Blowing New Way to Experience Grand Theft Auto

By TIME Staff

November 18, 2014

Rockstar’s crime drama Grand Theft Auto V is out today. Again. The 2013 hit is being re-released Nov. 18 for current-generation consoles the Xbox One and Playstation 4. (A PC version is also coming in January.) The remastered version of the game is receiving plenty of upgrades, including much higher-end visuals. If you somehow missed it, the fifth in the long-running Grand Theft Auto series was widely heralded as a masterpiece. TIME’s 5/5 review of the game put it this way:

Thank goodness it’s as irresistible to play as it is to admire, a super-sized version of the already super-sized Grand Theft Auto IV with the best parts intact and all the impurities leeched out. In fact I’d call it the most refined game Rockstar’s ever published. The vehicle physics are immaculate and the driving controls are superb; the interface is stripped and clean; the gunplay and tactical cover system are perfected; the expertly paced missions are honed to a fine, felonious edge.

There’s another addition: a first-person camera that gives players a traditional FPS vantage on the action. It’s a first for the series and likely to lead to big changes in the way the game is played. Check it out above.

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Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Activision's futuristic first-person shooter in which players take on a rogue private military company uses a brand new engine built specifically for PCs and new-gen consoles to handle its cutting-edge lighting, animation and physics.

Sledgehammer Games/Activision

<strong>Far Cry 4</strong>. This pulled back shot of fictional Himalayan region Kyrat is in-game, believe it or not, rendered with an overhauled version of the engine Ubisoft used to design <i>Far Cry 3</i>.

Far Cry 4. This pulled back shot of fictional Himalayan region Kyrat is in-game, believe it or not, rendered with an overhauled version of the engine Ubisoft used to design Far Cry 3.

Ubisoft

<strong>The Last of Us: Remastered</strong>. Naughty Dog's meditation on the worst (and best) of humanity is built on technology that reaches back through the studio's pulp-adventure <i>Uncharted</i> series.

The graphics are so impressive,
<a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2014/09/15/war-photographer-video-game/" target="_blank">TIME recently assigned a conflict photographer to photograph inside the game.</a>

The Last of Us: Remastered. Naughty Dog's meditation on the worst (and best) of humanity is built on technology that reaches back through the studio's pulp-adventure Uncharted series. The graphics are so impressive, TIME recently assigned a conflict photographer to photograph inside the game.

Ashley Gilbertson for TIME

<strong>Alien: Isolation</strong>

Built from scratch, the <i>Alien: Isolation</i> engine's outstanding deep space visuals all but replicate the set design of <i>Alien</i> film concept artists H.R. Giger and Ron Cobb's work.

Alien: Isolation Built from scratch, the Alien: Isolation engine's outstanding deep space visuals all but replicate the set design of Alien film concept artists H.R. Giger and Ron Cobb's work.

The Creative Assembly

<strong>Assassin's Creed Unity</strong>. Ubisoft says it "basically remade the whole rendering engine" in its AnvilNext design tool to handle the studio's meticulous recreation of Paris during the French Revolution.

Assassin's Creed Unity. Ubisoft says it "basically remade the whole rendering engine" in its AnvilNext design tool to handle the studio's meticulous recreation of Paris during the French Revolution.

Ubisoft

<strong>Child of Light</strong>

Inspired by filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki and artist Yoshitaka Amano, <i>Child of Light</i>'s hand-drawn artwork puts the lie to presumptions that graphical richness depends on shader support or polygon counts.

Child of Light Inspired by filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki and artist Yoshitaka Amano, Child of Light's hand-drawn artwork puts the lie to presumptions that graphical richness depends on shader support or polygon counts.

Ubisoft

<strong>Destiny</strong>

Built from scratch by ex-Halo studio Bungie, <i>Destiny</i>'s game engine was designed to scale across the next decade, says the studio.

Destiny Built from scratch by ex-Halo studio Bungie, Destiny's game engine was designed to scale across the next decade, says the studio.

Bungie

<strong>Mario Kart 8</strong>

Nintendo's kart-racer for Wii U reminds us that raw horsepower is just a facet of crafting a beautiful game world.

Mario Kart 8 Nintendo's kart-racer for Wii U reminds us that raw horsepower is just a facet of crafting a beautiful game world.

Nintendo

<strong>Infamous Second Son</strong>

Sucker Punch's freeform Seattle-based superhero adventure models all sorts of minutia, from the intricate wrinkling of an aged character's face to the way eyelids stick, slightly, before separating when characters blink.

Infamous Second Son Sucker Punch's freeform Seattle-based superhero adventure models all sorts of minutia, from the intricate wrinkling of an aged character's face to the way eyelids stick, slightly, before separating when characters blink.

Sucker Punch Productions

<strong>Monument Valley</strong>

Escher-like at first glance, Ustwo's mind-bending puzzler was also inspired by posters, bonsai plants, arabic calligraphy and filmmaker Tarsem Singh's <i>The Fall</i>.

Monument Valley Escher-like at first glance, Ustwo's mind-bending puzzler was also inspired by posters, bonsai plants, arabic calligraphy and filmmaker Tarsem Singh's The Fall.

Ustwo

<strong>Grand Theft Auto V </strong>

Rockstar's remastered crime spree opus was crafted from an in-house engine first employed in a game that simulated table tennis.

Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar's remastered crime spree opus was crafted from an in-house engine first employed in a game that simulated table tennis.

Rockstar

Titanfall

Titanfall

Respawn Entertainment

$<strong>Forza Horizon 2</strong> Turn 10's Euro-racer actually models light refracted through drops of moisture, the render tech plausibly simulating something as intangible but essential as the earth’s atmosphere.$

Forza Horizon 2 Turn 10's Euro-racer actually models light refracted through drops of moisture, the render tech plausibly simulating something as intangible but essential as the earth’s atmosphere.

Microsoft Studios/Turn 10 Studios

<strong>80 Days</strong>

Inkle's anti-colonialist vamp on Jules Verne's famous novel uses crisp art deco imagery inspired by travel posters to unfurl <i>80 Days</i>' tale of intrepid globetrotters Monsieur Fogg and his valet Passepartout.

80 Days Inkle's anti-colonialist vamp on Jules Verne's famous novel uses crisp art deco imagery inspired by travel posters to unfurl 80 Days' tale of intrepid globetrotters Monsieur Fogg and his valet Passepartout.

Inkle

<strong>Tomb Raider</strong>

Crystal Dynamics' radical reboot of its popular series about an athletic archaeologist uses a modified version of the engine that powered <i>Tomb Raider: Legend</i> in 2006.

Tomb Raider Crystal Dynamics' radical reboot of its popular series about an athletic archaeologist uses a modified version of the engine that powered Tomb Raider: Legend in 2006.

Square Enix

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