Grand Theft Auto V Still Has The Most Realistic Water I Ever Played In A Videogame
Something I thought about and felt for awhile has become increasingly stronger now that new consoles have arrived and I have still yet to see anything that rivals what I see in Grand Theft Auto V.
In the past I use to battle with myself on which games out of my play experience showcase the best water effects, best water behavior and overall best replicates real-world water. I use to want to give it to the Uncharted series over say a GTA IV mainly because of the level of detail Naughty Dog put into it, but also blindly tipping the scales because in combination with level of detail (which GTA also oozes) it’s a LINEAR–PS3-EXCLUSIVE, significant because you know what they say when it comes to development and choosing open world vs linear… you’re able to squeeze out more power if you go linear.
Other factors were overall power and concentration with PS3 being the more powerful console over the Xbox 360 and Naughty Dog being able to focus on one console (PS3) vs Rockstar who publishes their games on multiple platforms. Not to mention at the time Uncharted 2/3 was heralded as the best looking games ever — which I agree. So their water had to look better than a developer (Rockstar) who chose to go open-world, multiplat, and share time on a weaker console right? But however when it comes to water…..Grand Theft Auto got “IT”. My eyes told me this.
BREAKING IT DOWN
Uncharted amazed by what Naughty Dog did with its water, it looked how it was suppose to look and the behavior!? The first time I seen clothes react properly to water in a video game; felt organic too, how your position in the water mattered. If your whole body was in the water then your whole body is wet, (still trying to get them to include hair :)) if it was just Drake’s (Uncharted’s main character) legs in the water then only the legs would get wet — and only up to how deep you were in the water!
If this was a who has “the best water in a video game” contest Uncharted and Grand Theft Auto would be the finalists. But something about Grand Theft’s takes the cake. As I mentioned I always thought the water Rockstar implemented in their game was special but again I was in denial, no way could an open world game display this much detail. Truthfully it’s not just Grand Theft Auto V, GTA IV had the same type of water effects too, even then I was willing to crown it but GTA V just took it too another level with more clarity and adding the “clothes reacting” to water effect that was made famous in Uncharted.
ROCKSTAR’S GENIUS
How is Rockstar pulling this off anyway? In general what they’ve done with GTA V, especially based on what I just shared is nothing short of genius. The game overall looks fantastic but the water really, really, stands out to me, it really looks like real water, from aesthetics to behavior. It’s so real no lie when I hit a wave and it overcame by screen my throat tightened as if I swallowed water, it is really that on point.
I also could’ve sworn I felt the wooziness and diziness you feel from being toss around by water just because the water has such depth to it. Truthfully I think that’s what really makes the water in GTA V special. And what’s scary is the PS4/Xbox One/PC versions are suppose to enhance that! And what’s scary about that is the fact that we’re not even talking about Grand Theft Auto 6 which if made will be a true next gen experience not a remaster and it could even look better than that!
A lot of this also proves that just because you have the overall “better looking” game graphically doesn’t mean that another game can’t outdo you in a particular category and that category in this case is water and that prize goes to Grand Theft Auto V.
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